Patent Application
20240335015
The present invention relates to novel umbrella carrying accessories. More particularly, the invention relates to umbrella bags that facilitate carrying dry or wet umbrellas without wetting the umbrella surroundings keeping the user's hands free while carrying the umbrella around.
Umbrellas are commonly carried by hand limiting the users' ability to use both hands for anything they might need to do. On rainy days, many stores and other facilities provide plastic bags at their entrance allowing customers to take wet umbrellas inside without wetting the floor to avoid risking slip and fall accidents. However, these plastic bags have some drawbacks. In some instances, the plastic bags break resulting in water spillage and the increased risk of slip and fall accidents. Additionally, these plastic bags must be carried by hand. This leads to the users having to put the plastic bag with the wet umbrella somewhere to be able to use their two hands, with the risk of forgetting the umbrella at the place it was put and therefore losing it.
Moreover, not all public places provide plastic bags for wet umbrellas. Instead, some venues have the only option of leaving the umbrellas in a common deposit at the entrance, with the consequent risk that the umbrella will be mistakenly taken by another customer when leaving the place. At some other locations, no option is offered to allow visitors to enter the premises with wet umbrellas.
Currently, there are a few models of umbrella bags available with limited functionality, which do not provide a solution to all the possible scenarios described herein. Therefore, the need exists for an umbrella bag that includes the functionalities required to solve all these problems.
The present invention comprises a bag capable of holding a dry or wet umbrella with no risk of water spillage while the user carries the bag keeping both hands free, avoiding the need to put the bag with the umbrella elsewhere. In preferred embodiments of this invention, the bag includes two sleeves: an inner sleeve with a collector that stores the water drained by a wet umbrella, and an outer sleeve that supports the straps to carry the bag with the umbrella. The inner sleeve can be turned inside out to facilitate drying, and one of the straps attached to the outer sleeve can be adjusted in length and positioned in two different configurations so that the bag can be carried in several different ways by the user.
Some embodiments of the present invention are illustrated as an example and are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references may indicate similar elements and in which:
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well as the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
In describing the invention, it will be understood that a number of techniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefit and each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in some cases all, of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sake of clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possible combination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion. Nevertheless, the specification should be read with the understanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope of the invention.
New bags for carrying umbrellas, their capabilities and features are discussed herein. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.
The present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated by the figures or description below.
The present invention will now be described by referencing the appended figures representing preferred embodiments.
In preferred embodiments, the Bag comprises two sleeves made of waterproof fabric. The sleeves are put one inside the other and joined at the top by a seam to create an Outer Sleeve (113,
In preferred embodiments, the Bottom Seam (102) supports two fixed straps, the Front Strap (104,
The lower end of the Double End Swivel Buckle (107) is connected to an Adjustable Strap (108,
The Swivel Hook (110) can be disconnected from the Lower D-Ring Buckle (111) and connected to the Front D-Ring Buckle (105), positioning the Adjustable Strap (108) in a handle type fashion above the Bag's entrance as shown in
In other embodiments of this invention, the Front D-Ring Buckle (105) and the Lower D-Ring Buckle (111) may be of a shape different than a D-Ring, as long as they allow easy anchoring and un-anchoring of the Swivel Hook (110).
The buckles may be made of plastic, non-ferrous metals, alloys, composites, or other water-resistant material. The straps may be made of polyester, polypropylene, or other flexible, water-resistant material.
In the particular embodiment described herein, the lower end of the Inner Sleeve (115) is affixed inside the Water Collector (116,
In preferred embodiments of this invention, when the Snap Ring (117) is put on the bottom of the Inner Sleeve (115), and both are pushed inside the Water Collector (116), the Conical Mounting Wall (116A,
The Snap Ring (117) can be compressed thanks to its Radial Opening (117B,
The Water Collector (116) has the following additional functionalities: (i) gives support to the Inner Sleeve (115) and protects the Outer Sleeve (113) so that the tip of the umbrella cannot pierce them. (ii) provides a defined shape to the bottom of the Bag, (iii) aids the user turn the Inner Sleeve (115) inside out to facilitate drying and (iv) aids the user push the Inner Sleeve (115), once dried, to its normal position inside the Outer Sleeve (113).
The Water Collector (116) and the Snap Ring (117) may be made of plastic, non-ferrous metals, alloys, composites, or other water-resistant material.
While preferred materials for each element have been described, the Bag described herein is not limited by these materials. Plastics, rubber, fabrics, foam, metal alloys, aluminum, and other materials may comprise some or all of the elements of the Bag in various embodiments of the present invention.
An important version of the invention can be fairly described as an umbrella bag for holding, carrying and storing an umbrella comprising, among other features, an outer sleeve, an inner sleeve, a collector and a strap. The outer sleeve has an open first end, a closed second end and a tubular medial segment between the ends of the outer sleeve. The inner sleeve has an open first end, a closed second end and a tubular medial segment between the ends of the inner sleeve. The inner sleeve and the outer sleeve are substantially the same length. The inner sleeve may be slightly shorter so that it can fit inside the outer sleeve. The inner sleeve is dimensioned to contain a preselected closed umbrella, such as a common rain umbrella. A collar is affixed to the outer sleeve first end and the collar maintains the outer sleeve first end substantially circularly open, so the interior of the inner sleeve is accessible for placement of the umbrella. The inner sleeve first end is affixed to the outer sleeve first end. The inner sleeve is disposed within the outer sleeve, being essentially a liner for the outer sleeve. The inner sleeve is water-resistant to contain the moisture of the wet umbrella. A first attachment point (for example a D ring or clip point) is affixed to an exterior of the outer sleeve first end at a back side. A second attachment point is affixed to the exterior of the outer sleeve first end at a front side. A third attachment point is affixed to an exterior of the outer sleeve second end at a back side. In an alternate version of the design there is only one attachment point at each end of the outer sleeve. A first end of the strap connects to the first attachment point and a second end of the strap selectively connects to any one of: the second attachment point or the third attachment point. In an alternate version of the device both the first end and the second end of the strap connect to a single attachment point near the open end of the outer sleeve. The collector has an interior volume bounded by an open first end and a closed second end. Generally, the collector can hold a volume of water shed from a wet umbrella inside the device. The collector is attached to the second end of the inner sleeve. Optionally, the closed umbrella having a canopy between a tip end and a handle end wherein the tip end of the closed umbrella is inserted through the collar and into the inner sleeve and the tip end is seated into a guide affixed inside the collector concentric with the collector and the canopy is entirely within the inner sleeve. Optionally, the guide includes one or more vents to aid evaporation of moisture in the collector. Optionally, the outer sleeve is water-resistant or waterproof to keep moisture from the umbrella inside the inner sleeve and thereby keeping the user dry. Optionally, the strap has an adjustable length.
Although the present invention has been illustrated and described herein with reference to preferred embodiments and specific examples thereof, it will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments and examples may perform similar functions and/or achieve like results. All such equivalent embodiments and examples are within the spirit and scope of the present invention and are contemplated thereby.
