CARRY BAG FOR PERSONAL ITEMS SUCH AS KEYS OR VALUABLES

Abstract

The present invention relates to a carry bag for carrying personal items and a method of manufacturing a carry bag for carrying personal items. The carry bag comprising an inner pouch within which one or more personal items can be received, the inner pouch being made of a water impervious material such that in use the inner pouch resists water entry and thereby protects the personal items within the inner pouch from water. An outer pouch within which the inner pouch is completely received, the outer pouch having an opening through which the inner pouch is passed and a flap extending across the opening to completely conceal the inner pouch; and a strap on the outer pouch for strapping the outer pouch to the body of a user.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a carry bag for personal items such as keys and valuables.

This invention relates particularly but not exclusively to a carry bag for personal items such as keys and valuables that can be worn on the body of a user. The carry bag will be particularly useful for beachgoers who can use the carry bag to store their keys and valuables while they are engaging in beach activities such as surfing, swimming, wind surfing and the like. For example the user could be a bather and the carry bag containing personal items could be worn on the bather's body while they are bathing. It will also be particularly useful for runners, cyclists, canoeists, and kayakers.

It will therefore be convenient to hereinafter describe this invention with reference to this example application. However it is to be clearly understood that the invention is capable of broader application. For example the invention could also be used to store personal items such as keys and valuables on the body of a user who was conducting other activities. For example the carrier could be used by a user engaged in other sports such as road runners, cyclists, canoeists, and kayakers. It could also be used by users participating in extreme sports such as hang gliding, parachuting and rock climbing.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

A common pastime in many countries is for a person to visit a beach and to engage in typical beach activities while they are at the beach. These activities might include sunbathing, swimming, surfing, diving, playing a ball sport on the beach, or flying a kite.

A common problem encountered by bathers when visiting the beach is that they do not have a place to store their valuables while they are visiting the beach. As a result bathers might leave their personal items in a beach bag that is left on the beach next to their beach towel.

It will be appreciated that if personal items such as keys and valuables are left with the bather's personal belongings unattended on the beach they are vulnerable to being stolen. A bather's personal belongings are particularly vulnerable to being stolen on a beach because a thief can watch their movements carefully and then pick an opportune moment to carry out the theft, e.g. while they are away from their personal belongings and swimming in the sea. Typically the thief might steal a beach bag or item of clothing containing a person's valuables, when it is not being overseen or guarded by a person.

In the prior art a bather might have tried to avoid this risk of theft by placing their car keys in a pocket of their bathing trunks. However in this scenario the car keys would be likely to get wet. Further the car keys might also be at risk of coming out of the pocket of the bathing trunks while the bather is swimming in the sea and consequently being lost. This is particularly so if the bather is engaged in board surfing or body surfing. Further it will readily be appreciated that a bather could not store paper money in a pocket of a pair of bathing trunks, because the money would be likely to get wet.

Further some types of bathing trunks, particularly those worn by women, are simply not suitable for carrying personal items and do not have a pocket for storing a user's valuables and car keys.

Some bathers manage this problem by visiting a beach in groups of two or more people, and then taking it in turns to swim in the sea. The idea is that there is always one person who stays behind with bags and beach towels belonging to the group of persons. That person remains as a sentry overseeing the bags on the beach to reduce the risk of theft of personal items from the bags.

However this situation is not optimal as it is desirable for bathers to enjoy a sense of freedom when they visit a beach. It would be advantageous if they did not have to continuously keep watch over their personal belongings. It is also desirable for bathers visiting the beach as a group to be able to do things as a group on the beach and not to have one person maintaining watch or guard over their personal items. It is recognized that this is a significant detraction on the quality of enjoyment that can be afforded by a visit to the beach.

Clearly it would be advantageous if an innovation could be devised that gave a person the freedom to engage in a sporting or a leisure activity without having to worry about the safety and security of their personal possessions. At the same time it would be further advantageous if the innovation enabled a person to keep their personal possessions, e.g. paper money and credit cards, dry as well as safe when they engage in leisure or sporting activities that involve swimming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a carry bag for carrying personal items, the carry bag comprising: an inner pouch within which one or more personal items can be received, the inner pouch being made of a water impervious material such that in use the inner pouch resists water entry and thereby protects the personal items within the pouch from water; an outer pouch within which the inner pouch is completely received, the outer pouch having an opening through which the inner pouch is passed and a flap extending across the opening to completely conceal the inner pouch; and a strap on the outer pouch for strapping the outer pouch to the body of a user.

Thus the personal items are received within the inner pouch, which in turn is received within the outer pouch, which in turn is strapped onto a user's body with the strap.

The inner pouch may be interchangeable between an open and a closed condition.

The inner pouch may be made of a water impervious material, e.g. plastic material, and the pouch may be designed to resist water entry when in the closed condition.

The inner pouch may comprise two walls of flexible sheet material. The two walls may be of substantially rectangular shape and the inner pouch in turn may have a substantially rectangular shape having two sides and two ends.

The inner pouch may define an opening through which personal items may be inserted into the inner pouch and be withdrawn from the inner pouch. The opening may be defined in an end thereof and may be formed by free ends of walls of flexible material. Thus the two walls of flexible material are not attached to each other along this end thereby forming the opening.

The two walls of sheet material may be sealed to each other to form said inner pouch. In particular the two walls of sheet material may be sealed to each along two sides of the inner pouch and one end of the pouch, namely the opposite end to that forming the opening to the inner pouch.

The inner pouch may comprise a personal item receiving section remote from the opening that is side by side with a fold over section that is adjacent the pouch opening. The fold over section may be folded over to lie against the item receiving section when the inner pouch is in the closed condition whereby to resist water entry into the inner pouch in use. Further the walls of the inner pouch may be made of a material that tends to stick together releasably when the two walls are brought into contact thereby helping to resist water entry into the inner pouch.

The folded inner pouch may be sized to be received within the outer pouch in such a manner that it can lie flat within the outer pouch. This helps to keep the profile of the carry bag as low as possible.

The outer pouch may have an outer pouch opening through which the inner pouch can be inserted into the outer pouch and out of which the inner pouch can be withdrawn from the outer pouch.

The outer pouch may be manually interchanged between an open position in which the inner pouch can be inserted into or withdrawn from the outer pouch, and a closed condition in which the inner pouch is securely received within the outer pouch.

The outer pouch may be made of a resilient material that can be manually stretched. The resilient material may be an elastomeric material, e.g. a neoprene cloth material.

The outer pouch may comprise two major surfaces formed from two walls of flexible sheet material that are fastened to each other along at least part of their periphery.

The outer pouch may have a rectangular shape having two sides and two ends extending transversely to the two sides. The two walls may be fastened to each other along two sides and one end of the outer pouch. The two walls may be free from each other along the other end whereby to form the outer pouch opening.

The outer pouch may include a flap extending from one wall across the opening, and then extending over part of the other wall whereby to physically cover the opening of the outer pouch and close it off.

The flap may have two opposed side edges extending to a terminal or free edge spaced away from the opening of the outer pouch, and the terminal edge may extend parallel to the ends of the pouch.

The terminal edge of the flap may be positioned a distance of 2-10 cm away from the open ends of the walls of the outer pouch, e.g. a distance of 2-5 cm away from the open ends of the walls.

The two opposed side edges of the flap may be held against the adjacent major surface of the flap along their length. The flap may extend a distance of 2-10 cm along the other wall of the pouch forming the other major surface, in a direction away from the opening, e.g. a distance of 2-5 cm along the other wall away from the opening.

The elastomeric nature of the flap enables the flap to be manually pulled away from the adjacent wall of the outer pouch to provide access to the opening, and to permit the inner pouch to be inserted thereinto and be withdrawn therefrom.

The flap assists in securely retaining personal items within the outer pouch during use.

The strap may include an elongate strap member having two longitudinal side edges, two opposed ends and a releasable attachment for releasably attaching the ends of the strap to each other.

The strap member may also be made of elastomeric material. The outer pouch and the strap member may be made of the same elastomeric material. In one example form the strap member may be integrally formed with the outer pouch of elastomeric material. The strap member may form one of the walls of the outer pouch.

The strap member may be fastened to the limb of a user and the strap member may be sized so that it is sufficiently long to strap it to a long limb of a user. In one embodiment the strap member may be sized for attachment to an arm of a user, e.g. an upper arm or a forearm of a user. In another embodiment the strap member may be sized for attachment to a leg of a user, e.g. an upper leg or thigh region of a user, or a lower leg or a calf region of a user. Instead in a yet further embodiment the strap member may be sized so that it can be passed around the middle trunk, midriff region or waist region of a user.

The releasable fastener may include two complementary fastener components on the strap member spaced apart from each other. In one form the fastener may be a hook and loop fastener with a hook component on the strap member spaced away from a loop component on the strap member spaced away from said hook component.

Specifically one of the hook and loop components may be positioned towards one end of the strap member and the other of the hook and loop components may be positioned spaced away therefrom along the length of the strap member. This is commonly referred to as a VELCRO™ system.

The strap may include an eye for the strap member, through which an end and associated end region of the strap member can be passed. The end and associated end region of the strap member can be passed through the eye and then be turned back over the strap member. The hook and loop components can then be fastened to each other.

The eye for the strap and the arrangement whereby an end region of the strap member is passed through the eye and then turned back over the strap member, to which it is fastened, this is more secure than a simple attachment of free ends of the strap member to each other. A secure fastening of the carry bag to the body of a user is advantageous if valuables are to be stored in the carry bag.

Instead in another form the strap may have a buckle for fastening spaced points on the strap member to each other. The term buckle is used in a generic sense in this context and includes all manner of buckles, for example a turnbuckle may be used.

The ends of the outer pouch may extend parallel to the longitudinal side edges of the strap member. Correspondingly the sides of the outer pouch may extend transversely to the longitudinal side edges of the strap member.

The strap member may be flared as it approaches its attachment to the outer pouch and the width of the strap member may be substantially the same as the outer pouch at the point where it attaches to the outer pouch. Alternatively the strap member and the outer pouch may be the same width along the entire length of the carry bag. This also means that the eye or eyelet would be approximately the same width of the outer pouch to receive the strap member for securing the carry bag to the user.

This assists the outer pouch to be held in a position where it lies flat on a user's body, and does not have a tendency to lift off a user's body in use.

According to another aspect of this invention there is provided a carry bag for carrying personal items, including:

• • a pouch within which one or more items can be received that is made of a resilient material that can be manually stretched, the pouch defining an opening through which the items can be passed and including a flap extending across the opening.
    The carry bag may include a strap on the pouch for strapping the pouch onto a limb of a user.

The pouch may comprise two walls of flexible sheet material defining major surfaces that are fastened to each other along at least part of the length of the edge of the pouch.

The flap may extend from one wall of sheet material across and over the opening, and then also across part of the other wall forming the other major surface whereby to physically close off the opening of the pouch.

The flap may have two opposed side edges extending to a free edge spaced away from the opening of the pouch. The two opposed side edges of the flap may be held against the adjacent major surface of the flap along their length. The flap may extend a distance of 2-10 cm along the other wall of the pouch forming the other major surface, in a direction away from the opening, e.g. a distance of 2-5 cm along the other wall away from the opening.

The resilient material may be an elastomeric material. The elastomeric nature of the flap enables the flap to be manually pulled away from the adjacent wall of the pouch to provide access to the opening, and to permit an inner pouch to be inserted thereinto and be withdrawn therefrom.

The flap may be fixed at each end so that it lies flat against a face of the pouch. The flap assists in securely retaining personal items within the pouch during use.

The strap may include an elongate strap member having two longitudinal side edges, two opposed ends and a releasable attachment for releasably attaching the ends of the strap to each other.

The strap member may also be made of elastomeric material. The pouch and the strap member may be made of the same elastomeric material.

In one example form the strap member may be integrally formed with the pouch of elastomeric material. The strap member may form one of the walls of the outer pouch. In particular the strap member may forms said one wall of the pouch.

The pouch and the strap may include any one or more of the other features of the outer pouch and strap described in the first aspect of the invention above.

The carry bag may further include an inner pouch within which one or more articles can be received in which case said one pouch may be referred to as an outer pouch. The inner pouch may be capable of waterproof storage of personal items.

According to yet another aspect of this invention there is provided a carry bag for carrying personal items, including:

• • a pouch within which one or more items can be received, the pouch being interchangeable between an open and a closed condition, the pouch being made of a water impervious material, and the pouch may be designed to resist water entry when in the closed condition.

The carry bag may include a further pouch within which said one pouch can be received in which case said one pouch can be referred to as an inner pouch.

The inner pouch may comprise two sheets of flexible plastics material. The two walls may be of substantially rectangular shape and the inner pouch in turn may have a substantially rectangular shape having two sides and two ends.

The water impervious sheet plastic material from which the walls of the inner pouch are formed may be a material that tends to stick together releasably when the two walls are brought into contact thereby helping to resist water entry into the inner pouch. The water impervious sheet plastic material from which the walls of the inner pouch are formed may be a polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is a thermoplastic polymer.

The opening may be defined by one end of the inner pouch which end is open. The two walls of sheet material may be sealed to each other along two sides and one end thereof, e.g. the end opposite the open end forming the opening.

The inner pouch may comprise a personal item receiving section remote from the opening that is side by side with a fold over section that is adjacent the open end. The fold over section may be folded over to lie against the item receiving section when the inner pouch is in the closed condition whereby to resist water entry into the inner pouch in use.

The inner pouch may include any one or more of the other features of the inner pouch described in the first aspect of the invention above.

In accordance with a further aspect, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a carry bag for carrying personal items, the method comprising:

cutting out a base piece corresponding to the shape and dimensions of a combined strap member and a rear piece of an outer pouch;

cutting out a front piece corresponding to a rectangular shape having a left side, a right side, a top side and a bottom side to form the front piece of the outer pouch;

cutting out a flap piece corresponding to a rectangular shape having a left side, a right side, a top side and a bottom side to form the flap piece of the outer pouch;

binding the bottom side of the flap piece;

binding together the front piece and the flap piece by binding the corresponding left and right sides of the front piece and the flap piece;

sewing the combined front piece and lap piece onto the base piece by sewing down the left and right corresponding edges over the previously bound edges;

binding the base piece around its entire periphery including the top and bottom corresponding edges of the combined front piece and flap piece;

cutting a vertical slit adjacent an end piece of the base piece to accommodate an eye, the eye is then attached into the vertical slit;

attaching a first fastening strip to another end of the base piece and fastening a second complementary fastening piece on the base piece spaced apart distance from the first fastening strip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A carry bag for personal items in accordance with the invention may manifest itself in a variety of forms. It will be convenient to hereinafter describe in detail several preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. The purpose of providing this detailed description is to instruct persons having an interest in the subject matter of the invention how to carry the invention into practical effect. However it is to be clearly understood that the specific nature of this detailed description does not supersede the generality of the preceding broad description. In the accompanying diagrammatic drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a carry bag for personal items in accordance with an embodiment of the invention comprising an inner pouch, an outer pouch, and a strap;

FIG. 2 is a schematic three dimensional view of the carry bag of FIG. 1 in which the outer pouch and strap are being strapped onto a user's forearm;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a carry bag for personal items in accordance with an embodiment of the invention comprising an inner pouch, an outer pouch and a strap;

FIG. 4 is a schematic front three dimensional view of the outer pouch of the bag of FIG. 1 showing the flap that extends down the front face of the pouch and how it can be manually held open to provide access to the outer pouch;

FIG. 5 is a schematic rear three dimensional view of the outer pouch of FIG. 4 showing how the strap member also forms the back sheet of the outer pouch.

FIG. 6 is a schematic three dimensional view of the carry bag of FIG. 1 showing three stages from fully open to passing the strap through the opening and finally just before the strap is folded to a closed position; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic three dimensional view of the carry bag of FIG. 1 in which a credit card is inserted into the inner pouch and the inner pouch is then inserted into the outer pouch.

In FIGS. 1 to 7, reference numeral 10 refers generally to a carry bag for carrying personal items in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

The carry bag 10 comprises broadly an inner pouch 12 within which personal items (not shown) can be received, and an outer pouch 16 within which the inner pouch 12 can be received. The carry bag 10 also includes a strap 18 on the outer pouch 16 for strapping the outer pouch 16 to the body 20 of a user.

The inner pouch 12 is a flat pouch having two major panels 22, 24 of rectangular shape that are sealed to each other around three of their edges. The drawings show only the major panel 22, major panel 24 is identical to that of major panel 22. The inner pouch 12 is open along the fourth edge of each panel 22, 24 thereby defining an opening 26 for the inner pouch 12. The inner pouch 12 can be divided up into a personal item receiving section 28 remote from the opening 26 and a fold over section 30 adjacent the opening 26. The inner pouch 12 is manually interchangeable between an open condition and a closed condition. In the open condition shown in FIG. 3 the fold over section 30 is broadly in line or in plane with the item receiving section 28 and the opening 26 can be opened up to provide access to the interior of the inner pouch 12, in particular the item receiving section 28. The fold over section 30 is folded over to lie against the item receiving section 28 when the inner pouch 12 is in the closed condition shown in FIG. 7. The inner pouch 12 lies flat with a low profile when it is in the closed condition. Naturally the manner in which items are packed into the inner pouch 12 can also help to achieve a flattened pouch 12 with a low profile.

The inner pouch 12 may also be folded over more than once, for example the fold over section 30 may be divided into a number of sections and folded over more than once to close the inner pouch 12. The fold over section 30 is folded over to lie against the item receiving section 28 no matter how many times the folded over section is folded over.

The inner pouch 12 is constructed so as to resist water entry when in the closed condition. In the illustrated example embodiment this is achieved by making the inner pouch 12 of a type of plastics material in which adjacent surfaces of the plastic material tend to stick to each other, e.g. releasably. This type of plastic is commercially available and is referred to as sheet PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastics material.

The part of the two major panels 22, 24 forming the fold over section of the pouch 12 lie up against each other and are in contact with each other in the closed condition. The particular material used for the major panels 22, 24 assists in getting the sheets to seat up against each other. This way the inner pouch 12 resists the ingress or passage of moisture between the two surfaces of plastic when the pouch 12 is in the closed condition. The inner pouch 12 is sized to receive personal items therein such as a set of keys, some money and personal cards such as a car license and a credit card. In an example form of the invention the item receiving section 28 of the inner pouch 12 is of rectangular shape and may have a length of 10 to 15 cm and a width of 8 to 13 cm.

The fold over section 30 is similarly of rectangular shape and may have a length of 8 to 13 cm and a width of 8 to 13 cm. The fold over section 30 is of the same rectangular form that the item receiving section 28.

The outer pouch 16 which will now be described in more detail is made of a resilient material, e.g. an elastomeric material, which can be manually stretched. In the example embodiment the elastomeric material that is used is neoprene, e.g. a 100% neoprene cloth of the type that is commercially available. The elastomeric material assists the functioning of the pouch 16 as will become apparent from the detailed description below.

The outer pouch 16 has an outer pouch opening 34, shown in FIG. 4. The outer pouch 16 can be manually moved from a resting condition in which the pouch opening 34 is closed to an open condition in which the pouch opening 34 is held open by the hands of a user (and the inner pouch 12 can be inserted into or withdrawn from the outer pouch 16). This is achieved by stretching the resilient material of the outer pouch 16 to the open condition. When this manual stretching is released the inherent resilience of the material of the outer pouch 16 returns it to the resting or closed condition. The details of a user's hand pulling the flap 58 away from the front wall 42 have been omitted from FIG. 4 for clarity.

In the example embodiment of the invention that has been illustrated, the outer pouch 16 is of broadly rectangular configuration being formed from two sheets of flexible material that are fastened to each other and form major surfaces that are a front sheet 42 and a back sheet 40.

The outer pouch 16 has two long sides 44, 45 along which the two major surfaces forming the front sheet 42 and the back sheet 40 are attached to each other. The outer pouch 16 also has two short ends 46, 47 that extend transverse to the long sides 44, 45. The front and back sheets, 42, 40 forming the outer pouch 16 are attached to each other along the two long sides 44, 45 and along one end 46 of the pouch 16. The sheets 42, 40 are not attached to each other along the end 47 of the pouch 16 thereby forming the opening 34 of the outer pouch 16 through which access can be obtained to the interior thereof. The long sides 44, 45 extend transverse to the longitudinal direction of the strap 18 and the transverse ends 46, 47 extend broadly parallel to the longitudinal direction of the strap member 18.

The outer pouch 16 is sized to receive the inner pouch 12 therein (in the closed condition) in such a way that the inner pouch 12 can lie flat within the outer pouch 16. It does not need to be specifically folded or packed for it to lie properly within the outer pouch 16.

The outer pouch 16 includes a flap 58 extending from the back sheet 40 across and over the opening 34 and then along part of the front sheet 42 whereby to physically close off the outer pouch opening 34.

The flap 58 has two opposed side edges 64, 66 extending to a free terminal end of the flap that extends a distance of 2-7 cm away from the opening 34 along the front sheet 42. The two opposed side edges 64, 66 of the flap 58 are held against the adjacent front sheet 42 along their length, e.g. by being attached thereto by stitching or the like.

The elastomeric nature of the flap 58 enables the flap 58 to be manually pulled away from the adjacent front sheet 42 of the outer pouch 16 to provide access to the interior of the outer pouch 16, through the opening 34, whereby to permit the inner pouch 12 to be inserted therein and to be withdrawn therefrom. This action to access the interior of the outer pouch 16 is shown in FIG. 4.

The strap 18 will now be described in some detail.

The strap 18 includes an elongate strap member 70 having two longitudinal side edges 50, 52 and two opposed ends 72, 74 and a releasable fastener 76 for releasably attaching the ends 72, 74 of the strap member 70 to each other.

The strap member 70 is made of elastomeric material, like the outer pouch 16, and is conveniently formed integral with the outer pouch 16. In fact the strap member 70 can be used to form the back sheet 40 of the outer pouch 16, to economise on material and simplify manufacture, in the example embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 5.

The releasable fastener 76 includes two complementary fastener components on the strap member spaced apart from each other. In the example form that has been illustrated the fastener 76 is in the form of a hook and loop fastener having a hook component 80 on the strap member 70 towards one end thereof, and a loop fastener 82 on the strap member 70 spaced away therefrom. This is commonly referred to as a VELCRO™ fastener.

In the example embodiment, as has been described above, the strap member 70 forms the back sheet 40 of the outer pouch 16. Further the strap member 70 is sized to have a length that is suitable for attachment to the forearm of a user 20.

The strap 18 includes an eye or eyelet 86 for receiving one end 72 and an associated end region of the strap member 70, therethrough. The end region is then folded back over the rest of the strap member 70 and the complementary fastener components 80 and 82 are attached to each other.

The strap eye 86 and the returning section of the strap member 70 provides a more secure attachment of the carry bag 10 to the body of a user than if only the fastener components 80, 82 were used. Even if the fastener 76 detaches, the end region of the strap 70 still has to be pulled through the eye 86 in the strap member 70 before it can detach from the limb of a user.

The width of the strap member 70 is less than the width of the outer pouch 16 along a large part of the length of the strap member 70. However the strap member 70 does flare outwardly, as shown at 88, as it approaches the outer pouch 16 and transitions into the outer pouch 16. The width of the strap member 70 is broadly the same as the outer pouch 16 at the point where it attaches to the outer pouch 16.

The correspondence between the side edges 50, 52 of the strap member 70 and the short ends 46, 47 of the outer pouch 16 enables the corners of the outer pouch 16 to be held down on the strap member 70, e.g. by being attached to the strap member 70 towards said side edges 50, 52. This assists in causing the outer pouch 16 to lie flat on the strap member 70 and also to lie flat on the limb of a user 20. If the outer pouch 16 is caused to lie flat it will not be likely to interfere with the movement, e.g. limb movement, of a user engaged in a sporting activity.

In the illustrated embodiment the strap member 70 forms the back sheet 40 of the outer pouch 16 and thus the long sides 44, 45 of the outer pouch 16 are held flat against the strap member 70 along their length. This further assists the outer pouch 16 to be held in a position where it lies flat on a users' body, and does not have tendency to lift off a user's body in use.

In use the carry bag 10 will typically be used to carry personal items on a user while they are engaged in a sporting or leisure activity.

In a first step a user 20 will separate the inner pouch 12 from the outer pouch 16. The user 20 can then manually place their personal items such as keys, credit cards and money into the inner pouch 12 by inserting them in through the opening 26 as shown in FIG. 3.

Thereafter the inner pouch 12 containing the personal items can be placed in the outer pouch 16 in the manner shown in FIG. 7. To do this the user 20 needs to manually open up the opening 34 of the outer pouch 16. The user 20 does this by pulling the flap 58 away from the flexible front wall 42 of the outer pouch 16 in the manner shown in FIG. 4.

Thereafter the outer pouch 16 is strapped onto the limb of a user by means of the strap 18. This involves threading the end 72 of the strap member 70 through the eye 86 of the strap member 70 and then folding said end 72 of the strap member 70 and an associated end region back along the belt member 70 as shown in FIG. 6 and attaching the hook and loop fastener components 80, 82 to each other.

Thereafter the carry bag 10 is fitted onto a user 20 and the user 20 can then engage in sporting or leisure activities such as cycling, swimming, running, canoeing, kayaking or the like. They can do so secure in the knowledge that their personal possessions including car keys and valuables are safely contained in the inner pouch 12 which is received within the outer pouch 16 which is strapped onto their bodily person.

After use when a user 20 desires to retrieve their personal items they separate the fastener components 80, 82, with draw the strap member through the eye 86 and then detach the strap and pouch 16 from their arm or leg. Thereafter they can hold open the opening 34 to the outer pouch 16 to remove the inner pouch 12 from the outer pouch 16. Thereafter they can retrieve their personal items from the inner pouch 12.

FIGS. 3 to 5 illustrate a carry bag for personal items that is a variation on that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this drawing the same reference numerals will be used to refer to the same components as in FIGS. 1 and 2.

In FIGS. 3 and 5 the strap member 70 is sized to be suitable for passing around the leg of a user, e.g. a lower leg or a calf region of a user. Otherwise the carry bag 10 is the same as that in FIGS. 1 to 5 and functions in much the same way as the carry bag 10 in FIGS. 1 and 2.

In yet another embodiment (not shown) of the invention that has not been illustrated the strap is sized to be long enough to be passed around the middle or waist region of a user. Apart from this point of difference it functions similarly to the carry bag described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 6 is a schematic three dimensional view of the carry bag of FIG. 1 showing the three stages from fully open to passing the strap through the opening and finally just before the strap is folded to a closed position. As the carry bag in FIG. 6 is structurally and functionally similar to that in FIG. 1 the same reference numerals will be used to refer to the same components unless otherwise indicated.

In a still further embodiment (not shown) the strap member 70 has a shorter length than the FIG. 1 embodiment. This strap member 70 is thus of a different size and can be used on a user where a shorter strap length is required to fasten it to the body of a user, e.g. a child.

The present invention will now be described with reference to a method of manufacturing a carry bag for carrying personal items. While this method is described it will be obvious to a skilled person in the relevant art that a number of methods may be used to manufacture the carry bag 10.

The process for manufacturing the carry bag 10 begins by cutting out the back piece or sheet 40, the front piece or sheet 42, and the flap piece 58. The back sheet 40 includes the combined strap member 18 and a rear piece of an outer pouch. The front sheet 42 is formed of a rectangular shape having a left side 44, a right side 45, a top side and a bottom side 46 and forms the front piece of the outer pouch 16. The flap piece 58 is a rectangular shape having a left side 64, a right side 66, a top side 47 and a bottom side and forms the flap piece 58 of the outer pouch 16.

Next the bottom side of the flap 58 is bound by sewing a band onto the bottom side. The same process is then carried out to bind together the front sheet 42 and the flap 58 by binding the corresponding left 44, 64 and right sides 45, 66 of the front sheet 42 and the flap 58. Then the combined front piece 42 and flap 58 are sewn onto the base sheet 40 by sewing down the left 44, 46 and right 45, 66 corresponding edges over the previously bound edges.

The base sheet 40 is then bound around its entire periphery including the top 47 and bottom 46 corresponding edges of the combined front sheet 42 and the flap 58.

In order to fit the eye or eyelet 86 into the base sheet 40 a vertical slit is cut in the base sheet 40 adjacent an end piece 74 of the base sheet 40. The eye 86 is then attached by any known method of attaching an eye to a material. For example the eye may be sewn into the vertical slit.

Finally, the releasable fastening strips 80, 82 are attached by a known method to the base sheet 40. The first piece 80 is attached at an end 72 of the base sheet 40. The second piece 82 a complementary fastening piece 82 is attached to the base sheet 40 spaced apart a distance from the first fastening strip 80.

The releasable fastener 80, 82 consists of two complementary fastener components on the strap member 18 spaced apart from each other. In the example form that has been illustrated the fastener 76 is in the form of a hook and loop fastener having a hook component 80 on the strap member 70 towards one end thereof, and a loop fastener 82 on the strap member 70 spaced away therefrom. This is commonly referred to as a VELCRO™ fastener. An advantage of the carry bag described above with reference to the drawings is that it can be worn on the body of a user when they are engaging in leisure activities such as playing a game or swimming in the sea. The carry bag can also be worn on the body of a user engaged in sporting activities, including a user engaged in a serious competitive sporting activity such as a runner, a cyclist, a canoeist and a kayaker. The personal items within the inner pouch are securely received within the outer pouch that in turn is firmly and securely strapped onto the body of a user.

Another advantage of the carry bag described above is that the inner pouch seals in a water resistant fashion. Thus personal items stored within the inner pouch are unlikely to get wet when the user swims in the sea with the bag strapped to their arm or leg. This is the case even when the user enters the water for a long time such as occurs when the user is engaged in swimming or diving activities. This is important if the carry bag is to be useful for storing paper money such as bank notes or credit cards.

A yet further advantage of the carry bag described above with reference to the drawings is that it is strapped firmly onto the limb of a user and lies flat against the arm of a user. As such it is relatively unobtrusive and does not impede or interfere with the body actions of a user. For example a user can comfortably swim or surf while wearing the carry bag. This makes it particularly suitable for users engaged in serious sporting activities such as tri-athletes, surf lifesavers, marathon runners and the like.

A yet further advantage of the carry bag described above is that the personal items are held securely within a pouch of the carrier with minimal risk of the bag and its contents of personal items being lost in the surf while swimming. At the same time it is a quick and easy process to pack items into the bag and strap the bag onto a user's body. It is also easy to take off the bag and withdraw the personal items from the carry bag.

It will of course be realized that the above has been given only by way of illustrative example of the invention and that all such modifications and variations thereto, as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art, are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of the invention as is herein set forth.

In the specification the term “comprising” shall be understood to have a broad meaning similar to the term “including” and will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated integer or step or group of integers or steps but not the exclusion of any other integer or step or group of integers or steps. This definition also applies to variations on the term “comprising” such as “comprise” and “comprises”.

Claims

1. A carry bag for carrying personal items, the carry bag comprising:

an inner pouch within which one or more personal items can be received, the inner pouch being made of a water impervious material such that in use the inner pouch resists water entry and thereby protects the personal items within the pouch from water;

an outer pouch within which the inner pouch is completely received, the outer pouch having an opening through which the inner pouch is passed and a flap extending across the opening to completely conceal the inner pouch; and

a strap on the outer pouch for strapping the outer pouch to the body of a user.

2. The carry bag according to claim 1, wherein the inner pouch comprises two walls of flexible sheet material, the two walls are substantially rectangular in shape and the inner pouch in turn has a substantially rectangular shape having two sides and two ends.

3. The carry bag according to claim 2, wherein the inner pouch defines an opening through which personal items may be inserted into the inner pouch and be withdrawn from the inner pouch, the opening is defined in an end thereof and may be formed by free ends of walls of flexible material, wherein the two walls of flexible material are not attached to each other along this end thereby forming the opening.

4. The carry bag according to claim 3, wherein the two walls of sheet material are sealed to each other to form said inner pouch, the inner pouch comprising a personal item receiving section remote from the opening that is side by side with a fold over section that is adjacent the pouch opening.

5. The carry bag according to claim 4, wherein the walls of the inner pouch are made of a material that tends to stick together releasably when the two walls are brought into contact thereby helping to resist water entry into the inner pouch.

6. The carry bag according to claim 5, wherein the folded inner pouch may be sized to be received within the outer pouch in such a manner that it can lie flat within the outer pouch.

7. The carry bag according to claim 1, wherein the outer pouch is manually interchanged between an open position in which the inner pouch can be inserted into or withdrawn from the outer pouch, and a closed condition in which the inner pouch is securely received within the outer pouch.

8. The carry bag according to claim 7, wherein the outer pouch is made of a resilient material that can be manually stretched.

9. The carry bag according to claim 8, wherein the outer pouch comprises two major surfaces formed from two walls of flexible sheet material that are fastened to each other along at least part of their periphery.

10. The carry bag according to claim 9, wherein the outer pouch includes a flap extending from one wall across the opening, and then extending over part of the other wall whereby to physically cover the opening of the outer pouch and close it off, the flap having two opposed side edges extending to a terminal or free edge spaced away from the opening of the outer pouch, and the terminal edge extends parallel to the ends of the pouch.

11. The carry bag according to claim 10, wherein the terminal edge of the flap is positioned a distance of 2-10 cm away from the open ends of the walls of the outer pouch.

12. The carry bag according to clam 11, wherein the two opposed side edges of the flap are held against the adjacent major surface of the flap along their length.

13. The carry bag according to claim 12, wherein the flap is made of resilient material and the resilient nature of the flap enables the flap to be manually pulled away from the adjacent wall of the outer pouch to provide access to the opening and to permit the inner pouch to be inserted thereinto and be withdrawn therefrom.

14. The carry bag according to claim 1, wherein the strap includes an elongate strap member having two longitudinal side edges, two opposed ends and a releasable attachment for releasably attaching the ends of the strap to each other.

15. The carry bag according to claim 14, wherein the strap member and outer pouch are made of an elastomeric material and is fastened to a limb of a user.

16. The carry bag according to claim 15, wherein the releasable fastener includes two complementary fastener components on the strap member spaced apart from each other, wherein the fastener is a hook and loop fastener with a hook component on the strap member spaced away from a loop component on the strap member.

17. The carry bag according to claim 16, wherein the strap includes an eye for the strap member, through which an end and associated end region of the strap member can be passed, the end and associated end region of the strap member can be passed through the eye and then be turned back over the strap member and the hook and loop components can then be fastened to each other.

18. The carry bag according to claim 17, wherein the ends of the outer pouch extend parallel to the longitudinal side edges of the strap member and correspondingly the sides of the outer pouch extend transversely to the longitudinal side edges of the strap member.

19. The carry bag according to claim 18, wherein the strap member is integrally formed with the outer pouch of elastomeric material such that the strap member forms one of the walls of the outer pouch.

20. A carry bag for carrying personal items, including:

a pouch within which one or more items can be received that is made of a resilient material that can be manually stretched, the pouch defining an opening through which the items can be passed and including a flap extending across the opening.