Backpack With Flexible Frame

Abstract

A backpack comprising a frame and a harness attached to the frame. The frame has a loop structure defining an opening and a torsion panel traversing the opening. The loop structure may be formed of a coil spring covered by a sheath. The backpack may further strapping, such as bungees, for supporting removable pack bags.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/043,883, filed on Aug. 29, 2014, the entirety of which being hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

[0002] One of the advantages of using a conventional, external-frame backpack is that it allows a hiker to carry heavy, bulky loads with maximum comfort and efficiency, and with minimum fatigue over an extended period of time. By stabilizing the full contents of the backpack upon a lightweight rigid frame, and then by distributing that load efficiently onto the hiker's shoulders, torso, and hips while in a walking motion, its advantages as a large-capacity load-carrier are obvious; however, these are all negated by a critical design flaw.

[0003] A conventional, rigidly-braced external-frame backpack is not capable of flexing in unison with the hiker's natural walking motion. Furthermore, in the current configuration, rigidly-braced side-rails suspend the full load directly off the hip belt causing great discomfort to the backpacker, rather than on the lumbar region where it would be most comfortable. Finally, this arrangement causes the backpack contents to pivot with each natural hip motion, affecting an eccentric momentum at the top of the pack bag that causes undue fatigue to the user's neck, shoulders and upper torso.

[0004] Therefore, a need exists for an improved backpack that is vertically stable, and yet, still able to flex torsionally in unison with the hiker's body while in natural walking motion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIVE CONCEPTS

[0005] To resolve the abovementioned design flaw, the inventive concepts disclosed herein are directed to a backpack with a flexible external-frame having a vertical torsion panel allowing a load to be distributed efficiently to the hiker's body, and to rotate along the X-Y axis in unison with the natural walking motion.

[0006] To provide both structural rigidity and torsional flexibility, the frame includes a continuous coil-spring inner frame encased in an outer sheath, which is then fastened via hub connectors to a vertical torsion panel to create a vertically stable, yet torsionally-flexible external frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more implementations described herein and, together with the description, explain these implementations. The drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale, and certain features and certain views of the figures may be shown exaggerated, to scale, or in schematic in the interest of clarity and conciseness. Not every component may be labeled in every drawing. Like reference numerals in the figures may represent and refer to the same or similar element or function. In the drawings:

[0008] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a backpack constructed in accordance with the inventive concepts disclosed herein.

[0009] FIG. 2 is an exploded, perspective view of the backpack of FIG. 1.

[0010] FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of a frame.

[0011] FIG. 4 a side elevational view of the backpack of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0012] Before explaining at least one embodiment of the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concepts in detail, it is to be understood that the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concepts are not limited in their application to the details of construction, experiments, exemplary data, and/or the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The presently disclosed and claimed inventive concepts are capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

[0013] In the following detailed description of embodiments of the inventive concepts, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the inventive concepts. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the inventive concepts disclosed and claimed herein may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the instant disclosure.

[0014] As used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "has," "having" or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements or steps is not necessarily limited to only those elements or steps and may include other elements, steps, or features not expressly listed or inherently present therein.

[0015] Unless expressly stated to the contrary, "or" refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by anyone of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present).

[0016] In addition, use of the "a" or "an" are employed to describe elements and components of the embodiments herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the inventive concepts. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

[0017] Throughout this disclosure and the claims, the terms "about," "approximately," and "substantially" are intended to signify that the item being qualified is not limited to the exact value specified, but includes some slight variations or deviations therefrom, caused by measuring error, manufacturing tolerances, stress exerted on various parts, wear and tear, or combinations thereof, for example.

[0018] The use of the term "at least one" will be understood to include one as well as any quantity more than one, including but not limited to each of, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, and all integers therebetween. The term "at least one" may extend up to 100 or 1000 or more, depending on the term to which it is attached; in addition, the quantities of 100/1000 are not to be considered limiting, as higher limits may also produce satisfactory results. Singular terms shall include pluralities and plural terms shall include the singular unless indicated otherwise.

[0019] The term "or combinations thereof" as used herein refers to all permutations and/or combinations of the listed items preceding the term. For example, "A, B, C, or combinations thereof" is intended to include at least one of: A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC, and if order is important in a particular context, also BA, CA, CB, CBA, BCA, ACB, BAC, or CAB. Continuing with this example, expressly included are combinations that contain repeats of one or more item or term, such as BB, AAA, AAB, BBC, AAABCCCC, CBBAAA, CABABB, and so forth. The skilled artisan will understand that typically there is no limit on the number of items or terms in any combination, unless otherwise apparent from the context.

[0020] Finally, as used herein any reference to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" in various places in the specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment, although the inventive concepts disclosed herein are intended to encompass all combinations and permutations including one or more of the features of the embodiments described herein.

TABLE-US-00001 DRAWING LEGEND 1. Inner Coil Spring 2. Outer Tube Fabric Sheath 3. Coupling Tube 4. Non-Removable Fasteners 5. Self-Adhesive Hub Connectors 6. Vertical Torsion Panel 7. Modular Shoulder Pads 8. Modular Torso Pads 9. Modular Waist Pads 10. Hook and Loop Fasteners 11. Vertical Downstraps 12. Upper Load Leveling Straps 13. Belt Halves 14. Side Adjustment Straps 15. Side Fastening Straps 16. Sternum Straps 17. Bungee Restraint Cords 18. Bungee Adjustment Straps 19. Vertical Webbing Restraint 20. Removable Pack Bags

[0021] Referring now to the drawings, an exemplary embodiment of a backpack constructed in accordance with the inventive concepts disclosed herein will now be described.

[0022] The Backpack includes a (1) Coil Spring Inner Frame made of a lightweight, durable, plastic spring fully encased in a (2) Fabric-Tube Outer Sheath made of sewn (or braided, or woven) canvas-like material. These two components are then mated using an inner (3) Coupling Tube and (4) Fasteners, forming a continuous and flexible outer frame connected via (5) Self-Adhesive Hub Connectors to a (6) Vertical Torsion Panel made from a vertically-oriented panel, allowing the frame to be flexible only along the (X-Y) torsional plane. This panel may be shaped to approximate the general curvature of the hiker's shoulders, torso, lower back and buttocks.

[0023] The coil spring may be made of a length of plastic strapping material, such as that used to tie lumber pallets. This material may then be turned into a continuous closed coil using standard spring-manufacturing equipment and procedures similar to making a metal spring from flat wire. The coil spring may then be placed on a turning mandrel, where the loose coils are closed and sealed into a continuous, closed tube-spring. This closed tube-spring may then be encased in a continuous outer sheath made of a suitable material, such as a canvas-like fabric, which can either be sewn into a tube using flat strips of fabric, or it can be woven or braided as a continuous tube.

[0024] The coil spring and sheath may be attached to one another using a plastic coupling tube and non-removable fasteners. To perform this mating, the sheath fabric may be tucked into both open ends of the coil spring with sufficient insertion length to be locked into position with the coupling tube. Because all these materials melt, a heated probe can penetrate the walls of the spring, sheath and coupler, and permanently held in place with non-removable fasteners such as "pine tree clips."

[0025] One of the advantages inventive concepts disclosed herein is the "synergy" created by the discontinuous compressive force created by the coil spring against the continuous tensile force created by the sheath tube. By containing the mechanical energy of the spring inside a tensile tube, this produced a flexible, yet stable outer brace.

[0026] The coils spring/sheath outer brace is shaped into a continuous outer ring, which is then fastened to an interior torsion panel composed of a vertically stable, yet torsionally flexible material. In one embodiment, the material is a twinwall corrugated plastic panel, which is structurally rigid along its Z-axis, and yet, is torsionally flexible along its X-Y axis. Furthermore, plastic twinwall can be shaped to approximate the basic profile of a hiker's torso. Finally, twinwall panel also provides a surface for attaching it to the outer brace via hub connectors.

[0027] In one embodiment, the hub connectors must be spaced at regular intervals along the outer brace. To achieve the desired stability and flexibility, the hubs connectors may be permanently fastened to the vertical torsion panel. To this end, the hub connectors may be made of a suitable material that allows it to be shaped to wrap around the outer brace and also have a flat attachment area parallel to the twinwall. In one embodiment, the hub connectors may be "VHB-type" structural adhesive tape fasteners, making the hub connectors self-adhesive. The hub connectors can be made from a variety of materials, ranging from metal, carbon fiber, or plastic with sufficient bonding coefficient to hold the connector to the twinwall panel, while allowing the outer brace to shift through the connection while the hiker is in a natural walking motion.

[0028] The backpack may further (a) an adjustable harness and (b) rearward bungee restraints for securing removable pack bags. In one embodiment, the Harness may include (7) Modular Shoulder, (8) Torso, and (9) Waist Padding shaped to fit the user's individual anatomy using a corresponding system of (10) Hook and Loop Fasteners, which also allows the harness to be positioned optimally on the frame.

[0029] In complement with the modular padding, a system of webbing straps with hardware may include (11) Vertical Downstraps to attach the lower ends of the shoulder pads to the frame; (12) Upper Load Leveling Straps to pull the load closer or further away from the shoulders as needed; (13) Adjustable Belt Halves to properly fit the waist; (14) Side Adjustment Straps to adjust the position the waist pads; (15) Side Fastening Straps to fasten the waist pads securely to the sides of the frame; and (16) A Sternum Strap to adjust the position of the shoulder pads across the chest.

[0030] In one embodiment, the backpack may include a course of (17) Bungee Restraint Cords that pass between the hub connectors and the vertical torsion panel to provide secure anchoring points for restraining multiple removable pack bags on a rearward open platform. These bungee cords also receive (18) Bungee Webbing Straps which, in concert with the (19) Vertical Webbing Restraint, to completely stabilize multiple (20) Removable Pack Bags.

[0031] From the above description, it is clear that the inventive concepts disclosed herein are well adapted to carry out the objects and to attain the advantages mentioned herein as well as those inherent in the invention. While exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts have been described for purposes of this disclosure, it will be understood that numerous changes may be made which will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art and which are accomplished within the spirit of the inventive concept disclosed and claimed herein.

Claims

1. A backpack, comprising: a frame including a loop structure defining an opening and a torsion panel traversing the opening, the loop structure being formed of a coil spring covered by a sheath; and a harness attached to the frame.

2. The backpack of claim 1, wherein the coiled spring is continuous.

3. The backpack of claim 1, wherein the torsion panel is corrugated.

4. The backpack of claim 1, wherein the coil spring is formed of a length of plastic strapping material wrapped in a helical pattern.