JPH0416162B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to trunks, and more particularly to trunk fastener protection members particularly useful in trunks.

Today, air travel is the predominant form of travel. With the growth of the airline travel industry,
A revolution is occurring in the trunk industry to come up with trunks specifically suited for use by air travelers.

Among the many considerations made in designing such trunks, the most obvious factor to consider is weight. From a practical point of view, the trunks that can be carried onboard are limited by weight as well as size. With this in mind, a variety of lightweight materials, both hard and soft, have been devised for modern trunks.

Another point that is probably more important to passengers than airlines is durability. The ability of airline baggage handlers and transportation equipment to damage and destroy trunks is tremendous. Accordingly, trunk manufacturers have devised materials to create trunks that are not only light, but also durable--perhaps even less likely to break under "normal handling." Deriving from durability considerations, it has been discovered that in many respects, soft, pliable trunks are better able to withstand the rigors of baggage handling than trunks made of rigid materials.

For example, there are a plethora of trunk types on the market made of soft, semi-hard, and hard materials such as canvas, nylon, vinyl, leather, and combinations thereof. One feature common to many of these types is the opening/closing means used to ensure that the trunk remains closed and does not open. The closure means are conventional fasteners of various materials, shapes, sizes and grades.

Perhaps the fastener will be made of plastic or metal, and it will be of conventional construction or coil-shaped. Fuasuna is a typical item used to close and maintain large partitions. In such construction, each such large opening is secured closed by one or more fasteners. Such an opening is
Presumably, when the trunk is in an upright position, it starts at the bottom of the case, near the corner where the edge and bottom of the case meet, turns around the corner, extends upward along the edge, and then extends across the top surface. , down the other side of the trunk, around the corner to the other end of the bottom surface, and will terminate at the bottom of the case near the other lower corner. According to this structure, when the fastener is opened, the partition part will open completely, completely exposing the contents of the bag.

Such trunks, although generally resistant to damage, are known to suffer from fastener damage at the lower corners.

Damage will appear in one of two ways.
The first is damage caused by wear and tear. If the trunk is dragged or in frictional contact with other surfaces during transportation, or in a high vibration environment, the fasteners or their tapes may be damaged by the resulting abrasion. Furthermore, if the fastener is in the form of a coil, the string connecting the coils and thereby acting as a spacer will be damaged by such action. Second, the lower corners and the fasteners attached thereto are most susceptible to damage due to impacts caused by rough handling of baggage.

Next, conventional technology will be explained.

No. 3,292,748, issued to Rifkin on December 20, 1966, discloses a bag having continuous fastener closure means extending along both sides and the top surface. The fasteners terminate at each end on opposite end walls of the bag. The fasuna does not extend to the bottom. A pair of Velcro is provided along the entire length of the fastener for a continuous seal. A pair of cover flaps that cover the slider are provided at one end of the fastener, which is a position for resting the slider of the fastener. One of the flaps is positioned to contact the slider of the fastener, the other flap overlaps the first flap, and the two flaps are joined by Velcro. These flaps are for fire protection. Apparently the seal does not protect the fasteners at the corners since the Rifkin fasteners do not extend into the sensitive corners. Furthermore, there is no suggestion that such a protective function is necessary.

No. 4,098,376, issued July 4, 1978 to Pelavin, discloses a costume bag having a longitudinal fastener closure and a pair of transverse fastener closures. The part where the three fastener opening/closing means meet is covered with a hinged flap. This patent is clearly not intended to protect fasteners in the lower corners.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,976,698, issued to Gihon on October 9, 1934, discloses a handbag having continuous fastener closure means originating at one end of an annular opening for receiving the handle of a tennis racket. Disclosed. When no opening is required, the flap is applied over the same section using four snap fasteners. The opening does not extend past the end of the bag to the bottom, and the flap is not intended to protect the fasteners at sensitive corners.

No. 2,436,369, issued to Allan on February 24, 1948, a mail bag cover is shown extending across the top and halfway down the sides. A longitudinal flap is closed over the fastener to provide weather protection. This patent has nothing to do with protecting the fasteners against abrasion and impact damage at the lower corners.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,862,614, issued to Turano on June 14, 1932, describes a structure in which one end of the strip is fixed to a bag and the other end is fixed to a slider of a fastener. is disclosed. Thereby, when the fastener is closed, the strip is pulled to cover the fastener. This patent is not concerned with the protection of fasteners in the lower corners of the trunk.

Finally, on May 25, 1948, Howard
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,442,044, issued to the US Pat. ing. The issue of lower corner wear and impact, which is certainly not a remedy, is not addressed in this patent.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and its objects are as follows.

The first purpose is to provide a fastener protection member around the lower corner of the trunk to protect the fastener from damage of the type described above.

A second object is to provide a fastener protection member which protects particularly sensitive parts of the fastener from damage caused by rough handling, e.g. dragging and other vibrations resulting from frictional contact during transportation.

Another objective remains to provide a soft, semi-hard or hard trunk with fastener protection at the vulnerable lower corners of the trunk.

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings which are one embodiment.

As shown in Figure 1, 10 typical travel bags
generally includes a front wall 12, a rear wall 14, a top wall 16, and a bottom wall 1.
8 and end walls 20, 22. Typically, the continuous opening begins at both ends of the bottom wall 18, extends along the end walls 20, 22, and ends at the top wall 16. Therefore, when the bag is opened, the bag is in a flat state. This is because the bottom wall 18 is vertically hinged or the bag is very flexible.
This is because the vertical fold line appears along the vertical axis.

The continuous opening includes a bottom wall 1 extending beyond the lower end of the end walls 20, 22 of the bag 10.
One or more fastener closure means 24 up to 8 are provided. If a single fastener is used, the fastener 24 can include a single slider that moves from one end of the fastener to the other, or a pair of sliders 26, 28 as shown in FIG. One continuous piece may be used for fasteners. When opening the bag, the pair of sliders is moved to both ends of the fastener, and then both sliders are moved to the center position of the top wall 16 as shown in FIG. It can be merged somewhere. The usual way to ensure that the opening remains tight is to hold the sliders together with a padlock.

The parts most susceptible to damage are the bottom corners, represented by the dashed circles in FIG. 1, and the corresponding parts on the opposite side of the trunk. As mentioned above, such damage is caused by wear and tear when the bag is dragged or comes into vibrating contact with other surfaces.
Or it may be caused by impact injuries caused by rough handling. The present invention has been made to protect these vulnerable parts from damage.

Next, FIG. 2 shows a case having a pair of parallel openings spaced apart, each opening having one or more fasteners 24. According to the invention, the cover flap 30 is provided at the lower corner where the end wall joins the bottom wall. The lower end of the flap 30 is fixed to the bottom wall 18 of the case. Flap 30 may be secured by any means, preferably by stitching 32. Therefore, a hinge-like folded line portion 34 is formed at the lower end of the flap 30. A pair of snap fastener members 36 are provided at the upper end of the flap 30. A snap fastener member 36 appears at the upper corner of the flap 30;
It functions integrally with the snap fastener member 38 that is paired therewith. The snap fastener members 38 are fixed to both sides of the fasteners 24 of the end walls 20 and 22. Below the snap fastener members 36 and 38 are tapes 40 and 42 incorporating hooks or loops sold under the trademark Velcro. each tape 4
0, 42 are corresponding snap fastener members 36,
38 basically leads to the polygonal line portion 34.
After closing the fastener 24 in this manner, the flap 30 is placed on the fastener 24 and the tape 4
0 and 42 are engaged with each other, and the snap fastener members 36 and 38 are engaged with each other. This results in
The flap 30 protects the vulnerable lower corner of the fastener from damage and acts as a cushion.

Other methods may be used to secure the flap 30 to the trunk. Similarly, instead of a soft flap, a hard protection means or a suitably shaped flap hinged at the lower edge may be used, especially in conjunction with hard or semi-hard cases. Although the present invention has been shown as part of a soft-sided trunk, it can equally well be used with rigid or semi-rigid constructions.

Since the present invention has the above-mentioned configuration, it has the effect of preventing damage to the lower corner portion, which is likely to occur during transportation of known trunks.

Furthermore, the protection member attached to the lower corner of the trunk prevents the fastener from coming into direct contact with the ground or floor surface, thereby improving the durability of the trunk.

Furthermore, trunks may come into contact with other trunks,
Even if the trunk is dragged or subjected to rough handling during transportation, the protective member attached to the lower corner functions as a cushioning material, thereby preventing damage to the trunk.

It is therefore believed that the objects stated at the beginning of the specification have been successfully achieved and that the invention may be embodied and carried out in various other ways within the scope of the invention as set out in the claims. That should be understandable.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a typical conventional travel bag structure having one opening, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial perspective view of the lower corner of the travel bag according to the present invention having two openings. FIG. 3 is a front view of the lower corner portion. 10...Travel bag, 12...Front wall, 14...Rear wall, 16...Top wall, 18...Bottom wall, 20, 22...
End wall, 24... Fastener opening/closing means, 2
6, 28...Slider, 30...Flap, 32
...Sewing, 34...Hinge-like broken line part, 36,
38... Snap fastener member, 40, 42...
tape.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A front wall, a rear wall opposing the front wall, and a pair of opposing end walls,
A bag having a top wall and a bottom wall, wherein the top wall and the end wall have starting points at opposite ends of the bottom wall and extend between the ends, and the bag is opened to be substantially flat. a trunk of the type which is separated by a continuous aperture with a continuous opening and having at least one fastener closure means attached to the continuous edge of the aperture and extending to the opposite end of the bottom wall; hingedly secured to the end of the bottom wall, extending upwardly beyond the end of the adjacent end wall corresponding to said end, and releasably secured to the end wall; 1. A trunk fastener protection member, characterized in that an elongated flap is provided at a lower corner where the fasteners meet to protect the fastener and serve as a cushion. 2. The trunk fastener protection member according to claim 1, wherein the flap has one end secured by stitching in a hinged manner. 3. According to either claim 1 or 2, wherein the flap is separably fixed to the end wall by a pair of fastener means disposed on both sides of the fastener. Trunk fastener protection member as described. 4. Each of the fastener means includes a snap fastener member at an upper corner of the flap that cooperates with a snap fastener member on the end wall to form a pair, and a hook disposed between the snap fastener members and in a cooperative relationship. 4. A trunk fastener protection member as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that it comprises a band-shaped body incorporating a loop, and a hinged fixed end portion of the flap. 5. The trunk fastener according to claim 4, wherein the bag has a plurality of openings arranged in parallel at appropriate intervals to subdivide the bag into at least two partition parts. Protective member. 6. The trunk fastener according to claim 5, wherein the bag has two openings arranged in parallel at appropriate intervals to subdivide the bag into two partition parts. Protective member. 7. Trunk fastener protection member according to claim 1, characterized in that said flap is made of a rigid material hinged at one of its edges. 8. The trunk fastener protection member according to claim 1, wherein the flap has one end fixed in a hinged manner with a rivet.