DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

[0026] According to the present invention, then, a container in the form of a pillow is provided which is adapted to receive personal items for storage while providing cushioned support to a user. The pillow has water resistant characteristics so that it is particularly suited to provide a substantially dry storage for the personal items. While such a pillow can fulfill the needs of a variety of users, it is contemplated that it will be particularly well received by travels, campers, canoers and the like who desire both a travel pillow as well as a means for protectively storing their belongings in a manner which is space efficient.

[0027] Examples of some uses for the storage pillow of the present invention are illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 1 it may be seen that the pillow 10 of the present invention can be used by one in a canoe 2 and propped up against the canoe's backrest 4 to provide a cushioned support for one's back, while at the same time providing a dry storage environment for personal items. Pillow 10 is constructed so that it can also be appropriately anchored to the canoe via a securement member, such as rope 6, which has a first end portion 5 tied to pillow 10 and an opposite second end portion 7 tied to an appropriate portion of the canoe such as webbing cords 8. As such, were canoe 2 to tip over during use, storage pillow 10 would float but not drift away. In FIG. 2, it may be seen that pillow 10 can be used by a camper or the like while sleeping in a sleeping bag 9. FIGS. 1 and 2, of course, only illustrate two possible uses for storage pillow 10 of the present invention.

[0028] In FIG. 3 it may be seen that a variety of personal items 11 such as one's personal organizer 12, cell phone 13 and keys 14 can be conveniently placed within the pillow's interior, after which the pillow 10 can be appropriately inflated to a desired level and sealed in a manner which is water resistant to provide a dry, protected storage environment for the personal items 11. Indeed, any of a variety of personal belongings could be stored, so that those shown in FIG. 3 are for illustrative purposes only.

[0029] Storage pillow 10 of the present invention incorporates the construction of components which have been described in one or both of my earlier co-pending application Ser. No. 09/956,478 filed Sep. 18, 2001 and Ser. No. 10/170,013 filed Jun. 10, 2002, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. As such, with initial reference to FIG. 4, it may be seen that storage pillow 10 broadly comprises an outer casing or pouch 15 having an interior 17 in which a fillable insert structure, such as inflatable bladder 80 can be inserted. Casing 15 of container 10 includes a front casing panel 16 and a back casing panel 18 which are rectangular in shape and joined about three edges 21, 22 and 23 which are located at the perimeter thereof. Panels 16 and 18 are open along a portion of the perimeter to define a mouth 20 through which inflatable bladder 80 may be inserted. A zipper 30 is provided and includes a pull-tab 32 shown in an open position so that mouth 20 is open. Zipper 30 is preferably a number 10 type luggage pull zipper available from a variety of suppliers.

[0030] With reference to FIG. 5, the perimeter edges of casing 12, such as edge 22, is formed by sewing margins 17 and 19 of panels 16 and 18 together, as is known in the art. Furthermore, it may be seen that front panel 16 is formed out of fabric layers 34 and 36, while back panel 18 is formed by fabric layers 38 and 40. In the preferred embodiment, each of panels 16 and 18 is flexible. Outer fabric layers 34 and 38, as well as inner fabric layers 36 and 40, may be formed of any suitable material, such as soft two-ply “cotton-like” polyester blend so that it becomes very durable and stain resistant. Of course, casing 11 could alternatively be made out of plastic, nylon or other water proof/water resistant material as desired. Thus, the material of choice will depend on the intended use but can be any appropriate material without restriction.

[0031] Storage pillow 10 can be placed in a closed state once the inflatable bladder and personal items have been inserted by manipulating zipper 30 to close mouth 20. When open (FIG. 4) pull tab 32 is thus located at one corner 42 of pillow 10 but, when closed (FIG. 6) it is located proximate to a second corner 44 of pillow 10. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, front panel 16 is provided with a metal grommet 46 located proximately to corner 44. Back panel 18 is similarly provided with an associated metal grommet that is also located proximately to corner 44 so that the two metal grommets are in opposed relationship to one another. Moreover, these grommets may be located proximately to pull-tab 32 when zipper 30 is shut with pillow 10 being in the closed state. From this, it can be appreciated that zipper 30 provides a closure for pillow 10 that is movable between an open position such that the inflatable bladder can be inserted and removed from the interior 17 of pillow 10, and a closed position so as to retain the inflatable bladder in the interior 17. With reference particularly to FIG. 6, a securement member, such as a rope 6, can be inserted through the metal grommets and tied down to fasten rope 6 to pillow 10.

[0032] With reference again to FIG. 4, and as discussed in my co-pending application Ser. No. 10/170,013, inflatable bladder 80 is also a generally rectangular flexible member formed of a multi-layered construction to include a matrix of cells 84 which communicate with one another to receive air via inflation valve 84. This provides a cushion of air to protect the personal items while additional providing a cushioned support to either the user's head region, neck region or back. With reference generally to FIGS. 4 and 7, inflatable bladder 80 is formed by a pair of flexible panel sections 81 and 83 which are sealed together along their surrounding peripheral edge margin, such as through heat sealing or the like, as known in the art. Panels 81 and 83 are also secured by a matrix of spot “welds” to create the array of cells 84 to be inflated. To provide the bladder's open mouth 82, after the flexible panels 81 and 83 are appropriately sealed together, the sealed structure is then folded over upon itself about fold line 88 and appropriately sealed again to create a pouch-like structure. It can be appreciated, then, that the sealing of the peripheral margin of bladder 80 and the spot welding creates a confined volume between the panels 81 and 83 so that the cells 84 can be inflated to a desired level. Accordingly, the “welds” limit the expansion of the bladder while preferably providing a ¾″ to 1-½″ layer of expansion air protection for one's personal items. While the welds are shown in the figures to be evenly distributed to create the array of cells 84, these welds may be located in a different patterned arrangement, as desired. This would permit different regions of the bladder to have varying degrees of air cushioning so the bladder can be tailored to accommodate different configurations of received items or provide varying degrees of air cushioning to the user.

[0033] As shown in FIG. 7, inflation may be accomplished by injecting air through the bladder's inflation valve 86, such as through the use of a squeeze bulb 90. Squeeze bulb 90 is similar to that conventionally found on a medical blood pressure cuff, and has a pair of opposed nipples 91 and 94 which are each sized and adapted for attachment to the valve stem 86 of bladder 80 to, correspondingly, inflate and deflate the bladder 80 when the bulbous body 92 of the squeeze bulb 90 is compressed, all as is known in the art. Advantageously, the squeeze bulb 90 can be appropriately attached to the bladder through any appropriate means or simply inserted into the pillow when not in use. As also discussed in my co-pending application Ser. 10/170,013, inflatable bladder 80 can be provided with different inflation valve structures and inflated/deflated through a variety of means such as by mouth, with a hand pump or through a compressor. However, it is believed that users wanting to conserve space will either orally inflate the bladder or utilize the squeeze bulb 90.

[0034] Inflatable bladder 80 has an associated closure construction which permits the mouth 82 of the bag to be releasably sealed, preferably in a water tight and air tight engagement, to provide a protected and dry storage environment for personal articles stored within bag 80. This closure for inflatable bladder 80 is best seen with reference to FIGS. 8, 9(a) and 9(b). The transverse mouth margin 90 of inflatable bladder 80 has a pair of opposed margin portions 92 and 94 which releaseably engage one another. Margin portions 92 and 94 are, respectively, joined to bag panels 81 and 83 by any conventional means. Margin portions 92 and 94 are preferably formed of a polyurethane material, while upper and lower bag panels 81 and 83 are preferably formed of nylon, plastic or other water proof/water resistant material.

[0035] The sealing means for the bladder's mouth region 90 is akin to that conventionally found on sandwich bags, freezer bags and other types of bag structures where either an air tight seal or water tight seal is desired. Accordingly, the bag's lower mouth margin 94 is formed to include a pair of transversely extending ridges 91 and 93 which are separated from one another by an elongated transversely extending channel 95. The bag's upper mouth portion 92 has an associated elongated rib 96 which has a width that is preferably slightly larger than the width of channel 95, as shown in FIG. 9(a), so that when margins 92 and 94 are compressed, ridge 96 becomes seated in a close friction engagement within channel 95 and compressed between ridges 91 and 93, as shown in FIG. 9(b). This friction engagement is sufficient to maintain the bag's mouth 92 in the closed orientation as shown in FIG. 9(b) so that the seal is not broken. Of course, to open inflatable bladder 80, one simply urges margin portions 92 and 94 apart from one another to overcome the sealed engagement, thereby permitting insertion and removal of personal items into the bag's interior.

[0036] Another type of closure for the inflatable bladder is shown with reference now to FIG. 10. Here, inflatable bladder 180 is provided with hook and loop fastening strips 193 and 194 disposed, respectively, on upper mouth margin 192 and lower mouth margin 194 by any conventional means, such as by sewing, through adhesion or the like. While this construction would not provide as much of an airtight and water tight seal as that discussed in FIGS. 8-9(b), it will nonetheless serve the purpose of substantially affording a dry storage environment for the received personal items. Of course, a variety of other closure constructions for both the inflatable bladder 80 and the outer casing 11 associated with storage pillow 10 would be well within the purview of the ordinarily skilled artisan, so that the figures herein only illustrate representative constructions.

[0037] Accordingly, the present invention has been described with some degree of particularity directed to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention. It should be appreciated, though, that the present invention is defined by the following claims construed in light of the prior art so that modifications or changes may be made to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention without departing from the inventive concepts contained herein.