Garment Docking Device for Hands-Free Personal Electronics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for attaching personal devices like lights and electronics to clothing are bulky, heavy, and inconvenient, especially in cold weather, as they often require one hand to operate and are not easily accessible when both hands are needed for other tasks.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight garment dock system with a retention arm that securely attaches personal devices to the outer face of clothing, maintaining aesthetics and structural integrity, allowing for quick access and visibility while freeing up hands.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If clips, belts, harnesses or lanyards are used to attach personal devices to clothing, then the devices can be carried externally, but the attachment system becomes bulky, heavy, and uncomfortable
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment system is divided into two separate components: a lightweight dock integrated into the garment and a separate clip that attaches to the device. This segmentation allows the garment to remain lightweight while the device carries the attachment mechanism, resolving the contradiction between ease of access and weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The attachment function is extracted from the garment itself and placed onto the personal device via the clip. The garment only needs to provide the dock structure, while the clip and its attachment mechanisms are transferred to the device side, significantly reducing the weight burden on the clothing.
2Ease of operation
If clips, belts, harnesses or lanyards are used to attach personal devices to clothing, then the devices can be carried externally, but the attachment system becomes bulky and heavy
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the attachment system into a simple dock in the garment and a self-contained clip on the device, the overall system complexity is reduced. Each component is simple and independent, making the system easier to manufacture and maintain while providing external device carrying capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The complex attachment mechanisms (springs, latches, adjustment features) are extracted from the garment and consolidated into the clip attached to the device. This leaves the garment with only a simple dock structure, significantly reducing garment complexity while maintaining full attachment functionality.
3Reliability
If personal devices are placed in clothing pockets, then they are protected, but accessing them requires removing hands from other tasks
Solution Approach 1:
The solution moves the device from the internal dimension (inside pockets) to the external dimension (outside the garment). The dock is positioned on the outer surface of the garment, allowing devices to be accessed from the outside without removing hands from other tasks, while still providing protection through the garment's outer layer.
Solution Approach 2:
The garment itself becomes an intermediary structure that provides protection while enabling external access. The dock is integrated into the garment's outer surface, creating a mediator between the device and the external environment that offers both protection and quick access without requiring the device to be inside pockets.
4Ease of operation
If personal devices are placed in the user's line of sight, then they are easily visible, but they cannot be securely held when both hands are needed for other tasks
Solution Approach 1:
The clip is designed to self-latch onto the dock automatically when brought together, and can be quickly released by the user. This self-service mechanism provides secure holding without requiring continuous hand engagement, allowing the device to remain securely attached in the line of sight while freeing both hands for other tasks.
Solution Approach 2:
The attachment system transitions from a static, permanently fixed connection to a dynamic, quickly adjustable connection. The spring-loaded clip can rapidly engage and disengage, allowing the device to be securely held when needed and easily accessed when both hands are required, adapting to different situational requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A docking system for the interchangeable attachment of personal devices such as lights, electronic devices, popular survival and safety equipment and the like, to the outer face of an article of clothing. It has a pair of discs held in a parallel, spaced arrangement by a pair of opposing stanchions so that a slot is created between the disks and the stanchions. Into this slot may be inserted an engageable tab connected normally to an arm that is affixed to, or extends from a personal device, such as an emergency light. The emergency light has a plethora of lighting modes that regulate which of the numerous disposed LEDs will be illuminated and in what pattern.