GB2412109A

GB2412109A - Carrier for a personal item

Info

Publication number: GB2412109A
Application number: GB0405719A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Darin Edward Bainbridge
Original assignee: HIP CLIP CORP Ltd
Current assignee: HIP CLIP CORP Ltd
Priority date: 2004-03-15
Filing date: 2004-03-15
Publication date: 2005-09-21
Also published as: GB0405719D0

Abstract

A carrier 10 for a personal item such as a bottle or can of drink or a mobile phone has an elongate support 12 with an outwardly directed foot 13 at one end and a clip at the other end, adapted for connection to a belt or a waistband. The clip has an arm which extends generally parallel to the support 12 and overlies an aperture in the support, the arm 16 being resiliently movable away from the support whereby the arm urges the material of a belt or waistband into the aperture. The carrier 10 includes a retainer 11 in the form of a band of a heat insulating material and which is attached to the support so that the item may be held to the support by the retainer 11.

Description

CARRIER

This invention relates to a carrier for a personal item, such as a can or bottle of drink, a mobile telephone or the like. Such a personal item is hereinafter referred to as an "object", irrespective of the nature of that item.

With closely fitting garments, it frequently is inconvenient to carry bulky objects in the pockets of those garments. Further, if the object to be carried is in the form of a can or bottle of drink which has been chilled, carrying that in a pocket will rapidly warm the drink. There have been previous proposals for object carriers which may be attached to an item of clothing such as a belt or a waistband of a skirt or pair of trousers, and which are adapted to hold an object to be carried externally of the wearer's clothing. For example, such a carrier is described in GB-2301814-A. However, though the carrier of that prior specification is relatively simple, it has been found to be not particularly secure when carried on an article of clothing, nor to isolate a chilled drink from warming. It is therefore an aim of this invention to provide an improved form of carrier for various personal objects, and which permits such objects to be carried externally of the clothing of a wearer.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a carrier for an object (as defined herein), comprising an elongate support having an outwardly directed foot at one end thereof and a clip part joined to the support at or adjacent the other end thereof, said clip part being in the form of an arm connected at one of its ends to the support and extending from its connection thereto generally parallel to the support towards said one end of the support on the side thereof opposed to the direction of projection of the foot, and a retainer - 2 for an item to be held by the carrier which retainer is in the form of a band of a deformable material attached to the support, the arm being narrower than the transverse width of the support and being resiliently movable away therefrom, and there being an aperture in the support opposed to the arm, whereby the carrier may be suspended from an item of clothing by the clip part and an object may be held by the band to the support and be restrained from falling therefrom by the foot.

The carrier of this invention has an improved clip arrangement, allowing much greater security when the carrier has been hooked on to an item of clothing such as a waistband or a belt. By providing an aperture in the support opposed to the clip part of the carrier, articles of clothing located between the support and the hook part will be urged towards the aperture by the resilience of the clip part, so significantly resisting removal of the carrier from the article of clothing.

In a preferred form of this invention, the retainer comprises an endless band of a deformable material and having a pocket within which the support of the carrier is received. In this way, the retainer may be securely attached to the carrier. Advantageously, the retainer is of an elastic material, so as to be capable of expanding as required and deforming around an object to be held by go the carrier. Alternatively the retainer may have two ends which may be adjustably joined together so as closely to encircle the object to be carried. For example, a pressure- fastener such as a hook-and-loop fastener may be provided on the two ends of the retainer.

For certain types of carrier of this invention, the retainer may be of a heat insulating material, in order to assist keeping an object such as a can or bottle of cold drink cool, or an object such as a container holding a hot drink warm. A particularly preferred retainer of this kind comprises a band of an elastomeric foam such as of neoprene, which may resiliently enclose the object. Such a retainer may be treated with a suitable coating to reduce friction between the foam and an object to be carried, or may have a surfacing fabric applied thereto, for this purpose.

Accordingly, a second aspect of this invention provides a carrier for an object (as defined herein), comprising an elongate support having an outwardly directed foot at one end thereof and a clip part joined to the support at or adjacent the other end thereof, said clip part being in the fomm of an arm connected at one of its ends to the support and extending from its connection thereto generally parallel to the support towards said one end of the support on the side thereof opposed to the direction of projection of the foot, the arm being resiliently movable towards and away from the support, and a retainer for an item to be held by the carrier which retainer is in the form of an elastically deformable band of a heat-insulating material attached to the support.

Preferably, the elongate support, foot and hook part are all formed as a unitary plastics moulding, to which the retainer may be attached. The foot may project at substantially 90 to the length of the carrier, the moulding being suitably reinforced to ensure there is sufficient strength at the junction between the foot and the support. - 4

The clip part may be profiled to facilitate connection of the carrier to an article of clothing. Thus, though generally linear, the free end region of the clip part may be turned somewhat away from the support, in order to give a lead-in to the space between the clip part and the support.

By way of example only, one specific embodiment of carrier of this invention will now be described in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an isometric view of the carrier, but with the retaining band removed for clarity; Figure 2 is a side view of the carrier of Figure 1; Figure 3 is an diagrammatic isometric view of the retaining band for use with the carrier of Figures 1 and 2; and Figure 4 is an isometric view of the complete carrier, but again with the retaining band shown somewhat diagrammatically.

The embodiment of carrier shown in the drawings comprises a moulded plastics material component 10 to which a resiliently flexible retaining band 11 is attached. The component 10 comprises an elongate support 12 having a foot 13 moulded integrally therewith to project substantially at 90 to the length of the support 12, from the lower end thereof. As shown at 14, the junction region between the support 12 and the foot 13 may be profiled to give sufficient strength to the junction region and to minimise the risk of fracture there.

Moulded along the length of the support 12 are a pair of beads 15, projecting from the support along the long edges thereof, both to serve as locators for an object to be carried and also to give rigidity to the support 12. - 5

At the upper end of the support, there is formed a clip part 16, projecting downwardly towards the foot end of the support but from the opposite side of the support 12 to that from which the foot 13 projects. The clip is connected to the support by means of a curved bridge 17. The clip 16 is generally linear but the lower free end portion 18 of the clip is curved away somewhat from the support 12, in order to give a lead to the space between the support and the clip. The clip itself is to a small extent resiliently deformable along its length, but is movable away from the support 12 from the position shown in Figure 2 by resilient deformation of the bridge 17.

The clip 16 is narrower in the transverse direction of the support 12 than is the support itself. As shown in Figure 1, an aperture 20 is formed through the upper part of the support 12, in opposition to the clip 16, the width of that aperture being substantially equal to the width of the clip 16. Further, the length of the aperture is substantially equal to the length of the clip.

1 Figures 3 and 4 show a retaining band 11 in the form of an endless band 23 of a neoprene foam material but having a pocket 24 formed on one face thereof. As neoprene foam material is resiliently deformable and so will tend to take up a generally circular configuration, the representation of the retaining band 11 in Figures 3 and 4 is somewhat diagrammatic. The retaining band 11 is connected to the support 12 by locating the support 12 in the pocket 24, with the clip 16 lying outside the rear wall 25 of that pocket 24. The retainer may be coated with a material having relatively low friction properties, in order to facilitate the entry of an object to be carried into the band 23. Further, the band may carry advertising material, such as a logo 26 as shown in Figures 3 and 4.

In use, the carrier may simply be hooked on to an article of clothing such as a belt or a waistband of a pair of trousers or skirt by entering a part of the article of clothing into the space between the support 12 and the clip 16, with; the clip moving resiliently away from the support as much as is necessary to accommodate the clothing. The carrier will be retained there by virtue of the friction between the clip 16 of the carrier and the rear wall 25 of the pocket of the retainer. Provided that the bulk of the article of clothing is sufficient to move the clip resiliently away from the support, the article of clothing will tend to be deformed into the aperture 20 in the support 12. With the described embodiment, the rear wall 25 of the pocket will be deformed into the aperture, i with a corresponding deformation of the article of clothing. As an alternative, the rear wall 25 of the pocket may be cut away in the region of the aperture so that the article of clothing may be directly deformed into the aperture.

By making the retaining band 11 of a resilient foamed material such as neoprene foam, the retainer will have heat insulting properties as well as being resiliently deformable around an object to be carried. Thus, such a retaining band would be particularly suitable for holding a chilled can or bottle of drink, to assist in preventing too rapid warming of the drink.

Claims

1. A carrier for an object (as defined herein), comprising an elongate support having an outwardly directed foot at one end thereof and a clip part; joined to the support at or adjacent the other end thereof, said clip part being in the form of an arm connected at one of its ends to the support and extending from its connection thereto generally parallel to the support towards said one end of the support on the side thereof opposed to the direction of projection of the foot, and a retainer for an item to be held by the carrier which retainer is in the form of a band of a deformable material attached to the support, the arm being narrower than the transverse width of the support and being resiliently i movable away therefrom, and there being an aperture in the support opposed to the arm, whereby the carrier may be suspended from an item of clothing by the clip part and an object may be held by the band to the support and be restrained from falling therefrom by the foot.

2. A carrier as claimed in claim 1, wherein the retainer is of a heat insulating material.

3. A carrier as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the retainer is elastically deformable, for enclosing and holding an object to be carried.

4. A carrier for an object (as defined herein), comprising an elongate I support having an outwardly directed foot at one end thereof and a clip part joined to the support at or adjacent the other end thereof, said clip part being in the form of an arm connected at one of its ends to the support and extending from its connection thereto generally parallel to the support towards said one end of the support on the side thereof opposed to the direction of projection of - 8 the foot, the arm being resiliently movable towards and away from the support, and a retainer for an item to be held by the carrier which retainer is in the form of an elastically deformable band of a heat-insulating material attached to the; support.

5. A carrier as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the retainer is in the form of an endless band for surrounding an object to the carried.

6. A carrier as claimed in claim 5, wherein the retainer is provided with a pocket, in which the support of the carrier is located.

7. A carrier as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the support, to foot and hook part comprise a unitary plastics material moulding. i

8. A carrier as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the support is of a strip-like shape with beads formed along the long edges thereof, projecting in the direction of projection of the foot.

9. A carrier as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the clip part is joined to said other end of the support by means of a resiliently defommable bridge.

10. A carrier as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the free end region of the clip part is turned away from the support, to provide a lead to the space between the clip part and the support. I

11. A carrier as claimed in claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.