Patent Publication Number: US-6702168-B2

Title: Modular personal container

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to a modular personal container that includes a soft container and a correspondingly shaped stiff container. More particularly, the invention relates to a personal container having a soft container that is configured to be ergonomically and self-supportedly carried at a person&#39;s waist area and having the stiff container configured to receive and support the soft container when it is not carried by the person. 
     2. Discussion of the Related Art 
     Personal containers are available in various configurations adapted to suit specific tasks. For example, a prior art personal container may be configured to be carried at a person&#39;s waist area. Such containers are commonly known as tool belts that may have enlarged bag and/or pocked like structures integrated into a belt. The enlarged structures may be shaped to receive, organize and/or store, for example, hand tools or other items. Tool belts are usually shaped to be worn around the waist area with the enlarged structure hanging down and being supported by the person&#39;s hip such that the stored items can be ergonomically accessed on an ongoing base. 
     Tool belts are commonly made of soft material in order to provide a clinging fit and to adjust to a hip shape and hip movements of the person wearing the tool belt. Also, in order to provide easy access to the stored items, the storing features are preferably designed with openings against the direction of gravity for a sufficiently upright wearing position of the person. 
     Unfortunately, once a tool belt is taken off, it does not maintain it&#39;s shape, which makes it eventually difficult to put it away or store the tool belt while it is not worn. The softer a tool belt is configured, the more wearing comfort it provides but the less feasible it becomes to be stored at a locations other then a persons waist/hip area. Therefore, there exists a need for a device that has a stiff shape corresponding to the shape of a soft personal container such that the soft personal container can be properly stored while not used. The present invention addresses this need. 
     Personal containers may also be simultaneously used for diverse transportation and storage tasks. Many practical endeavors require a significant load being carried over a longer distance to an activity site. Once the activity site is reached, only a part of the carried load has to remain immediately accessible, whereas a remaining portion of the carried load only needs to be accessed occasionally. An immediately accessible container may be a soft container as described in the above. In order to provide occasionally accessed storage space, a second stiff container is commonly carried to the activity site. 
     Since tool belts commonly hamper walking, a person may tend to carry the tool belt and the stiff container simultaneously, one in each hand, which reduces the person&#39;s agility. During unsafe walks to activity site like, for example, a construction site, it may be necessary to have at least one hand free. Therefore, there exists a need for a soft container and a correspondingly shaped stiff container such that they can be assembled and carried along one body side as a single unit. The present invention addresses this need. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the present invention, a modular personal container provides a soft container preferably configured to be ergonomically worn at a hip area of a person. The ergonomic configuration includes a softness and a tailored contour that provide a clinging fit to the person&#39;s hip area. The modular personal container further provides a stiff container that is shaped to receive and support the soft container on the circumference of the stiff container. The stiff container provides fixating features and positioning features that correspond to features of the soft container such that the soft container can be easily lowered down and fixated on the stiff container. Fixating features may include catch and/or snap fittings correspondingly placed on both containers. This allows the soft container to be interlocked with a simple two-hand motion. Once the two containers are interlocked, the soft container may be further lowered down onto the stiff container until the positioning features contact correspondingly tailored edges of the soft container. Once the soft container is fixated onto the stiff container a shoulder belt may be snapped on lugs of both containers. 
     The stiff container may have a circumference that is significantly smaller than a person&#39;s waist. Consequently, a remaining hip belt of the soft container may be folded into a correspondingly shaped belt pocket after the soft container has been attached to the stiff container. 
     A central storage volume of the stiff container remains accessible via a top lid. The soft container has an upper tailor line that is shaped such that a locking feature of the top lid, for example a zip, remains accessible while the soft container is fixated on the stiff container. The stiff container may further have a handgrip. At the handgrip, the stiff container may be carried alone or together with the eventually attached soft container. The shoulder belt may also be independently used to carry only one of the two containers. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
     FIG. 1 shows a three dimensional view of an exemplary soft container in assembly approach to an exemplary stiff container. 
     FIG. 2 shows a three dimensional view of the assembled containers. 
     FIG. 3 shows a three dimensional view of the soft container worn by a person. 
     FIG. 4 shows a side view of the assembled containers. 
     FIG. 5 shows a front view of the assembled containers. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to the drawings in general and FIG. 1 in particular, a soft container  1  is shown approaching a stiff container  18  in assembly direction  26 . It is noted that the scope of the invention is not limited to a particular procedure by which the soft container  1  and the stiff container  18  are assembled. Moreover, the assembly direction  26  is solely presented for the purpose of general understanding without any claim of the accuracy thereof. In the context of the present invention, the term “soft container” applies to any container having a softness to provide a clinging fit to a person wearing the soft container  1 . In the context of the present invention, the term “stiff container” applies to any container having a stiffness that is at a level such that the stiff container  18  maintains its shape while standing free. 
     The soft container  1  includes a pliant body  20  from which two pliant flaps  22  extend. At least at one end of the pliant flaps  22  extends a belt  5 , which can be closed with the belt loop  4  attached at the end of the other pliant flap  22 . It is clear to one skilled in the art that many varying configurations of a belt  5  and a belt loop  4  may be utilized within the scope of the invention. 
     Referring to FIG. 3, the soft container  1  is preferably tailored and/or shaped to provide a clinging fit to a hip area  42  of a person  40  wearing the soft container  1 . The soft container  1  may be worn by having the belt  5  entangle the opposing hip  43  such that the pliant body  20  clings to the hip area  42  down along the thigh  41 . Additional support may be provided by a shoulder strap  3  that may be snapped on primary lugs  27  of the soft container  1 . One primary lug  27  is attached on each of the pliant flaps  22 . It is noted that in FIGS. 1 and 3 only one of the primary lugs  27  is visible. It is clear to one skilled in the art from studying FIGS. 1 and 3 that the invisible primary lug  27  may be positioned at any location suitable for attaching the shoulder strap  3 . The shoulder strap  3  may have on each end a strap buckle  6  for attaching the shoulder strap  3 . 
     The soft container  1  may have a number of pockets that are ergonomically arranged to store and/or stack various items like, for example, hand tools and the like. In the preferred embodiment, the soft container  1  has a top pocket line  25 , a medium pocket line  23 , and a bottom pocket line  24 . The pocket lines  23 ,  24 ,  25  have their opening essentially against the direction of gravity to prevent items from falling out of the pockets while the soft container  1  is worn by the person  40 . 
     The outside contours of the soft container  1  are defined by the upper tailored edge  8 , the flap edge  9  and the bag edge  10 . Both the upper edge  8  and the flap edge  9  start at the outer ends of the pliant flaps  22  with an initial direction that is almost parallel with the direction of the belt  5 . The upper edge  8  forms a smooth arc between the two ends of the pliant flaps  22 . The flap edge  9  curves into the bag edge  10 , which forms together with the flap edge  9  an obtuse angle. Due to the shapes of the edges  8 ,  9  and  10 , the soft container  1  may be made from soft material without wrinkling under load. 
     The pocket edge  7  continues approximately in the direction of the flap edge  9 . The pocket edge  7  defines the opening of the medium pocket line  23 . The pocket edge  7  has also a smooth curvature to prevent wrinkling of the medium pocket line  23 , which has a continuous aperture along the pliant body  20 . Regardless of the exemplary illustrations of the pocket lines  23 ,  24 ,  25 , it is clear that the scope of the invention may include various configurations of pockets as they are well known for tool belts and the like. 
     Referring back to FIG. 1, the pliant flaps  22  may additionally provide at their inside male catches  2 . It is noted that only the rear male catch  2  is visible in FIG. 1. A second male catch  2  has to be considered on the corresponding location of the opposing pliant flap  22 . The male catches  2  are flat and chubby devices that protrude only slightly away from the inner surface of the pliant flaps  22 . The male catches  2  are shaped to keep the pressure onto the belly of the person  40  at a low level and evenly distributed while the soft container  1  is worn by the person  40 . The male catches  2  fit into correspondingly shaped female catches  13  positioned on opposing sides of the stiff container  18 . It is noted that only the front female catch  13  is visible in FIG. 1. A second female catch  13  has to be considered on the corresponding location of the opposing side of the stiff container  18 . The male catches  2  are easily interlocked with the female catches  13  and thus provide fixating features that provide for an easily established initial interlocking between the containers  1 ,  18 . 
     According to FIG. 1, the stiff container  18  has a top lid  21  that contacts the stiff container  18  along a circumferential edge  19 . In the preferred embodiment, the circumferential edge  19  is at least partially occupied by a zipper that secures the top lid  21  in a closed position. A handgrip  11  may also be attached on the top of the stiff container  18 . The handgrip  11  has preferably a rubber grip. The handgrip  11  is sufficiently soft to give room for opening the top lid  21 . 
     The stiff container  18  has shoulder pockets  17  laterally extending from two opposing vertical sides of the stiff container  18  (see also FIG.  5 ). The shoulder pockets  17  operate with their flap shoulder  14  and their bag shoulder  16  also as positioning features that assist in keeping the soft container  1  in a fixed position while attached to the stiff container  18 . In assembled configuration, where the male catches  2  interlock with their corresponding female catches  13  and gravity forces the soft container  1  downwards, the flap edges  9  cling on the flap shoulders  14  and the bag edges  10  cling on the bag shoulders  16  (see FIGS. 2,  4 ,  5 ). The shoulders  14 ,  16  are positioning shoulders which may be provided by any structure laterally protruding from said stiff container  18 . 
     Adjacent to the female catches  13  are on both sides of the stiff container  18  secondary lugs  12 . The secondary lugs  12  are positioned such that the strap buckles  6  may be simultaneously snapped on the primary lugs  27  and the secondary lugs  12 . As a result, the shoulder strap  3  may be directly attached and secured to both containers  1 ,  18  (see also FIG.  2 ). 
     According to FIG.  2  and the preferred embodiment of the invention, the soft container  1  is attached with and positioned on the stiff container  18  where the male catches  2  interlock with the corresponding female catches  13  and where the edges  9 ,  10  rest on the corresponding shoulders  14 ,  16 . In that case, the upper edge  8  is essentially parallel and offset to the circumferential edge  19  such that the zipper attached along the circumferential edge  19  can be freely accessed. The soft container remains also in a sufficient distance from a surface on which the stiff container  18  may be standing on. In the assembled configuration, the pliant flaps  22  and the pliant body  20  are also in a clinging fit with the outside of the stiff container  18 . The pocket zips  15  (see also FIG. 5) remain free and provide access to the interior of the shoulder pockets  17 . 
     In order to prevent the belt  5  from loosely hanging away from the assembled containers  1 ,  18 , the stiff container  18  has a belt pocket  28  (see also FIG.  4 ). After the soft container  1  has been fixated on the stiff container  18 , the belt  5  may be folded into the belt pocket  28 . The belt pocket  28  may provide at least one lateral opening through which the belt  5  may be guided without wrinkling into the belt pocket  28 . Referring to FIG. 4, the belt pocket  28  may be recessed from a smooth face  29  such that the assembled containers  1 ,  18  or the stiff container  18  alone can be carried at the side of a person with the smooth face  29  being in smooth contact with a body portion of the carrying person. It is clear to one skilled in the art that the scope of the present invention is not limited to any particular configuration and/or number of storage structures and/or pockets of the container  18 . In the preferred embodiment, the containers  1 ,  18  are made from materials including Velcro. The stiffness of the stiff container  18  is provided by stiff structures embedded between layers of Velcro. 
     While this invention has been described with reference to the specific embodiments disclosed herein, it is not confined to the details set forth and the patent is intended to include modifications and changes, which may come within and extend from the following claims: