Walking cane holder apparatus

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6691722
  • Patent Number
    6,691,722
  • Date Filed
    Wednesday, June 19, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, February 17, 2004
    20 years ago
Abstract
A walking cane holder apparatus allows a walking cane to be removably attached to a person's clothing when not being used and also prevents the cane from falling to the ground when dropped by a user. The walking cane has a walking cane holding attachment having an elongated support member having first and second straps connected together. The first strap has a clothing fastener attached thereto and the second strap has a piece of hook and loop material attached thereto. A piece of hook and loop material is attached to the walking cane for releasably attaching the walking cane to the holding attachment second strap a piece of hook and loop material and has one end of an elongated, flexible, resilient cord attached thereto. The resilient cord has a piece of hook and loop material attached to the other end thereof. The elongated support member can be removably attached to a person's clothing and the elongated flexible resilient cord hook and loop member can be removably attached to the second strap piece of hook and loop material to allow the walking cane to be held by the cord if the cane is dropped. The cane can also be supported to a person when not in use by the hook and loop member attached to the walking cane being removably attached to the second member piece of hook and loop material.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




Many individuals who require the help of a cane when walking do not have the ability to recover a cane when it is accidentally dropped or misplaced. They may be lacking in agility or vision or both. To assist those individuals, it would useful to provide a means for recovering the drop of a cane that would not interfere with the use of the cane and that would not be displaced by the motions involved in walking with a cane. In addition, after arriving at a chosen destination, many cane users will need to store their cane in a location where it will remain until needed. The storage may be temporary, such as while writing a check or performing some other temporary function, and in many cases, there is no readily available place to temporarily store the cane while performing a simple function.




In U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,730, a belt mounted retractable leash is attached to the cane to enable the user of the cane to retrieve the cane if accidentally misplaced or dropped. This device utilizes a spring-loaded pulley that draws the cane towards a user's belt when the cane is released. This type of device leaves the hands unencumbered but tends to constantly pull the cane towards a user's waist.




In U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,385, a cane retrieval device includes a flexible linking member that retractably joins a cane to a wrist mounted attachment strap. A constant tension spring control positioning assembly allows placement of a tethered cane in a user's selected location remote from the user's hand while drawing the cane into a readily grasped orientation.




U.S. Pat. No. 781,629 shows an umbrellas, glove, or handkerchief holder which can be attached with a clip to a belt or to a person's jacket pocket for holding an umbrella, glove or handkerchief to a person's clothing.




These prior patents show the use of cane or umbrella holders which can be attached to a person's clothing or to the person's body. The prior cane holders use a retractable reel for holding the cane. There is a need for a simple cane holder which can support the cane to a person's clothing while the cane user is performing temporary functions, such as writing a check or the like, and which, at the same time, will allow the individual user to recover a cane when it is accidentally dropped or misplaced. It is accordingly an aim of the present invention to provide a walking cane holder which is useful in recovering a dropped or misplaced cane that will not interfere with the use of the cane and, at the same time, provide temporary storage for the cane attached to a user's clothing so as to free the hands of the cane user while performing these functions.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




A walking cane holder apparatus allows a walking cane to be removably attached to a person's clothing when not being used and also prevents the cane from falling to the ground when dropped by a user. The walking cane has a walking cane holding attachment having an elongated support member having first and second straps connected together. The first strap has a clothing fastener attached thereto and the second strap has a piece of hook and loop material attached thereto. A piece of hook and loop material is attached to the walking cane for releasably attaching the walking cane to the holding attachment second strap a piece of hook and loop material and has one end of an elongated, flexible, resilient cord attached thereto. The resilient cord has a piece of hook and loop material attached to the other end thereof. The elongated support member can be removably attached to a person's clothing and the elongated flexible resilient cord hook and loop member can be removably attached to the second strap piece of hook and loop material to allow the walking cane to be held by the cord if the cane is dropped. The cane can also be supported to a person when not in use by the hook and loop member attached to the walking cane being removably attached to the second member piece of hook and loop material.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the written description and the drawings in which:





FIG. 1

is a perspective view of a walking cane held to a person's clothing by a walking cane holder in accordance with the present invention;





FIG. 2

is a perspective view of the walking cane holder support strap;





FIG. 3

is a partial perspective view of a walking cane supported by the strap of

FIG. 2

to a person's clothing; and





FIG. 4

is an exploded perspective view of the walking cane holder and walking cane.











DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




Referring to the drawings

FIGS. 1-4

, a walking cane holding device


10


is shown in

FIG. 1

attached to garment or belt


11


of an individual


12


supporting a walking cane


13


. Walking cane


13


has a handle


14


and an extended barrel portion


15


and has a strip of hook and loop material


16


attached around the barrel portion


15


, as seen in

FIGS. 1 and 3

. The holding member


10


can be seen as having a strap


17


and a strap


18


connected together. The strap


17


has a plurality of openings


20


therein while the strap


18


has a belt loop member


21


. This allows the strap


17


to be slipped through loop


21


of the strap


18


and aligned with a stud or knob


22


which can be slipped into one of the plurality of holes


20


for holding the straps together. The plurality of holes


20


allow the straps


17


to be slid and adjusted to adjust the attached straps to any length desired. It also allows the strap


17


to be reversed and still attached to strap


18


. An O-ring


23


may also be utilized to hold the loose strap portion


24


of strap


18


adjacent the strap


17


. Strap


17


has a clothes fastener


25


attached thereto with a pivot pin


26


that allows it to rotate 180 degrees. The fastener


25


is a spring fastener which is opened by pushing the handle portion


27


to open the jaws


28


. The fastener


25


may also have a plastic tab


30


to retain the clip in the position shown. Thus, the fastener


25


can be in the position shown and can be attached to an individual's belt or garment as illustrated in

FIG. 1

or


3


and can be rotated 90 degrees and reversed for attaching to a person's shirt or other clothing. The strap


18


has an end portion


31


which is a generally arcuate portion for fitting the tubular shape of the cane


13


barrel portion


15


so that the cane will nest within the cane support portion


31


. The hook and loop strip


32


is mounted within the arcuate cane holding portion. The hook and loop strip


32


can have a second strip


33


which can all be one strip if desired. When the holding member


10


is attached to the clothing, as shown in

FIGS. 1 and 3

, the walking cane


13


can have the piece of hook and loop material


16


placed within the nesting arcuate support surface


31


as shown in

FIGS. 1 and 3

so that the hook and loop material


16


engages the hook and loop material


32


.




As more clearly seen in

FIG. 4

, the hook and loop material


16


wraps around the cane can initially be provided with a peel off cover


34


covering an adhesive surface


35


for wrapping around and attaching to the cane


13


and has a resilient flexible cord


36


attached thereto having a piece of hook and loop material


37


attached to one end. The hook and loop material


37


is attached to the hook and loop portion


33


so that when the cane is in use, the resilient cord, which can be an elastic cord or a bungy cord, is connected between the cane


13


and the cane holder attachment


10


while the cane is in use to allow the user to recover a dropped cane which is then supported by the flexible resilient cord


36


. By having the hook and loop piece


37


at one end forming the attachment with the hook and loop material


33


, the resilient cord


36


can be rapidly disconnected for storage of the cane or when the cane is not in use. Thus, the present walking cane holder advantageously allows the temporary storage or holding of the walking cane


13


to a person's belt or clothing, as shown in

FIGS. 1 and 3

, and then allows for the quick grasping of the cane when needed by the user and simultaneously allows for the recovery of a dropped cane when the resilient cord


16


is attached to the walking cane holder


10


. The walking cane holding device


10


stores on the cane with the hook and loop member


32


on the strap


18


attached to the hook and loop piece


16


on the cane ready for use the next time the cane is used.




It should be clear at this time that an elongated support member can be removably attached to a person's clothing which has an elongated flexible resilient cord having hook and loop material on one end for removably attaching to the elongated support member for recovering a dropped cane while the walking cane holding attachment can have an attachment for supporting the cane to the person's clothing when the cane is not in use with a hook and loop material attachment making the cane readily available and readily recoverable if dropped. However, the present invention is not to be construed as limited to the forms shown which are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.



Claims
  • 1. A walking cane holder comprising:a walking cane; a walking cane holding attachment having an elongated support member having at one end a fastener for attaching to a person's clothing and having a first piece of hook and loop material on the other end thereof; a second piece of hook and loop material attached to said walking cane for releasably attaching said walking cane to said holding attachment first piece of hook and loop material, said second piece of hook and loop material having one end of an elongated flexible member attached thereto and having a third piece of hook and loop material attached to the other end thereof; whereby said elongated support member can be removably attached to a person's clothing and said elongated flexible member third piece of hook and loop material can be removably attached to said elongated support member first piece of hook and loop material for holding said cane when dropped and whereby said cane can be supported to a person when not in use by said second piece of hook and loop material attached to said walking cane being removably attached to said elongated support member first piece of hook and loop material.
  • 2. The walking cane holder in accordance with claim 1 in which said walking cane holding attachment elongated support member has first and second straps connected together, said first strap having said clothing fastener attached thereto and said second strap having said first piece of hook and loop material attached thereto.
  • 3. The walking cane holder in accordance with claim 2 in which said walking cane holding attachment first and second straps are adjustably connected together to vary the length of said elongated support member.
  • 4. The walking cane holder in accordance with claim 2 in which said walking cane holding attachment first strap clothing fastener is a clip fastener rotatably attached thereto for positioning said first strap for attaching to a person's shirt or belt.
  • 5. The walking cane holder in accordance with claim 4 in which said walking cane holding attachment first strap is reversibly attachable to said second strap.
  • 6. The walking cane holder in accordance with claim 5 in which said walking cane holding attachment second strap has an arcuate surface on one end thereof having said first piece of hook and loop material attached thereto for nesting said cane therein when supported thereon.
  • 7. The walking cane holder in accordance with claim 1 in which said elongated flexible member is a resilient flexible cord.
  • 8. The walking cane holder in accordance with claim 5 in which said walking cane holding attachment first strap has a plurality of holes therein and said second strap has a protruding knob for selectively inserting into one of said plurality of openings in said first strap to hold said first and second straps together.
  • 9. The walking cane holder in accordance with claim 8 in which said walking cane holding attachment second strap has a loop thereon for sliding said first strap thereinto.
  • 10. The walking cane holder in accordance with claim 1 in which said second piece of hook and loop material is adhesively attached around said walking cane.
US Referenced Citations (9)
Number Name Date Kind
494123 Comins Mar 1893 A
781629 Ahlstrom Feb 1905 A
4884730 Carpenter Dec 1989 A
4958758 Tipple et al. Sep 1990 A
5964385 Simon Oct 1999 A
6000414 Crusor Dec 1999 A
6056173 Gillespie May 2000 A
6216319 Elkins Apr 2001 B1
6502283 Aguirre Jan 2003 B1
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number Date Country
2000-60614 Feb 2000 JP