Apparatus with self-retracting elastomeric support band

An apparatus useful for suspending a portable device from a body portion of a user or other support structure, the apparatus comprising:

• a housing with a mutually engageable cover and a body, the body being attachable to a cell phone or to a protective case or cover for a cell phone or another portable device;
• a flexible elastomeric band disposed inside the housing, the band being accessible through an opening in the housing and having sufficient elasticity and durability to be manually stretchable outwardly through an opening in the housing for a distance sufficient to form a flexible support loop;
• an array of rotatable pulleys disposed in spaced-apart relation inside the housing, with each rotatable pulley having a periphery contacting and frictionally engaging the elastomeric band to support the elastomeric band in tension when a portion of the elastomeric band is stretched outwardly through the opening in the housing;
• and
• at least one selectively releasable latch connected to the housing, the at least one selectively releasable latch being selectively operable to facilitate extension or contraction of the elastomeric belt relative to the housing to control the size of the flexible support loop formed outside the housing, wherein the elastomeric band is anchored inside the housing and then wrapped circuitously around the array of rotatable pulleys and a plurality of triangularly shaped spaces are formed between two oppositely disposed sets of pulleys inside the body.