System reinforced handles attached to a lower torso flap inset of a garment

Abstract

A system which consists of bands, assembled and anchored to a flap which is inserted to the side seam of a garment of a motorcycle or Jet Ski driver, the bands as strong as the seat belt are elongated sewn down along the back of the to the sides. The bands are part and parcel of the handholds threading through and securely fixed at the torso area of the driver. The parallel bands are secured in such a manner that forces pulling back on the handles do not go through the buckle, zipper, or other fasteners for the belts. Previous safety gear has been developed to secure passengers to the drivers but that gear is susceptible to failure because when passengers pull back, the loads go through fasteners, which can fail because they are improperly secured and not strong enough to withstand passengers “hanging on for dear life” during extreme accelerations. This System secures passengers by containing forces pulling back on the handholds within a rugged and permanently closed portion of the center front band. In the preferred embodiment the forces pulling back on the handholds are contained within a loop centered at front of the drivers vest. The positioning of the handles is natural and balanced. Users of this system will include all tandem riders.

Description

PRIORITY OF INVENTION[0001]This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 177,803, filed Mar. 24, 2015; the contents of that provisional application are hereby incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]In most of the rest of the world, unlike the United States, the dominant mode of multi-passenger transportation is some variant of the motorcycle. It is also one of the deadliest forms of transportation. There were 4668 people killed in motorcycle accidents in 2013 in the United States alone. Many more are killed in third world nations, where motorcycles are often used as taxis and the passengers hold on to the drivers waists, which is not favorable to everyone. I fell off one of those Taxis. Other than some skinned knees and my cargo scattered over the ground there was no harm from this accident because it occurred on a soft murram dirt road.[0003]According to the World Health Organization's Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013, there were 1.24 m...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a garment, like a life-vest for jet-skis, which has bands that are connected to each other through loops. This makes the garment easier to use and reduces the chance of the bands getting disengaged. The most interesting feature of this invention is that the opening for the belt is moved outside the part that connects to the handholds. This is an unobvious innovation that sets it apart from previous designs. By moving the closing point off-center, the garment creates an asymmetric system, which improves safety.

Problems solved by technology

1) Inventions similar to the present one which seeks to secure a passenger on a motorcycle, Jet Ski, or in some other similar situation. U.S. Pat. No. 7,331,836 B1 directed toward watercraft; Patent Application US 2012 / 0137417 A1, directed to open air transportation; U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,751 directed to watercraft and described as being worn over a life vest, U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,812 A directed toward use with motorcycles, U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,292 A directed at aiding a handicapped rider on a horse. U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,107 A Safety garment for cyclist. U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,222 A Safety apparatus for passengers on vehicles and U.S. Pat. Mo.

2) Inventions where the handholds are used as an aid to grab onto a person as might be helpful for example in water rescue. U.S. Pat. No. 7,331,836 B1 (a dual use with category 1).

3) Inventions where the handholds are used to lift a person, either an adult or a child. U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,804 A an infant carrier. U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,418 to help support a swimmer.

4) Inventions where the handholds are used to help hold onto a person such as an invalid who needs to be supported. U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,292 A is directed at aiding a handicapped rider on a horse (a dual use with category 1), U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,310 A is a vest to help hold up patients, US Patent Application 2004 / 0133963 A1 is a vest used to help move or position a patient.

5) Other inventions are for specialized purposes, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,564 B1 handholds to aid in forming a more solid rugby scrum, Patent Application US 2014 / 0100500 A1 handholds for getting a more effective grip on a towel-like sheet of material being used to compress the torso of the user, U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,750 A a convenient handhold for which can be attached to a pair of pants or other garment for a child to hold onto an adult, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,572 B1 Page handles on a trouser-like garment so that one dancer can hold onto another while twirling the other in the air. U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,896 has a belt and handles positioned in the back of the driver, the handles could easily dislodge since the load is separated from the driver and pulling backwards from the back. This invention suffers from an unbalanced load. While noting the similarity of possessing handholds, only the first category is actually relevant since it is the only one in which they are used so that a person can hold onto another person anchoring the handholds when high accelerations are attempting to separate the two. U.S. Pat. No. 7,331,836 B1 mainly focuses on a vest which, as depicted, suffers from the flaw that a person holding onto it would put force on the fastener in the center of the vest. Handles on wet suit pants are also depicted in the drawings, but the claims are limited to “a life vest” having a “neck opening” and “opposed arm holes” which do not describe wet suit pants. There is no indication in the patent that it envisioned solving the problem of forces on the “attachment feature configured for securing the life vest”. Patent Application US 2012 / 0137417 A1 depicts in the drawings a lightweight garment with a zipper in the center of the front of the garment (claims 1 through 6), a nylon webbing harness either standing alone (claims 12-15) or sewn inside the garment of claim 1 (claims 7-11), and a light-weight waist-length garment (claims 16-20) not depicted in the drawings. The inventor seems to have considered stress, particularly in the embodiments involving a harness where he describes the handles as attaching to both belts of his harness “in order to evenly distribute passenger loads across the torso of the driver”, but here he does not explicitly recognize that the “quick release mechanism” which secures the harness to the torso is a failure point since he depicts it in his drawing as at the center of the front of the harness and he describes it in his claims as being “on the front torso”. His lightweight garment claims, as stated above, have associated drawings that show the garment closed by a zipper centered at the front of the garment. His lightweight garment claims are silent on how the garment is closed. Describing the garment as lightweight suggests that the inventor here was not seriously taking the stress as a factor in his invention. He does not seem to recognize that the fasteners are a weak point in the design of his invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,751 claims a safety vest with buckles depicted in the center of the front of the vest and claimed as being “near the middle of the front torso”. This inventor, too, seems not to have recognized the buckles as being failure points. Strap 52 can easily tear away. U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,812 A to the extent that the specification and figures illuminate the single highly limited claim of this invention, it “essentially comprises an adjustable length, sturdy strap with a conventional length adjusting means, such as a buckle” depicted in the center front of the jacket. The claim calls this a “cooperating adjustable fastening means detachably securing said elements to each other”. In any case, the forces of the second rider pulling back on the “side hand grip units” would go directly into said buckle, a failure mechanism which the present invention avoids. Here the belt can injure the driver on heavy loads because it is too narrow meaning that stress forces are distributed over a limited area. It is like an having an injury resulting from having a 100 lb woman stepping on you wearing stilettos as opposed to the same woman stepping on you wearing flat shoes. Patent Application US 2012 / 0137417 A1 claims a life preserver jacket with attached grip handles. It depicts the jacket as having a zipper in front and it makes no mention of the possibility that said zipper might fail. U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,292 A is directed at aiding the wearer, a handicapped rider on a horse. As an apparent afterthought it mentions use “in providing a handhold for the rear person in tandem riding situations”. The two front views of garments depicted in the drawings show buckles closing the front center. Some consideration was given to stress; larger buckles are used in areas which will receive greater stress. Clearly the inventor of this aid for handicapped riders did not recognize the possibility of the present invention in which forces through the fasteners are avoided. U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,107 A Safety garment for cyclist. U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,222 A Safety apparatus for passengers on vehicles and U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,419 A they all have one thing in common, their handles are affixed so they are not part of the belt or garment. My handles are part of the belt, that's the big difference. None of the prior art anticipates the present invention.

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