GB2186186A - Luggage holder - Google Patents

Abstract

A garment holder (2) is releasably attached to a barrel shaped bag (1) and is wrapped around the bag to form a roll which can be carried. The garment holder and the bag may be separated and used independently and are both provided with carrying handles. The bag also has a shoulder strap (9) which can be used both when the bag is used independently and for carrying the made-up roll. The garment holder has a compartment for suits or other large articles of clothing and may be hung up when detached from the bag. The garment holder also has pockets for smaller clothes. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Luggage holder This invention relates to luggage holders.

According to the present invention a luggage holder is provided which comprises in combination a bag of generally barrel shape and a garment holder which is releasably attached to the bag and which wraps around, and is securable about, the bag such that together they form a roll. Made up as the roll the luggage holder is in a convenient form for carrying and stowing away when not in use.

By virtue of the fact that the bag and garment holder are releasably attached so that they may be used together or be disconnected for separate use, the luggage holder is versatile in its uses. Thus apart from being used together for transporting luggage in the roll, the bag and garment holder may be used independently of one another for carrying or stowing luggage. One may be used for stowing items of luggage whilst the other is used for carrying items about in.

One or more handles and/or carrying straps may be provided on the bag and garment holder for ease of carrying the made-up roll and for carrying the bag and garment holder individually. In one form both the bag and the garment holder have handles for carrying them individually, and the bag has a shoulder strap by which the bag can be carried on its own but which is also available when the garment holder is wrapped around the bag for carrying the made-up roll.

Preferably the garment holder is able to assume a substantially flat position when unwrapped from around the bag, thereby enabling garments to be stowed in a substantially flat state until required for use, so that they are less likely to become creased. Conveniently the garment holder is able to be suspended when un-wrapped from around the bag, for example for hanging in a wardrobe or on a peg or rail. It may be suspended by means of a carrying handle on the garment holder, or by separate hanger means.

The garment holder may have a compartment in which suits, trousers, skirts or dresses may be stowed such that they can be kept substantially flat to reduce the tendency for them to become creased. As the garment holder wraps around the bag when the luggage holder is made up as the roll there is less tendency for garments stowed in the garment holder to become creased whilst they are being transported and left packed in the holder. There may be pockets in the garment holder to receive shirts, blouses and other items of clothing or luggage.

The bag may just have a single storage compartment, or it may have two or more compartments and include one or more pockets.

The bag and garment holder may be made of any suitable materials, which at least in the case of the garment holder are flexible. They may, for example, be of fabric materials or sheet plastics materials.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference toPhe accompanying drawings, in which, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a luggage holder in accordance with the invention shown made up as a roll, Figures 2 and 3 are front and back views respectively of a garment holder of the luggage holder, and Figure 4 is a side view of a bag of the luggage holder.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the luggage holder comprises a bag 1 of cylindrical barrel shape, and a garment holder 2 which is releasably attached to the bag and wraps around the circumference of the bag so that together they form a roll. Both the bag 1 and the garment holder 2 are made from a flexible fabric of woven synthetic plastics material edged by piping 3.

The bag 1 has a circumferential wall 4 and two opposed circular end walls 5 which together define a single storage compartment.

Access into the storage compartment is provided through an opening, not shown, in the circumferential wall which extends along the length of the bag and is closed by a zip fastening, not shown. Tags 6, Fig. 4, are secured at opposite ends of the opening which a person can grasp with one hand whilst he is operating the zip fastener with the other hand.

Centrally positioned lengthwise of the bag at either side of the opening, are two carrying handles 7 formed by portions of webbing bands 8 which, except at the handle forming portions, are stitched around the circumferential wall 4. In addition to the carrying handles 7 the bag also has a shoulder strap 9 of adjustable length which is detachably connected by quick-release fastenings 10 to the end walls 5. These fastenings 10 are of a known kind each comprising a female component 11 which has a socket into which resilient prongs of a male component 12 are pushed and engage with snap action in recesses in opposed walls of the socket. Portions of the prongs are exposed at the recesses and can be engaged by hand to deflect them resiliently out of contact with the recesses to release the male component from the female component.Diametrically opposite to the opening in the bag two tabs 13 are secured to the circumferential wall 4 of the bag at similarly spaced positions from the end walls 5. The tabs 13 carry components 14 of a quick-release fastening 15 whereby the bag is releasably attached to the garment holder.

These fastenings 15 are of a similar kind to those by which the shoulder strap 9 is connected to the end walls of the bag, but they are smaller in size.

The garment holder 2, Figs. 2 and 3, is in the general form of an oblong rectangular envelope. It is of a length such that it wraps once around the circumference of the bag and its opposite ends 16,17 meet and overlap one another by a short distance, and its, width corresponds to the length of the bag. The garment holder 2 has a back panel 18 and a superimposed two-part front panel 19, the two panels being secured together along the longitudinal edges of the garment-holder and at the edges of the opposite ends 16, 17. A zip fastening 20 extending centrally longitudinally of the garment holder joins the two parts of the front panel 19 together. The front and back panels 19,18 define together a compartment for clothes, for example, suits, trousers, skirts, or dresses, to be stowed in and which is opened and closed by means of the zip fastening 20.Inside the compartment adjacent to and extending along the one end 16 of the garment holder a reinforcing strip 21 of plastics sheet material is secured to the back panel 18. Attached centrally to the strip 21 is a metal ring 22 into which clothes hangers, not shown, may be hooked inside the comparment to support garments in the compartment. Attached by a chain, not shown, to the ring 22 is a hook, not shown, by which the garment hanger may be suspended for storing it away when it is not being used for carrying clothes about in. The sliding clip of the zip fastening 20 is drawn towards the strip 21 to close the two parts of the front panel together. When the zip fastening is fully closed there is an opening 23 left at the ends of the two parts of the front panel adjacent to the end 16 of the garment holder.The chain and hook can extend through that opening 23 from the ring for suspending the garment holder whilst the front panel is closed. A flap 24 attached to the end 16 can be fastened over the opening 23, for example by means of known pile and hook type fastening patches 25, when the garment hanger is not required to be suspended.

On the two parts of the front panel 19 patches of fabric are attached to provide several pockets 26 on the front panel the mouths of which are directed towards the end 16 of the garment holder and have zip fastenings 27 by which they can be closed. Each of the pockets 26 is large enough to receive a shirt folded in the usual manner.

A further pocket 28 with a zip fastening 29 is provided on the back of the back panel 18 by another patch of fabric attached to that panel.

At the end 17 of the garment holder are webbing tabs 30 which carry components 31 of the quick-release fastening 15 which mate with the components 14 carried by the tabs 13 on the bag, thereby to attach the bag and garment holder releasably together. The tabs 30 are secured to the back panel 18 of the garment holder and to a reinforcing band 32 of webbing secured transversely across the back of that panel.

Also secured to the back of the back panel 18 are two further bands 33 of webbing which extend parallel to one another longitudinally of the garment hanger and are equally spaced from the longitudinal side edges of the garment hanger. At their one end these bands 33 extend slightly beyond the end 16 of the garment holder whilst at their other end the bands stop short of the opposite end 17 of the garment holder and of the transverse reinforcing band 32. The mating components 33,34 of quick-release fastening 36 similar to those described above, are retained to the opposite ends of the longitudinally extending bands 33 so that the ends of the respective bands can be releasably secured together.

Near to the end 16 of the garment holder a handle 37 is provided for carrying the garment holder, being formed by a strip of webbing which is anchored to the back panel 18 at the longitudinally extending bands 33.

With the bag and garment holder attached together by the fastenings 15, the garment holder can be wrapped, back panel 18 outermost, around the bag, as shown in Fig. 1, so that together they form a roll. The garment holder is held wrapped securely around the bag by fastening together the components 34, 35 of the fastenings 36 on the longitudinally extending bands 33 which extend around the outside of the roll. The handle 37 on the garment holder may be used for carrying the rolled luggage holder. Alternatively, by arranging that the shoulder strap 9 of the bag passes around the outside of the wrapped garment holder, that strap may be used for carrying the rolled luggage holder.

Access may be gained into the pocket 28 on the back panel 18 of the garment holder whilst the garment holder is wrapped around the bag.

If desired the bag may be detached from the garment holder and the two may be used separately. For example, whilst the garment hanger is being used to stow clothes away in a wardrobe, the bag may be used for stowing luggage away somewhere else, or for carrying items in on its own.

It will be understood that fastenings of different kinds from those described may be used for attaching the bag and garment holder together, for attaching the shoulder strap to the bag and for securing the garment holder wrapped around the bag. Similarly other fastenings, such as press fastenings, may be used instead of the zip fastenings for closing the two parts of the front panel together and at the pockets.

Other arrangements of pockets, and of storage compartments, may be provided in the garment holder if desired. One or more pock ets may also be provided in the bag, and the interior of the bag may be divided into two or more compartments if preferred.

If desired additional components of the fastenings 15 may be provided at end 16 of the garment holder for attaching the bag to that end of the garment holder, instead of at end 17, as described. Furthermore further components of the fastenings 10 may be provided on the garment holder for the strap 9, or another strap, to be attached to the garment holder instead of to the bag.

Claims (14)

1. A luggage holder comprising in combination a bag of generally barrel shape and a garment holder which is releasably attached to the bag and which wraps around, and is securable about, the bag such that together they form a roll which can be carried.

2. A luggage holder according to claim 1 in which the bag and garment holder have handles whereby they can be carried individually when separated.

3. A luggage holder according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the bag has a shoulder strap by which the bag can be carried on its own and by which the made-up roll can also be carried.

4. A luggage holder according to any preceding claim in which the garment holder is able to assume a substantially flat position when unwrapped from around the bag, whereby enabling garments to be stowed in a substantially flat state until required for use.

5. A luggage holder according to claim 4 in which the garment holder has means by which it is able to be suspended from a support when unwrapped from around and separated from the bag.

6. A luggage holder according to claim 4 or claim 5 in which the garment holder has a compartment in which large articles of clothing such as suits, trousers, skirts or dresses may be stowed such that they can be kept substantially flat when the garment holder is in the substantially flat position.

7. A luggage holder according to any preceding claim in which the garment holder has pockets in which articles of clothing may be stowed.

8. A luggage holder according to claim 6 and claim 7 in which the garment holder comprises a back panel and a front panel which are joined together to define the compartment, the front panel having two parts which are separably joined together nd provide access into the compartment when they are separated from one another, and the pockets are provided at the back panel and the two parts of the front panel.

9. A luggage holder according to claim 6 or claim 8 in which attachment means is provided in the compartment to which clothes hangers can be attached for hanging articles of clothing inside the compartment when the garment holder is suspended.

10. A luggage holder according to any preceding claim in which the bag comprises two axially spaced end walls joined by a circumferential wall provided with an opening which extends longitudinally of the bag and first elements of attachment means provided on the circumferential wall at a position substantially diametrically opposite the opening and in which the garment holder is longer than the circumferential length of the circumferential wall of the bag, has second elements of the attachment means, with which the first elements are interengageable, provided at one of its ends, first components of retaining means provided towards its other end and second components of the retaining means, which cooperate with the first components, provided at an intermediate position along its length, the arrangement being such that in order to form the roll the fist and second elements of the attachment means are interengaged to retain the one end of the garment holder to the bag, the garment holder is wrapped around the bag until the other end overlaps the one end, and the first and second components of the retaining means are connected together to secure the garment holder about the bag.

11. A luggage holder according to any preceding claim in which the garment holder is of generally rectangular shape and has bands of reinforcing webbing secured longitudinally along a substantial part of its length.

12. A luggage holder according to claim 11 as dependent on claim 10 in which the bands of webbing are arranged to extend circumferentially of the bag when the roll is made up, and end regions of the bands of webbing are left unsecured to the garment holder so as to form flexible tags which respectively carry the first and second components of the retaining means.

13. A luggage holder according to claim 10 or claim 12 in which the garment holder has adjacent the said one end a band of webbing which extends longitudinally with respect to the bag and carries the second elements of the attachment means.

14. A luggage holder substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.