Patent Application
20150041513
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to holsters and more specifically relates to a holster used in handgun concealed carry.
2. Description of Related Art
Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Pistol holsters have been in use since the early invention of the handheld firearm with the general purpose of providing a means to secure and protect the weapon while simultaneously providing ready access to it.
In modern times the handgun holster has evolved to meet the needs of military, government, law enforcement, and individual needs. As of the application for this invention, every state has implemented laws governing individuals carrying a firearm for personal protection. These laws dictate the manner in which firearms or weapons can be carried. There are two general categories describing how a weapon can be carried and the holster or weapon displayed on the individual; “open carry” where the holster and firearm is openly displayed and clearly visible, and “concealed carry” where the holster and firearm are carried in such a manner that they are not visible or recognized as a firearm or its holster.
“Open carry” holsters include but are not limited to, western or “cowboy” holsters, military sidearm holsters, law enforcement belt holsters, and a variety of holsters typically designed to be worn upon a individual's belt in plain view of the public.
“Concealed carry” holsters generally fall into six categories based upon how or where they are worn; inside the waistband, outside the waistband, in the pocket, under the arm, ankle holsters, and the disguised pouch holster. Each category generally describes where the holster is carried out of sight except the last category wherein the holster is in plain sight but disguised in such a way that the handgun is not visible and the holster or firearm pouch does not readily reveal its contents. These concealed carry handgun pouches tend to fall into two general subcategories; holster pouches in purses such as a ladies purse or a man's fanny pack, and enclosed and disguised holster pouches worn upon the belt typically disguised as mobile phone or mini computer pouches. The present invention is of this last concealed carry category; a concealed carry handgun pouch designed to clip to a wearer's belt.
Conceal carry belt worn handgun pouches balance a few advantages against a few disadvantages one of which has the potential to being critical. First and foremost the pouch must be large enough to totally encase the handgun yet as small as possible to be easily worn. Additionally the pouch must encase the handgun sufficiently to have a means to secure the handgun and completely cover it from public view. This has resulted in the primary disadvantage of the concealed carry pouch; accessability to the handgun.
Handguns are designed to be grasped by the pistol grip with the hand wrapping around the entire circumference of the grip. This gripping action is made possible by the human's opposable thumb. Small pouches holding the handgun securely in place result in the handgun's grip pressed firmly against the holster making it difficult or impossible for the thumb to slip between the pistol grip and the holster. This makes access to the entire circumference of the pistol grip either extremely difficult or impossible necessitating the handgun to be partially drawn from the holster with the individuals fingers before a full circumference grip is possible. This action can potentially negate the self defense capability of the belt worn concealed carry pouch. In the crises of a self defense situation the handgun can be fumbled or dropped in the rush to draw the weapon. Additionally, proper grip of the handgun is necessary for accuracy in shooting.
Numerous means of attaching holsters and pouches to a wearer's belt are available. They typically fall into two general categories; pass through loops, and tensioned clips. Pass through loops hold the pouch most securely but require the wearer to lose his belt to either install or remove the pouch. This can quickly become tedious or limiting as the individual steps into and out of an automobile where the pouch can be inconvenient to wear because of the automobile's seat belt. Tensioned clips are typically less secure but allow the individual to easily attach or detach the pouch from the belt.
Various inventors have attempted to create a solution to the concealed carry handgun belt pouch:
Stava (5,584,424) presents a concealed carry handgun belt pouch that is representative of the typical art with similar limitations as listed above. The gun is holstered in a generally vertical fashion held in place by either a holster or straps. Either method leaves the handle of the handgun in contact with the pouch creating the same potential limitations in drawing the handgun as describe above. The nature of the zipper closure attachment to the pouch body creates an additional barrier that must be passed in order to access the guns handle. The zipper closure represents a potential snag hazard as the handgun is drawn upwards out of the holster and past the zipper. A zipper closure also adds a complex closure method that can potentially increase the time necessary for accessing the handgun. Finally, the number of parts necessary to produce the pouch increases its cost and complexity.
Parton (5,495,967) presents a purse version of the concealed carry pouch employing a complex mult-part spring loaded opening system where a seperate holster is located within the revealed cavity and attached with hook and loop fastener material oriented in a general horizontal mode. Included within the purse design are multiple compartments substantially adding to the size and bulk of the purse. A purse by its very nature limits its use to those who carry purses.
Volpei (5,294,031) presents a fanny pack discreet pistol pouch designed for handguns with a separate holster attached to the interior with hook and loop fastener material in a generally horizontal orientation. With its attached belt and extra pockets this concealed carry solution is larger than the concealed carry handgun belt pouch of the present invention. Additionally, the Volpei invention uses interlockable plastic zipper to close the pouch thus suffering the same inherent limitations as Stava.
DeSantis (4,966,320) presents a fanny pack simulated pistol pouch similar to Volpei with a separate holster attached to the interior with hook and loop fastener material generally horizontal in orientation. Although similar to Volpei a different manner of opening and closure is presented with the preferred embodiment relying upon hook and loop fabric.
Each of the above samples of prior art face distinct limitations. Parton, Volpei, and DeSantis each present options that are substantial in size with the handgun orientation in a generally horizontal mode. Volpei and DeSantis each present a pouch design that would be considered a “fanny pack” with the primary difference between the two being the closure method; zipper versus hook and loop. Both of these inventions necessitate the pouch being significantly larger than the encased handgun. Additionally, Parton, Volpei and DeSantis each rely upon the flexibility of the fabric pouch to create a means for the wearer to insert their hand in such a manner as to gain a complete circumference grasp of the handgun's grip. Additionally, Parton, Volpei, and DeSantis each rely upon separate holsters and straps typically attached to the pouch with hook and loop fabric to hold the handgun in place increasing the complexity, number of parts, and manufacturing expense. Stava presents a smaller belt worn pouch with the handgun in a generally vertical orientation with a zipper closure similar to Volpei. Release of the zipper and thus the opening of the pouch is dependent upon grasping the zipper closure head or a loop of cord attached to it and drawing it sufficiently along the length of the zipper in order to obtain an opening large enough to insert one's hand to withdraw the handgun. This requires the wearer to quickly locate the zipper head or cord in a high stress self defense situation. It should appear obvious that there is a direct relationship between the time it takes to pull a zipper open and the length of the zipper, especially when the zipper is closing three sides of the pouch. This limitation, along with the handgun's grip being generally held against the pouch creates a concealed carry handgun pouch with limitations.
In these respects, the current invention departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides a concealed carry handgun belt pouch providing a bare minimum size pouch that securely holds the handgun in a generally vertical orientation with a pouch cover than can be gripped anywhere along its three exposed edges to quickly open the pouch. Upon opening the pouch the handgun's spring tensioned integral holster pivots outward away from the pouch body providing access to the complete circumference of the pistol grip allowing the wearer to easily grasp the handgun's grip for a fast and secure draw of the weapon. The current invention also provides for a tensioned clip that both secures the pouch to a belt but allows for easy attachment and removal of the pouch from the wearer's belt. The unique wedge-shape of the base of the clip allows the clip to easily slide between the wearers pants and the belt. An additional and unintended benefit is that this wedge resists the inadvertent un-clipping of the pouch from the belt. Together, the simplicity of the invention, the minimal number of parts necessary to form the invention, the ease in opening the pouch cover, the spring tensioned pivoting holster, and the unique belt clip enabling quick but secure attachment and detachment from a wearer's belt, presents a unique and superior concealed carry handgun belt pouch.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of concealed carry handgun belt pouches now present in prior art, the present invention provides a new concealed carry handgun pouch that has many of the advantages of typical concealed carry handgun belt pouches and many novel features that result in a new concealed carry handgun belt pouch which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art concealed carry handgun belt pouches, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention generally comprises a formed pouch body holster combination, a pouch cover, and a belt clip where the holster portion of the pouch body is tensioned in such a way that when the pouch is opened, the holster and gun tilt outward allowing the wearer to grip the handgun with a full circumference grip.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of the description and should not be regarded as limiting.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a concealed carry handgun belt pouch that will overcome the shortcomings of prior art devices.
A second object is to provide a concealed carry handgun belt pouch that provides a secure means of carrying a handgun yet allows for a complete circumference grip of the handgun's grip when drawing the firearm.
An additional object is to provide a concealed carry handgun belt pouch easily attached and detached from the wearer's belt.
To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, this invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that changes may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described within the scope of the appended claims.
Various other objects, features and attendant advantages of the present invention will become fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:
A. Overview
Turning now descriptively to the drawings, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views,
B. Pouch Body With Integral Tension Loaded Holster
Pouch Body 1 is preferably comprised of material with high memory such as but not limited to thermoplastics such as Kydex. Pouch body 1 with integral tension loaded holster 8 can be created from a single piece of high memory semi rigid material cut in a manner similar but not exclusively as demonstrated in
In
C. Pouch Cover With Fastening Device
D. Spring Tensioned Pouch Belt Clip
The spring tensioned pouch belt clip is preferably comprised of a high memory material such as but not limited to thermoplastics such as Kydex.
The unique and subtle wedge shaped design feature of having the base of clip 17 extend past the leading edge of mounting plate 16 creates an unexpected disproportionate increase in the effective holding power of the clip not seen in other spring tension clips since the open edge of 17 is buried or hidden under the material edge of mounting plate 16.
E. In Use
The wearer inserts handgun into integral tension loaded holster 8 as shown in
Concealed carry handgun belt pouch can now be easily attached or removed from a wearer's belt with spring tensioned pouch belt clip 3 by pressing press release 14 inward causing belt clip 3 to open allowing the wedge shaped portion 18 & 17 of the belt clip to easily slide between the wearer's belt and their pants. Upon release of press release 14 the spring tension created by 15 causes the clip to return to its closed state thus capturing the belt securely and resisting any upward movement of the pouch due to the unique wedge shape of the clip.
When necessary to quickly draw the handgun from the concealed carry handgun belt pouch, the wearer simply grasps any of the three exposed edges of pouch cover 2 and with a simple tug releases the quick release fastener 4a-4b. The pouch cover 2 easily lifts out of the way as the integral tension loaded holster 8 pushes away from the pouch body 1 to its tensioned position angling the grip of the handgun outward and away from the pouch body 1 so that the wearer can easily grasp the handgun in a full circumference grip and quickly draw the handgun in a safe and controlled manner ready for immediate use as shown in
What has been described and illustrated herein is a preferred embodiment of the invention along with some of its variations. The terms, descriptions and figures used herein are set forth by way of illustration only and are not meant as limitations. Those skilled in the art will recognize that many variations are possible within the spirit and scope of the invention, which is intended to be defined by the following claims (and their equivalents) in which all terms are meant in their broadest reasonable sense unless otherwise indicated. Any headings utilized within the description are for convenience only and have no legal or limiting effect.
