CARRYING CASE HAVING AN ARRAY OF REMOVABLE TRANSPARENT POUCHES

Abstract

A portable, soft, transparent carrying case has removable transparent storage pockets or pouches attached to the interior cover. The removable storage pouches are attached to the cover by releasable fasteners so each pouch is removable. The pouches have zip lock type closures. A zipper zips around the top of the case and down the sides, so that unzipping it all the way allows the cover to lie down flat like a book, allowing the array of pouches to be flipped through like pages of a book.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present utility patent application claims the benefit of provisional application No. 60/996,045 filed Feb. 6, 2008.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to carrying cases and particularly to a transparent carrying case for carrying a variety of items comprising a flexible transparent outer shell with a zipper which zips around the top of the case and down the sides, so that unzipping at all the way allows the cover to lie down flat like a book, and a plurality of removably attachable transparent pouches attached to the interior of the top of the cover which are easily accessible when the cover is open and laid flat.

2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98

Carrying cases are often filled with a variety of items, such as craft items, items carried in a purse, activity related items such as for sports activities, first aid items, and many other types of items as needed by a user, which items are often difficult to find when they are needed during an activity. Much time can be wasted in searching through a pile of items in a case and frustration when an item is not found. Prior art devices do not adequately address the problem.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,293, issued Aug. 1, 1989 to Levine, indicates a fishing accessory container which includes a flexible outer bag having left and right halves which meet along a peripheral edge. A zipper joins the left and right halves along the peripheral edge to define a closed interior for the bag. A plurality of removable inserts are located within the bag interior and can be unzipped and removed from the bag interior to allow the user to select only needed equipment to be carried on a particular occasion.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,045, issued Sep. 27, 1994 to Robertson, describes a compartmented storage container for storing and transporting a variety of items, including a closable outer container, a multiplicity of item holders, a plurality of holder carriers, and a carrier receiver assembly. A single item holder or a group of item holders is removably connected to each holder carrier, and a plurality of holder carriers is removably connected to the carrier receiver assembly within the outer container, providing compartmented storage space for a multiplicity of items. Each item holder is constructed in a resealable envelope-like configuration of a transparent material, allowing visual inspection, selection, and removal of an individual item without removing holder carriers or item holders from the outer container. Item holders may be readily removed from and replaced in the outer container in groups or individually.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,594, issued Apr. 6, 2004 to Milionta, puts forth a portable carrying case with detachable inserts. The portable carrying case is made of a fabric and has two panels connected by a fold and includes an arrangement of several strips of hook-fastener material to which various inserts can be attached using corresponding strips of loop-fastener material. One of the panel surfaces has a mesh material layer permanently attached to it to hold elongated objects. The inserts can include single and multi-pocket pouches and a single sheet having fleece on one side, each of which has a strip of loop-fastener material used to fasten to corresponding hook-fastener strips inside the case. The case can be closed with pair of hook-and-loop fastener strips or by a zipper that can enclose three sides of the case. An additional external pouch can be attached onto the outside of the case using a pair of ribbons that are part of the external pouch.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,418, issued Apr. 24, 1984 to Goldstein, discloses a portable carrying case with a removable folio assembly. The carrying case comprises opposed cover members hinged to a central spine portion. The cover members are adapted to be secured together by a slide fastener to form a closed case or laid open to allow viewing of one or more pages of a folio arrangement supported by a frame member which is secured within the case on the spine portion by self-adhering fastener means of the Velcro type. The folio assembly includes an elongated flat metal or plastic frame member which is adapted to support one or more elongated elastic folio support rods for pivotally supporting the folio pages to be turned in the manner of turning pages of a book. The support rods may be elastically deflected to insert separate folio pages in or remove separate folio pages from the folio assembly frame or the entire folio assembly may be quickly inserted in and removed from the case, as desired.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,994,194, issued Feb. 7, 2006 to Smith, concerns a flight bag apparatus comprising a carrying case for storing and transporting various items. The carrying case includes an organizing flap hinged to the carrying case, and one or more organizing pockets or internal flaps that are hinged to the organizing flap. The organizing pockets can thus be opened and rotated like pages of a book for convenient storage of particular items or papers. The organizing pockets may be sized to hold Sectional Aeronautical Charts published by the Federal Aviation Administration for use by aircraft pilots. The rotatable organizing pockets are easily accessible to pilots to allow a pilot to direct more of his or her attention to piloting an aircraft and less time fumbling through files or pockets to locate maps and papers.

Two U.S. Pat. No. 6,896,131 issued May 24, 2005 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,158 issued Dec. 11, 2001 to Bisbal, claim a transparent display and carrying package which is particularly adapted for displaying and carrying a bedding ensemble, but which could be used for displaying and carrying any ensemble of products of different sizes. The package is in the form of a closed flexible bag, preferably box-shaped, having generally flat transparent front and rear walls and, preferably, having non-transparent side and top walls connected thereto. The bag preferably includes a zipper for closing and opening the bag to provide access to the interior of the bag. The ensemble of products of different sizes is positioned inside the bag with the large ensemble product in juxtaposition to the transparent front bag wall for viewing therethrough and the other smaller ensemble products are positioned inside the bag, preferably in pockets attached to the inside of the rear wall, in juxtaposition to the rear transparent wall and in side-by-side position for being viewed from the outside through the transparent rear wall.

U.S. Pat. No. 442,362, issued May 22, 2001 to Pontious, concerns the ornamental design for a transparent make-up bag.

U.S. Pat. No. 159,919, issued Aug. 29, 1950 to Munn, illustrates the ornamental design for a transparent handbag.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,833, issued Oct. 26, 1993 to McAllister, provides a transparent carrier apparatus for carrying personal articles. The transparent carrier comprises a substantially rectangular container portion of transparent plastic material having continuous front, bottom, rear and top surfaces, closure means between the top and front surfaces for closing the container portion, a flexible shoulder strap adapted to be received over the head and one arm of the wearer, the shoulder strap being dimensioned so as to continuously extend from one end of the bottom surface over the shoulder of the wearer to the opposite end of the bottom surface and adapted to lay flat against the body of the wearer, and attaching means for attaching the shoulder strap to the ends of the surfaces of the container portion. The shoulder strap has a pair of wide portions at either end extending from the bottom surface to an upper edge of the front and rear surfaces and having first and second edges, a narrow portion extending around the head of the wearer having first and second edges, and a pair of transitionary portions extending from the wide portions to each end of the narrow portion, each of the transitionary portion having a first edge disposed in angular relationship with first edge of the wide portion and a second edge disposed in linear relationship with the second edges of the wide and narrow portions.

U.S. Pat. No. 273,941, issued May 22, 1984 to Farber, shows the ornamental design for a transparent product packaging container.

U.S. Pat. No. 140,229, issued Feb. 6, 1945 to Friedman, describes the ornamental design for a combined handbag and cigarette case.

What is needed is a transparent case with an array of removable transparent pockets which can be scanned through by flipping the pockets to find items needed for a project.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a transparent case with an array of removable transparent pockets or pouches which can be scanned through by flipping the pockets to find items needed for a project.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a transparent case with an array of removable transparent pockets or pouches that can be removed and rearranged as desired.

One more object of the present invention is to provide a transparent case with an array of removable transparent pockets or pouches allowing for easy organization of items for any of a variety of uses including items such as craft items, items carried in a purse, activity related items such as for sports activities, first aid items, and many other types of items as needed by a user.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a transparent case with an array of removable transparent pockets or pouches, which is highly portable.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a transparent case with an array of removable transparent pockets or pouches that allow for their contents to be easily viewed and accessed.

In brief, the present invention is a portable soft see-through carrying case with removable see-through storage pockets or pouches attached to the inside of the top with the pouches hanging down with the case closed. The removable storage pockets allow for easy access to stored items. The zipper zips around the top of the case and down the sides, so that unzipping it all the way allows the whole cover, including one side and the top to lie down flat like a book. When zipped the storage unit turns into a purse or carrying case for craft items, activity related items, first aid items, or any other items which can easily be seen and accessed when opened, with the array of pockets extending upward from the interior of the top, by flipping through the transparent pockets like pages of a book. The bottom of each pocket is removably attached to the inside of the case top by mating hook and loop fasteners, metal strips and a magnetic strip, mating arrays of snaps or other easily separable fasteners. The pocket opening is at the opposite end from the fastener attachment to the top, so stored items can be accessed by opening the pockets still attached or removing one or more pouches and then opening them or just taking a pouch along with necessary items when the whole case is not needed for a project.

An advantage of the present invention is that it provides a highly portable transparent carrying case with removable pouches or pockets to store items needed for particular projects.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the pouches are transparent to easily reveal the contents.

One more advantage of the present invention is that the cover lies flat when open, allowing easy access to the individual pouches.

An additional advantage of the present invention is that the pouches may be removed and rearranged without emptying out the contents.

A further advantage of the present invention is that the array of pouches may be flipped through easily without detaching individual pouches from the cover.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other details of my invention will be described in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are furnished only by way of illustration and not in limitation of the invention, and in which drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the flexible transparent carrying case of the present invention with the case zipped closed and the array of internal transparent pockets hanging down from the inside of the top of the case;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the flexible transparent carrying case of the present invention with the case zipped open and the cover array of internal transparent pockets sticking up from the inside of the top of the case which is resting on a flat surface with the zip lock openings at the top of the pockets;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the flexible transparent carrying case of the present invention with the case zipped open and the cover array of internal transparent pockets sticking up to flip through to search from the inside of the top of the case;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the flexible transparent carrying case of the present invention with the case zipped open and the cover array of internal transparent pockets sticking up to flip through to search from the inside of the top of the case and one of the pockets partially removed from the top of the case;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the flexible transparent carrying case of the present invention with the case zipped open and the cover array of internal transparent pockets sticking up to flip through to search from the inside of the top of the case and one of the pockets removed from the top of the case, showing the pockets each attached to the inside of the top of the case by mating hook and loop fasteners;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the flexible transparent carrying case of the present invention with the case zipped open and the cover array of internal transparent pockets sticking up to flip through to search from the inside of the top of the case and one of the pockets removed from the top of the case, showing the pockets each attached to the inside of the top of the case by a metal strip on each pocket magnetically attached to a magnetic strip inside the top of the case;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the flexible transparent carrying case of the present invention with the case zipped open and the cover array of internal transparent pockets sticking up to flip through to search from the inside of the top of the case and one of the pockets removed from the top of the case, showing the pockets each attached to the inside of the top of the case by a series of snap connectors on each pocket magnetically attached to a mating array of snap connectors inside the top of the case.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In FIGS. 1-7, a carrying case device 10 for carrying a number of items, the case opening up to display an array of storage pouches or pockets therein. The case comprises a transparent carrying case 20 which may be fabricated from transparent colored plastic which may have designs imprinted thereon or may be non-transparent if desired, and a linear array of transparent pockets or pouches 24 for carrying items in an ordered array inside the case. The transparent case 20 preferably has a flexible transparent outer shell with three stationary sides 26B, and a cover 30 with a cover side 26A and a cover top 21. A handle 22 is permanently attached to the exterior of the cover top 21. A zipper 23 attaches along the a vertical edge of each of two opposing stationary sides 26B and around the top edges of the three stationary sides 26B. The zipper 23 also attaches to the two vertical edges of the cover side 26A and the three edges of the cover top 21. When the zipper 23 is completely unzipped, the cover 30 is allowed to lie flat like a book, as best viewed in FIGS. 5-7.

A linear array of transparent pockets or pouches 24 removably attaches to the interior of the cover top 21, each by a removable attaching means such as mating hook and loop fasteners 27A and 27B such as VELCRO® fasteners as shown in FIGS. 1-5, strips of metal 27C and a magnetic strip 27D as shown in FIG. 6, mating arrays of snap fasteners 27E and 27F as shown in FIG. 7, or other type of removable fastener securing the bottom edge of each pocket to the inside top of the case, allowing a pivoting of the pouch 24 relative to the cover 30. Each of the pouches 24 has a closed pouch bottom end that attaches to the interior of the cover top 21, and a top pouch opening at an opposite end having a means for closing and opening 25 the pouch opening, such as a zip lock, so that when the cover is closed the pouches 24 hang down from the interior of the cover top 21 with the pouch openings closed and when the cover is open and laid flat, the linear array of pouches 24 extends upwardly from the interior of the cover 30 and the linear array may be searched by flipping through the array of pouches 24 like pages of a book and contents 40 of the pouches 24 accessed by opening the means for closing and opening 25 the pouch opening. Each of the pockets or pouches 24 may be removed from the array, as shown in FIGS. 4-7, so that the contents of the pocket may be transported separately from the case for use of the items contained therein.

In one embodiment, the pouches 24 comprise plastic bags and the means for closing and opening 25 the pouch opening comprises a zip lock closure.

It is understood that the preceding description is given merely by way of illustration and not in limitation of the invention and that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Claims

1. A carrying case device which opens up to display an array of storage pouches for carrying items, the device comprising:

a transparent carrying case for carrying a plurality of items therein, the carrying case comprising a flexible transparent outer shell having a top opening and interconnected side opening and a pivotable cover attached to a bottom of the carrying case, the cover comprising a cover top to cover the top opening and a flexibly interconnected cover side to close the side opening, and a zipper which zips around three edges of the top of the case and three adjacent edges of the cover top and zips down two vertical side edges and the adjacent edges of the cover sides, so that unzipping it all the way allows the cover top and cover side to lie down flat;

a linear array of transparent pouches attached to an interior of the cover top each by a flexible attachment allowing a pivoting of the pouch relative to the cover top, each of the pouches having a closed pouch bottom end attached to the cover top and a top pouch opening at an opposite end having a means for closing and opening the pouch opening, so that when the cover is in a closed position, the pouches hang down from the interior of the cover top within the case with the pouch openings closed and when the cover is in an open position with the cover top and cover side in a flat position aligned with a bottom of the carrying case, the linear array of pouches extends upwardly from the interior of the cover top and the linear array may be searched by flipping through the array like flipping pages in a book to view the items contained in each transparent pouch and to access the items in each of the pouches by opening the means for closing and opening the pouch opening.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the pouches comprise transparent plastic bags and the means for closing and opening the pouch opening of each of the pouches comprises a zip lock closure.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein each pouch bottom is attached to the interior of the cover by a mating hook and loop fastener so that each of the pouches in the linear array is removably attached to the carrying case.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein each pouch bottom is attached to the interior of the cover by a mating metal and magnetic fastener so that each of the pouches in the linear array is removably attached to the carrying case.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein each pouch bottom is attached to the interior of the cover by a mating array of snap fasteners so that each of the pouches in the linear array is removably attached to the carrying case.