Ventilated portable locker for hockey or other sports equipment
A ventilated portable locker is a carrying case or sports equipment bag for storing, carrying and drying hockey or other sports equipment. The portable locker is a box-like enclosure with a zippered door on a side panel thereof. The portable locker includes a ventilation fan on a top panel for drawing fresh air into the locker and-for forcing stale air out of the locker through at least one filtered air outlet. Hanging straps are disposed on the top surface of the top panel for hanging the portable locker. Hooks and mesh pockets are provided inside the portable locker in order to facilitate storage and drying of the equipment. In other embodiments, a ventilated sports equipment bag and a ventilated footwear bag include a detachable fan and filtered outlets.
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The present invention generally relates to bags for sports equipment and, more particularly, to a ventilated portable locker for carrying and drying sports equipment.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONAfter a game or practice, particularly in sports such as hockey or football, sweaty sports equipment is typically packed into an equipment bag and carried home or to a hotel or motel. As is well know, if damp equipment is left in a sports bag, it not only dries slowly but foul odors will accumulate due to mold, mildew and bacteria. Although this problem is most acute in sports such as hockey and football where bulky pads and other equipment are packed tightly into a sports bag after a game and practice, this problem arises in other sports as well.
Accordingly, in order to dry equipment after a game or practice, and in order to help dissipate foul smells, damp sports equipment should be unpacked from the bag and aired out. In sports such as hockey or football, where the pads and equipment are both numerous and bulky, the unpacking and spreading out of all the pads and equipment can take quite a bit of time. Furthermore, sufficient space is needed to spread out all the equipment. Typically, sports equipment is spread out in laundry rooms, garages or basements, or placed on specially-designed equipment racks. Once unpacked, the equipment must be left for quite a long period of time to allow it to dry from mere passive aeration. Therefore, this traditional approach of unpacking and passive aeration has been considered unsatisfactory as it takes too much time and too much space and results in the undesirable emanation of foul odors in a portion of a player's dwelling.
Moreover, unpacking and passive aeration of equipment is particularly inadequate when athletes travel to tournaments and stay in cramped hotel or motel rooms, often sharing rooms with family members or other players. For traveling teams, where space and time are tight, the drying out of equipment between games can be a significant problem. Even when traveling home from a game or practice, wet equipment will tend to emanate foul odors which will impregnate the bag itself or even the player's vehicle, for example, where the journey home is long or where the player stops for a drink or food after the game.
In order to facilitate drying and airing out of sports equipment, some sports bags are provided with meshed vents to passively exchange air with the environment and thus to passively exhaust bad odors from the bag. However, passive aeration is very slow, particularly where wet pads are tightly packed in the bag. Where games or practices are closely scheduled, the equipment seldom has enough time to properly dry out, and thus players end up having to put on damp equipment, an experience which is universally regarded as unpleasant.
In recent years, some sports bag designs have attempted to address this problem by providing active ventilation coupled with air fresheners. For example, Canadian Patent Application 2,295,511 entitled Clothes Dryer Garment Bag disclosed a sports bag with an air distribution manifold in the base of the bag and an externally connected blower fan which blows air into the bag via a hose connected to an inlet mounted in the front panel of the bag. Air therefore flows from the blower through the hose, through the manifold and into the bag, thus driving stale air out of the bag through air filters. However, this apparatus appears to be unduly costly to manufacture and unnecessarily complicated to operate. The apparatus would be expensive to manufacture due to the fairly complex structure of the air distributor manifold in the base of the bag, not to mention the hose connector and the stand-alone blower. Furthermore, the separation of the blower and bag makes the apparatus a bit unwieldy to carry around because not only must the player carry the bag itself but he or she must also transport the hose and blower. Also, in operation, the apparatus occupies a large footprint since the blower and hose extend away from the bag as shown in the published patent application.
Another example of a forced-ventilation sports equipment bag is found in Canadian Patent Application 2,412,700 entitled Drying Bag for Sports Equipment and the Like. This published application discloses a sports equipment bag with a blower fan mounted in an air flow opening in one of the side walls of the bag for blowing air into the bag to drive air out the bag through a screened outlet. Since the fan is mounted in a side wall and since there is only a single outlet, the bag cannot be placed arbitrarily. Rather, the bag must be placed such that both the fan and the screened outlet are unobstructed. Therefore, the design of the bag unduly limits the orientation and location in which the bag can be set up.
The prior-art designs are therefore suboptimal for the reasons articulated above. A simpler, easier-to-use and more versatile equipment bag would therefore be highly desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is an object of the present invention to provide an improved ventilated equipment bag, equipment case or portable locker for storing, carrying and drying sports equipment. The portable locker (or bag or case) has a container structure that defines an enclosure for containing, storing and drying sports equipment. The portable locker has a ventilation fan mounted in a top portion of the container structure. The fan draws in air and forces stale and malodorous air to exhaust through at least one filtered outlet, which are preferably charcoal filters located on side panels, a bottom panel and a rear panel of the locker. The portable locker also includes a door, closeable opening or other such access through which equipment can be inserted into or retrieved from the portable locker. Preferably, the door or closeable opening is a zippered fabric panel that closes to substantially contain any odors emanating from the sports equipment. Preferably, the portable locker defines a box-like container having a substantially flat top panel into which the fan is securely mounted. In a preferred embodiment, the portable locker has hooks and mesh pockets for holding various pieces of sports equipment to facilitate drying of the equipment after use. The portable locker therefore provides a versatile and simple-to-use apparatus for storing, carrying and drying hockey equipment, football equipment or any other sports equipment that is damp and sweaty after a game or practice.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a portable equipment locker for storing, carrying and drying sports equipment includes a container structure for containing the sports equipment within the portable equipment locker; a door in the container structure movable between an open position, in which sports equipment can be inserted or retrieved, and a closed position, in which the door cooperates with the container structure to substantially fully enclose the sports equipment within the portable equipment locker; and a ventilation fan mounted in a top portion of the container structure for drawing fresh air into the portable locker and for forcing stale air from the portable locker to exhaust through at least one filtered air outlet.
In one embodiment, the portable equipment locker further includes a pair of hanging straps extending upwards from the top portion of the container structure to enable the locker to be suspended, the hanging straps being disposed on opposite sides of the ventilation fan.
In another embodiment, the portable equipment locker further includes filtered outlets in a bottom panel of the container structure, in side-panels of the container structure and in a back panel of the container structure, the filters being capable of purifying the air exhausting from the container structure.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a ventilated sports bag for carrying and storing sports equipment includes an air inlet disposed on a top portion of the bag; at least one filtered air outlet; and a detachable ventilation fan removably connected to the air inlet for drawing air into the bag and for forcing stale air to exhaust from the bag through the at least one filtered air outlet.
In one embodiment, the bag air outlets each include an air-purifying charcoal filter.
In another embodiment, the bag includes filtered outlets on side panels, a back panel and a bottom panel of the bag.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a ventilated footwear bag for carrying, storing and drying footwear after use includes a ventilated compartment having at least one footwear attachment for detachably receiving footwear; and a mounting port on the bag for detachably connecting a fan for drawing air into the bag and for forcing air out of the bag through at least one filtered outlet in the bag. The footwear could include shoes, skates, sandals, boots or other athletic footwear.
In one embodiment, the fan is mounted on the rear panel of the bag.
In another embodiment, a third ventilated compartment is provided for storing and drying an article of clothing.
In yet another embodiment, the mounting port comprises a Velcro™ strip for removably securing the detachable fan to the bag.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood with reference to the preferred embodiment described hereinafter.
Having thus generally described the nature of the present invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings by way of illustration showing a preferred embodiment, in which:
As further illustrated in
The panels of the portable locker are preferably made of a nylon fabric which will tend to inflate slightly, (“puff up”) under a positive pressure from the fan, which will consequently force stale and malodorous air to exhaust through at least one filtered air outlet 32.
Preferably, as best shown in
As a further variant, the portable locker could further include a timer to automatically shut off the ventilation fan after a given period of time in order to save energy. The timer could allow a user to select a one of number of predetermined drying cycles.
As a further variant, the portable locker could further include a heater to accelerate drying of the sports equipment, as hot dry air is better able to absorb moisture. However, as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, some sports equipment will degrade over time if exposed to excessive heating and cooling cycles so the heater should not overheat the equipment.
In yet a further variant, the portable locker could also include a small control panel integrally mounted on the locker for allowing a user to easily control the optional timer and the optional heater.
In a further refinement, the portable locker can include one or more air fresheners for scenting the air within the locker. Alternatively, specially dimensioned mesh pockets can be provided to receive replaceable air fresheners which can be replaced periodically when their scent is depleted.
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The ventilated footwear bag can also be constructed either as a true bag with floppy panels or it can be constructed with rigid panels in the form of a portable locker, such as described above with reference to the first embodiment. In other words, the ventilated footwear bag can be designed and constructed as a “portable shoe locker” or “portable skate locker”. In any of the embodiments, the ventilated footwear bag preferably includes at least handle 100. As shown in
Modifications and improvements to the above-described embodiments of the present invention may become apparent to those skilled in the art. The foregoing description is intended to be exemplary rather than limiting. The scope of the present invention is therefore intended to be limited solely by the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A portable equipment locker for storing, carrying and drying sports equipment, the portable equipment locker comprising:
- a container structure for containing the sports equipment within the portable equipment locker;
- a door in the container structure movable between an open position, in which sports equipment can be inserted or retrieved, and a closed position, in which the door cooperates with the container structure to substantially fully enclose the sports equipment within the portable equipment locker; and
- a ventilation fan mounted in a top portion of the container structure for drawing fresh air into the portable locker and for forcing stale air from the portable locker to exhaust through at least one filtered air outlet.
2. The portable equipment locker as claimed in claim 1 wherein the container structure is box-like having a top panel for housing the ventilation fan.
3. The portable equipment locker as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a pair of hanging straps extending upwards from the top portion of the container structure to enable the locker to be suspended, the hanging straps being disposed on opposite sides of the ventilation fan.
4. The portable equipment locker as claimed in claim 1 further comprising filtered outlets in a bottom panel of the container structure, in side panels of the container structure and in a back panel of the container structure, the filters being capable of purifying the air exhausting from the container structure.
5. The portable equipment locker as claimed in claim 1 wherein the container structure further comprises inside mesh pockets for storing sports equipment on opposed side portions of the container structure.
6. The portable equipment locker as claimed in claim 5 further comprising hooks depending from a top portion of the container structure for suspending sports equipment inside the locker.
7. A ventilated sports equipment bag for carrying and storing sports equipment, the ventilated sports bag comprising:
- an air inlet disposed on the bag;
- at least one filtered air outlet; and
- a detachable ventilation fan removably connected to the air inlet for drawing air into the bag and for forcing stale air to exhaust from the bag through the at least one filtered air outlet.
8. The ventilated sports equipment bag as claimed in claim 7 wherein the air inlet is disposed on a front panel of the bag.
9. The ventilated sports equipment bag as claimed in claim 7 wherein the at least one air outlet further comprises an air-purifying charcoal filter.
10. The ventilated sports equipment bag as claimed in claim 7 wherein the bag comprises filtered outlets on side panels, a back panel and a bottom panel of the bag.
11. The ventilated sports equipment bag as claimed in claim 7 further comprising a pair of hanging straps on a top portion of the bag for suspending the bag.
12. The ventilated sports equipment bag as claimed in claim 7 further comprising inside mesh pockets for holding sports equipment.
13. The ventilated sports equipment bag as claimed in claim 7 wherein the inlet comprises a filtered mounting port adapted to receive the detachable fan.
14. The ventilated sports equipment bag as claimed in claim 7 wherein the mounting port comprises a Velcreo™ strip for removably securing the detachable fan to the bag.
15. A ventilated footwear bag for carrying, storing and drying footwear after use, the ventilated footwear bag comprising:
- a ventilated compartment having at least one footwear attachment for detachably receiving footwear; and
- a mounting port on the bag for detachably connecting a fan for drawing air into the bag and for forcing air out of the bag through at least one filtered outlet in the bag.
16. The ventilated footwear bag as claimed in claim 15 wherein the mounting port for receiving the detachable fan is located on a rear portion of the bag.
17. The ventilated footwear bag as claimed in claim 15 further comprising a third ventilated compartment for storing and drying an article of clothing.
18. The ventilated footwear bag as claimed in claim 15 further comprising a plurality of filtered outlets disposed on at least two different panels of the bag.
19. The ventilated footwear bag as claimed in claim 15 wherein the mounting port comprises a Velcro™ strip for removably securing the detachable fan to the bag.
20. The ventilated footwear bag as claimed in claim 15 further comprising upper and lower harnesses disposed within the bag for detachably securing the footwear at a position within the bag that optimally ventilates the footwear.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 16, 2006
Publication Date: Oct 4, 2007
Applicant: Dry Locker Inc. (Windsor)
Inventors: Murray Chappell (Windsor), Roger Robinet (Windsor), Marie Costello (Windsor), Joe Frei (Harrow)
Application Number: 11/453,846
International Classification: B65D 85/20 (20060101);