Patent Application
20170340944
The present disclosure relates generally to a gear rack. More particularly, some embodiments relate to a gear rack for displaying and storing gear equipment.
Recreational activities often require the use of various gear equipment in order to ensure the safety and comfort of the participant. Such equipment pieces or gear may include gloves, helmets, backpacks, goggles, and uniform attire by way of example only. However, because the various gear equipment come in a wide range of distinct shapes and sizes, they often cannot be displayed in one organized space or area with the use of conventional hangers or storage equipment. Indeed, not only are conventional racks and hangers not configured to display or store a plurality of gear equipment, but such conventional racks and hangers are not adapted to hold or support large and heavy sports equipment without breaking or properly storing the equipment gear.
As such, various gear equipment often become displaced or lost when they are scattered and stored in various different areas, especially when they are placed in closets, boxes, or shelves that are not easily viewable or accessible. This is particularly problematic for users who wear or use gear equipment on a daily or frequent basis, especially since conventional racks and hangers do not allow users to quickly and easily determine if he or she has all the necessary equipment in a single specified area.
Additionally, conventional hangers and racks do not allow a person to display gear equipment in an aesthetically pleasing and compact fashion. This is particularly important when the equipment gear has sentimental value or is a limited edition collector's item, especially since the user may wish to display the equipment gear rather than storing them in closets or boxes.
Embodiments of the technology described herein includes a rack for displaying and storing gear equipment. In accordance with one embodiment, an apparatus includes a base or a backing with a plurality of structural members for displaying an equipment gear set.
In some embodiments, the base may include a plurality of structural members, such as a helmet display member with an angled protruding body with a top end and a bottom end for supporting a head piece. The top end of the angled protruding body may be configured to receive the head piece while the bottom end may be affixed to the base of the equipment gear rack.
In further embodiments, the base may also include a pair of protruding arms with a first end and a second end. The first end of the pair of protruding arms may receive the equipment gear for display and the second end may be affixed to the base of the equipment gear rack.
In some embodiments, the base may also include a hook member for hanging equipment gear. Other features and aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the features in accordance with embodiments of the invention. The summary is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the claims attached hereto.
The present invention, in accordance with one or more various embodiments, is described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only and merely depict typical or example embodiments of the invention. These drawings are provided to facilitate the reader's understanding of the apparatus and methods described herein, and shall not be considered limiting of the breadth, scope, or applicability of the claimed invention.
Some of the figures included herein illustrate various embodiments of the invention from different viewing angles. Although the accompanying descriptive text may refer to elements depicted therein as being on the “top,” “bottom,” or “side” of an apparatus, such references are merely descriptive and do not imply or require that the invention be implemented or used in a particular spatial orientation unless explicitly stated otherwise.
The figures are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. It should be understood that the invention can be practiced with modification and alteration, and that the invention be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.
Embodiments of the systems and methods described herein provide a rack for displaying and storing gear equipment. As described above, a plurality of gear equipment is often utilized together when participating in certain recreational activities, such as motor bike riding, mountain bike riding, snowboarding, skateboarding, and football by way of example only. As such, various embodiments described herein depict an improved rack for storing and displaying gear equipment of various sizes and shapes.
In order to accommodate a wide range of gear equipment to be stored and displayed on the single mounting rack 100, the backing 110 may include a helmet display member 120 for displaying hats, helmets, masks, and the like. The body of the helmet display member 120 may include an angled protruding body with a top end and a bottom end, such that the top end is configured to receive and support the head piece, such as a hat, helmet, or mask with the second end affixed to the backing 110. By way of example only, the angled protruding body may have an angle ranging from 20 to 90° so that the head piece may be stably displayed without falling off of the helmet display member 120.
However, it should be noted that the helmet display member 120 is not limited to solely displaying hats, helmets, and masks. Instead, the helmet display member 120 may store any gear equipment that may be stably placed over the helmet display member 120, as would be appreciated by any one of ordinary skill in the art studying this disclosure. By way of example only, such gear equipment may include clothing, sports gear attire, goggles, shoes, or any tools or accessories with a strap member that may be placed over the helmet display member 120.
Additionally, the single mounting rack 100 may also include a pair of protruding arm members 130A and 130B for placing and displaying gloves. To ensure that the gloves do not fall off of the protruding arm members 130A and 130B, the protruding arm members 130A and 130B may be angled anywhere from 20° to 90°. Here also, the protruding arm members 130 are not limited to displaying or storing gloves on the single mounted rack 100. Instead, the protruding arm members 130A and 130B may be utilized to display or store any gear equipment that may be stably stored and supported by the protruding arm members 130A and 130B. By way of example only, such gear equipment may include clothing, sports gear attire, backpacks, shoes, hats, helmets, masks, goggles, or any tools or accessories with a strap member that may be placed over the protruding arm members 130A and 130B.
Furthermore, the single mounting rack 100 may also include a hook member 150 so that clothing or sports gear attire may hang from the single mounting rack 100. In some embodiments, the clothing or sports gear attire may be hanging from a hanger, so that the hanger may then be placed over the hook 150. By way of example only, the clothing or sports gear attire may include uniforms, wetsuits, motor bike jackets, sports jerseys, sports uniforms, scuba gear, life jackets, etc. In other instances, the clothing or sports gear attire may be directly placed over the hook member 150 without the use of a hanger.
It should be further noted that the hook member 150 need not be limited to hanging a hanger or clothing. Instead, the hook member 150 may be used to hang any equipment gear as would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art studying the disclosure. Such exemplary equipment gear may include hats, helmets, masks, shoes, goggles, or any tools or accessories that may be stably displayed and placed over the hook member 150.
In some embodiments, the single mounting rack 100 may include a compartment area 140 for storing other miscellaneous gear equipment or items that may not be properly displayed or placed over the other structural members of the single mounting rack 100.
As depicted in
The single mounting rack 100 may also include a mounting hole 320, so that the backing 310 may be securely nailed onto a wall or flat surface. While
Similar to the single rack mounting rack in
In some embodiments, the exemplary double mounting rack 600 includes a base or backing 620 with a flat surface, so that the double mounting rack 600 may be hanging flat against a wall. In some instances, the backing 620 may be nailed onto a wall via the mounting holes 625. In other instances, the mounting holes 625 may include a hook receptacle configured to receive a hook (not shown here) so that the single mounting rack 600 may be hanging from a hook attached to a wall or suspended from a ceiling. In some embodiments, the mounting holes may be spaced 162 inches apart, which is the standard distance of stud frames on a wall. As such, the exemplary double mounting rack 600 may be securely mounted onto a wall by having the exemplary double mounting rack 600 mounted to the vertical frames of the wall stud. This allows the exemplary double mounting rack 600 to be securely mounted onto the surface of a wall for displaying heavy equipment gear. However, the distance and location of the mounting holes may be located at various areas at various distances apart.
In some embodiments, the length of the exemplary double mounting rack 600 may have a length that ranges from 15 to 25 inches and a width that ranges from 17 to 27 inches. Furthermore, the backing 620 may be made of wood, metal, injected plastic, vinyl, or any material appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art studying this disclosure.
By way of example only, the double mounting rack 600 may include two helmet display members 610A and 610B, such that two sets of hats, helmets, or masks may displayed on the double mounting rack 600. The body of the helmet display members 610A and 610B may include an angled protruding body with a top end and a bottom end, such that the top end is configured to receive and support the head piece, such as a hat, helmet, or mask with the second end affixed to the backing 620. By way of example only, the angled protruding body may have an angle ranging from 20 to 90° so that the head piece may be stably displayed without falling off of the helmet display members 610A and 610B.
However, it should be noted that the helmet display members 610A and 610B are not limited to displaying hats, helmets, and masks, and instead, may display any gear equipment that may be stably supported by the helmet display members 610A and 610B. By way of example only, such gear equipment may include clothing, sports gear attire, backpacks, shoes, hats, helmets, masks, goggles, any tools or accessories with a strap member, or any other gear equipment as appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art studying this disclosure.
In further embodiments, the double rack 600 may also include two pairs of protruding arm members 630A, 630B for displaying gloves. To ensure that the gloves do not fall off the protruding arm members 630A, 630B, the protruding arm members 630A, 630B may be angled anywhere from 20° to 90°. In some embodiments, the two sets of protruding arm members 630A, 630B may each have different angular positions. Again, the protruding arm members 630A, 630B need not be limited to displaying or storing gloves on the double mounting rack 600. Instead, any gear equipment that may be stably displayed on the protruding arm members 630A, 630B may be utilized. For example, such gear equipment may include clothing, sports gear attire, backpacks, shoes, hats, helmets, masks, goggles, any tools or accessories with a strap member, or any other gear equipment as appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art studying this disclosure.
In some embodiments, the double rack 600 may also include two sets of hook members 650A, 650B, so that clothing or sports gear attire may be hanging on the double rack 600. In some embodiments, the clothing or sports gear attire may be hanging from a hanger, where the hanger is then placed over the hook members 650A, 650B. By way of example only, the clothing or sports gear attire may include wetsuits, motor bike jackets, sports jerseys, sports uniforms, scuba gear, life jackets, etc. In other instances, the clothing or sports gear attire may be directly placed over the hook members 650A, 650B without the use of a hanger.
It should be further noted that the hook members 650A, 650B need not be limited to hanging a hanger or sports gear attire. Instead, the hook members 650A, 650B may be used to hang any gear equipment as appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art studying this disclosure. Such exemplary equipment gear that may be stably displayed and stored by the hook members 650A, 650B may include hats, helmets, masks, shoes, goggles, tools with a strap member, or any other gear equipment that would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art studying this disclosure.
In some embodiments, the double mounting rack 600 may include a compartment area 640 for storing other gear equipment that may not have the structural characteristics or properties to be properly displayed on the other structural members of the single mounting rack 600.
As depicted in
Here, the helmets or head pieces 910A and 910B may be placed over the helmet display member with each pair of riding gloves 920A and 920B placed over the protruding arm members. Also depicted are riding jackets 940A and 940B placed over hook members 950A and 950B to display and store uniform or clothing attire. This allows each gear equipment set to be displayed and stored in an easily organized and compact fashion. Therefore, the double mounting rack 900 may be configured to display two different equipment gear sets associated with particular recreational activities. By way of example only, the double mounting rack 900 may display the complete gear equipment sets associated with running, football, hockey, motor bike riding, mountain bike riding, wakeboarding, scuba diving, skateboarding, snowboarding/skiing equipment, and the like.
While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not of limitation. Likewise, the various diagrams may depict an example architectural or other configuration for the invention, which is done to aid in understanding the features and functionality that can be included in the invention. The invention is not restricted to the illustrated example architectures or configurations, but the desired features can be implemented using a variety of alternative architectures and configurations. Indeed, it will be apparent to one of skill in the art how alternative functional, logical or physical partitioning and configurations can be implemented to implement the desired features of the present invention. Also, a multitude of different constituent module names other than those depicted herein can be applied to the various partitions. Additionally, with regard to flow diagrams, operational descriptions and method claims, the order in which the steps are presented herein shall not mandate that various embodiments be implemented to perform the recited functionality in the same order unless the context dictates otherwise.
Although the invention is described above in terms of various exemplary embodiments and implementations, it should be understood that the various features, aspects and functionality described in one or more of the individual embodiments are not limited in their applicability to the particular embodiment with which they are described, but instead can be applied, alone or in various combinations, to one or more of the other embodiments of the invention, whether or not such embodiments are described and whether or not such features are presented as being a part of a described embodiment. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments.
Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations thereof, unless otherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open ended as opposed to limiting. As examples of the foregoing: the term “including” should be read as meaning “including, without limitation” or the like; the term “example” is used to provide exemplary instances of the item in discussion, not an exhaustive or limiting list thereof; the terms “a” or “an” should be read as meaning “at least one,” “one or more” or the like; and adjectives such as “conventional,” “traditional,” “normal,” “standard,” “known” and terms of similar meaning should not be construed as limiting the item described to a given time period or to an item available as of a given time, but instead should be read to encompass conventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologies that may be available or known now or at any time in the future. Likewise, where this document refers to technologies that would be apparent or known to one of ordinary skill in the art, such technologies encompass those apparent or known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in the future.
The presence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “at least,” “but not limited to” or other like phrases in some instances shall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or required in instances where such broadening phrases may be absent. The use of the term “module” does not imply that the components or functionality described or claimed as part of the module are all configured in a common package. Indeed, any or all of the various components of a module, whether control logic or other components, can be combined in a single package or separately maintained and can further be distributed in multiple groupings or packages or across multiple locations.
Additionally, the various embodiments set forth herein are described in terms of exemplary block diagrams, flow charts and other illustrations. As will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading this document, the illustrated embodiments and their various alternatives can be implemented without confinement to the illustrated examples. For example, block diagrams and their accompanying description should not be construed as mandating a particular architecture or configuration.
