Shoulder strap

Abstract

A shoulder strap for holding or supporting musical instruments such as guitars, cases, luggage, bags and similar items includes a longitudinally elongated main body extending between connectors connected or connectable to the item. The main body in a vertical condition includes longitudinally spaced rollers rotatably mounted on transverse shafts which are in turn are mounted by elongated cords with the shafts being retained in spaced relationship by spacers on the cords and extending between adjacent pair of shafts. The cords and spacers are of a flexibility that a roller on one shaft may be moved to abut against a roller on an adjacent shaft. The rollers are located to impose the load carried by the strap to shoulder area of a user, advantageously there being more than one roller on each shaft that is adjacent to the shoulder area.

1 . A shoulder strap for holding items such as musical instruments, cases, bags, luggage and the like and supporting them from the shoulder of a user, comprising a longitudinally elongated main body having a first end and an opposite second end, a first connector mounted to the first end of the main body for being connected to the item and a second connector mounted to the second end of the main body for being connected to the item to be supported, the main body including a plurality of transverse rows of annular rollers including at least three rows of rollers for imposing a load on a shoulder of a user and means extending longitudinally between the connectors for mounting the rollers for rotation about transverse axes and permitting limited movement of one row relative to the other while maintaining the rows in longitudinal spaced relationship when supporting one of the connectors with the rows of rollers depending therefrom.  
   
   
       2 . The shoulder strap of  claim 1  wherein said means includes a transverse shaft for each row of rollers for mounting the rollers of the respective row for rotation.  
   
   
       3 . The shoulder strap of  claim 2  wherein at least some of the rows of rollers includes more than one roller on the respective shaft.  
   
   
       4 . The shoulder strap of  claim 2  wherein said means includes longitudinally elongated flexible first and second cords having first ends connected to the first connector and second ends connected to the second connector and mounting the shafts for movement relative to one another.  
   
   
       5 . The shoulder strap of  claim 4  wherein said means includes longitudinally elongated tubular spacers for maintaining longitudinally adjacent shafts in longitudinal spaced relationship and having the cords extending therethrough.  
   
   
       6 . The shoulder strap of  claim 5  wherein the cords and spacers are of a flexibility to permit moving a roller in one row into abutting relationship to a roller in a longitudinally adjacent row.  
   
   
       7 . The shoulder strap of  claim 5  wherein the spacers are of lengths at least one and half as great as the maximum radii of two rollers on two adjacent shafts along the longitudinal length of the main body.  
   
   
       8 . The shoulder strap of  claim 5  wherein each shaft has transverse opposite first and second end portions, the shaft first end portions having apertures for having the first cord extending therethrough and the shaft second end portions having apertures for having the second cord extending therethrough.  
   
   
       9 . The shoulder strap of  claim 8  wherein the inner diameters of the rollers are at least 25 percent greater than the diameter of the shaft on which the rollers are mounted and the combined transverse dimensions of the rollers is less than the minimum transverse spacing of the apertures of the shaft on which the rollers are mounted.  
   
   
       10 . The shoulder strap of  claim 8  wherein at least one of the connectors includes an end piece having a musical instrument button hole and adjustable strip means for connecting the end piece to the respective end of the main body.  
   
   
       11 . A shoulder strap for holding items such as musical instruments, cases, bags and luggage and supporting them from the shoulder of a user, comprising a longitudinally elongated main body having a first end and an opposite second end, a first connector mounted to the first end of the main body for being connected to the item and a second connector mounted to the second end of the main body for being connected to the item to be supported, the main body including a plurality of transverse shafts, at least one roller rotatably mounted on each of said shafts, and transversely spaced, longitudinally elongated strap first and second edge portions for mounting the shafts and retaining them in longitudinally spaced relationship when the strap extends vertically to maintain the roller on one shaft vertically spaced from the roller on the adjacent shaft, the first and second edge portions having first ends connected to the first connector and opposite second ends connected to the second connector.  
   
   
       12 . The shoulder strap of  claim 11  wherein the shafts include transversely opposite first and second end portions with each shaft end portion having an aperture extending diametric therethrough and the shaft apertures are spaced to permit limited transverse movement of the at least one roller on the respective shaft and the strap edge portions include longitudinally elongated flexible cords extending through the apertures of the respective end portion of the shafts having rollers thereon.  
   
   
       13 . The shoulder strap of  claim 12  wherein each of the strap edge portions includes flexible tubular spacers with the respective edge portion cord extended therethrough to, with the spacers in a linear condition, retain the shafts having rollers thereon sufficiently spaced to maintain the rollers in longitudinal spaced relationship when the strap extends vertically.  
   
   
       14 . The shoulder strap of  claim 13  wherein the main body along its length has an intermediate portion having at least three shafts that each has several rollers thereon, the spacers are of lengths that are at least one and half times the radii of the rollers on the adjacent shafts of the intermediate portion.  
   
   
       15 . The shoulder strap of  claim 14  wherein each of the connectors includes an end piece attachable to the item, at least one of the connectors includes adjustable means for connecting an end piece to the respective main body end and the cords and spacers are of a flexibility that a roller on one shaft is movable into abutting relationship to a roller on an adjacent shaft and the shafts are movable to have their central axes at skewed angles relative to one another.  
   
   
       16 . The shoulder strap of  claim 14  wherein the main body when extending vertically has first, second and third adjacent rows of rollers on a first, second and third shaft respective with the second row of rollers being longitudinal intermediate the first and second rows and that the cords and spacers are of a flexibility that the first row can be moved into abutting relationship with the third row and that the spacers are of a rigidity to maintain a tubular shape when the main body is on a horizontal supporting surface.