IMPROVEMENTS IN HARD-SIDED LUGGAGE

AMELIORATIONS APPORTEES A UN BAGAGE A FLANCS RIGIDES

English Abstract

A hard-sided luggage article (20) which is made by blow molding process. The
invention further provides a unique lid (24) having a double wall and a base
(26) including a Z-beam (100) perimeter. A co-extrusion clip (120) is provided
on the Z-beam (100), part of the co-extrusion clip (120) providing a color
break and interlocks when the lid (24) is closed on the base (26). The blow
molding process makes it possible to produce a hard-sided luggage article (20)
with a trap-door lid (24). In this way, the parting line between the lid (24)
and the base (26) does not extend around the entire sidewall of the case, thus
providing a portion of the sidewall which can rest on the floor without the
possibility of allowing leakage from a puddle, or the like, to infiltrate into
the interior of the case.

French Abstract

Cette invention a trait à un article de voyage à flancs rigides (20), obtenu par moulage par soufflage. Cet article comporte un seul couvercle (24) à double paroi et une base (26) à pourtour profilé en Z (100). Une bride (120), obtenue par co-extrusion, qui est située sur le profilé en Z (100) et dont une partie définit une rupture de couleur, assure un verrouillage lorsque le couvercle (24) vient se refermer sur la base (26). La technique de moulage par soufflage permet de produire un article de voyage à flancs rigides (20) pourvu d'un couvercle à bloc levant (24). De cette manière, la ligne de joint se trouvant entre le couvercle (24) et la base (26) ne court pas autour de toute le flanc de la caisse, ce qui laisse ainsi une partie du flanc reposer sur le sol sans que le liquide d'une flaque ou analogue puisse s'infiltrer dans le bagage.

Claims

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WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
1. A method of making a hard-sided luggage
article, said method comprising using a blow molding
process to produce a base and a lid for said luggage
article.
2. The method of Claim 1, including
said lid having a double wall construction
including an outer wall and an inner wall.
3. The method of Claim 2, including
forming said inner wall with intermittent
portions which contact an inner surface of said outer wall
in order to impart torsional and compressive strength to
said lid.
4. The method of Claim 3, including
said base is formed with a Z-beam to
receive said lid thereon;
said inner wall includes a groove section
which mates with said Z-beam when said lid is received on
said base; and
an extrusion attached to a section of said
Z-beam.
5. The method of Claim 4, including
said extrusion is a co-extrusion having a
first portion which clips on to said section of said
Z-beam and a second portion which extends laterally
outwardly from said first portion.
6. The method of Claim 5, including
said first portion is made from a first
material and said second portion is made from a second
material, said first material being harder than said
second material.

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7. The method of Claim 6, including
said base and lid have a first color and
said second material has a second color, whereby said
second portion creates a color break between said base and
said lid.
8. A hard-sided luggage article comprising:
a base;
a lid secured to said base; and
said base including an opening defined by
a Z-beam.
9. The method of Claim 8, including
an extrusion attached to a section of said
Z-beam.
10. The method of Claim 9, including
said extrusion is a co-extrusion having a
first portion which clips on to said section of said
Z-beam and a second portion which extends laterally
outwardly from said first portion.
11. The method of Claim 10, including
said first portion is made from a first
material and said second portion is made from a second
material, said first material being harder than said
second material.
12. The method of Claim 11, including
said base and lid have a first color and
said second material has a second color, whereby said
second portion creates a color break between said base and
said lid.
13. The method of Claim 8, including
said lid has a double wall construction
including an outer wall and an inner wall.

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14. The method of Claim 13, including
said inner wall has intermittent portions
which contact an inner surface of said outer wall in order
to impart torsional and compressive strength to said lid.
15. The method of Claim 14, including
said inner wall includes a groove section
which mates with said Z-beam when said lid is closed on
to said base.
16. A hard-sided luggage article including a
trap-door lid.
17. The method of Claim 16, including
said luggage article including a base, said
trap-door lid being hingedly connected to said base.
18. The method of Claim 17, including
said lid and said base are separated by a
parting line.
19. The method of Claim 18, including
said base includes a bottom portion and a
sidewall portion; and
said parting line having a portion that is
not disposed on said sidewall portion.
20. The method of Claim 19, including
said portion of said parting line not
disposed on said sidewall portion is where said lid is
hingedly connected to said base.

Description

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IMPROVEMENTS IN HARD-SIDED LUGGAGE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns improvements in
hard-sided luggage.
"Hard-sided luggage" means luggage having an all
plastic shell exterior. Typically, hard-sided luggage is
made by vacuum forming sheet stock (typically made of
ABS plastic) over a desired shape. Another common method
of making hard-sided luggage is to use an injection molded
process. Both known processes have limitations, the most
glaring of which is that a clam-shell type design (either
50/50 or 60/40 split) must be used.
The clam-shell 50/50 or 60/40 case has specific
functional limitations. One such limitation is strength.
When these cases receive a sharp blow, the forces are
typically transferred to the general area where the case
splits to open, thus causing inadvertent opening of the
case. Also, when packing, the top must be filled to use
all of the interior space. Practically, this becomes
cumbersome as the filled cover must then be lifted and
folded shut with its often heavy contents. Although
mechanical straps can be used to retain the load,
typically the angle, reach and loaded weight make this a
cumbersome arrangement. Finally, the clam-shell 50/50 or
60/40 case have a less aesthetically pleasing appearance.
Current "soft-sided" or "gussetted" luggage has
the advantage of providing a fabric cover top or an
85/15 gusset, when the top or lid is approximately 150 of
the depth of the total container. This type of split is
becoming more and more desired by consumers, however,
until the invention disclosed herein was not available in
hard-sided cases.

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What is needed is a hard-sided case which is
made by a different process that can produce such a
hard-sided case that will overcome the disadvantages of
current hard-sided cases.
SZIwIMARY OF TI~ INVENTION
The invention has met or exceeded the
above-mentioned needs, as well as others. The invention
involves using a blow molding process to produce a base
and a lid for a hard-sided luggage article. The invention
further provides a unique lid structure having a double
wall and a base including a Z-beam perimeter. A
co-extrusion is provided on the Z-beam, part of the
co-extrusion providing a color break when the lid is
closed on the base. The other portion of the co-extrusion
provides a clip to the Z-beam and ultimately provides the
surface for the interlock between the lid and base.
The blow molding process makes it possible to
produce a hard-sided luggage article with a trap-door lid.
In this way, the parting line between the lid and the base
does not extend around the entire sidewall of the case,
thus providing a portion of the sidewall which can rest
on the floor without the possibility of allowing leakage
from a puddle, or the like, to infiltrate into the
interior of the case.
2 5 BRIEF DESCR.IP'rION OF TIC DRAWIrTGS
A full understanding of the invention can be
gained from the following detailed description of the
invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the hard-sided
luggage article of the invention.

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Figure 2 is a right side elevational view of the
luggage article shown in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a left side elevational view of the
luggage article shown in Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a top plan view of the luggage
article shown in Figure 1.
Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the luggage
article shown in Figure 1.
Figure 6 is a front elevational view of the
l0 luggage article shown in Figure 1.
Figure 7 is a back elevational view of the
luggage article shown in Figure 1.
Figure 8 is a perspective view of the luggage
article of Figure 1 showing the lid being opened.
Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view of the lid
of the invention.
Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view showing
mating of the lid and base and also showing the Z-beam and
co-extrusion.
2 o DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring now to Figures 1-8, the luggage
article 20 of the invention will be described. The
luggage article 20 is preferably made by (but not limited
to) a blow molding process wherein an extruded hot plastic
(typically high density polyethylene (HDPE) ) is blown into
a cavity mold to create the luggage article 20. This
process enables the shapes and designs of the luggage
article 20 of the invention to be produced, as opposed to
injection molding or vacuum forming which have the
limitations discussed above. As can be seen in the
figures, blow molding can produce a luggage article 20
having generously curvatured sides, such sides acting as
bumpers to deflect and distribute forces and the impact
load.

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Referring back to Figures 1-8, it can be seen
that the luggage article 20 is formed with an 85/15 split,
having a shallow lid. This is a unique and novel geometry
with relation to a hard-sided luggage article which
overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of typical
"clam-shell" prior art hard-sided luggage pieces. As can
best be seen in Figure 8, a generous storage
compartment 22 is provided within which to place the
contents (not shorn) desired to be packed. The lid 24 is
hingedly secured to the base 26 by means of a hinge 28,
creating a "trap-door" like arrangement which maximizes
the storage compartment 22 volume while providing other
benefits, as will be discussed below.
The lid 24 can be secured to the base 26, when
the luggage article 20 is closed, by providing a series
of latches or locks, such as latches 30, 32, 34. One or
more of these latches can contain a tumbler combination
lock for further security. Handles 36, 38 are provided
to facilitate carrying the luggage article 20. In
addition, the hard-sided luggage article 20 preferably
includes two wheels 40, 42 and a conventional integral
handle means 50 to allow the luggage article 20 to be
wheeled along the ground. These mechanisms are well known
in the art.
One aspect of the invention involves the
placement of the parting line 60 of the luggage
article 20. By "parting line" it is meant the area where
the base 24 and lid 26 meet when closed. It is noted that
the parting line 60 is generally positioned on the front
sidewall 62, left sidewall 64 and right sidewall 66 of the
luggage article 20. As can be seen best in Figures 2
and 3, the parting line 60 curves upwardly along the left
sidewall 64 and right sidewall 66 and is then disposed
generally in the same plane as is the lid 24. Referring
to Figure 5, it is appreciated that the parting line 60

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is not generally disposed in the bottom sidewall 68. This
will create a novel bottom pan 70 (see Figure 8) . In this
way, there is no parting line on the bottom sidewall 68,
which is the sidewall on which the luggage article 20
typically will rest. This is advantageous because in
prior art clam-shell designs, the parting line typically
is disposed on the bottom sidewall, and because of this,
if the luggage article 20 was sat in a puddle or a
wet spot, the water in the puddle or wet spot could
infiltrate the parting line and make the clothes or other
contents of the prior art luggage articles wet. In the
novel design of the luggage article 20, the parting
line 60 is not disposed on the bottom sidewall 68, thus
minimizing the possibility of wet contents if the luggage
article 20 is placed in a puddle or the like.
Referring to Figure 9, another aspect of the
invention will be discussed. Due to the blow molding
process, the lid 24 can be made with a double wall,
consisting of an outside wall 80 and an inside wall 82.
This design will impart strength to the lid 24 by
providing intermittent "kiss-points" 83, 84, 85, 86
and 87. These kiss-points contact the inner surface 80a
of the outer wall 80. The double wall configuration also
allows a liner or other hardware (not shown) to be
attached to the inside wall 82 without the fasteners or
rivets protruding from the outside wall 80. In addition,
the lid 24 perimeter is formed with a groove 88 in order
to mate with the Z-beam and co-extrusion on the base 24,
which will be discussed below.
Referring now to Figure l0, several important
aspects of the invention will be discussed. The base 24
is formed also by a blow molding process and because of
this, a unique Z-beam 100 is formed integral to the base.
The Z-beam 100 consists of a portion of the sidewall 101
and includes a horizontal portion 102 and a vertical

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portion 104 extending generally perpendicularly from the
horizontal portion 102. The sidewall 101 and horizontal
portion 102 form an undercut area 106 which advantageously
can ease packing requirements. This is because the
contents of the storage compartment 22, such as clothes,
can be reasonably tucked under the horizontal portion 102,
thus the clothes will not rise above the top line of the
base 24, thus making closing of the lid 26 easier. The
Z-beam 100 also imparts outstanding lateral rigidity to
the base 24 without the need to resort to additional
componentry to realize a mechanical advantage.
Figure l0 also shows the co-extrusion clip 120
of the invention. The clip 120 consists of an n-shaped
clip portion 122 and a soft horizontal portion 124. The
clip 120 is designed to be secured to the vertical
portion 104 of the base all around the perimeter thereof,
as can be seen in Figure 8. If desired, a break 130 in
the clip 120 can be made in order to facilitate placement
of the clip 120 onto the vertical portion 104.
Preferably, the clip portion 122 is made of a hard plastic
material, which nonetheless is constructed and arranged
to clip securely onto the vertical portion 104. The soft
horizontal portion 124 is made of a softer plastic
portion. In addition, the soft horizontal portion 124 can
be made of a different color than the base 24 and the
lid 26, so that when the luggage article 20 is closed, a
color break is created between the lid 26 and the base 24.
It will also be appreciated that the lid 26 and base 24
can also be different colors themselves. The key thing
to note is that the color of the soft horizontal
portion 24 creates a color break no matter what the color
or colors of the base 24 and lid 26. The soft portion 124
also is capable of more readily conforming to the bends
of the luggage article opening.

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Although the clip 120 is shown preferably as a
co-extrusion, it will be appreciated that the invention
is not limited thereto, and that the clip can be a single
extrusion or a part molded by any other type of process.
It will be appreciated that an improved
hard-sided luggage article has been disclosed.
While specific embodiments of the invention have
been disclosed, it will be appreciated by those skilled
in the art that various modifications and alterations to
those details could be developed in light of the overall
teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the particular
arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only
and not limiting as to the scope of the invention which
is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and
any and all equivalents thereof.

Representative Drawing