A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING OR COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING APPENDIX

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to multi-legged stands. More particularly, the invention relates to assemblies for mounting and concealing items on portable multi-legged stands.

Portable multi-legged stands such as bipods and tripods are used to support the weight and maintain the stability of some other object, including objects that are too heavy and/or too bulky for the average person to steadily hold unaided. Multi-legged stands provide stability against downward forces, horizontal forces, and movements about horizontal axes, including those resulting from forces generated by the object. Many modern portable multi-legged stands are both light weight and collapsible. Collapsible stands have independently telescopic legs designed to be extended in use and collapsed in order to save space when not in use. The extendable legs of collapsible stands allow a user to independently vary the length of each leg to accommodate unlevel terrain and thereby precisely level or otherwise position an object supported by the stand. For these reasons, multi-legged stands are used in a wide variety of applications where it is necessary or desirable for a user to stabilize an object in one or more axes of movement. For example, military personnel, hunters, competitive shooters, surveyors, and photographers, among others, frequently use multi-legged stands to support and stabilize such items as firearms, spotting scopes, surveying instruments, cameras, and the like.

In the context of precision shooting, marksmen around the world regularly employ multi-legged stands as a forward rest for their rifles to minimize shake, reduce recoil, and thus increase accuracy of shot placement. However, the vocational requirements of certain military members, such as snipers and designated marksmen, generally require more than a simple platform from which to deliver long-range fire or conduct reconnaissance. For example, such personnel must generally be able to rapidly take-down, relocate, and redeploy their stands and weapons in order to remain operational in different tactical situations and environments. In addition to their firearm, such personnel typically require and employ a variety of sensitive optics, communication, and navigation equipment while conducting operations in which remaining concealed and being able to immediately and repeatedly access such equipment is critical.

However, currently available multi-legged stands typically do not provide a user with onboard storage space for temporarily stowing frequently-used shooting equipment or related gear, much less stowing gear in a readily accessible location. Nor do available stands protect such equipment from inclement weather or accidental physical damage, or conceal the equipment or user. Another problem with available multi-legged stands is that they can easily topple if not properly deployed or anchored, whether or not the stand includes integral stabilizers.

Accordingly, what is needed are improvements in multi-legged stands.

BRIEF SUMMARY

This Brief Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The presently disclosed subject matter overcomes or minimizes some or all of the identified deficiencies of the prior art, as will become evident to those of ordinary skill in the art after a study of the information presented in this document.

Disclosed herein is a modular firearm support, concealment aid, and shooting equipment holder assembly for multi-legged stands. The assembly includes at least two interchangeable, flexible leg sleeves, at least one flexible wall panel, and, in some embodiments, a mesh floor panel, which can be assembled and mounted on a multi-legged stand, such as a tripod, in a variety of different configurations customizable by a user for different applications in which it is desirable or necessary to mount items of shooting equipment (or other equipment) on the stand and thereby conceal the items and the user.

Accordingly, in one aspect, the disclosure provides an assembly for mounting and concealing items on a tripod. The assembly comprises at least two flexible leg sleeves configured to wrap around and releasably engage a leg of the tripod, a plurality of primary anchor tabs secured to an exterior surface of each leg sleeve, at least one flexible wall panel having a plurality of rows of uniformly spaced horizontal slots defined therein, a plurality of straps extending from each of a left side and a right side of the wall panel, and a plurality of releasable wall panel fasteners connected to the plurality of straps. The wall panel fasteners are removably receivable in the primary anchor tabs to secure the wall panel to an adjacent pair of leg sleeves. The wall panel screens a portion of an interior space defined between the legs of the tripod from a viewpoint outboard of the wall panel, and provides an upright, load bearing surface to which a user can selectably mount an item of modular light-weight load-carrying equipment (MOLLE) when each of the leg sleeves is engaged with a different leg of the tripod, the plurality of wall panel fasteners are received in the primary anchor tabs of the leg sleeves, and the tripod is in a deployed position.

In another aspect, the disclosure provides an assembly for mounting and concealing items on a multi-legged stand, comprising a plurality of leg sleeves configured to be wrapped around and thereby releasably engaged with a different leg of the multi-legged stand, a flexible wall panel configured to extend between and releasably engage two leg sleeves of the plurality of leg sleeves to selectably secure the wall panel to the two leg sleeves, and a plurality of rows of uniformly spaced horizontal slots defined through the wall panel, wherein the wall panel provides an upright, load bearing surface to which a user can selectably mount an item of modular light weight load-carrying equipment (MOLLE) when the wall panel is engaged with the two leg sleeves, the two leg sleeves are engaged with two adjacent legs of the multi-legged stand, and the multi-legged stand is in a deployed position.

In yet another aspect, the disclosure provides an assembly for mounting and concealing items on a multi-legged stand, comprising a pair of flexible leg sleeves configured to wrap around and releasably engage one leg of a pair of adjacent legs of the multi-legged stand, a plurality of anchor loops secured to an exterior surface of each leg sleeve, a flexible wall panel having a left side, a right side, and a plurality of straps extending from each of the left and right sides, and a plurality of G-hook buckles connected to the plurality of straps and removably receivable in a different anchor loop of the plurality of anchor loops to secure the wall panel to the pair of leg sleeves, wherein the flexible wall panel is sized and shaped to substantially fill a space defined between the pair of leg sleeves when the pair of leg sleeves are engaged with the pair of adjacent legs and the multi-legged stand is in a deployed position such that the wall panel screens an object located on a first side of the wall panel from a viewpoint located on a second side of the wall panel.

In still yet another aspect, the disclosure provides a multi-legged stand for supporting a firearm and mounting and concealing shooting equipment, the stand comprising a portable tripod having three telescopic legs that define an interior space when deployed; three flexible leg sleeves configured to wrap around and releasably engage a different leg of the tripod; a plurality of pairs of left and right anchor loops secured to an outboard portion of the exterior surface of each leg sleeve facing away from the interior space when each leg sleeve is engaged with a corresponding leg of the tripod, wherein each anchor loop defines an axis extending substantially parallel to an axis of each leg when the corresponding leg sleeve to which the left and right anchor loops is engaged with a corresponding leg of the tripod; a flexible wall panel having a plurality of rows of uniformly spaced horizontal slots defined therethrough; a plurality of straps extending from each of a left side and a right side of the wall panel; a plurality of G-hook buckles, each buckle connected to a different strap of the plurality of straps, wherein the G-hook buckles connected to the plurality of straps extending from the left side of the wall panel are removably receivable in the right anchor loops of a first of the three leg sleeves to secure the left side of the wall panel to the first leg sleeve, and the G-hook buckles connected to the plurality of straps extending from the right side of the wall panel are removably receivable in the left anchor loops of a second of the three leg sleeves to secure the right side of the wall panel to the second leg sleeve; a flexible floor panel having three vertexes; a floor panel strap secured to each vertex of the floor panel; a secondary anchor loop secured to an inboard portion of the lower end of each leg sleeve facing the interior space when the leg sleeve is engaged with a corresponding leg of the tripod, wherein each secondary anchor loop defines an axis extending parallel to the ground when the leg sleeve to which the secondary anchor loop is secured is engaged with a corresponding leg of the tripod; and a G-hook buckle connected to each floor panel strap, each G-hook buckle removably receivable in the secondary anchor loop of a different leg sleeve to secure the floor panel to the leg sleeves; wherein the wall panel screens an object stowed on the floor panel from a viewpoint outboard of the wall panel, and provides an upright, load bearing surface to which a user can selectably mount an item of modular light-weight load-carrying equipment (MOLLE) when each of the leg sleeves is engaged with a different leg of the tripod, the G-hook buckles connected to the floor panel straps are received in the corresponding secondary anchor loops, the G-hook buckles connected to the wall panel straps are received in the corresponding left and right anchor loops, and the tripod is in a deployed position.

Numerous other objects, advantages and features of the present disclosure will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art upon a review of the following drawings and description of a preferred embodiment.

