Heads-up Caddy

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How It All Began

It was late in the fall of 2008 at Newark, Penn Station that I first saw it. Brand-new, sleek, shiny and powerful looking as it impressively yet quietly entered the station and pulled in along the platform. If my memory serves me correctly, I believe it was the Northeast Corridor line—the first to receive the new locomotives and coaches. I called it the “double-decker” train. It wasn’t until much later that I learned the correct term for the coaches were “multilevel.” The Bombardier multilevel coach in-fact featured three seating levels; an upper, lower and open intermediate “mezzanine” (entry) level at each end. Right about now, you are probably asking yourself what in the world do all these different train lines and new train cars have to do with the inventing of the “Heads-up Caddy?” This is a story remember? Please bear with me—we are almost there. Almost… I’m dying to get on one of these trains but what’s holding me back is the need to have a legitimate place to go. Strangely enough, I felt that if I rode the train without really having a reason to other than “just being on the train,” it would somehow taint my “riding experience.” I know what you all are thinking… Get on the darn train, please… and ride it! Well, the day or rather the evening finally arrived. I purchased a ticket and boarded a multilevel Raritan Valley train at Newark, Penn Station after work. I went directly to a seat on the upper level. The experience was everything I hoped it would be and more. The car was clean (brand new, of course), high-tech and extremely quiet. The sculptured seat was very comfortable. The ride was smooth. Being seated on the upper level, I did experience an occasional swaying sensation. On subsequent trips, the swaying disappeared after some necessary track work had been performed. One thing that struck me during my maiden train voyage was a hook-like fixture present in the center of each of the seat backs. I found myself staring at the hook directly in front of me wondering what it was for. I became fixated on it feeling compelled to come up with an explanation for its existence. The hook obviously appeared to be for a handbag or a briefcase but this seemed a bit too frivolous. Additionally, the introduction of a hanging object in that location would significantly restrict a passenger’s knee space. A backpack placed there would definitely be out of the question. All of this was interfering with the enjoyment of my ride. I had to come up with my own use for this hook if I intended to clear my mind. I’ve seen passengers board the other trains with coffee cups they shouldn’t have. They would set these cups down on the seat next to them or, worse yet, place them on the floor beside their feet—bad news when it comes to spills. So I envisioned a cup holder that I would create which securely attached to the seat back hook. I took a picture of the hook with my phone (for future reference in the design process) and then settled back to enjoy the rest of my maiden train voyage. Since then, I have traveled in multilevel cars on all three lines countless times. I have rarely (maybe once) if ever seen anyone attach a handbag or briefcase to one of the seat back hooks. I drew a couple of sketches of the cup holder design I considered creating to attach to the hook. I didn’t get very far with the development of the idea and soon placed the project on the back burner. It was probably for the better as creating the cup holder would only encourage more passengers to bring beverages on the train. Months had passed when I became aware of several passengers sitting with their heads down. I didn’t pay much attention to them at first. I assumed they were reading, checking their email or playing a video game. Due to the multilevel’s arrangement of the new seating and the fact that there are only two seats on either side of the car, one can’t help but be able to see more of what’s going on in the seats across aisle. It turned out, several passengers were watching streaming videos on their smartphones. Some had the smartphone in their lap angled up as they peered down. Others, had their arm extended bent at the elbow as they looked on. Still others, viewed their movie with an arm supported by one of the armrests. All had their heads down. It didn’t look like a very comfortable way of watching a movie, I thought. They frequently fidgeted to relieve arm, back and neck fatigue. And then it hit me. I could create a mobile device holder which securely attached to the hook on the seat back. This would solve two problems; put a fixture to use which currently wasn’t being used; and provide a mobile device holder to allow passengers to comfortably view their streaming videos. Later, after thinking it through further, I decided that attaching the mobile device holder to the seat back hook would limit its application to the new multilevel cars only. I needed multiple ways of attaching the same mobile device holder to the passenger seat based on the type of seat so that it could be used on a variety of trains both old and new. Secondly, by using a diverse method of attachment (at the upper part of the seat), the mobile device holder could also be mounted and used to accommodate passengers on commuter buses as well. With that in mind, I expeditiously worked on the design and development of a mobile device holder employing such a diverse method of attachment—allowing it to be mounted on the rear upper-most portion of a variety of commuter passenger seats. That mobile device holder became what is known today as the “Heads-up Caddy.” >>UPDATE: Since 11/05/16 writing - See Post on 03/22/18