Patent Application
20220047048
The present invention positions itself as functional jewelry as well as a clothing accessory. While the device can address a pain point for carrying objects such as keys while performing activities such as surfing, paddle boarding, dancing, it can be worn without any specific activity in mind and without storing anything in the device. The device fulfills a functional need while also enhancing the look of the clothing in terms of glamour and sex appeal.
While the invention is more generic than the application in the use case described below, the intention of describing the water activity use case is to provide a reader a clear understanding of how this invention serves the market in a way it hasn't been served before. However, this is just one example of the use of the invention.
People around the world love water or other activities but often don't have a place to store their car key, car key fob or residential key in a way that accessible, fashionable and on-person. A lot of solutions exist on the market that offer key storage and are too technical, bulky and/or unattractive. They are either built for storing too many objects, they require a storage mechanism that cannot be carried with the owner of the valuable or could be hacked into in the owner's absence. Outside existing solutions, men and women around the world have come up with many creative albeit inconvenient and unsafe solutions to hide their keys such as hiding it under the car, in the sand, around their neck using a chain, leave the key with someone at shore who might not be available when the key owner gets back, etc.
However, there isn't one unique solution designed specifically for bathing suits that serves the function of on-person storage without compromising the glamour and sex appeal of the bathing suit/bikini. The purpose of the invention is to fulfill a market need by using areas of clothing fabric where a device storage can be attached in a permanent or removable manner. While swimwear and specifically the string on string bikinis present one such use of the invention, the device can also be attached to crop tops, dresses, bras, underwear, pants, shorts, blouses, etc.
The focus of this invention is to allow people to keep their small personal objects safe with them at all times on the water while looking glamorous and enhancing one of the purposes of the modern day bathing suit, which is sex appeal. The goal is to provide a simple, elegant and glamorous on-person jewelry solution to store valuable objects.
The drawings are not made to scale with respect to the clothing and as such, dimensions in the drawings shouldn't be interpreted literally.
Since illustrations are more effective than words when describing a concept with strong visual elements, the purpose of the enclosed drawings is to help the reader not only conceptualize the invention but to also get a tangible perception of what it looks like and what need it serves. The detailed embodiments in the illustrations, however, are to be interpreted as examples of the invention, as opposed to an exhaustive list of permutations and combinations comprising parts of the invention, as building such a list is not permissible by various constraints.
The bottom of the device (2) has an optional ring structure/bale to which a split ring or jump ring (2a) can attached for enhancing the look with a charm (3) or multiple charms. The split ring (1a), in this case, links the clasp (1) to the storage device (2) holding it securely. The hook portion of the clasp (1) as well as the split ring (1a) is wide enough so that the storage device rests against the upper belly without twisting or turning. An optional charm, in this case a black pearl (3) dangles below the storage device. It should be noted that here that clutch-like clasps are only one example of how the device can be secured and opened. Other mechanism that offer similar results are zippers, levers, folding/unfolding, buttons, etc., which may be present in various embodiments of the invention. It should be noted that 1a and 2a are interchangeable with other types of hardware or can be skipped altogether if any combination of 1, 2, 3 can be attached together in other way such as welding, glue, etc.
The drawing further demonstrates a miniature clutch-like shell-shaped purse device. The device as illustrated in
Instead of having its own bale or attachment ring, the storage device may be constructed to reuse the bale/attachment ring/hardware of the object itself if objects such as key fobs provide an area through which a connector can be attached. The evolution of the storage device might consider these kinds of factors so the device and storage objects can be integrated in a more seamless manner and the device only focuses on sealing everything in its container except the object's bale. Connector hardware can then be used to interface with the clothing through the bale.
Continuing the description of
As described above, functional, structural, aesthetic components described herein are not to be interpreted as limiting but to provide a few sample representations and uses of the invention from a larger population of use cases.
Furthermore, any and all terms/phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting but rather to provide an conceptual as well as visual description of the invention.
The storage device can be constructed from materials that may be described as low-end, high-end or anywhere in between to be purely functional, fashionable or both. For instance, the storage device can be made from something as plain as plastic in a square shape or as upscale as a velvet rose-shaped purse with room inside for storage constructed from titanium with a mother-of-pearl exterior coating or engraved in precious stones.
A similar principle applies to how the device is attached to the clothing. The attachment can be permanent (welding, gluing, sewing, screwing in) or removable such as clasps, magnets, hooks, clips, rings made from material that ranges in quality and price range.
The attachment hardware can be constructed from metal such as steel, silver, gold, aluminum and nickel or something comparatively inexpensive such as plastic or resin. The hardware can be secured in a permanent or non-permanent manner from the storage device as the hardware can be jump rings, split rings, magnets or welded, glued, attached with screws or the myriad other existing or emerging connector solutions.
The invention can include any number of different lengths and widths depending on user preference. In
Also, the invention is extensible to have either one charm or multiple charms anywhere below or above the storage device, or no charms at all. The device is not limited to the use of any single type of connector, as any number of different components capable of removably securing the device to the space in the clothing area that allows for dangling can be utilized herein.
There are no limitations to the number, order, color, shape, material, size, texture, pattern, image on the hardware, storage device or charms. As described herein, known methods of attachments are not limited but a few examples are screws, zips, clips, glue, compression fittings and welds, from a superset of hardware. As to a further description of the manner and use of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing certain embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
