Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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1
Piece of luggage
The invention relates to a piece of luggage with a body of the piece of
luggage
and a carrying strap as defined in the precharacterizing part of claim 1.
Pieces of luggage are known that have a body of the piece of luggage and a car-
rying strap. At at least one end, the carrying strap may comprise a snap-in
means and the body of the piece of luggage may at least comprise a receiving
means, wherein the snap-in means is adapted to be inserted into the receiving
means and to be connected with the same in a releasable manner so that the
carrier strap can be connected with the body of the piece of luggage.
The known snap-in means comprise flexible snap-in arms so that they can be
inserted into the receiving means and to lock in the same. The flexible snap-
in
arms are operated again to release them from the respective receiving means.
The disadvantage is that the snap-in arms are easily damaged and can be re-
leased easily when they are in the inserted state.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a piece of
luggage
comprising a snap-in means that is very robust and cannot be released inadvert-
ently from the snap-in means.
The object is achieved with the features of claim 1 The invention
advantageously
provides that the snap-in means comprises a base element and two snap-in
arms, wherein the snap-in arms are rigid and the base element comprises a
spring means by means of which the two snap-in arms are adjustable relative to
each other.
The snap-in arms protruding from the base element are rigid and, thus, are
very
robust.
1
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The base element may be formed such that at least a part of the base element
forms the spring means.
The base element may at least comprise one recess, whereby a part of the base
element is U-shaped, the U-shaped part of the base element forming the spring
means. Further, the base element may comprise at least two recesses which re-
sult in a U-shaped configuration of the base element. Without the snap-in
arms,
the U-shaped base element is of a U-shaped design.
The U-shaped spring element may be open towards the snap-in arms.
The base element may comprise a receiving means for the carrying strap. Pref-
erably, the base element may comprise a recess designed as a receiving means
for the carrying strap.
The base element may be made of a material comprising plastic material, with
the base element preferably being made of plastic material.
The snap-in arms may be made of a material comprising metal, with the snap-in
arms preferably being made of metal.
Snap-in arms of metal are particularly robust and are not easily damaged.
The receiving means may comprise a plate-shaped element, which plate-shaped
element comprises receiving protrusions on the side facing the body of the
piece
of luggage, and wherein the contour of the free ends of the snap-in arms is
adapted to the receiving protrusions so that, in the inserted state, the free
ends
of the snap-in arms engage behind the receiving protrusions of the receiving
means.
The plate-shaped element and the free ends of the snap-in arms may be de-
signed such that, in the inserted state, the free ends of the snap-in arms are
covered on the outer side by the plate-shaped element.
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This is advantageous in that the snap-in arms cannot be inadvertently released
from the receiving means when in the inserted state.
The plate-shaped element may have pins on the side facing the body of the
piece
of luggage, which pins have a female thread, wherein the distance of the plate-
shaped element from the body of the piece of luggage can be adjusted by means
of the length of the pins.
The plate-shaped element may be fastened to the body of the piece of luggage
by means of screws, wherein the screws are adapted to be screwed through the
wall of the body of the piece of luggage into the female threads of the pins
from
the inside of the body of the piece of luggage.
The carrying strap may comprise a snap-in means at both ends and the body of
the piece of luggage may comprise two receiving means.
The two receiving means may preferably be arranged on opposite side walls of
the body of the piece of luggage.
The following is a detailed description of an embodiment of the invention with
reference to the drawings.
The Figures schematically show:
Fig. 1 a piece of luggage of the present invention,
Fig. 2 a snap-in means in front view,
Fig. 3 a snap-in means and a receiving means in the inserted state,
Fig. 4 the receiving means and the snap-in means in rear view,
Fig. 5 the receiving means in top plan view,
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Fig. 6 the snap-in means.
Fig. 1 illustrates a piece of luggage 1 with a body 2 of the piece of luggage
and a
carrying strap 4. The carrying strap 4 has a snap-in means 10 at at least one
end
6. Preferably, the carrying strap 4 has a snap-in means 10 both at the first
end 6
and at the second end 8. The body of the piece of luggage comprises at least
one
receiving means 12.
The at least one receiving means 12 is preferably arranged on a first side
wall 14
of the body 2 of the piece of luggage. Preferably, a second receiving means 12
is
arranged also on the second side wall 16 opposite the first side wall 14. The
snap-in means 10 may be inserted into the receiving means 12 and may be con-
nected with the same in a releasable manner.
In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1, the snap-in means 10 arranged at the
first and also at the second end 6, 8 of the carrying strap 4 are inserted
into the
respective receiving means 12 on the first side wall 14 and the second side
wall
16 of the piece of luggage 1.
Figs. 2 to 6 illustrate the snap-in means 10 and the receiving means 12 of the
present invention in detail. For reasons of clarity, the body of the piece of
lug-
gage is not illustrated in Figs. 2 - 5.
Fig. 2 illustrates the snap-in means 10. The snap-in means 10 has a base ele-
ment 20 and two snap-in arms 22, 24. The snap-in arms 22 and 24 are rigid and
the base element 20 comprises a spring means 26 by means of which the two
snap-in arms 22, 24 are adjustable relative to each other. Adjustable relative
to
each other means that the two snap-in arms 22, 24 can be moved towards each
other and are automatically restored by means of the spring means 26.
Preferably, the base element 20 is formed such that at least a part of the
base
element forms the spring means 26. In the embodiment illustrated the base ele-
ment 20 at least comprises a first recess 28 and a second recess 30, whereby a
part of the base element is of a U-shaped design, which U-shaped part of the
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base element 20 forms the spring means 26. At the side 26a, the U-shaped
spring element 26 is open towards the snap-in arms 22, 24. The two leg ele-
ments 46, 48 of the U-shaped spring element 26 are not formed by the snap-in
arms 22, 24.
The spring element 26 is preferably arranged centrally with respect to the
width
B of the snap-in means 10. The distance of the first snap-in arm 22 to the
spring
means 26 is the same as that of the second snap-in arm 24.
The base element 20 preferably consists of a material that comprises plastic
ma-
terial. In particular, the entire base element may be made of plastic
material.
The base element thus has a certain flexibility.
On the other hand, the snap-in arms 22, 24 are made of a material comprising
metal. In particular, the entire snap-in arms 22, 24 may be made of metal.
Pref-
erably, the snap-in arms are made of aluminum.
The recess 28 in the base element 20 is preferably formed such that not only
the
U-shaped spring element 26 is formed, but also a receiving means for the carry-
ing strap 4. The carrying strap 4 may be passed through the upper part of the
receiving means 28. Thus, snap-in means 10 may be fastened to the carrying
strap 4.
Fig. 3 illustrates the snap-in means 10 and the receiving means 12. Fig. 3
illus-
trates the snap-in means 10 in the inserted state. Illustrated is the side of
the
snap-in means 10 and of the receiving means 12 that is averted from the body 2
of the piece of luggage. The receiving means 12 preferably has a plate-shaped
element 32. As illustrated in Fig. 3, the plate-shaped element 32 of the
receiving
means 12 and the free ends 34, 36 of the snap-in arms 22, 24 are formed such
that, in the inserted state, the free ends 34, 36 of the snap-in arms 22, 24
are
covered by the plate-shaped element 32.
Fig. 4 illustrates the snap-in means 10 and the receiving means 12 in rear
view.
In the mounted state, the rear side faces the body of the piece of luggage. It
is
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clearly visible in Fig. 4 that the free ends 34, 36 of the snap-in arms 24, 22
are
adapted to the contour of the plate-shaped element 32 so that the same are
covered completely on the outer side by the plate-shaped element 32. On the
outer side means that the side of the snap-in means 10 and of the receiving
means 12 is looked upon which is averted from the body of the piece of
luggage.
It is further visible in Fig. 4 that the plate-shaped element 32 has receiving
pro-
trusions 38, 40 on the side facing the body 2 of the piece of luggage and that
the
contour of the free ends 36, 34 of the snap-in arms 24, 22 is adapted to the
re-
ceiving protrusions 38, 40 so that, in the inserted state illustrated in Fig.
4, the
free ends 34, 36 of the snap-in arms 24, 22 engage behind the receiving protru-
sions 38, 40 of the receiving means 12. The free ends 34, 36 of the snap-in
arms
24, 22 are of a neck-shaped design so that the same can engage behind the re-
ceiving protrusions 38, 40.
If the base element 20 is compressed from both sides 42, 44, the two legs 46,
48 are compressed by the U-shaped spring means 26. Thereby, the sides 42, 44
and, together with these, the snap-in arms 22, 24 can be compressed. When the
snap-in arms 22, 24 are compressed, the free ends 34, 36 are compressed.
Thereby, the free ends 34, 36 in engagement with the receiving protrusions 38,
40 are guided along the receiving protrusions 38, 34. In doing so, the snap-in
means 10 is displaced downward in the direction H and the free ends 34, 36
will
then be disengaged from the receiving protrusions 38, 40.
As is obvious from Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, the plate-shaped element 32 has pins 50,
52
on the side facing the body 21 of the piece of luggage, which pins have a
female
thread, wherein the distance of the plate-shaped element 32 from the body 21
of
the piece of luggage can be adjusted by means of the length of the pins.
Figure 5
illustrates the receiving means in top plan view.
Fig. 6 illustrates the snap-in means 10 and the receiving means 12 in side
elevational view, with the Figure also illustrating the manner in which the
receiv-
ing means 12 is connected with one of the side walls 14 or 16 of the body 2 of
the piece of luggage. For this purpose, screws 54 are used to screw the
receiving
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means 12 into the female threads of the pins 50 and 52 from the inner side 56
of
the body 21 of the piece of luggage and through the side wall 14 or 16 of the
body 2 of the piece of luggage. A plate-shaped element 58 is arranged also on
the inner side 56 of the body 21 of the piece of luggage, through which
element
the screws are passed.
The base element 20 of the snap-in means 10 may be manufactured in an injec-
tion molding process, wherein the snap-in arms 22, 24 are partly overmolded.
