1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a utility belt system and, more specifically, to an ergonomic convenient-to-use retainer for detachably attaching an accessory to a modular/customizable utility belt.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tool bags and/or belt-supported pouches for carrying nails, screws, bolts and other tools are well known in the industry. Typically, a “tool belt” is a belt having a number of pouches and/or tool holders fixedly or permanently attached to the belt. However, since no two people are alike or perform their tasks in the same way, the preferred locations, sizes and shapes of the pouches and tool holders vary according to the tradesperson and the task at hand. Accordingly, there is a need for a tool belt that can be easily modified to suit the individual and the task at hand.
Numerous tool bags and tool belts have been proposed that have removable or interchangeable pouches or tool holders. However, these tool bags have offered a limited range of adjustability, and the pouches and tool holders can be easily knocked off of the belt, causing nails, screws, bolts and/or tools to fall and possibly scatter. This is especially dangerous when a person is working at a higher level and other people are below him or her.
The known tool belts have also exhibited disadvantages in the ways in which pouches or object-receiving receptacles are added, removed or interchanged. As suggested, such receptacles have typically been permanently attached to the tool belts. When removable, these items have been inconvenient, difficult or awkward to attach or detach from the tool belt, especially when the pouches or receptacles are large, bulky or heavy. With most tool belts, pouches are provided with loops through which the belts can be threaded. With such tool belts, pouches or receptacles can be removed only by opening the belt and sliding all the pouches off one or the other end of the belt. Examples of such tool belts are described in U.S. Design Pat. No. D302,489 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,105. Other patents disclose the use of various fasteners, such as snaps, hook and loop tape (e.g., “VELCRO”) and the like. These fasteners frequently make it difficult, if not impossible, to detach the pouch, especially if one has to do this with one hand while the other hand is occupied. The fasteners are typically behind the pouches, which means that they must be released or forcibly separated or pulled apart, with the user's force moving in a direction substantially away from the user. And most tool belts are not intended to facilitate the attachment, detachment or interchange of pouches in the context of difficult or complicated conditions, such as while climbing a ladder, stretched out under a car, crouched in a tight space, etc.
Accordingly, is an object of the invention to provide a utility belt system that overcomes the disadvantages of prior art tool belts.
It is another object of the invention to provide an accessory retainer for a utility belt system that is simple in construction and economical to manufacture.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an accessory retainer for a utility belt system that is easy and convenient to use.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a retainer for a utility belt system, one that is modular and can be highly customized to the preferences of the user.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a retainer for a utility belt system which can be conveniently used by allowing the user to quickly and easily release a pouch or receptacle with the fingers of the user for lifting the same off of the tool belt.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a retainer for a utility belt system that allows the pouches or receptacles supported thereby to be easily and conveniently separated and lifted off of the tool belt.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide a retainer clip for a utility belt system in accordance with the previous objects, one that allows a user to sadd, remove or interchange pouches or object-receptacles with ease and convenience substantially independently of the sizes, shapes or weights of such pouches or receptacles.
In order to achieve the above objects and others that will become evident to those skilled in the art, a retainer is provided for detachably connecting an accessory to a tool belt in the form of an elongate flexible strap defining an upper edge when the strap is worn by a user. The retainer comprises a gripping portion configured to be gripped by the fingers of a user and positioned in proximity to the strap's upper edge when supported on the strap. The gripping portion is associated with, or forms part of, and supports an accessory to be detachably connected to the strap. Attachment means is provided for detachably connecting said gripping portion to the strap and for removing said gripping portion and associated accessory from the strap by engagement of said gripping portion by the fingers of the user and lifting said gripping portion in a generally upward direction relative to the strap. According to one feature of the invention, said attachment means may include a locking means for selectively locking said gripping portion to said attaching means and to the strap, and releasing means in proximity of said gripping portion being provided for selectively releasing the locking engagement of said locking means by activation by the user's finger of said releasing means substantially contemporaneously while lifting the accessory by means of said gripping portion.
The features of the present invention are disclosed in the detailed description and in the drawings, in which:
Referring now for the Figures, in which similar or identical parts are identified by the same reference numerals throughout, and first referring to
The belt utility system 10 includes a generally flexible flat belt or strap 12 provided with an upper edge 12a and a lower edge 12b. Referring also to
Referring to
An important feature of the invention is the provision of a gripping portion 18 formed at the top of the support body 16, which is configured to be gripped by the fingers of a user. While the specific shape or configuration of the gripping portion 18 is not critical, the gripping portion preferably includes at least a portion that extends in a direction opposite to the direction of the rear side of the support body 16 on which the ribs 16b are provided. In this way, the gripping portion can be easily and conveniently gripped by the fingers of the user when the support body 16 is attached to or separated from the belt or strap 12.
The support body 16 may be attached to the strap 12 in a number of different ways. Thus, the support body 16 may be simply removably engaged to the strap 12 without a locking mechanism that would prevent inadvertent separation of the support body from the belt, or with a locking mechanism ensures that the support body 16 can only separate from the belt 12 when the user takes a positive action to release the support body.
In
The clip system 10 includes, in addition to the support body 16, a mole snap-lock member hook 22, the details of which are best shown in
Similarly, the support body 16 can be lockingly engaged with the snap-lock member 22 by aligning the channel 24 with the resilient finger 72a and lowering the support body 16 in a generally downward motion, as suggested by the arrow 26 in
An important feature of the invention is to provide a release element or button that is conveniently positioned to unlock or release the snap-lock resilient finger from the locked position shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, a gripping portion 18 extends in a direction generally away from the direction of the strap, when worn by the user, to facilitate gripping by the fingers of the user, whether the accessory is mounted on the front of the user or in the back of the user. As best shown, for example, in
While the spring finger 22a is received behind the substantially fixed panel portion 34, the rest of the clip 22 is received within recess R (
Referring to
As indicated, numerous snap-lock designs may be used to achieve the objects of the present invention. However, regardless of the specific design used, each of the designs in accordance with the present invention provides the same facility, convenience and ease of use. Attaching a pouch, receptacle or other accessory to a tool or utility belt, removing or separating it from that belt, or sharing such items among users is made significantly easier. In each case, the user can access and easily grip the pouch, receptacle or accessory, regardless of whether it is positioned in front or in back on his or her belt, as long as he or she can place the fingers on the easily accessible gripping portion 18 at the top of such units.
In
Mechanism B includes a snap-lock arrangement 80, which includes a belt-retention member 82, similar to the one shown in
Mechanism C includes a post 92 that forms part of the snap-lock arrangement L and is attached to the belt or strap. A pulling force on the tab or button 32 causes the detent to move out of the shown slot or groove, which is formed in the post 92, allowing the panel to be lifted when an upward-pulling force is applied to the gripping portion.
It will appreciated that in each of the examples shown, mechanisms A-C, all have a tab or release button 32 in close proximity to the gripping portion 18, so that placement of a user's fingers on the gripping portion also allows simultaneous application of a force on the tab or release button 32 by one or more fingers to release a snap-lock arrangement. Once such release has been effected, the user's fingers can pull, generally upwardly, to separate the support body 16 and any pouch or receptacle mounted thereon, from that portion of the clip arrangement that remains attached to the belt.
While it is an advantage in the use of a snap-lock arrangement, as described above, so that the pouch or receptacle cannot be inadvertently separated from the tool belt or strap, there may be instances in which simpler constructions can be used where a locking feature may not be necessary or essential. Other considerations, such as financial ones, may dictate a simpler construction. In
Mechanism D illustrates a simple clip arrangement 100 having a spring clip 102 folded over on itself and having a front leg 103 attached in any suitable way to support body 16 by means of, for examples, rivets 104. The lower end of the free leg may be curved rearwawrdly as shown to facilitate slipping over a strap of the tool belt. As with the other embodiments, the gripping portion 18 is situated at the upper end of the support body 16. The same is true for mechanism E, in which a simple clip 110 is shown in which a rigid flap 112 has a upper portion 113 thereof fixedly attached to the support body 16 by means of rivets or other fasteners 114, and the lower, depending finger being inclined outwardly as shown to facilitate insertion of a strap or belt under the flap 112. Except for the locking feature, mechanisms D and E function in ways similar to mechanism A-C except that the former do not have an additional button or snap 42 for releasing a snap-lock mechanism. Accordingly, referring to
It will be evident to those skilled in the art that while the retainer system described above utilizes a separate support body 16, to which a soft or flexible pouch is secured in any suitable way, such as fasteners, through holes H (
It will be clear that the utility belt system 10 of the present invention is designed to make the daily tasks of carrying and using tools and other supplies easy, fast and customizable to individual needs. The system allows the user to organize the apparatus to suit his or her own preference—secured to the belt by means of a snap lock and provided with a finger-gripping portion that includes a quick-release mechanism, tools and supplies of the user's own choice can be detached, attached, organized, shared and transported—as many or as few as desired. Each user, therefore, can construct the invention in his or her own way. In short, this system gives the end-user the freedom to accomplish tasks as he or she wants to do so. It allows users to create systems to support their daily routines in an efficient and convenient way.
Existing tool belts in the marketplace provide a very limited choice of arrangements and accessories. The utility belt system of the present invention provides a wide range of advantages over these tool belts: the present invention accommodates the needs of tradespeople in different fields of hand work, such as framing, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, finishing, auto mechanics and many others.
The unique finger-gripping portions that form part of the carry clip allow the user to lighten a load by taking off pouches when these are not essential or when the user has to crawl or climb. And sometimes it is necessary to share tools or supplies. With the present invention, this is easily achieved: a given pouch or receptacle can simply be taken off and handed to a colleague without undoing a belt and without regard to whether the pouch is in front or at the back of the user. Simply by lifting the finger-gripping portion the pouch can be separated from the belt. When a snap-lock arrangement forms part of the carry clip, the user can conveniently and easily apply pressure to an ergonomically positioned snap-releasing tab or button and simultaneously unlock the pouch and lift and separate it from the belt. This is extremely convenient as the user can perform these functions manually in just one single step. This ergonomic unlocking motion is a natural and easy one.
The belt can be configured to retailers' customer base and their selling strategy. The target uses for this product are do-it-yourself (DIY), handyman, finishers, professional contractors, electricians, plumbers, craftsmen and many other tradesmen.
While this invention has been described in detail with particular reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that variations and modifications will be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention as described herein and as defined in the appended claims.