Patent Publication Number: US-2010115730-A1

Title: Portable support for commuters

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/071,906, filed May 22, 2008 by the present inventor. 
    
    
     FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
     Not Applicable 
     SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM 
     Not Applicable 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
     1. Field of Invention 
     This invention generally related to subways or buses, specifically to commuters to hold onto. 
     2. Prior Art 
     Previously, subway car straps were bolted to the subway car. This made car straps unsanitary. Shortly after “9/11” tragedy, car straps were replaced with a single bar also bolted to the subway car. The single bar resolves the problem of safety and support for standees in subways however is not a solution for hygiene. 
     Accordingly, several objectives and advantages of my invention are that it is portable, thus hygienic, without sacrificing existing safety. 
     The following U.S. patents may be of interest for their disclosure of loose rings for books. U.S. Pat. No. 1,228,866. 
     The above-mentioned patent has a common characteristic. The patent device is two half rings joined together with a hinge to form a circle with an opening. The above-mentioned patent does not disclose a handle attachment device that is used by a commuter, such as a standing commuter in a mass transit vehicle to hold onto and attach the ring to a bar for support and resolves problems of sanitation. 
     Thus while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to the use of ring for books and paper, the prior art described above does not teach or suggest a portable support device for a commuter with the following combination of desirable features: (1) permits a commuter to bring along one&#39;s own portable hold-on bar to provide oneself with stability (2) to permit a commuter to attach to the hold on bars in a mass transit vehicles. 
     Further objectives and advantages are novelty, comfort, reliability, durability and size, which allow persons of almost any age to carry and/or conceal the device without much effort. 
     SUMMARY 
     My invention is a portable subway and bus support for commuters that provide safety, as well as promotes cleanliness by minimizing the spread of germs because a commuter needing or wanting to stand will only touch his or her personal Gripper device and not the attached bar that is held onto by multiple commuters. 
    
    
     
       DRAWINGS—FIGURES 
       In the drawings closely related figures have the same number but different alphabetic suffixes. 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of my invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a bottom view of my invention 
         FIG. 3  is a top view of my invention. 
         FIG. 4   a  is a side closed clamp view of my invention. 
         FIG. 4   b  is a side open clamp view of my invention. 
     
    
    
     DRAWINGS—REFERENCE NUMERALS 
     Handle  10   a  top portion of handle 
     Handle  10   b  front base of handle connecting to clamp 
     Handle  10   c  rear base portion of handle 
     Handle  10   d  inner portion of handle with finger grooves 
     Clamp  12   b  between front base of handle 
     Clamp  12   a  top part of handle 
     Clamp  12   c  bottom part of clamp 
       14  release button at front base of handle 
     Base  16   d  back bottom portion parallel to handle 
     Base  16   c  front bottom portion parallel to handle 
       18  sides of front base of handle 
       20  between rear handle and base 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION—FIGS.  1  AND  4   a  and  4   b —PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of a basic version of my apparatus. Handle  10   a  connects to base  16   d  with  20 . Handle  10   d  is bottom side of handle  10   a.  Clamp  12   a  and clamp  12   c  connects handle  10   b  to base  16   c  with  18 .  14  is between handle  10   b.    
     In  FIG. 1 , handle  10   a  supports the palm of the palm of the hand. Handle  10   d  supports 4 fingers of a hand.  14  opens and closes clamp  12   a  and clamp  12   c,  as shown in  FIGS. 4   a  and  4   b.  Being that clamp  12   a  and clamp  12   c  opens and closes, it is portable and sanitary. 
     Thus, the reader will see that the Gripper device of my invention provides a highly sanitary, lightweight yet economical device that can be used by persons of almost any age. 
     Thus, while the present invention has been shown in the drawing and fully described above with particularity and detail in connection with what is presently deemed to be the most practical preferred embodiment(s) of the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many modifications thereof may be made without departing from principles and concepts set forth herein, including but not limited to variation in size, material, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use. For example, as will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art, the device of the present invention may be used by a person of almost any age to attach to a public pull up bar to pull their weight of the ground. 
     Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined not by the embodiments illustrated but by appended claims and their legal equivalents.