US20050264049A1

US20050264049A1 - Breast/storage cavity

Info

Publication number: US20050264049A1
Application number: US10/825,193
Authority: US
Inventors: Catalina Fleites
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-04-16
Filing date: 2004-04-16
Publication date: 2005-12-01

Abstract

A portable, foldable or stationary lounger is comprised of a rectangular frame and cover. The frame includes a backrest section, a seat section and a foot rest section. The cover is composed of a fabric material firm enough to support a large person. The backrest section provides a horizontal rectangular opening with a recessed fabric cavity sewn to the seams of said opening. The opening also has a fabric flap sewn to the upper horizontal edge of the cavity opening. The adjacent sides of the flap are lined with Velcro™ and the corresponding edges of the opening of the cavity are also lined with Velcro™. When the flap is open and the cavity is exposed it allows for a woman to lie on her stomach with her breast lying within the provided cavity. When the flap is closed and secured by the Velcro™ closure, it allows for a storage area and a continuous flat surface to lay on ones back.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to lounge chairs and, more particularly, to a lounge chair incorporating a cavity sized and configured for accommodating a pair of human breasts, as well as for storing loose items.

DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

Loungers, including those that are portable, foldable or stationary, are known in the prior art. A variety of human body supporting apparatus, including maternity cots and mattresses have been described which are formed with recesses, depressions, cavities or openings to accommodate the abdomen of a pregnant woman. The disadvantages of some of these cots or mattresses are they don't accommodate the breasts. It is often difficult for a woman to lie prone on her stomach due to the discomfort caused by having her breasts pressed against her upper body by the rigid surface on which she is resting. The pressure applied to her breasts by a rigid surface may be particularly uncomfortable for a woman whose breasts are extra sensitive, such as women with breast implants, naturally full breasts, naturally sensitive breasts or mastectomies.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,301 issued May 1990 to Haynes describes a maternity lounger that has an upper panel of elastic stretching material for expandable support of the abdomen. U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,034 issued July 2003 to Nations reveals a prone pregnancy lounger allowing a pregnant woman to lie prone and providing an expandable cavity for her abdomen. U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,449 issued March 1995 to Satto discloses a prone pregnancy cushion. While these inventions may fulfill their particular objectives, they do not disclose a cavity allowing a non-pregnant woman to lie prone with her breasts supported or otherwise comfortably accommodated within a cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,061 issued on February 1998 discloses a female anatomical mattress comprised of air chambers and a cavity in the mattress to enable a woman to lie on her stomach with her breasts in the cavity.
There is an unmet need for lounge chair that incorporates a combination breast accommodating and loose item storage cavity which helps in reducing the compression on a woman's breasts, strain on her back, and provides a flap for covering the opening of the cavity to enable a person to lie on their back, while offering an efficient storage space and functional use of the lounger by a man.
It would be preferably to provide such a cavity incorporating a canvas or synthetic material fabric flap covering releasably secured with a hook-and-loop type fastener, such as that sold under the trade name Velcro™ to cover the cavity and thereby enable a person to lay comfortably over the cavity on his/her back. It would be further desirable to provide such a cavity designed or otherwise configured to store loose items while the lounger is being used by a person who has no need for the breast-accommodating feature of the cavity.
The breast/storage cavity can be incorporated into any of a variety of portable, foldable or stationary loungers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally directed to a lounge chair incorporating a cavity for supporting, or otherwise accommodating, the breasts of a woman, as well as providing a coverable storage area for loose items, which substantially alleviates the inconveniences and discomfort caused by the compression to the female breasts associated with existing loungers.
The lounger is comprised of a frame and a fabric cover. The fabric cover consists of sturdy enough material to support the weight of a large person. The breast/storage cavity is a modification to the backrest section of a conventional lounger. The backrest section has provided therein a horizontal rectangular opening with a recessed fabric cavity sewn to the seams of said opening. The cavity could be constructed of elastic stretch fabric, netting, canvass or synthetic material fabric. The opening also has a fabric flap sewn to the upper horizontal edge. The adjacent sides of the flap are lined with Velcro™ and the corresponding edges of the opening of the cavity are also lined with Velcro™. When the flap is open and the cavity is exposed it allows for a woman to lay on her stomach with her breasts supported or otherwise accommodated in the cavity. When the flap is closed and secured by the Velcro™ closure, it allows for a storage area and a continuous flat surface to lay on ones back. The fabric of the flap would be generally of the same material of the cover fabric of the lounger that would support the weight of a large person.
The primary function of the breast/storage cavity is to reduce or eliminate breast compression while lying face down on the surface of a lounger. As a means of relief women often contort their bodies to try to compensate for the pressure applied to their breast resulting in strain of the spinal cord. The present invention provides a useful change to the existing invention of the lounger by affording relief to the breasts from the pressure of the body weight and subsequent back strain. The breast/storage cavity provides the comfort to women not previously afforded by the rigid and nonconforming style of the previous designs of loungers. An added benefit is the extra storage space afforded by closing the flap making the invention useful to both women and men.
It is another objective of the breast/storage cavity to provide a new and improved female friendly lounger made of quality construction.
An added benefit of the breast/storage cavity is when in the flap closed position it allows a storage area for items such as keys, lotion, wallets etc for use by men.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1—is a side view of the invention
FIG. 2—is a view of the embodiment with the flap open
FIG. 3—is a side view of the invention with the flap opened.
FIG. 3 a—is a sectioned side view of the invention with the flap tucked.
FIG. 4—is a perspective view of the invention of the lounger

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In accordance with the present invention, a breast/storage cavity is shown in FIGS. 1-4. Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 4, there is shown a lounger. The lounger could be of any number of types of loungers and for demonstrational purposes is illustrated as being a foldable lounger such as is frequently utilized for outdoor activities. The lounger provides a frame of several basic structural elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. (1) Frame constructed of any rigid material such as plastic, aluminum, wood, steel etc., (2) fabric covering of the frame allowing support of a person laying or sitting on said lounger, (3) arm rests made of rigid material such as plastic, aluminum, wood, steel etc., (4) legs to support the frame of the lounger above the ground, (5) leg support for the arm rests when engaged in the upright position, (6) hinges allowing the illustrated lounger to fold and the legs to retract.
The breast/storage region consists of a recessed cavity (8) located in the backrest section of a lounger demonstrated in FIG. 1 comprised of a sturdy fabric material surrounding all 4 sides of the cavity with an equally durable fabric cover flap (7). The flap (7) is stitched to the upper horizontal edge of the cavity opening. The adjacent 3 sides are lined with Velcro™ (9) surrounding the outer edge of the flap. The corresponding edges of the opening of the cavity (9 a) are also lined with Velcro™ as demonstrated in FIG. 2. The Velcro™ allows for opening and closing of the cavity without the use of a zipper or other cumbersome fasteners.
FIG. 3 is a side perspective of the cavity with a view of flap (7 a) in the open position.
FIG. 3 a is a sectioned side perspective of the cavity with the flap (7 a) tucked in allowing for a woman to lie on her stomach with her breast in the provided cavity.
FIG. 4 is a front full view perspective of a foldable lounger with the breast/storage cavity.

Claims

1-9. (canceled)

10. A storage compartment integrated into a chair having a panel acting as a backrest or footrest, the panel having an opening extending therethrough, the storage compartment comprising:

a main body having a concave interior surface and a periphery attached to a rear surface of the panel about the backrest opening to define a storage compartment cavity; and

a flap attached to an upper surface of the panel, at least a portion of the flap incorporating releasable attachment means for enabling selective covering of the storage compartment cavity to form an interior storage space.

11. A storage compartment as recited in claim 10, wherein the main body is particularly sized and shaped to comfortably accommodate a woman's breasts when the flap is in an opened position.

12. A storage compartment as recited in claim 11, wherein the main body has an interior surface generally shaped to complement the corresponding general anatomical shape of a woman's breasts.

13. A storage compartment as recited in claim 10, wherein the main body and flap are constructed from a flexible fabric.

14. A storage compartment as recited in claim 13, wherein said flexible fabric further comprises of one of a natural fiber, a synthetic fiber, and a blended fabric.

15. A storage compartment as recited in claim 13, wherein said flexible fabric further comprises netting.

16. A storage compartment as recited in claim 13, wherein said flexible fabric further comprises a resilient fabric.

17. A storage compartment as recited in claim 10, wherein the periphery of the storage compartment main body is stitched directly to the backrest of said chair.

18. A storage compartment as recited in claim 10, wherein the storage compartment flap has a portion of its periphery permanently stitched to the upper surface of the panel, the flap further comprising releasable attachment means disposed along at least a portion of its periphery for cooperating with corresponding releasable attachment means disposed on the upper surface of said panel.

19. A storage compartment as recited in claim 18, wherein said releasable attachment means further comprises one half of a hook-and-loop fastener system disposed on said flap and the other half of the hook-and-loop fastener system disposed on the upper surface of the chair panel.

20. A storage compartment as recited in claim 18, wherein said releasable attachment means further comprise mechanical snaps.

21. A storage compartment as recited in claim 10, wherein said flap is configured such that said flap lies substantially flush with the front surface of said panel when the flap is in a closed position.