GB2280844A

GB2280844A - Handle assembly for wheeled suitcase

Info

Publication number: GB2280844A
Application number: GB9316668A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Yi Cheng Lin; Shing Ming Chung
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-08-11
Filing date: 1993-08-11
Publication date: 1995-02-15
Also published as: GB9316668D0

Abstract

A handle assembly for a suitcase (10) is installed at a bottom of the suitcase (10) which has a pair of wheels attached to a rear bottom end thereof. The handle assembly includes a base (11) integrally formed as the bottom of the suitcase (10) having two grooves (12) parallelly formed in a longitudinal direction thereof and a pulling device (20) which includes a bracket (23) and a handle (22). The handle (22) is substantially U-shaped having two longitudinal bars (22A) mated with the two grooves (12). The bracket (23) is firmly fixed on the base (11) substantially at a front bottom end of the suitcase (10) and has two guiding elements (32) each defining a passage for guiding a longitudinal bar (22A) of the handle (22). The two guiding elements (32) are each located in a front end portion of a corresponding groove (12) of the base (11). <IMAGE>

Description

HANDLE ASSEMBLY FOR A SUTTCASR This invention relates to a handle assembly for a suitcase especially one which is fixed under a base of a suitcase and allowed to be hidden under the base when not in use or extended for a user to pull/push the suitcase in transportation.

A conventional suitcase usually has a suitcase body fixed on a base which has four wheels located thereunder allowing a user to pull a handle, thereby moving the suitcase. Normally the handle is installed at an upper portion of the suitcase body and causes the user difficulty in pulling the suitcase in a balanced way especially when the user changes the moving direction of the suitcase. There is provided a portable bracket on which the suitcase can be carried thus preventing the problem of instability. However, the portable bracket is cumbersome to carry and it occupies additional space. It is requisite to provide an improved handle structure which is normally in a hidden status and is allowed to be extended to pull the suitcase.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a handle assembly installed at a bottom of a suitcase which has a pair of wheels attached to a rear bottom end thereof. The handle assembly comprises a base which is integrally formed at the bottom of the suitcase having two grooves parallelly formed in a longitudinal direction thereof each having a rear end and a front end. The rear end of each groove is adjacent to one of the wheels. A pulling means attached to the base includes a bracket and a substantially U-shaped handle. The handle has two longitudinal bars thereof mated with the two grooves of the base and a lateral bar firmly intersected between the two longitudinal bars allowing a user to hold thereon. The bracket is a plate having one side thereof appropriately contoured to mate with a front bottom end of the suitcase.The bracket has two guiding elements each defining a passage therein for guiding the two longitudinal bars to slide therethrough. Each of the guiding elements is received in the front end of a corresponding groove.

These and additional objects, if not set forth specifically herein, will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description provided hereunder, with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a partially exploded view of a handle assembly in accordance with the present invention which comprises a base having two grooves thereon and a pulling means which includes a bracket and a handle slidably received therethrough; Fig. 2A is a cross-sectional view of the base, the rear end thereof being omitted; Fig. 2B is a cross-sectional view illustrating two longitudinal bars of the handle being slidable in the grooves of the base; Fig. 3 illustrates the handle assembly in an operated status allowing a user to pull the suitcase in transportation; and Fig. 4 illustrates the handle assembly in a hidden status with the handle thereof being positioned under the bottom of the suitcase.

Referring to the drawings and initially to Fig. 3, a handle assembly is installed at a bottom of a suitcase 10 having a pulling means 20 allowing a user to pull the suitcase 10 when traveling by means of a pair of wheels 50 attached to a rear bottom end of the suitcase 10. In this figure, the handle assembly is in an operated status in which the user is allowed to pull the handle assembly when traveling. When the handle assembly is totally retracted under the bottom of the suitcase, it is defined as in a hidden status. Herein we define the bottom end located with the wheels as rear bottom end of the suitcase while the other bottom end as front bottom end thereof. Additionally, a forward direction for pulling the suitcase is defined from the rear bottom end to the front bottom end, while a backward direction is vice versa.

Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown a partial bottom view of a base 11 of the suitcase 10, the pulling means 20, and a bottom cover 40 of the suitcase 10. The base 11 has two grooves 12 formed in a longitudinal direction thereof each having a rear end and a front end, where the rear end is adjacent to the wheels 50. The base 11 also has a plurality of holes 16 therein. The pulling means 20 comprises a bracket 23 and a handle 22. The handle 22 is basically U shaped having two longitudinal bars 22A thereof mated with the two grooves 12 of the base 11 and a lateral bar 22B integrated with and intersected between the two longitudinal bars 22A allowing a user to hold thereon.

The bracket 23 is a plate having one side thereof appropriately contoured to mate with the front bottom end of the suitcase 10. The bracket 23 has two guiding elements 32 each defining a passage therein allowing the two longitudinal bars 22A to slide therethrough.

The bracket 23 further has a plurality of bosses 36 with holes formed therethrough which mate with the holes 16 of the base 11 thus allowing a plurality of corresponding bolts (not shown) to fasten the bracket 23 on the base 11 of the suitcase 10. Each longitudinal bar 22A has one end thereof formed as a stop 220 which is basically a flange extended from the end of the longitudinal bar 22A. It should be noted that the bottom cover 40 is fixed at the bottom of the base 11 adjacent to the bracket 23 while not affecting the sliding movement of the handle 22.

Referring to Fig. 2A, the two grooves 12 of the base 11 are illustrated in a more detailed manner. Each groove 12 of the base 11 has a first section, a second section, and a third section sequentially defined in a direction from the front end to the rear end thereof.

The third section is illustrated partially in figure 2A. The first section and the second section have substantially identical longitudinal length, while the third section has a greater length than the previous two sections. The first section and the third section have an identical first width, while the second section has different widths thereof. The first section and the third section allow the stop 220 of the handle 22 to slide therein easily while the second section introduces difficulty to the stop 220 of the handle 22 from sliding therethrough as will be discussed later.

The second section comprises a first narrow portion 121, a second narrow portion 122 and a positioning portion 123 defined therebetween where the first narrow portion is adjacent to the first section of the groove 12. The first narrow portion 121 is formed by a first pair of protrusions 121A extending inwardly from the periphery of the groove 12. Similarly, the second narrow portion 122 is formed by a second pair of protrusions 122A extending inwardly from the periphery of the groove 12. The positioning portion 123 has sub stantially the same width as the first width and tapers to two ends of the second section thus forming the two narrow portions 121 and 122 respectively.The first narrow portion 121 and the second narrow portion 122 substantially have a second width narrower than the first width and respectively increasing the width to two ends thereof until equal to the first width.

Further referring to Fig. 2B, the bracket 23 is fixed on the base 11 with the two guiding channels 32 each being located in the first section of a corresponding groove 32. Each channel 32 has one peripheral end thereof abutting against the first pair of protrusions 121A. The longitudinal bars 22A are respectively shown with solid lines and phantom lines, where the solid lines represent that the longitudinal bar 22A (or the handle assembly of the present invention) is in the operated status and the phantom lines represent that the handle assembly is in the hidden status. The stop 220 of the longitudinal bar 22A of the handle 22 is positioned in the positioning portion 123 when the handle assembly is in the operated status as shown with solid lines.The lateral bar 22B of the handle 22 is operable to abut against the bracket 23 when the handle assembly is in the hidden status as shown with phantom lines.

It is noted that the groove 12 allows the longitudinal bar 22A including the stop 220 to slide therein easily. The stop 220 is not easily slid through the second narrow portion 122 unless the user exerts a predetermined force on the longitudinal bar 22A. Since one peripheral end of the channel 32 abuts against the first protrusions 121A, the stop 220 is not permitted to move out of the channel 32 when the handle assembly is in operated status. When the user wants to retract the longitudinal bars 22A into the grooves 12 he merely exerts a predetermined force on the handle 22 in a backward direction to force the stops 220 to slide through the second protrusions 122A, thus retracting the longitudinal bars 22A totally into the grooves 12 of the base 11.It is noted that the handle 22 and the base 11 are covered by the bottom cover 40 when the handle assembly is in the hidden status.

Particularly referring to Fig. 1, the handle portion 22 is respectively represented by solid lines for illustrating that the handle portion (or the handle assembly) is in the operated status allowing the user to pull the suitcase (see -Fig. 3) and phantom lines for illustrating that the handle portion (or the handle assembly) is in the hidden status with the longitudinal bars 22A thereof being positioned in the grooves 12 of the base 11 of the suitcase 10 as also shown in Fig. 4.

While the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that various modifications thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this specification. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention disclosed herein is intended to cover all such modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

TCT.ATM:

1. A handle assembly being installed at a bottom of a suitcase which has a pair of wheels attached to a rear bottom end thereof comprising a base being integrally formed at the bottom of said suitcase having two grooves parallelly formed in a longitudinal direction thereof each having a rear end and a front end, said rear end being adjacent to said wheels; and a pulling means attached to said base including a bracket and a substantially U-shaped handle, said handle having two longitudinal bars thereof mated with said two grooves of said base and a lateral bar firmly intersected between said two longitudinal bars allowing a user to hold thereon, said bracket being a plate having one side thereof appropriately contoured to mate with a front bottom end of said suitcase, said bracket having two guiding elements each defining a passage therein for guiding said two longitudinal bars to slide therethrough, each said guiding element being received in said front end of a said corresponding groove.

2. A handle assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein each said longitudinal bar of said handle has one end thereof formed as a stop which is basically a flange protruding from the end of said longitudinal bar, each said groove of said base having a first section, a second section, and a third section sequentially defined in a direction from the front end to the rear end, said second section comprising a first narrow portion, a second narrow portion and a positioning portion defined therebetween, said first section, said positioning portion, and said third section substantially having a first width in section, said first narrow portion and said second narrow portion having a second width in section narrower than the first width, each said guiding element of said bracket being positioned in said first section with one peripheral end thereof abutting against said first narrow portion, said stop of said longitudinal bar of said handle being positioned in said positioning portion when said handle assembly is in an operated status and said lateral portion of said handle being operable to abut against said bracket when said handle assembly is in a hidden status.

3. A handle assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said base has a plurality of holes therein, and said bracket has a plurality of bosses with holes formed therethrough which mate with said holes of said base, thus allowing a plurality of corresponding bolts to firmly fasten said bracket on said base.

4. A handle assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.