Patent ID: 7681769

Claim:
A backpack comprising: a harness configured to securedly attach to a person's torso; the harness comprising a waist belt configured to detachably secure around the torso; a movable storage compartment having an upper portion and a lower portion; a pivotable connection pivotally connecting the upper portion of the movable compartment to an upper section of the harness to allow reorientation of the movable compartment from a stowed position to a frontal position on the user; a releasable connection releasably connecting the lower portion of the movable compartment to the waist belt; wherein the releasable connection is at a location on the waist belt that is at an anterior side of the torso while the person is wearing the backpack with the hip belt secured around the torso; wherein motion of the movable compartment with respect to the harness is substantially locked in the stowed position with the moveable compartment located at a posterior side of the torso and substantially spaced apart from the releasable connection when the releasable connection is engaged; wherein the releasable connection is configured to disengage so that the movable compartment may be reoriented from the stowed position to a frontal position on the user; wherein the releasable connection is located at a frontal location of the lower section of the harness such that the releasable connection may be accessed and released while the backpack is being worn by the person; wherein the pivotable connection comprises first and second pivotable connections, the first and second pivotable connections being laterally spaced apart at the upper section of the harness; wherein the moveable compartment is contiguous from the first pivotable connection to the second pivotable connection such that the first and second pivotable connections simultaneously rotate when the compartment is moved from the stowed position to the frontal position on the user; wherein the upper portion of the movable compartment comprises a recess extending downward from and spanning contiguously in between the first and second pivotable connections when the moveable compartment is in the stowed position on the user; and wherein the recess is of sufficient size to provide clearance for the movable compartment as it is rotated over the person's head from the stowed position to the frontal position on the user.