US1017755A - Wardrobe-trunk. - Google Patents

Description

j E. W. HAWLEY.

', WARDROBE TRUNK.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 13. 1911.

Patented Feb. 20, I912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET}.

E.,W. HAWL'EY. WARDROBE TRUNK ABPLIOATION FILED JUNE 1x19 1213 E PateHteQ :fir bi 20,1912.

' 2 SHEETS-BHEET 2.

- ATTORNEYS.

EUGENE W. HAWLEY, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANTA;

WARDROBE-TRUNK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

Applieatipn filed June 13, 1911; Serial No. 632,964.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE W. HAWLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and

State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in \Vardrobe- Trunks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

The object of applicants invention is to provide a trunk, capable of being used wardrobe trunk, of minimum depth. Such a trunk hasbeen ordinarily considered to be impracticable, because owing to its shallowness it is incapable of holding articles of a size for which trunk compartments of substantially greater depth are usually provided. It is known, however, to provide tumble boxes in place of drawers; that is, receptacles so pivoted that they may be swung from an upright position against the trunk bottom, to a horizontal position; but the advantage of this arrangement has been neutralized by the apparent necessity of so pivoting them, and of making them so short, that when swung out. into horizontal position, their centers of gravity will be well within the base'of the trunk body. This necessitates the provision of so broad a base for the compartment containing the tumble boxes as to create a waste space of considerable volume in front of the boxes, besides limiting the width of the boxes, thus making impossible the attainment of either the desired minimum depth of trunk body or the desired maximunfwidth of receptacles.

In my invention, I attain the result of capacious receptacles without waste of space and with a minimum depth of trunk body by utilizing the principle of tumble boxes but so arranging them that when folded against the trunk bottom they will occupy substantially the entire compartment and by so pivoting them that when swung out their centers of gravity will be outside the base of the trunk body; and then, to prevent overturning of the trunk, so hinge the two compartments thereof that they cannot be opened into a parallel relation and therefore cannot become top-heavy and fall even when the tumble-boxes are swung out; although they can be opened to a sufiicient extent to allow ready access to either compartment of the trunk.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspecasa - means'of rivets 71.;

tive view of the trunk in an open position looking toward the front thereof; Fig. 2 is a partial vertical section through one compartment; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the trunk in an open position looking toward the rear thereof; and Fig. 4: is a. detail in perspective of the device for limiting the extent to which the trunk may be opened.

The trunk is composed of-two compartments (4 and b hinged together by means of the usual hinges o. The compartment a is ,shown as provided with a garment supporting attachmentcl, upon which is suspended a garment hanger e. The other compartment is provided with a series of tumbleboxes or trays f spaced apart by means of partitions g. It will be observed that compartment I), like compartment a, is quite shallow, and that the width of the boxes 1 (that is their vertical dimensions when closed) is substantially greater than their depth. Each boxf is pivotally secured to the opposite side walls of compartment 12 by Their extent of outward movement on their pivots is limited by straps 2 secured to the outer sides of the boxes and the inner sides of the compartment.

Each partition 9 and also the upper wall of the compartment b, is .cut away, midway between its ends, to form a wedge-shaped recess n gradually widening from its inner endto the outer edge of the partition. I Secured to the outer, edge of each partition, and also to the outer edge of the upper wall of the compartment, is a-plate 9' extending in front of the recess n. Secured to the front wall of each box f isa spring is, which normally extends, from its point of attach ment, outward at an acute angle to the front wall, and thence bendsback toward the bottom of the box. Secured to the free end of the spring is isa flexible strap. l.

The spring 70 is located midway between the ends of the box f and therefore inposition to automatically engage the plate j when the box is swung intoits closed position and be depressed bythe plate until the box ismoved to its ultimate position, whereupon the spring is is free move into andsoocupy the recess n. In this position of the spring, its, outer-bent end abuts against the plate j, thereby preventing the accidental opening of the box. The sprin is 'whollyconcealed from view when the x is moved to its closed position. The box may

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