Background of the Invention On a regular basis most people frequently carry many laden bags by hand, and these bags are frequently relatively heavy. In order to ease the task of carrying such shopping (or other) bags by the hand, most of the manufactured bags are equipped with handles, or with another suitable hole within the body of the bag for placing the hand or arm.

However, carrying a large number of bags or even a single bag with that particular type of handle, particularly when the bags are relatively heavy, is usually uncomfortable, and even in some cases it also may cause an unpleasant stressful feeling, and/or strain on the hand or fingers.

As a result of the uncomfortable and unpleasant stressful feeling, various types of handgrips for carrying a large quantity of bags have been developed.

Accordingly a need arises for an ergonomic carrying handle for articles, providing good fit and balance in order to avoid or reduce stress and strain to the hand. A discussion of the prior art of which the present inventor is aware, and its differences and distinctions from the present invention, is provided below.

US 5, 797, 166 discloses a unitarily and monolithically carrying handle for various articles, such as grocery bags, clothing hangers, etc. , which provides an ergonomically beneficial method of carrying such articles. The handle is formed as a single solid, rigid component for maximum strength, and includes a closed handgrip portion with an open hook portion descending from the handgrip portion. The lowest central point of the hook portion is aligned precisely below the center of the handgrip, on a line normal to the longitudinal axis of the handgrip, to provide proper balance for articles carried using the present handle. However, the hook upon which the articles are suspended is an open hook, thus it cannot totally prevent the articles from slipping off the handle.

U. S. 5,181, 757 discloses a plastic bag carrier having an open handgrip portion and three narrow slots along a parallel arm there below, for engaging a loop of material from a plastic bag. However, none of the bag engaging slots is directed beneath the center of the handgrip portion, thus it

lacks a proper balance of the load being carried by the person's hand.

Furthermore, it is desirable, if not necessary, to expediently distribute the bags into each slot in order to obtain a more or less balanced distribution.

US 5,026, 105 discloses a hand grip for carrying loaded plastic bags. This is made of a flexible plastic sheet material and has bag handles formed in the opposite walls thereof. It includes an elongated yoke that is shaped to enable it to be grasped by a human hand, and has at, least two longitudinally spaced-apart hooks attached to the yoke and positioned thereon for hanging the bags by the bag handles thereof, when the grip is raised. The hooks are spaced apart on the yoke to permit the ring finger and middle finger of the hand to fit comfortably within it, with the small finger and the index finger outside of the hooks. Each of the hooks has a restricted access for passing bag handles into and out of the eye of the hook, whereby the bag handles may be inadvertently trapped in the eye of the hook and are then unable to be released from the hook. However, none of the hooks are directed beneath the center of the handgrip portion, thus it also lacks proper balance of the load being carrying by a person.

Furthermore, it is a requirement in this patent for the bags to be evenly distributed, i. e. , fitting into each slot in order to obtain a more or less balance. Moreover, the hooks are not closed, thus the bags can easily slip off them.

US 5,645, 306 discloses a bag handle having a hand grip joined at the front end to a seat spaced below the hand grip. The seat has an upper arm joined to the front end of the hand grip, a circularly curved bight and a lower arm that projects to the front from the bight and curves upwardly as a hook to form a flared throat at the front of the handle. A retainer within the seat projects upwardly from the lower arm towards the upper in order to retain the handles of grocery bags and the like in the seat. In this patent, although the bight of the seat was located below the center of the hand. grip to provide balance, the bags might move within the bight thus the user's hand may often lose balance while carrying load. Furthermore, the lower arm should be relatively flexible in order to take the bags of the handgrip. However, providing such a flexible arm while carrying load may result in distancing the lower arm away from the upper arm, thus resulting in an aperture through which the bags might slip off.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved handle for carrying many bags, which overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved carrying handle which prevents the bags from falling out of the handle.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide carrying handle

which provides an improved balance in the user's hand while carrying many bags.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

Summary of the Invention The present invention relates to a handgrip for carrying a large amount of bags, which comprises : (a) an essentially triangular or oval shaped unit with a side aperture for threading through the opening or handles of the bags, said unit has an upper portion molded to suit a human hand for easing the task of carrying loaded bags and a lower portion on which the threaded bags are suspended ; (b) a flexible blocker being connected to said lower portion for preventing the threaded bags from escaping from said handgrip through said aperture by blocking said aperture, said flexible blocker is acting like a one way valve; and (c) a notch being located on said lower portion, preferably placed symmetrically from both side of the central axis of said handgrip, for positioning the threaded bags therein thus obtaining an enhanced balance of the load being carried by said handgrip. Preferably, the device of the present invention is formed as a unitary, monolithic structure.

According to one preferred embodiment of the invention, the upper portion of the handgrip is padded for comfort and ease of holding.

According to other embodiment of the invention, the handgrip further comprising a strengthening portion located at the connecting joint between the lower and upper portion for enhancing the strength of the handgrip while carrying load.

Brief Description of the Drawings The above and other characteristics and advantages of the invention will be better understood through the following illustrative and non-limitative detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof, with reference to the appended drawings, wherein: Fig. 1A schematically illustrates a handgrip for carrying a large number of bags, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention ; Fig. 1B schematically illustrates a side view cross section of the center of the handgrip of Fig. 1A ; Fig. 2 schematically illustrates the handgrip of Fig. 1A loaded with bags; Fig. 3 schematically illustrates the handgrip of Fig. 1A provided with padding; Fig. 4 schematically illustrates the handgrip of Fig. 1A with an open aperture; Fig. 5 schematically illustrates the handgrip of Fig. 1 provided with enhanced strengthening, according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments The present invention relates to a handgrip for carrying many bags. This handgrip provides an improved method of balancing the load as well as improved or superior support for the hand. FIG. 1A schematically illustrates the handgrip, according to one embodiment of the invention. The handgrip, essentially, has triangular having two or three equal sides or an oval shape with an aperture for threading the bags. The handgrip comprises an upper portion 1, a lower portion 2, a flexible blocker 3 and a notch 4.

The upper portion 1 is particularly molded to fit a human hand, therefore providing more comfort to the user and eases the task of carrying the load.

It further provides better distribution of the load within the person's hand.

Better distribution of the load results in more comfort and less stress to the hand and fingers of the user.

The bags that are threaded through the aperture 8 (Fig. 4) are suspended on the lower portion 2. In order to obtain a relatively proper balance of the load, the threaded bags should preferably be located at the notch 4 at the lower portion 2. Notch 4 is located on the lower portion 2 symmetrically

along the central axis YI of the handgrip thus when the threaded bags are positioned inside notch 4, a better balance of the load being carried by the handgrip will be achieved.

The flexible portion 3 is used for blocking the handgrip aperture thereby preventing the threaded bags from slipping off outside the handgrip through that aperture. Flexible portion 3, being connected to the lower portion 2, is normally in a state of blocking the aperture. Threading the bags can be obtained by pushing them through the opening 3a (Fig. 1), pushing the outer side of flexible portion 3 towards lower portion 2. The flexible portion 3 acts therefore like a one way valve. It allows insertion of bags to the handgrip, while preventing bags that are inside (i. e., suspended on lower portion 2) from slipping outside. Removal of the bags can be obtained only by intentionally raising them, and guiding them through point 3b. The flexible portion 3 is a relatively a thin flexible arm being curved under pressure towards the lower portion 2, thus it generates a return pressure against the upper portion 1.

The upper portion 1 of the handgrip is molded to comfortably fit the hand, and can also be padded in order to increase comfort. Fig. 3 schematically illustrates the device of Fig. 1 provided with padding 7, according to an embodiment of the invention. The padding may be made of a resilient, soft material, such as closed cell foam material, neoprene, etc. For example, in

order to comfortably fit the hand and thereby to ease the task of carrying load, the upper portion 1 can be formed with a smoothly rounded, compound with convex curvatures.

Preferably but not limitatively, the device of the present invention-can be formed as a single unitary, monolithic structure of a solid and substantial material, such as high density organic polymer (e. g. , polyurethane), metals or other suitable rigid material.

FIG. 1B schematically illustrates a side view cross-sectional view of the handgrip of Fig. 1A made along line 27-27a. As it is shown in Fig. 1B, the handgrip of Fig. 1A is symmetrical along vertical axis Y2. It can be seen from Fig. 2 that any bags suspended on the lower portion 2 will tend to gravitate towards notch 4, thereby positioned at the center of the handgrip and balancing the load of the hand 6.

Fig. 5 schematically illustrates the handgrip of Fig. 1 provided with enhanced strengthening, according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the handgrip is provided with an enhanced strengthening portion 41 located at the connection joint between the upper portion 1 and the lower portion 2. The strengthening portion 41 enhanced the strength of the handgrip while carrying load.

For example, the average thickness of the molded area at the upper portion should be about 2 to 2.5 cm and the thickness of the lower portion should be about more or less 1 cm.

The present handgrip of the invention provides a considerable improvement over the various other devices of the prior art. It provides a handgrip with an improved balance when carrying load and it incorporates a securing means for prevent the bags from slipping off. The device can also be carried in a pocket or handbag and it does not comprise a fabric or other material that may be snagged or torn.

Thanks to its unitary structure, the manufacturing of the handgrip of the invention is simple and cheap. The handgrip can carry any type of bag having an aperture, hole or having a handle. Such bags may include plastic bags or nylon bags etc.

The above examples and description have of course been provided only for the purpose of illustration, and are not intended to limit the invention in any way. As will be appreciated by the skilled person, the invention can be carried out in a great variety of ways, employing more than one technique from those described above, all without exceeding the scope of the invention.