APPARATUS FOR CARRYING BAGS AND METHOD OF USING IT
An apparatus for carrying grocery bags having a load member formed from a rigid material and having a plurality of bag holders extending from the load member; a shoulder strap having a first strap end attached to the first end of the load member and a second strap end attached to the second end of the load member; and a shoulder padding associated with a midpoint of the shoulder strap, the midpoint being disposed at about half distance between the first strap end and the second strap end, wherein the apparatus is configured to allow a user to place the shoulder strap onto the user's shoulder, such that the load member sits next to the user's waist or hip, the bag holders extend upwards, and such that rotation of the load member is prevented, thus allowing the user to hook onto the bag holders and suspend therefrom grocery bags.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/326,346, filed Apr. 22, 2016, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the InventionThe invention relates generally to bag carriers and more particularly to bag carriers worn on one's shoulder and methods of using the same.
2. Description of the Related ArtEveryone knows how difficult it is to carry grocery bags from one's car to or into his/her residence. This problem is even more acute when one lives in an apartment complex, when often the car must be parked far away from the apartment. Further, the problem becomes worse when the apartment is not at ground level and thus stairs must be climbed to get to the apartment. The problem is further exacerbated when several grocery bags must be transported from the car to the apartment. In that case, the person has the choice of making several trips from the car to the apartment or try to carry all bags at once. Both options are bad options as described below.
The first option requires a lot of walking, and if stairs are involved, the inconvenience or even pain, especially for people with joint arthritis for example, is amplified. The second option also subjects the person to pain and suffering, and further to risk of injury and to significant discomfort and inconvenience. That is because many bags will typically be grabbed in one or both hands as shown in
Further, due to the number of bags, often, grocery bags must be grabbed in both hands in order to avoid a second trip (
In addition, when both hands are tied as shown in
Therefore, there is a great need for a new and improved apparatus and method that address and solve the above problems.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTIONThis Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key aspects or essential aspects of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, this Summary is not intended for use as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In an exemplary embodiment, an apparatus for carrying grocery bags is provided, having a main body formed from a rigid material and having a first end and a second opposite end, a length measured between the first and the second end, a width and a height, wherein the length is a plurality of times greater than the width and the height and wherein the main body has a bottom side opposite an upper side and a front and a back opposite side extending between the bottom and the upper side; a plurality of pins extending upwards from the upper side of the main body; a shoulder strap having a first strap end attached to the first end of the main body and a second strap end attached to the second end of the main body, the shoulder strap being configured to allow a user to place the shoulder strap onto the user's shoulder, such that the main body is suspended next to the user's waist or hip and such that the pins extend upwards, thus allowing the user to hook onto the pins and suspend therefrom grocery bags; and a first aperture disposed into a first protrusion associated with the first end of the main body and a second aperture disposed into a second protrusion associated with the second end of the main body, each aperture being configured to receive a hook associated with the first and the second strap end to attach to and suspend from the shoulder strap the main body, both first and second apertures being disposed higher than the upper side of the main body, such that to prevent rotation of the main body relative to a longitudinal axis, while loaded with grocery bags and while being suspended via the shoulder strap from the shoulder of the user, which would cause a fall of the bags from the pins.
In another exemplary embodiment, a method for carrying grocery bags is provided, the method including using an apparatus for carrying grocery bags as summarized in the above exemplary embodiment, placing the apparatus for carrying grocery bags onto a person's shoulder, hooking onto the pins and suspend therefrom grocery bags, and walking to a destination hands-free of grocery bags.
Thus, the advantages are that the provided apparatus and method address and solve all of problems with the prior art described above.
The above embodiments and advantages, as well as other embodiments and advantages, will become apparent from the ensuing description and accompanying drawings.
For exemplification purposes, and not for limitation purposes, embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which:
What follows is a detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention in which the invention may be practiced. Reference will be made to the attached drawings, and the information included in the drawings is part of this detailed description. The specific preferred embodiments of the invention, which will be described herein, are presented for exemplification purposes, and not for limitation purposes. It should be understood that structural and/or logical modifications could be made by someone of ordinary skills in the art without departing from the scope and essence of the invention.
Reference will now be made to
The loaded bar/main body 302 may have a bottom side (not shown) opposite an upper side 302d and a front 302c and a back opposite side (not shown), extending between the bottom and the upper side 302d. In an example, a plurality of pins 303 may extend upwards from the upper side 302d of the main body 302. A shoulder strap 307 may be provided, with an optional shoulder pad 308, and having a first strap end 307a attached to the first end of the main body and a second strap end 307b attached to the second end of the main body, the shoulder strap 307 being configured to allow a user to place the shoulder strap onto the user's shoulder. The length of the shoulder strap 307 may be such that the main body 302 is suspended next to the user's waist or hip. To achieve this, the apparatus 300 may be for example manufactured with an adjustable belt or in various sizes to accommodate the differences in height of various users.
Thus, the apparatus 300 allows the user to hook onto the bag holders 303 and suspend therefrom grocery bags loaded with groceries or other similar bags, to facilitate their transport, as described herein.
The load member 301 may have a first aperture 309a (509a in
As shown, the hooks 308a-b may be spring loaded lobster clasps to facilitate removable attachment. This may be useful such as when a user would want to detach the shoulder strap 307 for, for example, washing it in a washing machine or replacing it with another shoulder strap.
As shown, both first and second apertures 309a-b are preferably disposed higher than the upper side 302d (402d in
The anti-fall effect of the height differential 350 can be observed in
It should be noted in
As shown in
As shown in
It should be noted that the back side (not shown) of the load member 501 may be substantially a mirror image of the front side view depicted in
The load member 501 may be made from a rigid material such as plastic or wood and using processes such as machining, casting or injection molding, while the shoulder strap 307 may be made from leather or fabric for example.
As shown, the bag holders 773 may be for example simple vertical pins fastened to or integrally formed with the main body 772. A user would simply hook the handles of the grocery bags onto the bag holders 773 as described hereinbefore. Utility pockets, to store therein a phone or wallet for example, while not shown, may be provided, by, for example, carving some on top surface 761b of support element 761.
Reference will now be made to
Further, unlike the prior art (see
In addition, when it is needed to climb stairs, the apparatus is very beneficial as shown in
Lastly, as shown in
It may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used in this patent document. The term “couple” and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether or not those elements are in physical contact with one another. The term “or” is inclusive, meaning and/or. The phrases “associated with” and “associated therewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like.
Further, as used in this application, “plurality” means two or more. A “set” of items may include one or more of such items. Whether in the written description or the claims, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of,” respectively, are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases with respect to claims.
If present, use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed. These terms are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements. As used in this application, “and/or” means that the listed items are alternatives, but the alternatives also include any combination of the listed items.
Throughout this description, the aspects, embodiments or examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus or procedures disclosed or claimed. Although some of the examples may involve specific combinations of method acts or system elements, it should be understood that those acts and those elements may be combined in other ways to accomplish the same objectives.
Acts, elements and features discussed only in connection with one aspect, embodiment or example are not intended to be excluded from a similar role(s) in other aspects, embodiments or examples.
Aspects, embodiments or examples of the invention may be described as processes, which are usually depicted using a flowchart, a flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may depict the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. With regard to flowcharts, it should be understood that additional and fewer steps may be taken, and the steps as shown may be combined or further refined to achieve the described methods.
If means-plus-function limitations are recited in the claims, the means are not intended to be limited to the means disclosed in this application for performing the recited function, but are intended to cover in scope any equivalent means, known now or later developed, for performing the recited function.
If any presented, the claims directed to a method and/or process should not be limited to the performance of their steps in the order written, and one skilled in the art can readily appreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Although aspects, embodiments and/or examples have been illustrated and described herein, someone of ordinary skills in the art will easily detect alternate of the same and/or equivalent variations, which may be capable of achieving the same results, and which may be substituted for the aspects, embodiments and/or examples illustrated and described herein, without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of this application is intended to cover such alternate aspects, embodiments and/or examples. Hence, the scope of the invention is defined by the accompanying claims and their equivalents. Further, each and every claim is incorporated as further disclosure into the specification.
Claims
1. An apparatus for carrying grocery bags comprising:
- a main body formed from a rigid material and having a first end and a second opposite end, a length measured between the first and the second end, a width and a height, wherein the length is a plurality of times greater than the width and the height and wherein the main body has a bottom side opposite an upper side and a front and a back opposite side extending between the bottom and the upper side;
- a plurality of pins extending upwards from the upper side of the main body;
- a shoulder strap having a first strap end attached to the first end of the main body and a second strap end attached to the second end of the main body, the shoulder strap being configured to allow a user to place the shoulder strap onto the user's shoulder, such that the main body is suspended next to the user's waist or hip and such that the pins extend upwards, thus allowing the user to hook onto the pins and suspend therefrom grocery bags; and
- a first aperture disposed into a first protrusion associated with the first end of the main body and a second aperture disposed into a second protrusion associated with the second end of the main body, each aperture being configured to receive a hook associated with the first and the second strap end to attach to and suspend the main body from the shoulder strap, both the first and second apertures being disposed with a height differential higher than the upper side of the main body, such that to prevent rotation of the main body relative to a longitudinal axis, while loaded with the grocery bags and while being suspended via the shoulder strap from the shoulder of the user, thus preventing a fall of the grocery bags from the pins.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a support element extending from the back side of the main body and being configured to rest upon the waist or hip of the user, thus causing the main body to be pushed away from the waist or hip of the user.
3. An apparatus for carrying grocery bags comprising:
- a main body formed from a rigid material and having a first end and a second opposite end and a length measured between the first and the second end, a width and a height, wherein the length is a plurality of times greater than the width and the height;
- a plurality of coplanar bag holders extending from the main body;
- a shoulder strap having a first strap end removably attached to the first end of the main body and a second strap end removably attached to the second end of the main body; and
- a shoulder padding associated with a midpoint of the shoulder strap, the midpoint being disposed at about halfway between the first strap end and the second strap end, wherein the apparatus is configured to allow a user to place the shoulder strap onto the user's shoulder, such that the main body sits next to the user's waist or hip and such that the bag holders extend upwards, thus allowing the user to hook onto the bag holders and suspend therefrom grocery bags.
4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the bag holders are pins having a proximal end a distal end, wherein the proximal end is integral to the main body, wherein the distal end extends away from the main body, and wherein the pins are also coplanar with the main body.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the removable attachment of the first and second strap ends is accomplished using a lobster clasp at each end that is hooked into a first and a second main body ends, respectively.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first and the second main body ends have a hole configured to receive the lobster clasp, the hole at each end being disposed higher than the proximal end of the pins, such that to prevent rotation of the main body relative to a longitudinal axis while loaded with grocery bags and while being suspended via the shoulder strap from the shoulder of the user, which would cause a fall of the bags from the pins during transport.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the main body has a bottom side opposite an upper side from which the pins extend and a front and a back opposite sides, both being flat, parallel to each other and extending between the bottom and upper sides, wherein the front and back sides have a smooth surface for comfort to user, irrespective of which side becomes adjacent to user's hip or waist.
8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the rigid material is plastic
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the length of the main body is about 12 inches and the apparatus has 5 equidistant bag holders.
10. A method for carrying grocery bags comprising:
- placing an apparatus for carrying grocery bags onto a person's shoulder, the apparatus comprising a main body made from a rigid material and having a first end, a second opposite end, a bottom side opposite an upper side and a front and a back opposite side extending between the bottom and the upper side; a plurality of pins extending upwards from the upper side of the main body; a shoulder strap having a first strap end attached to the first end of the main body and a second strap end attached to the second end of the main body, the shoulder strap being configured to allow the placing of the shoulder strap onto the person's shoulder, such that the main body rests suspended therefrom next to the person's waist or hip while the pins extend upwards; a first aperture disposed into a first protrusion associated with the first end of the main body and a second aperture disposed into a second protrusion associated with the second end of the main body, each aperture being configured to receive a hook associated with the first and the second strap end to attach to and suspend from the shoulder strap the main body, both first and second apertures being disposed higher than the upper side of the main body, such that to prevent rotation of the main body relative to a longitudinal axis, while being loaded with grocery bags and while being suspended via the shoulder strap from the shoulder of the person, thus preventing a fall of the grocery bags from the pins;
- hooking onto the pins and suspend therefrom grocery bags; and
- walking to a destination hands-free of grocery bags.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 22, 2017
Publication Date: May 24, 2018
Inventor: Zabi Ullah Subat (Irvine, CA)
Application Number: 15/630,880