Patent Application
20170290399
The present invention relates to storage devices. More specifically, the present invention provides a portable storage device for baby items.
Parents and caregivers often travel with a wide assortment of childcare related items, such as diapers, wet wipes, socks, lotions, food, toys, and medicine, among others. A parent may have a difficult time organizing and remembering to travel with all of these essential items and may not have a bag suited for holding and organizing the various items. Conventional diaper bags are not adapted to carry various objects and do not provide sufficient storage for organizing a multitude of items.
Further, many parents, especially new parents, have difficulty providing the adequate amounts and types of baby products when traveling with infants or small children. When traveling, if a parent has forgotten a necessary item, it is inconvenient or impossible to divert travel arrangements to find the needed item. Therefore, there exists a need in the prior art for a portable storage device that is provided as a kit, thereby incorporating necessary items for traveling, and can be refilled and reused.
Devices have been disclosed in the prior art that relate to storage devices. These include devices that have been patented and published in patent application publications. These devices generally relate to foldable blankets having pockets thereon for storing various articles, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,257, U.S. Pat. No. 7,520,010, U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,975, U.S. Pat. No. 8,381,334, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,111.
These prior art devices have several known drawbacks. The present invention provides a kit including a changing blanket and other supplies used to care for a baby or small child. These devices, however, do not provide a portable storage device comprising a sheet having a plurality of pockets specifically sized to receive particular items, wherein the sheet includes a blanket removably securable thereto. Further, the prior art fails to include a baby traveling kit having at least a bottle, clothing, or diapers disposed in the pockets.
In light of the devices disclosed in the prior art, it is submitted that the present invention substantially diverges in design elements from the prior art and consequently it is clear that there is a need in the art for an improvement to existing storage devices. In this regard the instant invention substantially fulfills these needs.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of portable storage bags now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new portable storage bag wherein the same can be utilized for providing convenience for the user when traveling with an infant or small child.
The portable storage device comprises a sheet having a front surface and a rear surface, wherein a plurality of pockets are disposed on the front surface thereof. The pockets are each configured so as to receive a particular item therein and to allow the sheet to fold into a compact configuration. The pockets are removably sealable via a zip lock mechanism. The sheet further includes a latch disposed on the rear surface and a zipper disposed on the periphery so as to allow the sheet to remain in a compact configuration such that the various items are securely held therein. The sheet can be folded in half and secured in the half folded position via the zipper disposed on the periphery of the sheet. The sheet can be folded again and secured in a fully folded position via the latch disposed thereon. Further, a blanket is removable secured to the sheet.
Although the characteristic features of this invention will be particularly pointed out in the claims, the invention itself and manner in which it may be made and used may be better understood after a review of the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like numeral annotations are provided throughout.
Reference is made herein to the attached drawings. Like reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to depict like or similar elements of the portable storage device. For the purposes of presenting a brief and clear description of the present invention, the preferred embodiment will be discussed as used for carrying and storing baby products. The figures are intended for representative purposes only and should not be considered to be limiting in any respect.
Referring now to
A plurality of pockets 13 are disposed on the front surface of the sheet 12. The pockets 13 are each configured so as to receive a particular item therein and to allow the sheet 12 to fold into a compact configuration. In the illustrated embodiment, each pocket 13 comprises a front wall 27, a rear wall, and an open upper end that is removably sealable via a fastener 14, such as a zip lock mechanism. The front surface of the sheet 12 serves as the rear wall of each pocket 13. Preferably the pockets 13 are disposed on the sheet 12 so as to avoid obstructing the fold lines 28, 29 of the sheet 12 that guide the user when folding the portable storage device in a compact configuration.
In some embodiments, one or more baby care accessories are disposed in one or more pockets 13. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, separate pockets 13 comprise diapers 17, disposable wipes 16, clothing 15, lotion 19, and pacifiers 18. The baby care accessories are removed from the pockets 13 when desired. As the baby care accessories are completely used or dirtied, the sealable upper ends of the pockets 13 allow the baby care accessories to be replaced with unused products. In this way, the portable storage device is configured to be used as a reusable kit.
Referring now to
Referring now to
The sheet 12 further includes a latch 22 disposed on the rear surface thereof and a zipper 24 disposed on the periphery thereof. Once the sheet 12 is folded in half, the peripheral zipper 24 is disposed on opposing halves and aligned with one another, wherein the opposing halves can be sealed so as to secure the device in the half folded position. The rear surface 26 of the sheet 12 comprises a latch receiving fastener 25 configured to receive the latch 22 thereon. The sheet 12 is configured to be folded in half again so as to allow the latch 22 to secure to the latch receiving fastener 25 so the device can remain in the fully folded position. The latch 22 and zipper 24 allow the sheet 12 to remain folded in a compact configuration. Thus, the baby care accessories disposed in the pockets 13 and the blanket are securely held within the portable storage device.
In operation, the user folds the portable storage device along the first fold line 28 so as to allow one side of the front surface of the sheet 12 to rest on the opposing side of the front surface of the sheet 12. The zipper 24 is fastened around the periphery of the folded sheet 12. The sheet 12 is then folded along the second fold line 29 so as to allow one side of the rear surface 26 of the folded sheet 12 to rest flush against the opposing side of the rear surface 26. The latch is removably secured to the opposing side of the twice folded sheet 12 via the latch receiving fastener 25. In some embodiments, the portable storage device further comprises a decorative bag having a sealable opening configured to receive the folded sheet 12 therein.
It is therefore submitted that the instant invention has been shown and described in what is considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments. It is recognized, however, that departures may be made within the scope of the invention and that obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art. With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.
