Overlapping Zipper Pockets for Rapid Avalanche Beacon Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing clothing designs with multiple pockets hinder quick access to inner compartments, particularly in emergency situations like avalanches, where every minute counts and survivors must undress to reach life-saving devices like avalanche beacons, complicating operations and reducing survival chances.
Innovation Solution
The design features aligned and overlapping zipper mechanisms allowing simultaneous access to inner pockets, enabling users to reach avalanche beacons without undressing, by either independent or connected slider operations, facilitating rapid access to essential items.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If traditional sequential pocket access is used, then pocket security and organization are maintained, but access time to inner pockets becomes excessively long in emergency situations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements nested pockets where an inner pocket is positioned within the spatial envelope of an outer pocket. The inner pocket has its own independent zipper that can be accessed through the outer pocket's opening, allowing direct access to frequently needed items without fully opening or emptying the outer pocket. This nesting arrangement enables selective access to specific compartments while maintaining the security and organization of all pockets.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the storage system into multiple independently accessible segments (pockets), each with its own zipper mechanism. The inner pocket is segmented as a separate accessible unit within the outer pocket structure, allowing users to open only the specific pocket containing the needed item rather than accessing all pockets sequentially. This segmentation dramatically reduces access time while maintaining overall organization.
2Loss of time
If multiple pockets with independent zippers are added for direct access, then emergency access time is reduced, but the device complexity and number of components increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions the inner pocket containing the avalanche beacon in a predetermined location within the jacket, specifically in the lower back region where it can be quickly accessed in an emergency. The pocket is pre-configured with its own zipper mechanism that can be opened independently, allowing users to reach the beacon without undressing or searching through other pockets. This preliminary arrangement of essential items significantly reduces rescue time.
Solution Approach 2:
The inner pocket acts as an intermediary structure that provides direct access to critical emergency items without requiring full access to the outer pocket. By creating this intermediate access layer with its own zipper, the system enables users to quickly retrieve the avalanche beacon while leaving other pockets closed and organized, thus reducing time loss without completely complicating the overall pocket system.
3Ease of operation
If users undress to reach avalanche beacon in traditional clothing, then direct skin contact requirement is met, but operation time increases and exposure to adverse conditions increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the avalanche beacon from the need to be accessed by removing outer clothing layers. Instead, the beacon is placed in a dedicated inner pocket with an independent zipper mechanism that can be opened while the jacket remains fully buttoned and zipped. This extraction of the beacon access operation from the undressing process allows users to quickly retrieve the device without exposing themselves to adverse weather conditions or losing valuable time.
Data Source
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AI summary
An item of clothing (4) comprising a first pocket (8) provided with first means of opening/closing (12) to respectively allow and inhibit access to the first pocket (8) itself, a second pocket (16) provided with second means of opening/closing (20) to respectively allow and inhibit access to the second pocket (16) itself. Advantageously, the first means of opening/closing (12) and the second means of opening/closing (20) are aligned and at least partially overlapped so as to allow the simultaneous insertion of a hand through the first means of opening/closing (12) and the second means of opening/closing (20), when opened to access the second pocket (16) through the first pocket (8).