Thermally insulated fanny pack containment system

Abstract

A thermally insulated fanny pack containment system provides secure containment of temperature sensitive articles in either hot or cold environments by utilizing a rigid double wall bin portion that has an insulating gap between the inner and outer walls. A cover, which is also rigid double wall construction is configured to extend over the top opening of the bin portion and latch down to secure the cover over the bin portion. A belt is coupled to the bin portion and is configured to extend around a person's waist. One or more detachably attachable thermal liners that are chilled or heated may be configured to fit within the bin portion to control the temperature within the interior of the bin portion enclosure. The thermal liners may have fasteners for securing an article within the bin portion. A bottle-in-bottle may be utilized to prevent moisture exposure to contents therein.

Claims

1. A thermal control and insulating fanny pack system comprising: a) a fanny pack comprising: i) a rigid double wall bin portion made of metal and comprising: an inner wall; an outer wall; a sealed insulating gap between the inner wall and outer wall that comprises a thermal insulating gas; and a top opening; ii) a cover configured to extend over the top opening of the bin portion; iii) a belt extending from the rigid double wall bin and configured to extend around a person's waist; b) a detachably attachable perimeter thermal liner that forms an enclosure containing a thermally imparting material haying thermal control properties, and wherein the perimeter thermal liner is configured around the interior perimeter of the rigid double wall bin portion and comprising an interior fastener on an inside surface; c) a detachably attachable base thermal liner that forms an enclosure containing a thermally imparting material having thermal control properties; d) an article liner configured to extend completely around an article placed in the rigid double wall bin portion, said article liner comprising an article fastener configured on an exterior surface and configured to detachably attach to the interior fastener of the perimeter thermal liner.

2. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, wherein the interior fastener and the article fasteners are hook-and-loop fasteners.

3. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, wherein the article liner forms an enclosure containing a thermally imparting material having thermal control properties.

4. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, wherein the cover is a rigid double wall cover comprising: a) an inner wall; b) an outer wall; and c) a sealed insulating gap between the inner wall and outer wall.

5. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 4, wherein the rigid double wall cover is made of metal.

6. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, wherein the thermal insulating gas is selected from the group consisting of argon, helium, krypton and xenon.

7. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, further comprising latches that extend between the cover and the bin portion to retain the cover in a closed position.

8. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, further comprising a gasket configured between the cover and the bin portion when the cover is in a closed position.

9. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 8, further comprising latches that extend between the cover and the bin portion to retain the cover in a closed position; and wherein the latches compress the gasket between the cover and bin portion.

10. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, wherein the perimeter thermal liner extends around the inside perimeter of the rigid double wall bin portion.

11. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 10, wherein the perimeter thermal liner comprises a connecting fastener to couple a first end to a second end of the perimeter thermal liner.

12. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, wherein the rigid double wall bin portion has a curved front side.

13. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 12, wherein the curved front side extends substantially along a radius of curvature, wherein at least 60% of the front side is curved along a radius of curvature.

14. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, wherein the thermally imparting material within the perimeter thermal liner comprises a gel.

15. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, further comprising an article thermal liner configured to extend around an article for retention in the bin portion.

16. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 15, wherein the article thermal liner comprises an article fastener, and wherein the perimeter thermal liner comprises an interior fastener configured on an inside surface of the perimeter thermal liner, and wherein the article fastener is detachably attachable to the interior fastener of the base thermal liner.

17. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 16, wherein the base thermal liner comprises an interior fastener configured on an inside surface of the base thermal liner, and wherein the article fastener is detachably attachable to the interior fastener of the base thermal liner.

18. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, wherein the article thermal liner comprises an article fastener, and wherein the base thermal liner comprises an interior fastener configured on an inside surface of the base thermal liner, and wherein the article fastener is detachably attachable to the interior fastener of the base thermal liner.

19. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, comprising: a) a first perimeter area defined by a first perimeter thermal liner; b) a second perimeter area defined at least in part by a second perimeter thermal liner.

20. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 19, wherein a first article is retained in the first perimeter area and a second article is retained in the second perimeter area.

21. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, further comprising a bottle-in-bottle comprising: a) an outer bottle having an outer wall and outer bottle cap; b) an inner bottle having an inner wall and inner bottle cap; wherein the inner bottle is configured within the outer bottle to form a void space therebetween; c) an article thermal liner that encircles the outer bottle and has fasteners that are detachably attachable so that the article is secured to a perimeter thermal liner fastener that prevents jostling and cushions the article contents from impact damage.

22. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 21, wherein a desiccant is configured in the void space.

23. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 22, wherein the outer bottle cap comprises a moisture seal.

24. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 23, wherein the inner bottle cap comprises a moisture seal.

25. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 24, wherein the outer bottle cap comprises a retainer gasket configured on an inside surface of the outer bottle cap and configured to engage with the inner bottle to retain the inner bottle in compression with the outer bottle cap.

26. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 1, further comprising a belt attachment having at least one belt attachment loop configured vertically and one belt attachment configured horizontally.

27. The thermal control and insulating fanny pack system of claim 26, comprising a pair of belt attachment loops having a length that extends along a height of the double wall bin portion and a pair of belt attachment loops having a length that extends along a length of double wall bin portion.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a front view of a person donning an exemplary fanny pack system comprising a double wall bin portion that is coupled to a belt that extends around the person's waist and a cover that opens for retrieving contents from the fanny pack.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a side view of a person donning an exemplary fanny pack system comprising a double wall bin portion that is coupled to a belt that extends around the person's waist and a cover that opens for retrieving contents from the fanny pack.

(4) FIG. 3 shows a top view of an exemplary fanny pack system with the cover open wherein a thermal liner extends around the inside perimeter of the double wall bin portion and wherein two articles that are encircled by an article liner having a thermally insulating material therein, are retained to the thermal liner by hook-and-loop fasteners.

(5) FIG. 4 shows a front cross-sectional view of an exemplary fanny pack system with the cover open and a base thermal liner configured in the bottom of the interior of the double wall bin portion. A perimeter thermal liner, such as a gel pack, lines the entire inside vertical walls around the fanny pack container as well.

(6) FIG. 5 shows an exemplary top view of an exemplary fanny pack system with the cover open and two perimeter areas formed by perimeter thermal liners.

(7) FIG. 6 shows an exemplary top view of an exemplary fanny pack system with the cover open and two perimeter areas formed by a perimeter thermal liner and a partition liner.

(8) FIG. 7 shows a cross sectional view of a bottle-in-bottle used to prevent moisture from damaging an article, such as medication, within the inner bottle.

(9) FIG. 8 shows a back view of an exemplary fanny pack system having a pair of belt attachments retained to the back side of the double wall bin portion that incorporates a plurality of loops for versatile attachment of the fanny pack to a belt.

(10) Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several, views of the figures. The figures represent an illustration of some of the embodiments of the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner. Further, the figures are not necessarily to scale, some features may be exaggerated to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

(11) As used herein, the terms comprises, comprising, includes, including, has, having or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Also, use of a or an are employed to describe elements and components described herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the scope of the invention. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

(12) Certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described herein and are illustrated in the accompanying figures. The embodiments described are only for purposes of illustrating the present invention and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention, and certain modifications, combinations and improvements of the described embodiments, will occur to those skilled in the art and all such alternate embodiments, combinations, modifications, improvements are within the scope of the present invention.

(13) Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a person 16 is donning an exemplary fanny pack system 10. The thermally insulated fanny pack container 40 comprises a double wall bin portion 41 that is coupled to a belt 20, that extends around the person's waist 17 and is secured together by the buckle 24. A cover 60 is coupled to the bin portion and opens for retrieving items in the container. The belt may be coupled by a buckle and the belt or strap may be pulled through the buckle to tighten the belt around a person's waist.

(14) Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, an exemplary fanny pack system 10 has a cover 60 configured to close down over the top opening 49 of the double wall bin portion 41 of the thermally insulated fanny pack container 40 by a hinge 61. A cover gasket 65 may seal with a bin gasket 45 when the cover is closed and the latches 68, 68 are coupled with the latch 48, 48 of the bin portion, respectively. The cover may be a rigid cover and may be a double wall cover having a gas gap 63 between an inner wall 62 and outer wall 64. Likewise, the double wall bin portion 41 may have a gas gap 43 between an inner wall 42 and outer wall 44 and the bin portion may be rigid. The double wall cover and bin may be made out of metal to reduce any permeation of gas therethrough. The bin portion has a back side 52 that may be planar and a front side 54 that may be curved and extend along a radius of curvature, as shown. The thermally insulated fanny pack container 40 or the double wall bin portion has a width 53, length 55 and height 59 that may be conducive for carrying around a person's waist by the belt 20.

(15) Within the interior 46 of the double wall bin portion, a perimeter thermal liner 80 is configured around the inside perimeter 47 of the bin portion. A connecting fastener 84 is configured to hold the two ends of the thermal liner 80 together as the liner runs along the vertical sides within the bin portion. The perimeter thermal liner may have bin fasteners 87 for connecting the perimeter thermal liner to bin portion fasteners 57 coupled to the inner wall 42 of the bin portion 41. The perimeter thermal liner may also have interior fasteners 85, 85 for detachable attachment to an article fastener 95, 95, as shown in FIG. 3. The article fasteners are configured around the bottles 12, 12. Also, a base thermal liner 70 is configured in the base 56 of the bin portion. The base thermal liner may also have bin fasteners 77 for detachably attaching to the bin portion fasteners 57, as shown in FIG. 4. The base thermal liner may also have interior fasteners 75 for detachably attaching to an article fastener 95. Any of the fasteners mentioned herein may be hook-and-loop fasteners. An article 11, such as a bottle 12 may be configured in an article liner 90 that forms a cylindrical opening for receiving the bottle. Along the exterior of the article liner, an article fastener 95 may enable the article to be retained to the perimeter thermal liner and/or the base thermal liner. The article fastener may extend completely around the article liner. The bottle may be securely retained in the interior of the bin portion even during vigorous activity. This secure retention of the article 11 may prevent damage to the article. Any of the thermal liners, the perimeter thermal liner, base thermal liner and/or the article thermal liner may be chilled or heated prior to locating in the bin portion. A thermal liner may be a gel pack having a liner pouch 82 containing an insulating material 83, such as a gel that is chilled or heated prior to placing it in the bin portion.

(16) Medication bottles 12, 12 are retained in the article thermal liners 90, 90, respectively, configured around the bottle. Again, the article thermal liner as an article fastener 95 that is detachably attached to the interior fastener 85 of the perimeter thermal liner 80 and/or the interior fastener 75 of the base thermal liner 70.

(17) The interior wall 42 may be separated from the exterior wall 44 by an insulating gap 43 having a gap distance 51 therebetween. This insulating gap may be configured as a void and be under vacuum, or contain a gas, such as a noble gas as described herein.

(18) As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, an exemplary fanny pack system 10 has two perimeter areas that are formed by thermal liners 80, 80. As shown in FIG. 5, a first perimeter area 30 is formed or defined by the first perimeter thermal liner 80 and retains two bottles 12, 12, which may contain medication, for example. The second perimeter area 32 is rectangular in shape and is formed by perimeter thermal liner 80 and retains a beverage bottle 14. Note that adjacent walls of perimeter areas may share a perimeter liner. As shown in FIG. 6, a perimeter thermal liner 80 extends around the inside perimeter 47 of the double wall bin portion 41 and a partition thermal liner 81 extends from a first to a second end that are retained to the perimeter thermal liner 80 by connecting fasteners 84, 84. The first perimeter area 30 and second perimeter area 32 are configured on opposing sides of the partition thermal liner 81, which may comprise an insulating material 83.

(19) As shown in FIG. 7, a bottle-in-bottle 120 is configured to prevent moisture from damaging articles, such as medication 15 within the inner bottle 122. The inner bottle 122 is retained within the outer bottle 132. The outer bottle wall 131 extends around the inner bottle wall 121 and a void space 129 is formed therebetween. A desiccant 130, such as silica gel, may be configured in the void space to keep the relative humidity at a low level. A retainer gasket 136 is configured between the outer bottle cap 134 and inner bottle cap 124 to prevent the inner bottle from jostling. Also, the outer bottle cap may have a cap seal 137 which may be a moisture seal. Likewise, the inner bottle cap may have a moisture prevention cap seal 127. This configuration may effectively prevent moisture from damaging the articles in the inner bottle.

(20) As shown in FIG. 8, an exemplary fanny pack system 10 has a pair of belt attachments 26, 26 configured on the back side 52 of the double wall bin portion 41 for attachment of a belt 20. The exemplary belt attachment has a belt attachment plate 28 that is coupled to the double wall bin portion and a plurality, four, belt attachment loops 27. The exemplary belt attachment loops are elongated having a length 25 that is greater than a width 29, wherein the length to width ratio is about 1.5 or more or about 2.0 or more. Two of the belt attachment loops are configured on opposing sides of the plate and two are configured on opposing ends of the plate. An exemplary belt attachment 26 may have two of the belt attachment loops having a length 59 that extends along the height of the double wall bin portion or are configured on opposing sides of the plate, and two of the belt attachment loops having a length 59 that extends along the length of the double wall bin portion or are configured on opposing ends of the plate, as shown. A belt 20 is configured through the two belt attachment loops 27, 27 configured on opposing sides of the plate. Note that a belt may be configured in an orthogonal orientation through one or both of the belt attachment loops configured on the ends of the plate and may be retained around a bar or rail of a mobility aide, a walker or wheel chair, for example.

(21) It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. Specific embodiments, features and elements described herein may be modified, and/or combined in any suitable manner. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications, combinations and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.