Load support

A load support including a central body mounting assembly and a shoulder mounting assembly associated with the central body mounting assembly, the shoulder mounting assembly including first and second shoulder engagement elements which are arranged to be supported by first and second shoulders of a user, the first and second shoulder engagment elements being interconnected such that orientation of a first shoulder of the user higher than his second shoulder produces a corresponding orientation of the first and second shoulder engagement elements, thus maintaining a desired load distribution between the two shoulders independent of the relative orientation thereof.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to load supports to be carried by persons, 
such as backpacks. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Various types of backpacks are known in the art. Modern backpack designs 
distribute the load onto the hips and shoulders of the user. While such 
designs provide a distribution which is suitable when the user is 
stationary, they fail to effectively accommodate users in dynamic 
situations such as walking, climbing, and related activities, wherein the 
relative spatial orientation of the various parts of the user's body 
changes with movement. As a result, the load is disproportionately placed 
on one shoulder or the other often leading to fatigued muscles. 
A further disadvantage of backpacks known in the art is that the physical 
distances between the hip and shoulder supports is fixed during use. As a 
result, raising of the shoulders, for example, causes disproportionate 
placement of the load onto the shoulders and additionally bending by the 
user is severely restricted. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention seeks to provide a load support which overcomes the 
above-described limitations and provides a desired dynamic load 
distribution. 
There is thus provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present 
invention a load support including a central body mounting assembly and a 
shoulder mounting assembly associated with the central body mounting 
assembly, the shoulder mounting assembly including first and second 
shoulder engagement elements which are arranged to be supported by first 
and second shoulders of a user, the first and second shoulder engagement 
elements being interconnected such that orientation of a first shoulder of 
the user higher than his second shoulder produces a corresponding 
orientation of the first and second shoulder engagement elements, thus 
maintaining a desired load distribution between the two shoulders 
independent of the relative orientation thereof. 
There is also provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present 
invention a load support including a central body mounting assembly, a 
shoulder mounting assembly associated with the central body mounting 
assembly, and resilient apparatus for generally maintaining a desired 
distribution of a load on the load support between the central body 
mounting assembly and the shoulder mounting assembly notwithstanding 
changes in the relative orientations thereof. 
There is additionally provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of 
the present invention a load support including a central body mounting 
assembly, a shoulder mounting assembly associated with the central body 
mounting assembly, the shoulder mounting assembly including first and 
second shoulder engagement elements which are arranged to be supported by 
first and second shoulders of a user, and apparatus for connecting said 
central body mounting assembly to the shoulder mounting assembly which 
permits relative motion therebetween in three dimensions. 
There is additionally provided in accordance with an embodiment of the 
present invention a load support including a central body mounting 
assembly, a shoulder mounting assembly associated with the central body 
mounting assembly, and apparatus for connecting said central body mounting 
assembly to the shoulder mounting assembly which permits relative motion 
therebetween in three dimensions, the first and second shoulder engagement 
elements being interconnected such that orientation of a first shoulder of 
the user higher than his second shoulder produces a corresponding 
orientation of the first and second shoulder engagement elements, thus 
maintaining a desired load distribution between the two shoulders 
independent of the relative orientation thereof. 
There is further provided in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the 
present invention a load support including a central body mounting 
assembly, a shoulder mounting assembly associated with the central body 
mounting assembly, the shoulder mounting assembly including first and 
second shoulder engagement elements which are arranged to be supported by 
first and second shoulders of a user, and resilient apparatus for 
generally maintaining a desired distribution of a load on the load support 
between the central body mounting assembly and the shoulder mounting 
assembly notwithstanding changes in the relative orientations thereof, the 
first and second shoulder engagement elements being interconnected such 
that orientation of a first shoulder of the user higher than his second 
shoulder produces a corresponding orientation of the first and second 
shoulder engagement elements, thus maintaining a desired load distribution 
between the two shoulders independent of the relative orientation thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Reference is now made to FIG. 1 and FIGS. 2A and 2B which illustrate load 
support apparatus constructed and operative in accordance with a preferred 
embodiment of the present invention including a central body mounted 
portion 10, typically in the form of a hip belt 12, typically formed of 
flexible foamed plastic or any other material, which is provided with an 
adjustable clasp assembly 14. Hip belt 12 is designed to be supported on 
the user's hips and thus to transfer loads to the user's hips. 
Associated with hip belt 12 is a shoulder support assembly 16 including a 
pair of shoulder pads 18 and 19, which in the preferred embodiment 
illustrated, are mounted on a single strap 20, which slidably extends 
through a buckle 22 at a location intermediate the two shoulder pads 18 
and 19. The outwardly extending ends of strap 20, beyond each of shoulder 
pads 18, are coupled by adjustable buckles 25 to respective straps 24 and 
26, which are fixedly attached, as by sewing, to hip belt 12. Buckle 22 is 
slidably mounted onto a strap 27, both of whose ends are fixedly attached, 
as by sewing to hip belt 12. Alternatively strap 27 may be configured as a 
single strap. 
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, one or all of straps 
20, 24, 26 and 27 may be formed of a resilient material in order to permit 
stretching of the entire shoulder support assembly 16 so as to accommodate 
variations in the distance between the shoulders and the waist depending 
on the body orientation of the user. 
Mounted onto hip belt 12 is a wire support roller 28 and a backpack spacer 
hook 30. Backpack spacer hook 30 is operative to maintain a desired 
spacing between the bottom rib 41 of backpack frame 40 (FIG. 4A) and the 
hip belt 12. The wire support roller 28 and backpack support hook 30 are 
typically mounted directly onto a metal plate 32 which is removably seated 
in a pocket 34 formed in hip belt 12. 
It is a particular feature of the present invention that the shoulder 
support assembly 16 accommodates movement of the shoulders of the user 
relative to his hips which occurs during walking, climbing, and related 
activities. This feature may be appreciated by reference to FIGS. 2A and 
2B. In FIG. 2A, the user's right shoulder is raised, and thus strap 20 
slides with respect to buckle 22 such that shoulder pad 18 is raised with 
respect to hip belt 12 and shoulder pad 19 is correspondingly lowered. The 
opposite situation is illustrated in FIG. 2B, where the user's left 
shoulder is raised. 
In the above situations, as well as when both shoulders are even with 
respect to each other, shoulder pads 18 and 19 automatically reorient 
themselves so as to distribute the load evenly on both shoulders, thereby 
lessening user fatigue. 
Reference is now made to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 5A and 5B, which illustrate 
the backpack support apparatus constructed and operative in accordance 
with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The backpack support 
apparatus is preferably based on and includes the load support apparatus 
of FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B in association with a backpack frame 40, typically 
formed of aluminum tube. 
As seen with greater particularity in FIGS. 4A and 4B, a backpack support 
wire 42 extends from a fixed end mounted onto frame 40 at a location 44 in 
a loop 46 extending to a location 48 and thence through a concentric 
sleeve 50. The wire 42 terminates in an adjustment strap 52 which engages 
a buckle 54 and is selectably held thereby. Strap 52 may be formed of a 
resilient material or wire 42 may be formed of a somewhat resilient 
material for generally maintaining a desired distribution of a load on the 
load support between the central body mounting assembly and the shoulder 
mounting assembly notwithstanding changes in the relative orientations 
thereof. 
As seen in FIGS. 3A and 3B, backpack support wire 42 rests on, and is 
frictionally engaged with wire support roller 28 which is rotatably 
mounted to plate 32. Thus, frame 40 can slide from side to side relative 
to hip belt 12 with minimal friction. It is a particular feature of the 
embodiment of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 5A and 5B that by controlling the 
length of wire 42, the vertical orientation of frame 40 relative to hip 
belt 12 may be controlled. FIG. 3A illustrates a case wherein the wire 42 
is relatively long and thus the frame 40 lies relatively low with respect 
to the hip belt. FIG. 3B illustrates a case wherein the wire 42 is 
relatively short and thus the frame 40 lies relatively high with respect 
to the hip belt. 
It is an additional particular feature of the invention that the wire and 
roller mounting provides apparatus for connecting the central body 
mounting assembly to the shoulder mounting assembly which permits relative 
motion therebetween in three dimensions. 
Reference is now made to FIGS. 5A and 5B which illustrate the opposite side 
of the backpack support from that illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B. Here it 
is seen that straps 60, one end of each of which is mounted at a 
selectable lateral position on frame 40 at a mounting location 64, are 
attached by means of a suitable buckle 66 onto respective shoulder pads 18 
and 19, for holding the backpack frame against the user's back. 
FIG. 5A shows the user adjusting the length of wire 42 by pulling on strap 
52. It is a particular feature of the present invention that this 
adjustment can be carried out by the user without removing the backpack 
frame from his back 
Reference is now made to FIG. 6, which illustrates an alternative 
embodiment of backpack support. Here the shoulder support assembly 16 is 
attached to the hip belt 12 by means of a resilient strap 70 which engages 
a buckle 72. The provision of resilient strap 70 is operative for 
generally maintaining a desired distribution of a load on the load support 
between the central body mounting assembly and the shoulder mounting 
assembly notwithstanding changes in the relative orientations thereof. 
Reference is now made to FIG. 7, which illustrates a further alternative 
embodiment of the invention wherein the hip belt 12 is eliminated and the 
shoulder support assembly 16 is mounted directly onto the backpack frame 
40 by means of a resilient strap 75. 
It will be appreciated that any of the straps 20, 75 and 26 in any of the 
embodiments of the invention described above may be formed of resilient 
material for generally maintaining a desired distribution of a load on the 
load support between the central body mounting assembly and the shoulder 
mounting assembly notwithstanding changes in the relative orientations 
thereof. 
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present 
invention is not limited by what has been particularly shown and described 
hereinabove. Rather the scope of the present invention is defined only by 
the claims which follow: