Abstract:
A waistbelt for stabilizing a load, the load potentially carried within a backpack. The waistbelt may be worn around a user&#39;s waist and fastened together by a locking buckle. The waistbelt may be attached to a backpack, as part of a backpack system, by straps that are directly affixed to the waistbelt. The waistbelt may comprise padding that rests on the user&#39;s hips. A support region of the waistbelt can minimize shifting and swaying of the load carried in a backpack. The support region of the waistbelt may be extendable, and may be extended by movably attached waistbelt extensions. The waistbelt extensions may reduce reliance upon provide extendable support for varying waist sizes. The waistbelt extensions may reduce reliance upon support from buckling straps, thereby potentially reducing chafing, abrasions, and fatigue to the user.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates in general to waistbelts and, more particularly, to an extendable waistbelt for supporting a backpack on a person&#39;s waist. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Backpacks are well known and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Often a backpack system may have a waistbelt for stabilizing a load contained with the backpack. Such waistbelts are typically constructed of fabric and may provide fabric compression straps that may be sewn directly to the waistbelts. Such compression straps can be attached to a backpack with a common fastener, such as sliding three-bar buckles located on the backpack. Most waistbelts also have fabric buckling straps that may be sewn directly to the waistbelt and may be tightened to allow a user to fasten and tighten the waistbelt securely around the user&#39;s waist. The buckling straps are often threaded through sliding three-bar buckle fasteners, however, other fasteners may be used. Many waistbelts are padded for the user&#39;s comfort and offer support for at least some of the weight of the backpack on the user&#39;s hips. When fit and worn properly, the waistbelt may reduce shifting and swaying of the backpack load on the user&#39;s hips and waist, thereby stabilizing the load. 
     Previous waistbelts may have included a padded portion on the waistbelt to support the load of the backpack. The padded portion allows the user to comfortably support the load of the backpack on the user&#39;s waist that might not otherwise be possible with bare straps. Such previous attempts at padded portions of waistbelts are usually made with a single, non-adjustable length. Previous waistbelts may include buckling straps which are sewn directly to the terminal ends of the waistbelt and the waistbelt is adjusted to fit various waist sizes by sliding the sliding three-bar buckle fasteners along some portion of the lengths of the buckling straps. Due to the single, non-adjustable length of the padded portion of the waistbelt, there may be many instances in which the padded portion of the waistbelt on the belt itself does not sufficiently surround the user&#39;s waist. Thus, the buckling straps themselves, may have to support a significant amount of the backpack weight, transferring the load from the straps to the user&#39;s hips and waist, which can be very uncomfortable. For example, a person with a larger waist size may be forced to place the sliding three-bar buckle fasteners farther from the belt and padded portion and toward distal ends of the buckling strap to effect a lengthening of the belt. Therefore, a larger portion of the backpack load gets supported on the person&#39;s waist and hips by the uncomfortable buckling straps instead of being supported by the more comfortable waistbelt padded portion. 
     Adequate support and stability as that of the padded portion of previous waistbelts may not be achieved by the buckling straps. The load that is carried in the backpack may shift and sway substantially. Once the load begins to shift and sway, the waistbelt may become uncomfortable and cause fatigue. Moreover, as previous waistbelts rub against the user&#39;s body, the waistbelt may cause chafing and abrasions. 
     Many suppliers and retailers of more upscale backpacks have attempted to address problems of past attempts by providing different lengths of waistbelts, which can be installed on particular backpacks to custom fit the backpacks with waistbelts that may match more closely the size of a user&#39;s waist. But this solution has it drawbacks, not the least of which is the necessity of having to carry an inventory of more waistbelts in order to meet the custom sizing requirements. Also a person with a smaller waist cannot wear a backpack fitted with a larger sized waistbelt, so there is little versatility in this approach. 
     Hence, there is a need for an adjustable waistbelt that offers support to users with different waist sizes, such that the backpack load is stabilized and distributed comfortably around a particular user&#39;s waist and hips. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is a general object of the present invention to provide support to a user carrying a backpack. 
     It is a more specific object of this invention to limit shifting and swaying of a backpack load by providing a more comfortable and supportive waistbelt. 
     It is also a more specific object of this invention to variably extend the length of the waistbelt at which support and comfort are provided by telescoping the length of the waistbelt at terminal ends of the waistbelt. 
     Yet another more specific object of this invention is to prevent chafing and abrasions to a user who would normally have to rely on buckling straps for support. 
     Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention shall be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following description or may be learned by the practice of the invention. The objects and the advantages may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and in combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. 
     To achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, one embodiment of the present invention may comprise the waistbelt comprising waistbelt inserts that reside in pockets formed in the terminal ends of the waistbelt. The waistbelt inserts may be movably affixed to the terminal ends by means of sliding three-bar buckles attached directly to the waistbelt inserts. Buckling straps that are affixed to the terminal ends of the waistbelt may then be pulled through the sliding three-bar buckles to provide a movable attachment. Adjustment of the sliding three-bar buckle along the length of the buckling strap can then extend the length of the waistbelt. 
     To achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the waistbelt may alternatively be comprised of straps that harness the waistbelt extensions at the terminal ends of the waistbelt. The waistbelt extensions may be movably affixed to the terminal ends by means of sliding three-bar buckles attached directly to the waistbelt extensions. Buckling straps that are affixed to the waistbelt so as not to preclude a telescoping motion of the waistbelt extensions may then be pulled through the sliding three-bar buckles to provide a movable attachment. Adjustment of the sliding three-bar buckle along the length of the buckling strap can then extend the length of the waistbelt. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows a view of the waistbelt embodiment as worn on a user carrying a backpack; 
     FIG. 2 shows an isometric view of an embodiment of the waistbelt; 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a profile view of the waistbelt embodiment as would be seen exterior to the user; 
     FIG. 4 illustrates a profile view of the waistbelt embodiment as would be seen adjacent to the user; 
     FIG. 5 illustrates a profile view of a terminal end of the waistbelt embodiment to include the waistbelt insert; 
     FIG. 6 illustrates a cross sectional view of the terminal end of the waistbelt embodiment as shown in FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 7 illustrates a profile view of a terminal end of a further waistbelt embodiment to include a waistbelt extension. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     An extendable waistbelt  10  according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 1 supporting a backpack  11  on a person&#39;s waist and hips. The extendable waistbelt  10  is padded and surrounds most of the person&#39;s waist. Padding for the belt is situated on a person&#39;s hips when worn and may be sewn within the waistbelt  10  or attached to the waistbelt  10  as pads. The waistbelt  10 , as shown, comprises padding sewn within the waistbelt  10  to form a padded region  28 . The waistbelt  10  in combination with the padded region  28  support the load of back pack  11  and distributes the load evenly and comfortably to the person&#39;s waist and hips. Buckling straps  14  and  15  are respectively affixed to terminal ends, such as terminal end  19 , of the waistbelt  10  and are used to fasten and retain the waistbelt  10  around the person&#39;s waist. Any suitable fastener, such as the sliding three-bar locking buckle  18 ,  20 , can be used to fasten and secure the buckling straps  14  and  15 . Compression straps, such as compression  34 , are also attached directly to the waistbelt  10  for attaching to the backpack  11 . The compression straps assist in the stabilization of the load carried in backpack  11 . 
     Waistbelt inserts, such as waistbelt insert  12 , are fitted into pockets formed in the terminal ends of the waistbelt  10 . The waistbelt insert  12  is movably attached to the buckling strap using a sliding three-bar buckle, such as sliding three-bar buckle  16  as shown on the buckling strap  14 . Attached to the sliding three-bar buckle  16  is a fabric loop  24  that renders leverage to the user for adjusting the waistbelt  10 . The waistbelt insert  12  makes it possible for the user to extend the waistbelt  10  as to render additional support in the event of a larger waist size. 
     An isometric view of the extendable waistbelt  10  is shown in FIG.  2 . The waistbelt  10  comprises a belt band  23 , labeled as an encircled  23 , that further comprises three regions, two padded regions  28  and  29  and an unpadded region  30 . Compression straps  34 ,  36 , and  44  are directly attached to the padded region  28  and compression straps  38 ,  40 , and  42  are directly attached to the padded region  29  for further attachment, such as the compression strap  34  to the backpack  11  as shown in FIG.  1 . From this view it can be seen that buckling straps  14  and  15  are respectively attached to the terminal ends  19  and  21  of the belt band  23 . Pockets are fashioned into the terminal ends  19  and  21  of the belt band  23  and are used to respectively hold the waistbelt inserts  12  and  13 . The waistbelt inserts  12  and  13  have sliding three-bar buckles  16  and  17  respectively attached to surfaces of the waistbelt inserts  12  and  13 . Although the buckling straps  14  and  15  are respectively attached to the terminal ends  19  and  21 , the buckling straps could be attached to the belt band  23  in a variety of other means to produce essentially the same result. The buckling straps  14  and  15  are respectively woven through the sliding three-bar buckles  16  and  17  to respectively provide a movable attachment for the waistbelt inserts  12  and  13 . Fabric loops  24  and  25  are respectively attached to the sliding three-bar buckles  16  and  17  and assist the user in adjustment of the respective waistbelt inserts  12  and  13 . By pulling on the fabric loops  24  and  25 , which respectively pulls the waistbelt inserts  12  and  13 , the user can extend the length of the waistbelt  10 . 
     The buckling straps  14  and  15  provide attachment to secure the waistbelt  10  to the user&#39;s waist. A locking mechanism, comprising sliding three-bar locking buckle  18 ,  20 , provides the attachment of buckling strap  14  to buckling strap  15 . However, it should be noted that the attachment of buckling strap  14  to buckling strap  15  could be fashioned in a myriad of ways, such as simply tying the buckling straps  14  and  15  together. The sliding three-bar locking buckle  18 ,  20  is further comprised of a sliding three-bar lock insert  18  and a sliding three-bar lock  20 . The sliding three-bar lock insert  18  is movably attached to the buckling strap  14  by weaving the buckling strap  14  through the sliding three-bar lock insert  18 . Similarly, buckling strap  15  is woven through the sliding three-bar lock  20 . Respective adjustments of the sliding three-bar lock insert  18  and the sliding three-bar lock  20  serve to tighten the waistbelt  10 . 
     Turning to FIG. 3 is a profile view of the waistbelt  10  embodiment as would be seen exterior to the user. The profile view shows the belt band  23 , again labeled as an encircled  23 , comprised of the two padded regions  28  and  29  and the unpadded region  30 . The unpadded region  30  separates the two padded regions  28  and  29 . This illustration shows an exemplary embodiment, however, other embodiments of the belt band  23  could include only a single padded region or even comprise more than two padded regions. Also illustrated is the approximate placement of compression straps  34 ,  36 , and  42  on padded region  28  and compression straps  38 ,  40 , and  44  on padded region  29 . It should be noted that the placement and number of the compression straps, such as compression straps  34 ,  36 ,  42 ,  38 ,  40 , and  44 , could be varied to make the waistbelt  10  compatible with a variety of backpack products. Pockets  46  and  47  are respectively fashioned into the terminal ends  19  and  21  and are used to respectively harness the waistbelt inserts  12  and  13 . As stated, the waistbelt inserts  12  and  13  are respectively and movably attached to the terminal ends  19  and  21  of the belt band  23 . The movable attachments are procured through the use of sliding three-bar buckles  16  and  17  being respectively attached to the buckling straps  14  and  15 . The sliding three-bar lock insert  18  is movably attached to the buckling strap  15  and the sliding three-bar lock  20  is movably attached to the buckling strap  14 . The sliding three-bar lock insert  18  and sliding three-bar lock  20  form the sliding three-bar locking buckle  18 ,  20  when fastened together. 
     FIG. 4 shows a view of the waistbelt  10  that shows a surface that is worn adjacent to the user. Again, the pockets  46  and  47  are respectively located at the terminal ends  19  and  21 . The pockets  46  and  47  are viewed as dotted lines to illustrate that the pockets  46  and  47  are located within the respective terminal ends  19  and  21  of the padded regions  28  and  29 . 
     A waistbelt insert  12  according to the present invention is viewed in FIG.  5  and is shown as inserted into the pocket  46  formed in the terminal end  19  of the belt band  23 . The waistbelt inserts  12  and  13  are similar in design, as are the pockets  46  and  47 , and the terminal ends  19  and  21 . For simplicity, the waistbelt insert  12  will be discussed as it is harnessed by the pocket  46  of terminal end  19 . The waistbelt insert  12  comprises sliding three-bar buckle  16  directly affixed to a surface of the waist belt insert  12 . The fabric loop  24  is attached to the sliding three-bar buckle  16 . The buckling strap  14  is attached to the terminal end  19  of the belt band  23 . The buckling strap  14  is woven through the sliding three-bar buckle  16  and provides a movable attachment to the waistbelt insert  12 . The waistbelt insert  12  is held within the pocket  46  of terminal end  19 . Pocket  46  allows the waistbelt insert  12  to telescope in and out of the pocket  46  while being movably attached to the buckling strap  14 . To telescope the waistbelt insert  12  out of the pocket  46 , and thus lengthen the waistbelt  10 , the user might pull on the fabric loop  24  in a direction away from the terminal end  19  of the belt band  23 . To telescope the waistbelt insert  12  into the pocket  46 , the user might pull the sliding three-bar buckles towards the terminal end  19  of the belt band  23 . An alternative embodiment of the invention might have an additional fabric loop to assist the user in pulling the sliding three-bar buckle towards the direction of the terminal end of the belt band  23 . A cross-sectional view better illustrates that which is described, therefore, a line  1  is drawn through the belt to represent a direction of the cross-sectional view of the present invention, and is shown in FIG.  6 . 
     A cross-sectional view of the present invention as shown in FIG. 5 is illustrated in FIG.  6 . The pocket  46  is formed from a layering of first and second surfaces of the padded region  28 . The waistbelt insert  12  resides in the pocket  46 . The waistbelt insert  12  has sliding three-bar buckle  16  directly attached to a surface of the waistbelt insert  12  by means of a strap  68 . The strap  68  is woven under a bar  62  of the sliding three-bar buckle  16 , over a bar  64  of the sliding three-bar buckle  16 , and under a bar  66  of the sliding three-bar buckle  16 . The buckling strap  14  is directly affixed to the terminal end  19  on the surface  32  and movably attached to the waistbelt insert  12 . The buckling strap  14  is woven through the sliding three-bar buckle  16  in a manner that is similar to that of the strap  68 . The buckling strap  14  is woven under the bar  62  of the sliding three-bar buckle  16 , over the bar  64  of the sliding three-bar buckle  16 , and under the bar  66  of the sliding three-bar buckle  16 . This method of attachment of the buckling strap  14  to the waistbelt insert  12  provides a movable attachment to the waistbelt insert  12 . The fabric loop  24  is attached to the bar  66  of the sliding three-bar buckle  16  to provide leverage to the user when telescoping the waistbelt insert  12  away from the terminal end  19  of the belt band  23 . It should be prevalent to one skilled in the art that the fabric loop  24  may be fashioned and affixed in a variety of means such as attaching a fabric loop to the bar  62  of the sliding three-bar buckle  16 , attaching multiple fabric loops or even no fabric loop at all. 
     Turning to FIG. 7, another embodiment of the present invention is illustrated shows another manner in which the waistbelt  10  may be extended. The belt band  70  no longer has a pocket in this embodiment. The belt band  70  has a strap  72  which harnesses a waistbelt extension  80 . It should be prevalent to one skilled in the art that more than one strap may be used to provide the movable attachment that affixes the waistbelt extension  80  to the waistbelt  10 . Furthermore, it should be prevalent that the extension of support could be fashioned in a variety of other ways. A buckling strap  74  is directly attached to the belt band  70  at points that do not interfere with a telescoping motion of the waistbelt extension  80 . A sliding three-bar buckle  76  is directly attached to the waistbelt extension  80  in a manner similar to that of the sliding three bar buckle  16  to waistbelt insert  12  shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The buckling strap  60  is woven through the sliding three-bar buckle  76  in a manner similar to that of the buckling strap  14  through the sliding three-bar buckle  16  shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. A fabric loop  78  is affixed to the sliding three-bar buckle  76  in a manner similar to that of the fabric loop  24  to the sliding three-bar buckle  16  shown in FIG.  5  and FIG.  6 . This embodiment allows the user to adjust a length of the waistbelt  10  by sliding the waistbelt extension  80  along a length of the buckling strap  76  by means of the movably attached sliding three-bar buckle  76 . An extended length of this further embodiment is limited by a manufactured length of the waistbelt extensions. 
     There are, of course, many other manners to extend the length of a waistbelt without departing from the scope of this invention. 
     The forgoing description is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Furthermore, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and process shown as described above. Accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims which follow.