EP1499212B1

EP1499212B1 - A backpack for improved distribution of the backpack weight across a user's shoulders

Info

Publication number: EP1499212B1
Application number: EP03727322A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Gaetano La Greca
Original assignee: del Viaggio Srl Cia
Current assignee: del Viaggio Srl Cia
Priority date: 2002-04-18
Filing date: 2003-04-17
Publication date: 2008-09-03
Anticipated expiration: 2023-04-17
Also published as: AU2003233988A1; WO2003086139A8; EP1499212A1; US20050173481A1; IL164579A0; JP2005522253A; ITMI20020822A0; RU2004133753A; KR20050013102A; DE60323358D1; CN1646040A; WO2003086139A1; ITMI20020822A1; ATE406820T1; AU2003233988A8

Abstract

A backpack attachment is provided for use with backpacks that have a bag-like body and a pair of shoulder straps, in particular backpacks used by school attendants, which is effective to distribute the backpack weight in a rationalized fashion across a user's shoulders. The attachment includes essentially two curved members arranged to stiffen substantially the sections of the shoulder straps that lie closest to the upper region of the bag-like body. These members may replace or be associated with sections of the shoulder straps, and include a pair of substantially inflexible curved members being each a one-piece construction, or several pieces jointed to one another. In a preferred embodiment, the attachment includes a pair of members formed each of several pieces which can be associated detachably to the shoulder straps, at least one of them in a locked fashion.

Description

The invention relates to a backpack as set forth in the preamble of the claim. Such a backpack is disclosed in DE 100 00 595 A . The backpack attachment is in the form of a rigid frame with rigid brackets whose ends are fixed to a belt round the pelvis. According to an embodiment illustrated in figure 35, between two hinge-connected pieces a set screw may be provided to adjust the angle between said pieces.
The present invention relates to a backpack specially intended for use by schoolchildren, whereby the combined weight of the backpack and its contents is distributed across the user's shoulders in a rationalized fashion to prevent the assumption of undesirable bodily attitudes apt to cause discomfort, pain, and eventually lead to muscular and skeletal deformities particularly among young users.
It should be recognized that, in carrying across their backs any of the school backpacks that are currently available in a variety of designs, school boys and girls tend to assume potentially harmful bodily attitudes in an attempt to counteract the natural tendency of the backpacks, when loaded with heavy text- and note-books, to pull down on the pair of pliant canvas or leather straps that are passed over their shoulders. They also tend to enter a leaning attitude in order to resist the pressure of the shoulder straps against their torso front. Either reaction of the young user ends up in a forward leaning attitude being assumed to balance the backpack weight, which is the more tiresome and may ultimately strain his/her bone structure (particularly the spine) and muscles.
All this has harmful effects especially on young people in their growth period.
The situation may be less serious in its consequences, but is still objectionable, with other users of backpacks, e.g. ladies using small backpacks in preference to handbags and loading them with fairly heavy items, or sportsmen/women who may wish to carry things along in a backpack when going out for a hiking, cycling, or cross-country skiing spell.
This invention is directed to remedy the above-outlined situation by providing a backpack attachment, whereby the backpack weight is better distributed across the user's shoulders and the user is relieved of the constraint to lean unnaturally under the backpack weight. In addition, this attachment makes a heavily loaded backpack more convenient to carry for a given effort.
These objects are achieved, according to the invention, by a backpack according to the claim. The backpack comprises a bag-like body and a pair of shoulder straps, in particular it is school attendant's backpack, and two curved members effective to stiffen substantially the shoulder strap sections that lie closest to the top of the bag-like body. The curved members are preferably substantially inflexible parts mounted either in place of the shoulder strap section (T) that lies closest to the top of the bag-like body (CS), or otherwise associated with said section.
These substantially inflexible curved members have their undersides lined with a soft yielding material for improved user's comfort.
The backpack further comprises a pair of substantially inflexible curved members which are formed of several pieces jointed together. The leading one of the jointed pieces of each member is attached to the top of the bag-like body of the backpack, and the shoulder strap extends from said leading piece through the other pieces.
The backpack includes arrangements for locking the jointed pieces of each member into a set angle to one another. The angular position of the jointed pieces of each member is thus made adjustable. The locking device is mounted on one side of the individual jointed pieces, and comprises a gear wheel and a lockable spring-biased slider having an end jaw for engagement with the teeth of the adjacent piece wheel.
The invention will be explained in further detail here below, in relation to an embodiment and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one of two attachment members which are no embodiments of the invention;
Figure 2 is a view, similar to Figure 1, of one of the two attachment members ;
Figures 3 and 4 show two modifications of the attachment members shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively;
Figure 5 is another modification of the attachment member shown in Figure 2;
Figure 6 shows an attachment member of enhanced practical value;
Figures 7 and 8 are two detail views, taken at 90 degrees from each other, of the attachment shown in Figure 6 in an embodiment of the invention.
Figure 9 is a perspective view illustrating the way that the attachment of Figure 1 is applied to an ordinary backpack;
Figure 10 is a perspective view illustrating the way that the attachment of Figures 6 and 8 is applied to an ordinary backpack; and
Figure 11 shows a backpack, incorporating the attachment, as carried by a girl on her back.
Figure 11 shows the enhanced set of a backpack and the improved bodily attitude of a girl B carrying on her back a backpack Z which is equipped with the stiff curved members forming the attachment M. Such curved members can replace or be associated with the sections of shoulder straps T that lie closest to the upper region of the bag-like body CS of the backpack Z.

It can be appreciated from Figure 11 that the stiffened upper section of the shoulder strap T adjacent to the bag-like body CS transfers the backpack weight directly onto the user's shoulders S, such that the user has less difficulty to maintain a straight-up attitude - which becomes the most suitable position for carrying the backpack - and is no longer coerced into a forward leaning attitude that is at the root of the aforementioned spine problems.
In an attachment, shown in Figures 1 and 3, a pair of substantially inflexible curved members 1 are formed of one piece each.
In the attachment of Figure 1, the members 1 comprise hollow curved pieces 2 of wood, metal, or plastics, which are adapted to be slipped over each shoulder straps T of a commercially available backpack, as shown in Figure 9, to contact the top rear wall of the bag-like body CS of the backpack Z. The underside of the hollow pieces 2 is lined with a soft yielding material 3 for more comfortable contact with the user's shoulder.
In the attachment of Figure 3, the curved members 1 again comprise curved pieces 2A of wood, metal, or plastics, but need not be of hollow construction. These pieces are hinge-connected to holders 4 that can be secured in areas where the shoulder straps are usually hung. This design is especially suitable for the manufacture of new backpacks, whereas it is not adapted for modifying those backpacks which have already been manufactured. It requires, in fact, that the affected areas of the bag-like body wall be provided, by means of any appropriate mechanical means, with holders 4, in order for them to get stiffened . The stiffening effect can be obtained in any of several ways, e.g. by providing additional metal or plastics plates or by providing the bag-like body CS of the backpack Z with a rigid or semirigid material wall to which the shoulder straps T can be connected. The shoulder straps are made fast here to the end of the piece 2A away from the holder 4. The angled set of the pieces 2A relative to the holders 4 can be adjusted and maintained by a device, not shown, in order to tailor the backpack attachment to fit a user's anatomy.
In the backpack attachment shown in Figures 2, 4 and 5, a pair of substantially inflexible curved members 1 are used which comprise several pieces jointed to one another. These members 1 may comprise hollow pieces 5 adapted to be slipped over the shoulder straps of the backpack as shown in Figure 2. Alternatively, as shown in Figure 4, the leading one 7 of the hinge-connected pieces 6 in each member 1 is affixed to a stiffened area at the top of the bag-like body CS of the backpack Z, with the shoulder strap fastened to the trailing one 8 of said pieces 6. In a modification shown in Figure 5, the leading one 9 of said hinge-connected pieces 6 in each member 1 is provided much longer than the others for more secure connection to the wall of the bag-like body CS of the backpack Z, and the shoulder strap 10 extends from the leading piece 9 through all the others 6, it being connected to such pieces in a suitable manner to produce the curved pattern of the member 1 shown in Figure 5.
The backpack attachments shown in Figures 6 to 8 have two members 1, each comprised of several stiff shaped pieces 11 of relatively small thickness adapted to be associated with the backpack shoulder straps in a detachable fashion. Some of the pieces 11 are loosely associated with a respective one of the shoulder straps (not shown in Figures 6 to 8) by releasable hoops formed by a pair of strips 12 which are Velcro tipped at 13 to engage with each other over the shoulder strap. At least one 14 of these pieces should incorporate a releasable locking device. Figure 6 shows this locking device as comprised of an L-shaped camming lever 15 pivoted about a pin 16 in side retainers 17 of open construction. Once the shoulder strap is threaded through the piece 14 and under the camming lever 15, the camming lever can be operated between a position where the member 1 is allowed to run along the shoulder strap and a position where the member 1 is cammed down against the shoulder strap, a suitable distance away from the bag-like body CS of the backpack Z to fit the user's anatomy. The pieces 11, 14 of these members 1 have their undersides lined with a soft yielding material 18 for more comfortable contact with the user's body (as basically favored by the shape of the pieces 11).
A positive engagement means (Figures 7 and 8) is arranged on the individual hinge-connected pieces for locking them in selected mutually angled positions, thereby to further a close fit of the attachment to a user's anatomy and/or meet a user's preference. To set the hinge-connected pieces 11 and/or 14 to a desired included angle, locking devices are provided on one side of said pieces, according to the preferred embodiment of Figure 7, which devices comprise a small gear wheel 19 and a slider 20. The gear wheel 19 locates next to one end of the side of the piece, 11 and/or 14, and the slider 20 is moved along this side. The slider 20 is formed at one end with a jaw 21 for engagement with teeth of the gear wheel 19 on the adjacent piece, 11 or 14, and is biased away from the latter by a spring 22 mounted on the other end of the slider. After a desired included angle between two pieces 11 and/or 14 is found, the slider 20 of one piece is shifted against the bias of the spring 22 to engage the gear wheel 19 on the other piece, thereby locking both pieces together in their set positions. To maintain an angled relationship between the two pieces 11 and/or 14, the slider 20 is locked in the engaged position with the wheel 19 by driving a knurled end 25 of a tapered pin 23 through a mating hole in the slider 20. To change a setting, the pin 23 is released and the spring 22 allowed to urge the slider 20 out of engagement by its jaw 21 with the gear wheel 19. A retainer 26 has a shank slidable along a slot 27 to hold the slider 20 close against the side of the piece 11.
The advantageous backpack attachment described above with reference to Figures 6 to 8 can retrofit all types of commercially available backpacks, as well as be applied to backpacks of new manufacture, and is shown in Figure 10 in the act of being applied to a backpack Z.
A backpack Z incorporating an attachment and being carried by a girl B is shown in Figure 11.
The invention does achieve its object of better distributing the weight of a backpack across the user's shoulders, thereby correcting a prior tendency to assume a leaning attitude under the backpack weight that can harm young users in their growth period. Additionally, the inventive backpack attachment makes the backpack easier and more comfortable to use by that it can be carried more efficiently, even when loaded with contents that may be unusually heavy.
Moreover, the attachment according to the present invention can also advantageously be used not only to prevent harm to young users by eliminating the tendency to assume a leaning attitude under the backpack weight, but also to correct already established forms of scoliosis, lordosis, kyphosis and other abnormal curvatures of the spine.
This can be achieved by suitably positioning the substantially inflexible curved members over the user's shoulders so that the weight of the backpack, which is in turn appropriately calibrated, is preferably addressed in such a direction to counteract the abnormal curvature (e.g. it should preferably be directed backwards in order to correct a form of lordosis).
It is also possible to operate further corrections by adjusting the rigidity of the various sections of the shoulder straps, so as to make the latter totally rigid in certain sections and partially flexible or totally flexible in other sections.

Claims

Backpack having a bag-like body (CS), a pair of shoulder straps (T) and an attachment being effective to distribute the weight of the backpack (Z) across the user's shoulders, said attachment comprising two curved members (1) arranged to stiffen substantially the sections of the shoulder straps (T) that lie closest to the upper region of the bag-like body (CS), said curved members (1) being each made up of several pieces (6, 11) hinge-connected to one another, a leading one (7; 9) of said hinge-connected pieces in each member (1) being affixed to the upper region of the bag-like body (CS) with its shoulder strap (T) extending from said leading piece (7; 9) through the other pieces (6), wherein a locking arrangement (19, 20) intervenes between the hinge-connected pieces (6; 11) of each curved member (1) for maintaining a set angle between individual ones of said pieces (6; 11), said angle being adjustable, characterized in that the locking arrangement (19, 20) mounted on one side of each hinge-connected pieces (6; 11) comprises a gear wheel (19) and a lockable spring-biased slider (20), said slider being formed with an end jaw (21) adapted to engage the teeth of the gear wheel (19) on the adjacent piece.