US20060027293A1

US20060027293A1 - Hidden compartment handbags

Info

Publication number: US20060027293A1
Application number: US10/910,668
Authority: US
Inventors: Deborah Willems
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-08-03
Filing date: 2004-08-03
Publication date: 2006-02-09

Abstract

A handbag having one or more hard shell compartments. This new handbag is used to keep fragile items such as eyeglasses or small cellular phones in a secure and easily accessible compartment while still having room for other items such as a wallet, keys, etc. The handbag is comprised of at least one hard shell compartment with a second compartment above for other items. The hard shell compartment is accessible on the outside of the handbag. Therefore, the hard, eyeglass cases are not needed for ones eyeglasses and do not take up space inside the handbag.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable

SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field Of Invention
This invention relates to handbags which have a hard, zipper compartment at the base of the bag which acts as an eyeglass or cellular phone compartment.
2. Background of the Invention
Handbags and purses commonly do not have adequate space for hard eyeglass cases. Eyeglass cases take up a great amount of room in a purse and often leave little room for a wallet, keys, a cellular phone, a check book, etc. Eyeglass cases can also tend to add weight to handbags. Some handbags or purses are made with an eyeglass case already present. Such bags are sometimes equipt with a soft pouch inside the bag, which does not provide protection for eyeglasses or cellular phones placed inside. Others have a soft eyeglass case attached to the outside of the bag. This does not protect the item placed inside the case. Some small evening bags or purses do not contain any space for small items like cellular phones, eyeglasses, etc.
Therefore, the inventor created handbags with a zipper compartment at the base of the bag for the storage of eyeglasses, cellular phones and other items. The invention contains a hard compartment at the bottom of the bag. Once zipper compartment is opened, there are two pockets which one can slide in eyeglasses, cellular phones and other items. Once the zippers have been closed, the items are safely stored in a hard shell compartment.
The invention has a rectangular compartment directly above the eyeglass compartment. The bag is made of stiff felt with a fabric lining and fabric covering the outside of the handbag. The handbag contains two shoulder straps. One strap is sewn into the front of the bag with one end sewn into the left side and the other end sewn into the right side. The second strap is sewn into the back of the bag with one end sewn into the left side and the other end sewn into the right side. The handbags have four purse feet spaced toward each corner of the bottom of the handbag. Therefore, the handbag can stand upright when placed on a flat surface.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION—OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES

Accordingly, besides the objects and advantages of the “Hidden Compartment Handbags” described in my above patent, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:

- (a) to provide a handbag which provides sturdy safe storage for eyeglasses or cellular phones; and
- (b) to provide a handbag which contains a convenient and easy to find compartment accessible on the outside of the bag.

Further objects and advantages are to provide a handbag which can be used easily and conveniently to contain eyeglasses or cellular phones, without damage to the items, which makes it simple to find items placed in the compartment, which makes it possible to contain other items in the upper compartment above, and which is light weight due to materials used.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the present invention a hidden compartment handbag is comprised of a light weight compartment for items, a stiff, safe compartment for eyeglasses or cellular phones at the bottom of the bag, purse feet and shoulder straps.

DRAWINGS—FIGURES

In the drawings, closely related figures have the same number but different alphabetic suffixes.
FIG. 1 shows a front view of the handbag;
FIG. 2 shows the back view of the handbag;
FIG. 3 shows top view of the handbag;
FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the handbag after bottom compartment has been opened;
FIG. 5 shows a front view of a similar handbag;
FIG. 6 shows a back view of a similar handbag;
FIG. 7 shows the top view of a similar handbag; and
FIG. 8 shows the perspective view of a similar handbag after bottom compartment has been opened;

DRAWINGS—REFERENCE NUMERALS



10	upper compartment	11	shoulder straps
12	bottom compartment	13	zipper collar
14	zippers on compartment	15	small compartment
16	single shoulder strap	17	purse feet
18	small bottom compartment

DETAILED DESCRIPTION—FIGS. 1, 2, 3A, 3B AND 4—PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 1 (front view) and FIG. 2 (back view), FIG. 3 (top view) and FIG. 4 (perspective view). The handbag has a hard compartment 12 at the base of the bag. The bottom compartment 12 is roughly 3.5 cm high, 8 cm in depth and 33.5 cm wide. The bottom compartment 12 can be opened (FIG. 4) to insert items to which easy access is needed such as eyeglasses, small cellular phones, etc by opening the zippers at the base of the handbag 14. The bottom compartment 12 can then be closed using zippers at the base 14 to store the items in the sturdy hard compartment 12.
An upper compartment 10 made of three layers is above the bottom compartment 12. The three layers are comprised of light weight lining for inside the compartment 10, stiff felt to give the bag its shape and fabric for the outside of the handbag. The upper compartment 10 is roughly 17.5 cm in length, 33.5 cm in width, 8 cm in depth, and is used to hold items such as a wallet, keys, etc.
The upper compartment 10 contains a zipper collar 13 which provides access to the upper compartment 10 which holds check book, wallet, etc. The zipper collar 13 is typically 7.25 cm wide and 34 cm in length.
The handbag has two shoulder straps 11. Each end of two fabric straps 11 which are roughly 47 cm in length and approximately 2 cm in width are sewn in between the layers of the upper compartment 10. One strap 11 is sewn into the back of the handbag and the second strap 11 is sewn into the front of the handbag.
Four purse feet 17 are applied to bottom corners of the base of the handbag.
FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8—Additional Embodiments
Additional embodiments are shown in FIGS. 5 (front view), 6 (back view), 7 (top view) and 8 (perspective view); in each case the handbag is shown in a smaller version. In FIG. 5 the handbag has one zipper compartment which lies flat at the bottom of the handbag; in FIG. 7 the handbag has one strap sewn into both sides of the handbag; in FIG. 7 the invention has a rectangular compartment directly above the hard bottom compartment.
Operation—FIGS. 4 and 8.
The manner of using the hidden compartment handbag is simple for the consumer. One opens the zippers to insert or remove items. To store items, one simply closes the zippers.
Advantages:
From the description above, a number of advantages of my hidden compartment handbags becomes evident:

- (a) The presence of the hard, hidden compartment will allow easy access to small items placed inside the compartment.
- (b) The bag will be light weight due to the fabric and felt materials used to complete the handbag.
- (c) The items placed inside the bottom compartment will remain undamaged due to its hard shell.

CONCLUSION, RAMIFICATIONS, AND SCOPE

Accordingly, the reader will see that the handbag containing the hard, hidden bottom compartment in this invention can be used easily and conveniently. In addition, when eyeglasses or cellular phones are placed in the bottom compartment they are safe from scratching, bending or breaking. In addition, one does not have to look inside the upper compartment of the handbag to find their eyeglasses or cellular phone. The items are easily accessible on the bottom of the handbag. Therefore, if a cellular phone is ringing, one can find it easily in the zipper compartment.
Although the description above contains specifics, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. For example, the compartment above the hard, bottom can have other shapes, such as circular, oval, triangular, square, etc; the zipper closure can be replaced by snaps, velcro, etc. The stiff bottom compartment can be comprised of felt, plastic, etc; the shoulder straps can be fabric, leather, plastic, resin, stringed beads, etc and may be placed and sewn into alternate areas of the handbag. The size of both the upper and bottom compartments may vary. Larger versions of the handbag may contain room for more than two items.
Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.

Claims

1. A handbag with secure and easy access to important items comprising:

at least one hard shell compartment accessible on bottom of said handbag at base;

an upper compartment above said hard shell compartment comprising stiff felt material and fabric; and

light weight fabric surrounding and encasing both said hard shell compartment and said compartment above said hard shell compartment.