US3207397A - Carrying handles - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 21, 1965 c. WILSON 3,207,397

CARRYING HANDLES Filed Dec. 9, 1963 6561212 C h zzsozz 1 g 4, INVENTOR 0 BY m hawk 4612a United States Patent 3,207,397 CARRYING HANDLES Glenn C. Wilson, 320 N. Euclid Ave., Oak Park, Ill. Filed Dec. 9, 1963, Ser. No. 329,134 Claims. (Cl. 22445) My invention relates to carrying handles for shopping bags and the like, and more particularly to handles suitable for application to the arched straps forming the usual handles for the shoppingbag. While the use of the straps referred to is satisfactory when the contents of the shopping bag are light, they pinch or press into the flesh of the fingers or hand when the contents are heavier, causing pain or discomfort. Also, while wired wooden handles are desirable and comfortable for carrying tied packages, the wire hooks of such handles are too small or close to receive the relatively thick straps of a shopping bag; and the average person avoids the manipulating of wired wooden handles as diflicult or tedious, leaving such a task to a trained store clerk when a heavy package is to be taken out.

Since a special handle to carry a relatively heavy shopping bag is a desirable facility, it is one object of the present invention to provide a handle which is adapted to receive the carrying straps of the conventional shopping bag with ease.

A further object is to design an accessory carrying handle which is rounded on the bottom and designed to fit the palm of the hand or the clenched fingers with comfort.

Another object is to provide an accessory carrying handle which seats the straps of the shopping bag in a pocket from which they cannot be dislodged by various positions or angles of the handle or the swinging of the shopping bag as it is carried.

An additional object is to provide projections in the handle alongside the place in which the shopping bag straps seat, in order to resist the tendency of the straps to shift from such place when the shopping bag swings toward one side or the other.

A still further object is to provide a facility for suspending garment hangers and packages hanging from string loops from the present handle, in order that the convenience and comfort of the latter may be had when one or more articles are carried.

An important object is to provide an accessory carrying handle which is made in one piece and has a surface of substantial area for printed matter or advertising.

A better understanding of the invention may be had by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation on a reduced scale, showing the application of the novel carrying handle to a conventional shopping bag;

FIG. 2 is a full-sized elevational view;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the right-hand portion; and

FIG. 4 is a section on the line 44 of FIG. 2.

Referring specifically to the drawing, denotes the shank of the novel handle, which is of hard plastic material and about one-eighth of an inch thick.

The shank 10 is expanded along the bottom with a shallow bevel 11 to form a base 12 having relatively-thin side edges. However, the base is thickened along the bottom with a convex surface 13. The handle is thus of inverted T cross-section, as shown in FIG. 4, and therefore of ample strength to withstand flexing or de forming strains.

The handle 10 is designed to receive the straps 15 of a shopping bag 17 near the ends, and is therefore cut with entrances 18 in its top edge for this purpose. The entrances lead into slots 20 which converge at approximately 45 degrees from the top edge of the handle.

3,207,397 Patented Sept. 21, 1955 The slots 20 are rounded at 21 on the way down to continue with outward horizontal channels 23. These climb by way of diagonal passages 24 into further horizontal channels 25. The latter are curved at 27 to return with converging final pockets 28, which terminate near the bottom of the shank portion 10, as shown in FIG. 2.

The top edge of the handle is slightly concaved between the entrances 18, and the body portion 10 has a series of holes 30 along the bottom. FIGS. 1 and 3 show that the top of the body portion 10 is expanded to form ends which expand toward the bottom and are inwardly inclined to strengthen the handle at the ends.

The entrances 18 are rounded on the inner sides, as seen at 18a, for the easier insertion of the straps 15 of the shopping bag; and the corners leading into the outward channels 23 are also rounded on the outer side, as seen at 21a, to facilitate the spreading of the straps after they have descended into the bottoms of the slots 20. However, the inner walls 20a of the diagonal passages 24 are made with stops 20b on the outer side, while the ceilingsof the horizontal channels 25 are each made with a downward bulge 20c.

It is now apparent that the manual spreading of the straps 15 causes each of them to climb by way of the passages 24 into the horizontal channels 25 to the ends thereof. Now the raising of the handle will cause the straps to slide into the bottoms of the pockets 28 to the positions indicated in FIG. 2.

It will now be evident that raising the handle to lift a weighted shopping bag will cause the straps 15 to pack tightly in the bottoms of the pockets 28, insuring the firm engagement of the straps with the handle. FIG. 1 shows how the clenched fingers of the hand wrap under the rounded and broad base of the handle, gaining a comfortable grip on the same. In this connection, the concavity in the top of the handle also sreves as a comfortable rest for the hand where it may engage such top.

The slotted formations in the handle are designed to check tendencies for one or the other strap 15 to become disengaged from the handle. In this respect the inner wall 20c of each pocket 28 is the first to resist the selfclimbing action of the strap therein. However, should this occur, in case the strap has flattened or become thinner, and the strap has moved into the horizontal channel 25, the bulge 20c becomes an obstacle to the inward sliding of the strap. However, should the latter be so shrunken or flattened as to pass the bulge, the stop 2012 presents a barrier before the strap can slide into the channel 24. In case this occurs, the ceiling 20c of the channel 23 and the overhanging inner wall of the slot 20 will serve as deterrents for the strap to rise and become separated from the handle.

When it is desired to hang the straps of a shopping bag from the handle, it is an easy matter to train each strap 15 from the corresponding entrance 18 to the bottom of the pocket 28. Also, no undue effort is required to thread the strap back through the locking elements in the slotted formations of the handle when it is desired to remove the same from the shopping bag. However, the locking elements present solid deterrents at several points to the accidental tendency of a strap to climb of itself to a point separate from the handle. Thus, the latter may, to all intents and purposes, be considered as bound to the shopping bag when engaged by the straps thereof in the manner described above, serving as a reliable accessory for carrying a weighted shopping bag with comfort, and it follows that the heavier the shopping bag, the more tightly does it engage the handle.

The handle is also adapted for carrying other heavy articles which require suspension. Thus, garment hangers may be hooked into the holes 30 as indicated at 32 in FIG. 4 to facilitate carrying a number of garments; and the string loops of bound suit boxes, packages of shoes, books, etc. may be applied for suspension from the handle in the manner described above, so that two or more packages or bundles may be carried by a single handle. The latter is thus a convenient accessory for the suspended support of various articles.

I claim:

1. A carrying handle for the straps of shopping bags and the like including an elongated shank having a top entrance for a strap near each end, such entrance leading into a slot declining in inward direction, the lower end of the slot leading into communicating outward channels, and these leading into an inwardly declining pocket, said channels being two in number, and the second one being at a higher level that the first.

2. A carrying handle for the straps of shopping bags and the like including an elongated shank having a top entrance for a strap near each end, such entrance leading into a slot declining in inward direction, the lower end of the slot leading into communicating outward channels, and these leading into an inwardly declining pocket, said channels being two in number, the second one being at a higher level than the first, and the channels communicating by way of a passage rising in outward direction from the first channel to meet the second.

3. A carrying handle for the straps of shopping bags and the like including an elongated shank having a top entrance for a strap near each end, such entrance leading into a slot declining in inward direction, the lower end of the slot leading into communicating outward channels, and these leading into an inwardly declining pocket, said channels being two in number, the second one being at a higher level than the first, and the channels communicating by way of a passage rising in outward direction from the first channel to meet the second, the wall of the passage having a downward end portion facing the second channel as a stop.

4. A carrying handle for the straps of shopping bags and the like including an elongated shank having a top entrance for a strap near each end, such entrance leading into a slot declining in inward direction, the lower end of the slot leading into communicating outward channels, and these leading into an inwardly declining pocket, said channels being two in number, the second one being at a higher level than the first, and the channels communicating by way of a passage rising in outward direction from the first channel to meet the second, the ceiling of the second channel having a downward projection partly constricting the channel.

5. A carrying handle for the straps of shopping bags and the like including an elongated shank formed with a pair of slots in its top near the end-s to receive said straps, the slots being inclined inwardly and each continued from its inner end with an outward passage, and a pocket inclined inwardly from the outer end of each passage.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 399,180 3/89 Bridwell 224-57 609,946 8/98 Pusey 22457 2,5 22,83 3 9/50 Maccaferri 22457 2,528,239 10/50 McVay 22456 2,684,797 7/54 Schulte.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

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