Air-cushion backpack and laptop sleeve

Abstract

A backpack has a front pocket containing a plate and a pair of shoulder straps for holding the plate against the back of a user. A pressurizable, flexible and elastic bladder covers the plate and has inside surfaces with an embossed pattern for preventing sticking together of facing walls of the bladder to facilitating an initial inflation of the bladder. A pair of tubular extensions extend from the bladder and into the shoulder straps, one of the tubular extensions being for inflating and deflating the bladder. A mouth-inflatable check valve connected to extension is location so as to be accessible to the user for inflating the bladder and a valve cover is detachably connected over the entire mouth engageable perimeter of the check valve for keeping it clear. Semi-rigid liners in the shoulder straps near the bladder form channels for facilitating inflating and deflating of the bladder. A pair of cushion panels in, or separate from the backpack, include pluralities of offset parallel, partially filled air tubes spaced by webs for minimizing volume when there is nothing between the cushion panels.

Description

FIELD BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates in general to article carriers, and in particular to an new and useful backpack and laptop sleeve having air cushion features for increased comfort and for protection of a laptop computer carried by the backpack or sleeve.[0002]U.S. Patent Application US2007 / 0215662, published Sep. 20, 2007, on U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 377,008, filed Mar. 16, 2006, that shares at least one inventor with the current application and which is incorporated here by reference, teaches a backpack with a generally rigid plate having a front face, a back face and shoulder straps for holding it against a back of a user. An inflatable, non-elastic and smooth surfaced bladder covers generally all of the front face of the plate and has a closable fill opening so that the bladder can be inflated for added comfort and load distribution.[0003]Although the backpack of the above-identified application has been extremely succ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]It is an object of the present invention to provide backpack having a first front wall, a second front wall spaced forwardly of the first front wall and defining a front pocket with the first front wall, a generally rigid plate having a front face and a back face, the plate being in the front pocket with the back face of the plate being adjacent the first front wall, a pair of shoulder straps operatively connected to at least one of the front walls for holding the plate against a back of a user with the second front wall being between the plate and the back of the user, load bearing means connected to at least one of the front walls for holding an object, and a pressurizable, flexible and elastic bladder covering generally all of the front face of the plate. The bladder is provided in the front pocket between the front face of the plate and the second front wall and at least the entire inside surfaces of the bladder have a non-smooth texture thereon for preventing sticking together of facing walls of the bladder to facilitating an initial inflation of the bladder. A pair of tubular extensions or tubes extend from the bladder and respectively into each of the shoulder straps, one of the tubular extensions being for inflating and deflating the bladder. A mouth-inflatable, normally closed check valve is connected to the one tubular extension at a location that is spaced from the bladder and positioned so as to be accessible to a user for inflating the bladder by blowing into the check valve while the shoulder strap is on a shoulder of the user, the check valve having a mouth engageable perimeter. A valve cover is detachably connected over the entire mouth engageable perimeter of the check valve for covering the check valve and keeping it clear. A pair of semi-rigid liners are respectively in the shoulder straps near the bladder to form a pair or semi-rigid channels for the tubular extensions near the bladder to facilitate inflating and deflating of the bladder through the one tubular extension.

[0009]A further object of the present invention is to provide, either as part of the backpack, or as a stand-alone item, a laptop sleeve including a pair of cushion panels connected in a rear pocket of the backpack or as a stand-alone sleeve, each cushion panel comprising a plurality of spaced apart, parallel, permanently sealed and partially filled air tubes made of flexible elastic material with webs between the air tubes in each cushion panel, the air tubes of one cushion panel each facing the webs of the other cushion panel for minimizing a volume occupied by the cushion panels when there is nothing in a space between the cushion panels, and for cushioning a laptop computer placed between the cushion panels.

[0010]Another object of the invention includes providing the check valve to have a flapper that is normally closed to prevent air from escaping from the bladder and including a push button on the flapper that is manually depressed to move the flapper and allow air to escape from the bladder to adjust the amount of air in the bladder for improved comfort.

Problems solved by technology

This made it very difficult to inflate the bladder the first time since in addition to over coming the internal pressure to inflate the bladder to a comfortable level, the stuck together walls had to be separated by the blown in air pressure alone.

This proved to be very difficult.

Another perceived difficulty with the prior backpack was that since only one tube extended along the shoulder strap for inflation according to the preferred embodiment of the invention, when the backpack and its one tube were inflated it was perceived to be asymmetric because the other strap was not inflated, or even perhaps defective because of this asymmetry.

Another problem with the prior art is the protection of laptop computers which are small and easily portable but likewise, easily dropped and damaged.

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