A rucksack hip pad

Abstract: A hip pad and/or hip belt typically for use with a rucksack is disclosed. The hip pad includes an elongate foamed plastics element (10) to one surface of which a web (12) of stiff plastics material is mounted, which is characterised by additional reinforcement (14) in the form of a plurality of protrusions (18) and intervening grooves (20) provided in or on the web, with the grooves extending in a direction transversely to the longitudinal extent of the pad. Thus, in use, the grooves extend in a direction from the top to the bottom of the pad. The provision of such additional reinforcement protrusions facilitates an improved transmission of load to the pelvis of the wearer, whilst the transfer grooves permit the belt to still maintain a sufficient degree of flexibility in the longitudinal direction to allow it to be shaped to the body of the wearer. The load is thus spread more effectively and the overall weight of the hip pad may be reduced. Additionally a hip belt is described which comprises a pair of hip pads as aforementioned, with each hip pad having an enlarged region which in use lies adjacent the lumbar region of the wearer.

Description: The present invention relates to hip pads and/or hip belts typically for use with a rucksack. Rucksacks are known which have separate hip pads mounted onto the fabric sack or a supportive frame for the sack for fitting to the respective hips of a user, such pads linking to respective connector elements or straps carrying connector elements for fastening together at the front of the user's body. Frequently a lumbar pad for contacting a central region of the lower back of the user is mounted between the hip pads. In other known rucksacks a combined lumbar/hip pad is provided, which essentially consists of hip pad portions integrally formed or directly connected at each side of a lumbar pad portion. The present invention is applicable to both types of hip pad, that is to say to a separate hip pad and to a combined lumbar/hip pad (sometimes called a hip belt, which is the term which will be used hereinafter). It is known to be desirable to transmit the major portion of the load of a rucksack downwardly onto the hips of a user so that a major portion of the load is borne by the pelvis. This is the most effective way to carry a heavy load and minimizes risk of injury and discomfort to the shoulders of a user, since the shoulder pads should then be employed primarily to stabilise the position of the load, rather than bear its weight. For this purpose relatively stiff hip pads or hip belt are desirable and it has been proposed, for example in the applicant's previous specification No. WO 91/05493 to provide a hip pad or hip belt in the form of a foamed plastics element to one surface of which, which in use will be remote from contact with the user's body, a web or strip of stiff or semi-rigid plastics material, such as polypropylene, is mounted. The present invention preferably aims to reinforce the stiffening support for a rucksack hip pad or hip belt in such a manner as to further enhance downward transmission of load to the pelvis and also allow the bulk of the pad or belt to be reduced, while retaining adequate flexibility longitudinally of the pad or belt so that the pad or belt will closely conform to the body of the user above the hips(s). The present invention provides, as a first aspect, a hip pad including an elongate foamed plastics element to one surface of which a web of stiff plastics material is mounted, wherein a plurality of protrusions and intervening grooves is provided in or on the web, with the grooves extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal extent of the pad. Thus, in use, the grooves extend in a direction from the top to the bottom of the pad. In a further aspect, the present invention provides a hip pad including an elongate foamed plastics element to one surface of which a first web of stiff plastics material is mounted, characterised in that an additional web which is mounted or mountable on the first web and in that a plurality of protrusions and intervening grooves is provided in or on the additional web, with the grooves extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal extent of the pad, thereby providing additional reinforcement to the hip pad. The provision of such additional reinforcement protrusions facilitates an improved transmission of load to the pelvis of the wearer, whilst the transfer grooves permit the belt to still maintain a sufficient degree of flexibility in the longitudinal direction to allow it to be shaped to the body of the wearer. The load is thus spread more effectively and the overall weight of the hip pad may be reduced. The dimensions of the protrusions may be varied along the length of the hip pad, for example if a first end of the hip pad in use lies adjacent the lumbar region of the wearer and a second end of the hip pad lies nearer the front of the body of the wearer then the height and/or length of the protrusions may decrease from the first end to the second end. This allows the load of the rucksack to be distributed in which ever manner is chosen and preferably a greater proportion of the load is carried on the pelvis of the wearer. Additionally the width of the protrusions may vary along the length of the pad. The present invention also provides, as a second aspect, a hip belt having a pair of hip pads conjoined by way of a lumbar pad or otherwise. The belt may comprise one or more foamed plastics elements reinforced at one side thereof by one or more webs of stiff plastics material with additional reinforcement in the form of a plurality of protrusions and intervening grooves provided in each hip pad region of the belt at said one side, the grooves thereof extending in a direction transversely to the longitudinal extent of the belt. The protrusions and grooves, in either case, may be formed as a series of corrugations in the stiffening web (or respective ones of the stiffening webs if more than one) or in an additional such web or webs which are superimposed on the first web or webs. In a preferred embodiment a hip belt according to the second aspect of the present invention will comprise a pair of hip pads as aforementioned, with each hip pad having an enlarged region which in use lies adjacent the lumbar region of the wearer. Preferably the hip belt is joined to the rucksack in such a way as to incline the enlarged lumbar portions of the hip pads to the vertical axis of the rucksack. Typically a wedge of between ten and twenty degrees, and preferably around fifteen degrees, is provided. This allows the hip belt to sit more comfortably on the pelvis of the wearer and to transmit the load more effectively. Preferably in a hip belt as described above there is a gap between the adjacent enlarged lumbar portions of each hip pad. This allows a gap to be left in the hip belt around the nerve region of the lumbar plexus of the wearer. Advantageously the reinforcement element of the hip pad is injection moulded from a suitable plastic. This improves the strength to weight ratio of the hip pad. Attachments to be made to the hip pad, eg. buckles or straps, may then suitably be made by snapping on to a projection incorporated into the injection moulded article. Specific practical embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view of a hip pad in accordance with the invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing a hip belt, formed by interconnection of two hip pads of the type shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the position of the additional reinforcement means for the hip pad relative to the hip of a user in use of the rucksack; and Fig. 4 is a further perspective view of a hip belt. The embodiment of rucksack hip pad illustrated in Fig. 1 comprises an elongate moulded foamed plastics element 10 of complex curving configuration to one surface of which a relatively stiff, or semi-rigid, web 12 of plastics material is mounted. The web 12 is mounted onto that surface of the element which in use is remote from the user's body. The web 12 is mounted, preferably by means of hot-melt adhesive, into a shallow recess in the said surface of the element 10 so that an edge margin of foamed material, about 1cm wide, surrounds the periphery of the web 12. The foamed plastics material of the element 10 is preferably of closed cell type and may be polyethylene or EVA. It may be enclosed within a fabric envelope. The material of the web may be polypropylene or nylon of a suitable stiffness and it may be formed by injection moulding. The foamed plastics element 10 and the web 12 both have an enlarged end 11 which is intended to fit over one side of the lumbar region of a user and a narrow end 13 which will have a connector element attached and in use will connect to the corresponding end of the other hip pad at the front of the user's body. An additional reinforcing web 14 is fastened onto the exposed surface of the web 12 by means of rivets 16. This additional web 14 is formed by moulding so as to have a plurality of protrusions 18 and recesses or grooves 20 in its surface remote from the web 12, with recesses in its undersurface, in contact with the web 12, corresponding to the position of the protrusions 18. In the illustrated example there are eight protrusions 18 with seven intermediate grooves, but there may be more or less in other embodiments. It will also be noted that the additional web 14 tapers, with the height and length of the protrusions 18 and grooves 20 also becoming shorter in extent towards the narrow end 13 of the pad, which in use will be at the front of the user's body, connecting to the corresponding end of the other hip pad via intervening straps and/or connector means. This can be seen clearly in Fig. 4. The positioning of such a pad in use of a rucksack is readily apparent from Fig. 3. The aforesaid protrusions 18 provide such a degree of added strength that the overall bulk of the hip pad is reduced compared to hitherto known pads. The pad is thus narrower than many conventional pads. The pad is also specially shaped, taking into account anatomical considerations, so as to have a curving lower surface to fit over the iliac crest of a user and a curving upper surface which will fit below the rib cage and will not impede movement of the thighs of the user (important in climbing). Again this can also be seen in Fig. 4. The special shape and the reduced bulk of the pad results in greater comfort for the user since as well as closely conforming to the body contour there is a reduced contact area which makes it cooler for the user when carrying a rucksack fitted with these hip pads. The invention is equally applicable to hip belts in which a pair of hip pads are conjoined in some way. For example a belt could be formed from pads as shown in Fig. 1 by connection or integral (one piece) fabrication of the foamed plastics portions 10 of the pads, or of the basic stiffening web 12 of the pads, or of the additional reinforcement webs 14 of the pads, or any combination of these. Furthermore with separate pads or a belt the additional reinforcement may be provided integral of the basic stiffening web 12, e.g. by corrugation of same during moulding. Fig. 2 shows a hip belt formed by the joining together of two pads A, B similar to that shown in Fig. 1. In this respect, for ease of reference, the same reference numerals have been used to indicate corresponding parts. The pads A, B are conjoined by connection of their respective stiffening webs 12 by way of a looped link 22 which is clamped to the surface of each web 12 by a respective disc 24, fastened thereto by a rivet 26. Additionally, the additional stiffening webs 14 of the two pads A, B are formed as integral flanking portions of a one piece moulding which includes a central bridging section 28 therebetween. The bridging section 28 serves as a wedge to hold the upper margins of the lumbar regions of the pads A, B further away from the fabric sack than the lower regions thereof. Furthermore the bridging section is fitted with slotted elements 30 whereby the entire belt is detachably mountable onto frame members of the rucksack. Fig. 4 shows a second perspective view of a hip belt formed by the joining together of two pads A and B, in a similar fashion to Fig. 2. The additional reinforcement web 14 is, in this embodiment, an integral part of the web 12 and it is thus not necessary to provide any fastening means 16 for connecting the two. The gap 40 provided around the nerves in the lumbar plexus of the user can be clearly seen. In addition it can be seen that the protrusions 18 of the web taper from the enlarged end 11 to the narrow end 13 of the web and also taper from their upper ends 42 to their lower ends 44. The central bridging section 28 is connected to the hip pads so that, when the belt is connected to a rucksack, the hip pads lie at an angle shown as angle X in Fig. 4 to the upright axis of a rucksack to which the belt may be attached. This allows the hip belt to lie more comfortably on the pelvis of the user, as seen in Fig. 3. The belt buckle 46 is connected to the hip belt by a flexible web 48 the effective length of which can be adjusted to suit the size of the user. The web 48 is connected to the pad by means of an injection moulded connector 50.

Claims: A hip pad including an elongate foamed plastics element (10) to one surface of which a web of stiff plastics material (12) is mounted, characterised in that a plurality of protrusions (18) and intervening grooves (20) is provided in or on the web, with the grooves extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal extent of the pad, thereby providing additional reinforcement to the hip pad. A hip pad including an elongate foamed plastics element (10) to one surface of which a first web of stiff plastics material (12) is mounted, characterised in that the pad includes an additional web (14) which is mounted or mountable on the first web and in that a plurality of protrusions (18) and intervening grooves (20) is provided in the additional web, with the grooves extending in a direction transverse to the longitudinal extent of the pad, thereby providing additional reinforcement to the hip pad. A hip pad according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which at least one dimension of the protrusions is varied along the length of the hip pad. A hip pad according to claim 3 having a first end (11) which in use lies adjacent the lumbar region of the wearer and a second end (13) which lies nearer the front of the body of the wearer, and wherein the height of the protrusions decreases from the first end to the second end. A hip pad according to claim 3 or claim 4 having a first end (11) which in use lies adjacent the lumbar region of the wearer and a second end (13) which lies nearer the front of the body of the wearer, and wherein the length of the protrusions decreases from the first end to the second end. A hip pad according to any of the above claims in which the protrusions are tapered. A hip pad according to any of the above claims wherein the protrusions and grooves are formed as a series of corrugations in the web. A hip belt including a pair of cojoined hip pads according to any of the above claims. A hip belt according to claim 8 including a gap between the pair of hip pads which, in use, is located adjacent the lumbar plexus of the wearer. A hip belt including one or more hip pads according to any one of claims 1-7. A rucksack including a hip pad or hip belt according to any of the above claims.

Inventors: FARNWORTH MICHAEL ADRIAN, PARSONS MICHAEL CHARLES, FARNWORTH, MICHAEL ADRIAN, PARSONS, MICHAEL CHARLES
Applicants: KARRIMOR INT LTD, KARRIMOR INTERNATIONAL LIMITED
Application year: 1993
Main classification: A45F3
IPC codes: A45F3