CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates generally to handbags and, more specifically, to a Clutch purse which has an expandable inner lining allowing it to expand downward, therefore being able to hold larger items such as shoes.
When out on night outings or special occasions, wearing high-heels, a person often carries a small clutch purse. At some time during or after the evening, high-heels become uncomfortable and it is desirable to change into more comfortable footwear with a convenient way to carry the high-heel shoes.
A previous attempt to solve this issue was addressed by U.S. provisional patent application 61/554,824 filed Nov. 2, 2011 where an expandable purse has a lower inner compartment open-able from the purse's bottom. The compartment contains an auxiliary bag that is attached by an edge of its bottom to an inside edge of the inner compartment. This allows the auxiliary bag to be extended and brought up around the purse with the purse sitting upright within the auxiliary bag and with the opening of the purse accessible within the auxiliary bag.
However, a feature to the inventor's knowledge has not so far been addressed is that handbags of the prior such as the one discussed by the reference above, do not provide a simple, fast, convenient way of the expansion of a clutch handbag to hold and carry shoes, while at the same time still maintaining the integrity of the clutch's outer appearance and inner functions.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION There is thus a need for a clutch handbag with expandable inner lining that extends from an opening in the bottom of the clutch, therefore allowing quick and simple placement of high-heel shoes through the top entrance of the clutch without disturbing the integrity of the inside of the clutch or it's outer appearance.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1A is a front view of an example purse embodiment; with a holding strap;
FIG. 1B is a bottom view of the purse of FIG. 1A exposing a zipper and zipper track;
FIG. 2A shows the purse of FIG. 1A with its flap open and a pair of footwear stored in an compartment formed by the inner lining of the purse of FIG. 1A; a zipper at the bottom at its zipped up position;
FIG. 2B shows the purse of FIG. 1A with its flap open and a pair of footwear being removed from compartment formed by the inner lining and its zipper at an unzipped position allowing the inner lining of the purse of FIG. 1A to be rolled downward;
FIG. 3 shows the purse of FIG. 1A with its flap open and its zipper at an unzipped position allowing the inner lining of the purse of FIG. 1A to be extended completely downward forming a bag, capable of storing of high-heel shoes;
FIG. 4 shows view and apparatus of FIG. 3 with a pair of high-heel shoes being stored in the bag of apparatus of FIG. 3 formed by its inner linings;
FIG. 5A is an inside view of apparatus of FIG. 1A with its flap open, showing the top inner lining stitch line, bottom inner lining stitch line, which are represented by the dotted lines and inner lining rolled up at the bottom of purse;
FIG. 5B is a perspective view of apparatus of FIG. 1A with part of one side missing showing the top inner lining stitch line and bottom inner lining stitch line which allows the inner lining to roll down and form a bag with an adjacent storage pocket.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of apparatus of FIG. 5B with part of one side missing showing the top inner lining stitch line and bottom inner lining stitch, line with the inner lining completely extended downward to form a bag with an adjacent storage pocket.
FIG. 7A is a side inside view of the apparatus of FIG. 1A with its flap closed, showing its internal compartments exposing the top stitch point for top inner lining stitch line and bottom stitch point for bottom inner lining stitch line; the inner lining rolled up at the bottom with an adjacent storage pocket and zipper hanging from the bottom.
FIG. 7B is a side inside view of the apparatus of FIG. 1A with its flap closed, showing its internal compartments exposing the top stitch point for top inner lining stitch line and bottom stitch point for bottom inner lining stitch line; the inner lining completely extended downward outside of the bottom of the purse to form a bag with an adjacent storage pocket on the inside of the purse.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention provide a purse with expandable inner lining which is described to illustrate the claimed teachings. The example purse 1, seen in FIG. 1A is of a clutch style with a closing flap 2 and carrying strap 3. It has a zipper 4 at the bottom which when unzipped, allows the inner lining to be folded downward from the inside of example purse 1, forming a bag for carrying larger items.
FIG. 1B shows a bottom view of example purse 1 with a zipper 4 in a zipped position and a zipper track 5. FIG. 2A is a frontal view of example purse 1 with its flap 2 open, and a pair of sandals 7 stored in the inner lining storage compartment 6. Zipper 4 is seen at the bottom in a zipped position.
FIG. 2B is a frontal view of example purse 1 with its flap 2 open, and a pair of sandals 7 being removed from inner lining storage compartment 6. Zipper 4 is seen at the bottom in an unzipped position allowing the inner lining 8 to be rolled downward from bottom inside of purse 1. FIG. 3 shows purse 1 with its flap 2 open and a pair of high-heel shoes 9 being stored in bag formed by unzipping zipper 4 to its unzipped position and rolling down the inner lining 8.
FIG. 4 shows purse 1 with its flap 2 closed and carry strap 3. Its zipper 4 in an unzipped position and pair of high-heel shoes 9 stored in bag formed by inner lining 8. FIG. 5A shows an inside frontal view of purse with its flap 2 open. The top stitch line 10 represented by dotted lines represent the place where the top edge of inner lining 8 is stitched to the top inner edge of the inside back of purse. The bottom stitch line 11 represented by dotted lines represent the place where inner lining 8 is stitched to the bottom inner edge of the inside front of purse. Also zipper 4 is seen at the bottom of purse in a zipped position.
FIG. 5B shows a prospective view of purse 1 with part of its side missing, displaying a storage pocket 12 adjacent to inner lining storage compartment 6, which is formed by stitching the top edge of inner lining 8 to the top inner edge of the inside back of purse 1 which is represented by dotted lines 10 and stitching a part of inner lining 8 to the bottom inner edge of the inside front of purse 1 which is represented by dotted lines 11. Inner lining 8 is being rolled down from bottom of purse. FIG. 6 shows a prospective view of purse 1 with part of its side missing, displaying a storage pocket 12 adjacent to inner lining storage compartment 6, which is formed by stitching the top edge of inner lining 8 to the top inner edge of the inside back of purse 1 which is represented by dotted lines 10 and stitching a part of inner lining 8 to the bottom inner edge of the inside front of purse 1 which is represented by dotted lines 11. Inner lining 8 is fully rolled down forming a bag.
FIG. 7A is an inside side view of purse with its flap 2 closed, showing the point where top stitch line 10 is stitched to the top edge of inner lining 8, bottom stitch line 11 is stitched to the bottom inner edge of the inside front of purse, storage pocket 12, inner lining rolled up on the inside bottom of purse, and zipper 4 at the external bottom of purse in a zipped up position. FIG. 7B is an inside side view of purse with its flap 2 closed, showing the point where top stitch line 10 is stitched to the top edge of inner lining 8, bottom stitch line 11 is stitched to the bottom inner edge of the inside front of purse, storage pocket 12, and inner lining 8 unrolled downward from out of the bottom of purse forming a bag.
