GB2361174A

GB2361174A - Aerodynamic rucksack

Info

Publication number: GB2361174A
Application number: GB0008736A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Paul Bays; Paul Barker
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-04-11
Filing date: 2000-04-11
Publication date: 2001-10-17
Also published as: GB0008736D0

Abstract

A rucksack comprising a sack 1, shoulder straps 16, a waist-belt 17, and side compression straps 7 has an aerodynamically shaped hump 9, constructed from materials such as Kevlar¹, Cordura¹, plastics, foam, and/or leather, which provides protection for the wearer's back and is attached to the front wall 2 of the sack. The compression straps 7 are fixed between the back wall (3, fig. 3) and side walls (4, fig. 2) of the sack 1, and are threaded through buckles 18 attached to the aerodynamic hump 9. The straps 7 serve to compress the aerodynamic hump 9 towards the wearer's back. The rucksack may have a back piece comprising a plastic plate (21, fig 3) with foam sheets (22, fig. 3) in an open mesh fabric (22, fig. 3) to allow air-flow around the user's back. The back piece may include a pocket (29, fig. 9) for a water-bladder, with an opening 26 provided for a drinking tube. The compression straps 7 may be connected to an aluminium bar (19, fig. 9) attached inside the back wall (3, fig. 3) of the sack 1 which aids in compressing the rucksack towards the wearer's back.

Description

2361174

Description

Title - A Rucksack Technical Field of Invention

The invention concerns a rucksack.

The invention is particularly concerned with a rucksack having a device which acts to give spinal support and back protection to the user and also acts as an aerodynamic construction or hump on the rucksack on the users back. The term "rucksack" as used throughout the description and claims is intended to cover rucksacks, backpacks and other bags or sacks carried on the back of a user by means of a harness or the like.

Background of the invention

A typical conventional rucksack comprises a load-carrying bag having a front and back wall and two sidewalls. A carrying harness is attached to the back wall of the rucksack. Typically the shoulder harness comprises of a pair of shoulder straps which are attached at their upper ends to the back wall of the rucksack with means for attaching the shoulder straps to the back wall of the rucksack and are adjustable.

The lower ends of the shoulder straps are attached to the lower corners of the back wall of the rucksack by adjustable straps. Typically the rucksack is provided with a waist belt which is also attached to the back wall of the rucksack at a lower part thereof. The waist belt is intended to fit around the waist of the person carrying the rucksack ("the user") and is intended to rest on the hips of the user.

In an earlier rucksack design the load carrying system simply hung from the shoulders of the user, and the greater part of the load hung from the shoulders of the user. This causes excessive tiredness and fatigue in the shoulder muscles. The function of the rucksack in this case was simply to carry a load and no part of the rucksack was designed to offer protection to the users back and spinal area.

It is known that it is desirable to stabilise the load with the rucksack and reduce swaying of the load. It is known that it is desirable to bring the load closer to the users back for improved stability. During the 1970's some of these objects were partly achieved by providing an internal frame in the back wall of the rucksack. The frame comprised of a pair of aluminium bars or staves, which extended vertically to each side of the back wall of the rucksack. The frame staves are contained within fabric sleeves formed in the back wall of the rucksack. The staves act to transfer a proportion of the packload from the shoulders to the hips of the users, while simultaneously flexing to absorb jolts. The staves also act to give vertical rigidity to the back wall of the rucksack.

1 In the prior art, side compression of the load is achieved by means of load compression straps attached to the side walls of the rucksacks which can be tightened to bring the front and back walls of the rucksacks together to partly compress the load within the rucksack.

However with this arrangement there is still no protection in the back wall of the pack to offer spinal support or back protection. In this arrangement there is also no protection in the front wall of the backpack to offer spinal support and back support. These factors are particularly dangerous to the user when involved in an accident, which can result in falling on the users back. In this arrangement there is also no consideration made to the need for aerodynamic form to the rucksack. In that respect the front wall of the pack offers no aerodynamic shape to enhance riding performance in high speed activities such as motor bike riding.

in another rucksack design, The internal frame comprises a sheet of plastic or pieces of plastic or the like are incorporated within the back wall of the rucksack. The plastic sheet or sheets may be stiffened by means of a metal (for example aluminium) bar extending upwardly and centrally. The plates and bar act to give more rigidity to the back wall of the rucksack and at the same time offers some protection and support to the users back from objects inside the rucksack.

in a further modification of the aforesaid system, a rucksack comprising a series of plates on a foam back is designed to offer back protection on the backwall of the backpack. The construction does offer some back protection in the backwall of the backpack similar to other backpacks. The construction of the rucksack does not offer any system for providing spinal support or back protection on the front wall of the backpack. The front wall is simply a fabric layer as found in conventional rucksacks. The front wall of the aforementioned rucksack also offers no aerodynamic shape to enhance riding performance in high speed activities such as motor bike riding.

Thus with conventional rucksacks there is no rucksack with the addition of an aerodynamic hump like shape or raised support plate in the front wall of the pack which offers spinal support and back protection. Further more the rucksack does not offer any aerodynamic shape on the front wall of the rucksack.

It is desirable to offer an additional function of safety and protective walls to the rucksacks especially in activities where the user can fall onto their back. In rucksacks designed for use in activities where the user moves at high speed for example in motor biking or mountain biking, it is desirable to have a rucksack with an aerodynamic shape. Thus with conventional rucksacks there is no system in the front wall of the backpack which acts to give spinal support and back protection to the users back and there is no device on the front wall which acts to give an aerodynamic shape to the backpack and at the same time give spinal support and back protection to the user.

2 ObJect of Invention It is an object of the invention to seek to alleviate the above disadvantages and to provide a device on the front wall of a rucksack which aids in giving spinal support and back protection evenly along the users back by means of a construction of materials which form a hump like shape on the users back. It is also an object of the invention to seek to provide an aerodynamic shape to the front wall of the rucksack to aid in giving a more aerodynamic and streamlined shape to the rucksack when the rucksack is fully loaded or empty on the users back. It is also an object of the invention to design the device in such a way that it forms a concave shape at the top of the hump to allow the users head to move backwards unhindered while wearing a helmet.

Summary of the Invention

The invention concerns a rucksack comprising a sack having a front wall, a back wall and two side walls and a carrying harness including a waist belt which may be detachable, wherein the rucksack includes an integrated aerodynamic hump on the front wall of the rucksack which is attached to the side walls and back wall of the rucksack by means of a webbing or a suitable material to act to compress the aerodynamic hump towards the users back therefore stabilising the hump and the load inside the rucksack which is characterised in that the form and the construction of the hump acts to aid in supporting and protecting the users spine and back by creating a protective barrier between the spine and an outside object or surface that may come into contact with the users back and spine while also giving an aerodynamic form to the rucksack.

Brief description of drawings

The invention will now be described more particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings which show by way of example only, one embodiment of a rucksack according to the invention:

Figure 1 is a front view of a rucksack of the invention showing the front wall. Figure 2 is a side view of the rucksack of the invention of figure 1 Figure 3 is a back view of the rucksack of the invention of figure Ishowing the outside of the back wall Figure4 is a top view of the rucksack of the invention of figurel Figure 5 is a detail of the rucksack of figure 1 showing the Hump Figure 6 is a detail of the rucksack of figure 1 showing the hump construction as a cross section Figure 7 is a detail of the rucksack of figure 1 showing the hump construction as a 3 dimensional drawing Figure 8 is a detail of the rucksack of figure 1 showing the top view of the hump construction 3 Figure 9 is a back view of the rucksack of the invention of figure 1showing the inside of the back wall Figure 10 shows a rucksack of the invention carried on the back of a user.

a Modes of carrying out the invention Referring to the drawings, a rucksack comprises a sack 1 made from a suitable fabric or material. The sack 1 comprises a front panel (or wall)2, a back panel (or wall) 3, and two side panels 4 (or walls) and the top panel 8 of the sack. Suitably the side panels are sewn along their edges to the edges of the front and back panels and top panels 2, 3 8 respectively to form the sack.

The sack is provided with an opening 5 by means of a zipper 31 which goes around the top panel 8 and the side panels 4. The opening 5 is shown in its closed position in drawing and is opened by means of zipper sliders 32. The sack 1 is provided in a well known manner with a carrying harness 16 and waist belt 17.

The sack 1 may define a single storage compartment or several compartments. The sack shown in figure 1 has two compartments. The sack is provided with an opening in the bottom of the sack 33 which is for the compartment which holds a raincover 34. When needed he raincover 34 is kept in position by means of press studs 27 located on the raincover 34 and the sack 1.

The rucksack is provided with side compression straps 7 which are threaded through side release buckles 18 attached to the wall of the integrated aerodynamic hump 9.

In accordance with the invention the rucksack has an integrated aerodynamic hump 9 for aiding in giving spinal support and back protection. The aerodynamic hump 9 is constructed with a concave form 25 at the top to allow space for the users head and helmet when the users head is tilted backwards. The aerodynamic hump 9 is constructed with layers of materials made from different materials. S taby the hump in figure 6 is constructed from sgreral layers of materials including corJur'a112, closed cell foam 14, plastic platelo, cordura112,open cell foam13, and a piece of harder foam 11. In this example of the invention there is an opening 15 to make a small pocket with a key ring holder 24 on the inner side of the hump 9.

The hump 9 is attached in a suitable manner to the front panel 2. In the example according to the invention the hump 9 is sewn onto the front panel 2 of the sack 1. In the embodiment shown in figure 1 the hump is stabilised on the rucksack using side compression straps 7 and side release buckles 18. The side compression straps 7 extend from the buckles 18 attached to the hump 9 and are fixed between the back panel 3 and the side panels 4.

As shown in figure 3 the rucksack is provided in a typical manner with a plate support comprising a plastic back plate 21 and foam sheets 22 in a open mesh 23 fabric to allow 4 for air flow around the users back. In the particular embodiment shown in figure 9 the construction of the back panel includes a small aluminium bar 19 which is positioned horizontally in a webbing sleeve 20 and goes horizontally across the inside of the back panel 3 of the rucksack and is held in place using a webbing sleeve 20. The aluminium bar19 works in conjunction with the side compression straps 7 and the buckles 18 to compress the sack 1 and the load carried therein towards the users back while acting to keep the hump 9 stable and in the correct position to support the spine and protect the users back and create a stable aerodynamic form on the rucksack. In the particular embodiment shown in figure 9 the construction of the back panel includes a pocket 29 and sliding buckles 35 to hold a water bladder in position. As shown in figure 4 the rucksack is provided in a typical manner with a flap opening 26 for the tube of a drinking system to come out out of the sack.

Modifications may be made to the rucksack without departing from the scope of the claims. For example, in the embodiments described the hump 9 effectively acts as a hard surface against which the surface of a road or and object would come into contact, however it would be possible to struct the hump in other materials or a KeRr or leather or the like to offer different further combination of materials like ev qualities to the construction of the hump.

Claims

a Claims

A rucksack comprising a sack (1), having a front wall (2), a back wall (3),and two side walls (4) and a top panel 8 and a carrying harness (16) including a waistbelt (17) wherein the rucksack (1) includes an aerodynamic hump (9)which is fixed to the front wall (2) of the sack (1). characterised in that the aerodynamic hump is stabilised by means of side compression straps (7) and buckles (18) to which is fixed an aluminium bar (19) attached to the back panel (3) acting to stabilise the rucksack(l) and the load therein. The hump (9) aids in giving protection to the users back and spine and aids in giving support to users spine back by forming a substantial protective barrier between the users back and objects outside the users back while also giving an aerodynamic form to the rucksack.

A rucksack as claimed in Claim 1 characterised in that the aerodynamic hump (9) can be stabilised using side compression straps (7) to make the hump (9) and sack (1) a stable unit.

A rucksack as claimed in Claim 1 and in Claim 2 characterised in that aerodynamic hump (9) is concave in shape at the top so as to give space for the users to move the users head backwards without interference when using the rucksack.

A rucksack as claimed in any of the preceding claims characterised in that an aerodynamic hump (9) is integrated into the front wall (2) of a rucksack to give an aerodynamic form to the rucksack.

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