STRAP DEVICE AND METHOD

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application is related to and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/540,262 filed Aug. 2, 2017, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present disclosure. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art nor material to the presently described or claimed inventions, nor that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to the field of luggage retention and more specifically relates to luggage retention straps.

RELATED ART

Travelers often need more than one piece of luggage when commuting. Typically, a person requires at least two bags to carry items. Items are generally separated into individual containers by size, accessibility, necessity, and type. In airplanes, a traveler is restricted from carrying specific items in the cabin. Luggage stored with the traveler in the cabin is termed a ‘carry-on’. All other luggage apart from the carry-on must be transported in the cargo hold. When arriving to a destination the traveler is faced with carrying at least two pieces of luggage, often more. Travelers may find it useful to consolidate the individual pieces of luggage to make them easier to transport.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,286 to Arthur J. Newman relates to an adjustable strap. The described adjustable strap includes a universal adjustable carrying strap which has first and second strap members. Both ends of the first strap member pass through a first slide and one of the ends is doubled back and affixed to itself, forming a loop having a slidable clip. The other end of the first strap passes through a ring member at the first slide, a second slide, a pad or grip, and a third slide, both ends of the second strap member pass through a fourth slide and one of the ends is doubled back upon and affixed to itself forming a loop having a slidable clip. The other end of the second strap member passes through a ring member of the fourth slide, the third slide, the pad or grip, and the second slide, underlying the first strap.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known luggage retention strap art, the present disclosure provides a novel strap device. The general purpose of the present disclosure, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a strap device.

A device is disclosed herein. The device comprises a strap. The strap includes four connectors connected to the strap. The device further includes a location indicator connected to the strap.

According to another embodiment, a method is also disclosed. The method includes a step of providing a device; an optional step of joining two or more travel containers using the device; and an optional step of triggering the location indicator.

For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and methods of use for the present disclosure, a strap device, constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the strap device during an ‘in-use’ condition, according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of use for consolidating travel containers, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As discussed above, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a luggage retention strap and more particularly to a strap device as used to improve the existing luggage retention art.

Generally, the strap device provides a device for consolidating travel containers for easy transportation. The device is a strap that has four connectors that are connected along the length of the strap. The strap may be approximately 1.5 inches wide and 14 inches long. The connectors may be snaps that may be interconnectable such that each connector is configured to mate with another connector. The travel containers are any one, or any combination of luggage, a backpack, a briefcase, and a computer case. Sometimes, two of the connectors are disposed near an end of the strap, one of the connectors is disposed near another end of the strap, and one of the connectors is disposed near the middle of the strap. The strap may have a bright color. The device may further include a location indicator. The disclosed method may further comprise joining two or more travel containers using the device. Yet another step of the method may be triggering the location indicator. Other embodiments of the device may include location indicators that include electronic devices. The electronic devices may be chosen from a list of transceivers, transmitters, receivers, and LED, a speaker, a siren, and a light. The electronic device location indicator may have a coupled electronic unit carried by a user. The user may trigger the electronic location indicator, thereby indicating the location of the device and accompanied luggage. The user may trigger the electronic location indicator through an application on a cellphone, computer, personal digital assistant, and all conceived means of wireless communication.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings by numerals of reference, there is shown in FIGS. 1-4, various views of a strap device 100.

FIG. 1 shows a strap device during an ‘in-use’ condition 50, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated, the strap device 100 may include a strap 120 and is shown in FIG. 1 joining two or more travel containers 200, for instance, to move the two or more travel containers 200 simultaneously. The travel containers 200 may be any combination of luggage, a backpack, a briefcase, and a computer case. Other travel containers 200 are known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 2 shows an alternative view of the strap device 100 of FIG. 1. As above, the strap device 100 may include a strap 120. In FIG. 2, the device 100 is used for joining two or more travel containers 200 using the strap 120. The device 100 may further contain a brightly colored material to help identify travel containers 200 from afar. The material may have a high contrast or high visibility color.

FIG. 3 shows the strap device of FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As above, the strap device 100 may have a strap 120, four connectors 130 connected to the strap 120 and, a location indicator 140 connected to the strap 120. The strap 120 may be 1.5 inches wide and 14 inches long. In some versions, the connectors 130 may be snaps. The connectors 130 are sometime oriented with respect to the strap 120 as follows: two of the connectors 130 are disposed near an end 121 of the strap 120, one of the connectors 130 is disposed near another end 122 of the strap 120, and one of the connectors 130 is disposed near the middle 123 of the strap 120. Alternatively, the connectors 130 may be buttons, buckles, hook and loops fasteners, and all functional pondered means of fastening. The location indicator 140 may be an electronic indicator. And the electronic indicator may be any one or any combination of a transceiver; a transmitter; a receiver; an LED; a speaker; a siren; and a light.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for using a strap device, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In particular, the method for using a strap device 400 may include one or more components or features of the strap device 100 as described above. As illustrated, the method for using a strap device 400 may include the steps of providing 401 a device comprising a strap, four connectors connected to the strap, and a location indicator connected to the strap; optionally joining 402 two or more travel containers using the device; and optionally triggering 403 the location indicator.

Optional steps of method of use 400 are illustrated using dotted lines in FIG. 4 so as to distinguish them from the other steps of method of use 400. It should also be noted that the steps described in the method of use can be carried out in many different orders according to user preference. It should be further noted that steps 402 and 403 may be reiterated for each of the embodiments described in the claims. The use of “step of” should not be interpreted as “step for”, in the claims herein and is not intended to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 112(f). It should also be noted that, under appropriate circumstances, considering such issues as design preference, user preferences, marketing preferences, cost, structural requirements, available materials, technological advances, etc., other methods for consolidating travel containers are taught in this document.

The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application.