Patent Publication Number: US-6666361-B1

Title: Baby-carrying bag

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a baby-carrying bag, and more particularly to a baby-carrying bag having two combinable shoulder straps that may be combined into one piece or maintained in two separated pieces according to a user&#39;s preference, in order to enable carrying of a baby with the bag in different and comfortable manners. 
     A baby-carrying bag is normally positioned in front of a user&#39;s chest or behind the user&#39;s back for carrying a baby therein. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional baby-carrying bag including a bag portion  1  consisting of integrally formed back support  11  and buttock support  12 , and two shoulder straps  2  provided at two lateral sides of the bag portion  1 . Upper ends of the two shoulder straps  2  are connected to two upper outer ends of the back support  11 , and lower ends of the two shoulder straps  2  are crossed before being connected to two lateral sides of a bottom of the buttock support  12 . To ensure safe carry of a baby with the bag portion  1 , an adjustable side belt  13  is provided to extend across an outmost edge of the buttock support  12  with two ends of the side belt  13  separately connected to two lower outer ends of the back support  11  or two upper outer ends of the buttock support  12 . 
     Please refer to FIG. 2 that shows the manner of using the conventional baby-carrying bag of FIG. 1 to carry a baby. As shown, the two shoulder straps  2  are usually positioned on a user&#39;s two shoulders with the bag portion  1  located in front of or behind the user, and the baby is seated in the bag portion  1  with two legs extended from spaces between the buttock support  12  and the side belt  13  while the back support  11  supports the baby&#39;s back. 
     It can be clearly seen the conventional baby-carrying bag having the above-described structure does not safely and comfortably enclose the carried baby. Moreover, the shoulder straps  2  have completely limited the user to carry the baby in only two manners, that is, to carry the baby either in front of or behind the user with the shoulder straps  2  generally parallelly extended over the user&#39;s two shoulders, even the user might not feel comfortable to carry the baby in these manners. 
     It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop a baby-carrying bag having two combinable shoulder straps that may be combined into one piece or maintained in two separated pieces according to a user&#39;s preference, in order to carry a baby with the bag in a most comfortable manner. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A primary object of the present invention is to provide a baby-carrying bag that includes two combinable shoulder straps. The shoulder straps may be combined into one piece or maintained in two separated pieces according to a user&#39;s preference. And, the user may handle the combined or the separated shoulder straps in different manners, so as to carry a baby with the bag in a most comfortable posture. 
     To achieve the above and other objects, the baby-carrying bag of the present invention mainly includes a bag portion formed from a front piece and a rear piece continuously extended upward from a bottom of the front piece, and two shoulder straps symmetrically provided behind the bag portion to extend between upper and lower edges of the rear pieces. The two shoulder straps are correspondingly provided along inner edges with a two-part fastening means. When the two parts of the fastening means are closed, the two shoulder straps are combined into one piece. A user may select to use either a combined strap or two separated straps to carry a baby in the most suitable and comfortable manner. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional baby-carrying bag; 
     FIG. 2 shows the manner of using the conventional baby-carrying bag of FIG. 1 to carry a baby; 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a baby-carrying bag according to the present invention with two combinable shoulder straps thereof in a separated state; 
     FIG. 4 is another perspective view of the baby-carrying bag of the present invention with the two combinable shoulder straps in a combined state; 
     FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the shoulder straps of FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is a further perspective view of the baby-carrying bag of the present invention with the two combinable shoulder straps in a separated and intersected state; 
     FIG. 7 shows a first manner of using the baby-carrying bag of the present invention to carry a baby; 
     FIG. 8 shows a second manner of using the baby-carrying bag of the present invention to carry a baby; 
     FIG. 9 shows a third manner of using the baby-carrying bag of the present invention to carry a baby; 
     FIG. 10 shows a fourth manner of using the baby-carrying bag of the present invention to carry a baby; and 
     FIG. 11 shows a fifth manner of using the baby-carrying bag of the present invention to carry a baby. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to FIG. 3 that is a perspective view of a baby-carrying bag according to the present invention. As shown, the baby-carrying bag includes a bag portion  3  and two shoulder straps  4 . 
     The bag portion  3  includes a front piece  31  and a rear piece  32  that are continuously formed to provide a substantially U-shaped bag. Upper and middle areas of the front piece  31  are partially extended from two lateral edges to provide two pairs of side belts  33 . The side belts  33  are connected to the rear piece  32  via length-adjustable connecting means. Since the adjustable side belt  33  is a known art, it is not discussed in details herein. 
     The two shoulder straps  4  are symmetrically provided behind the bag portion  1  to separately extend between an upper and a lower edge of the rear piece  32 . Moreover, a two-part fastening means  41 , such as a zipper, a magic tape consisting of a hook tape and a loop tape, a tongue-and-groove joint, etc., is provided along inner longitudinal edges of the two shoulder straps  4 . By closing the two-part fastening means  41 , the two shoulder straps  4  may be combined into one strap, as shown in FIG.  4 . The two shoulder straps  4  are provided along areas behind the two-part fastening means  41  with two protective pads  42 , as shown in FIG. 5, to protectively prevent the fastening means  41  from direct contact with a user&#39;s body when the baby-carrying bag presses against the user under the weight of a carried baby and the force of gravity. Two sets of male and female fasteners  43  are correspondingly provided at lower ends of the two shoulder straps  4  and two lower outer ends of the rear piece  32  for detachably and length-adjustably connecting the shoulder straps  4  to the rear piece  32 . Since the male and female fasteners  43  are known art, they are not discussed in details herein. With the fasteners  43 , the two shoulder straps  4  in a separated state may be intersected as a letter X before being connected at lower ends to the rear piece  32 , as shown in FIG.  6 . 
     To carry a baby with the baby-carrying bag of the present invention, simply position the baby in the bag portion  3  with the baby&#39;s hands extended from spaces defined between the front and the rear pieces  31 ,  32  and the upper and the middle side belts  33 , and two legs from spaces defined between the middle side belts  33  and the bottom of the front piece  31 . The front and the rear pieces  31 ,  32  and the side belts  33  together provide a considerably large and safe area to enclose the carried baby, and the two upper side belts  33  particularly provide good support to the baby&#39;s head and thereby protect the baby&#39;s head against overly tipping sideward. 
     When the two shoulder straps  4  are combined into one piece by closing the fastening means  41 , the user may carry the baby-carrying bag by diagonally extending the combined shoulder straps  4  across one shoulder to position the bag portion  3  in front of her, as shown in FIG.  7 . With the baby-carrying bag in this position, the user may further carry the bag portion  3  and the baby therein with two arms to somewhat reduce the loads on the user&#39;s shoulder and back. 
     When the fastening means  41  is opened to separate the two shoulder straps  4  from each other, the user may select from several different manners a most comfortable way to carry the baby. FIGS. 8 and 9 show the two separated shoulder straps  4  are generally parallelly extended across the user&#39;s two shoulders to position the bag portion  3  behind and in front of the user&#39;s body, respectively, so that the baby&#39;s weight is evenly supported by two shoulders at the same time. 
     Alternatively, the fastening means  41  may be opened to separate the two shoulder straps  4  from each other, and the male and female fasteners  43  may be unlocked to detach lower ends of the two shoulder straps  4  from the rear piece  32 , so that the two shoulder straps  4  may be separately diagonally extended across the user&#39;s chest or back to intersect as a letter X before the fasteners  43  are locked to the rear piece  32  again. Similarly, the user may carry the baby-carrying bag of the present invention with the intersected shoulder straps  4  to position the bag portion  3  in front of or behind her, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, respectively, so that the baby&#39;s weight is evenly supported by the user&#39;s two shoulders and chest or back at the same time. 
     That is, with the two shoulder straps  4  that could be combined into one piece or maintained in two separated pieces by closing or opening the fastening means  41 , the baby-carrying bag of the present invention allows the user to select from many different ways the most suitable and comfortable way to carry the baby in the bag portion  3 .