Storage bag

• US 8,801,286 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2009
• Issued: 08/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mont-Bell Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Mont-Bell Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Tatsuno, Isamu
• Primary Examiner(s): Desai, Hemant M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Weeks, Gloria R
• Application Number:
  US12/371,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20100002962A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,006 Days
• Field of Search: 383/41, 383/61.4, 383/67, 383/102, 383/103, 383/117
• US Class Current: 383/117
• CPC Class Codes: A45C 3/001 Flexible materials therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A47G 9/086 for outdoor sleeping

Abstract

A storage bag that can maintain compactness, into which an object can be easily inserted and stored, and whose shape can be changed after the object is stored in the storage bag. A storage bag including a cylindrical body and a bottom at one end of the body, wherein the bottom closes one end of the body, the other open end of the body is formed as a storage opening, and the inside space of the storage bag is formed as a storage space capable of storing an object, and wherein the body is made of fabric in which fibers are woven in perpendicular directions, and the fiber directions A and B in the fabric are inclined with respect to the circumferential direction and the lengthwise direction of the body.

Claims

1. A storage bag having an inside space formed as a storage space capable of storing an object, the storage bag comprising:

a hollow cylindrical body having a first end and an opposite second end; and

a bottom provided at the first end of the body, the bottom closing the first end of the body, the body and the bottom forming the inside space of the storage bag,

wherein the second end forms a storage opening,

wherein the body has a circumferential direction and a lengthwise direction, and wherein the body is made of fabric with warp and weft fibers interlaced with each other in perpendicular warp and weft directions, wherein the warp and weft directions of the respective warp and weft fibers are both angled at approximately 45 degrees with respect to the circumferential direction and the lengthwise direction of the body, and wherein an expansion-contraction ratio in the circumferential direction is approximately equal to an expansion-contraction ratio in the lengthwise direction such that after expansion of the body of the storage bag in the circumferential and lengthwise directions a restoring force of the fabric contracts the body approximately equally in the circumferential and lengthwise directions.

2. The storage bag according to claim 1, wherein an inside diameter of the body is larger at the second end than at the first end.

3. The storage bag according to claim 2, wherein the inside diameter of the body gradually becomes larger from the first end toward the second end.

4. The storage bag according to claim 1, wherein the bottom of the storage bag is closed.

5. A storage container comprising a body having an open end, wherein the body forms an inside space serving as a storage space, and wherein the open end of the body forms a storage opening, the storage container capable of storing an object by inserting the object into the storage space through the storage opening,

wherein the body has a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction, and wherein the body is made of fabric with warp and weft fibers interlaced with each other in perpendicular warp and weft direction such that an expansion-contraction ratio in the longitudinal direction is approximately equal to an expansion-contraction ratio in the lateral direction such that after expansion of the body of the storage container in the longitudinal and lateral directions a restoring force of the fabric contracts the body approximately equally in the longitudinal and lateral directions,

wherein a first tunnel-like loop extends along a first circumference of the body forming the storage opening, a section of the first tunnel-like loop including an opening, wherein a first draw-string passes through the first tunnel-like loop and includes a string portion that protrudes from the opening at the section of the first tunnel-like loop, wherein the storage opening is narrowed and closed by pulling the string portion of the first draw-string protruding from the opening of the first tunnel-like loop,

wherein a second tunnel-like loop extends along a second circumference of the body at a narrowing position that is between the open end and an opposite end, a section of the second tunnel-like loop including an opening, wherein a second draw-string passes through the second tunnel-like loop and includes a string portion that protrudes from the opening at the section of the second tunnel-like loop, wherein the body at the narrowing position is narrowed by pulling the string portion of the second draw-string protruding from the opening of the second tunnel-like loop,

wherein the first and second tunnel-like loops with first and second draw-strings are located closer to the storage opening than the opposite end of the storage container,

wherein the second circumference of the body at the narrowing position is greater than the first circumference of the body at the storage opening, and

wherein a portion of the body from the narrowing position to the storage opening is collapsible within the body such that the portion is enclosed within the body when the second draw-string is in a closed state.

6. The storage container according to claim 5, wherein the body also has a closed end opposite the open end.