Wheeled luggage with expandable body

Details Wheeled luggage with expandable body Wheeled luggage with expandable body

2001-05-02

2002-05-21

Young, Lee (Department: 3727)

Trunks and hand-carried luggage

Hand luggage

Variable volume

C190S105000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06390259

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to luggage and more particularly to a wheeled luggage having a flexible section in which the expansion or compression of the flexible section is made more reliable by a pair of improved support mechanisms.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A conventional wheeled luggage
10
with expandable body is shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
. The luggage
10
comprises a main body
11
supported by a main frame
14
, an auxiliary body
15
, a flexible section
13
sandwiched between main body
11
and auxiliary body
15
, and a cover
12
coupled to the auxiliary body
15
. In an unused position, the width of flexible section
13
is reduced to a minimum by closing zipper
131
. In contrast, in a use position the width of flexible section
13
is increased to a maximum by opening zipper
131
so as to store personal belongings in the luggage. However, the previous design suffered from a disadvantage. For example, the bottom
132
of flexible section
13
is bulged by the weight of personal belongings stored in the luggage
10
. Such bulged portion
132
may hinder the wheeling of luggage
10
due to the contact with the ground. Thus, improvement exists in order to overcome the above drawback of prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a wheeled luggage comprising a main body, an auxiliary body, a flexible section sandwiched between the main body and the auxiliary body and having a zipper, a pair of support mechanisms provided on the opposite sides of the luggage, and a cover coupled to the auxiliary body, each of the support mechanisms comprising a sliding board secured to the side of the auxiliary body and comprising a first groove rail on either the top or the bottom side, a flat recess, a lower vertical channel and an upper vertical channel on one side, a horizontal channel in the center having two opposite shoulders in one end joined with the facing ends of the vertical channels, an elongate horizontal slot in the other end, and an elongate trough coupled between the elongate horizontal slot and the shoulders; a locking mechanism secured to the side of the main body and comprising two opposite locking members each including a ratchet member, and a groove in one end for guiding the first groove rail to match therewith; and a trigger mechanism comprising a plate member including an elongate plate, an enlarged end member in one end, an aperture through the other end, a projection on the back slidably received in the trough, two spaced posts on one side of the end member with the plate located therebetween, two elastic members put on the posts and each having one end biased against the shoulder, and two spaced pins; a trigger member on the back of the sliding board and including a sleeve on one side inserted through the elongate horizontal slot of the sliding board and the aperture and a lock pin inserted into the sleeve for coupling the trigger member to the plate member; and a pair of sliding members received in the vertical channels respectively and each having an elongate slanted slot in one end facing the other sliding member with the pin defined therein and a slanted end in the other end engaged with one of the teeth of each ratchet member; wherein in an unused position, the width of the flexible section is reduced to a minimum by closing the zipper and each slanted end engaged with the rear tooth of the ratchet member, thereby preventing the sliding board from forward moving at the unused position; the sliding board is operative to slide forward to cause the auxiliary body to move away from the main body with each slanted end sliding on the teeth of each ratchet member until the width of the flexible section has reached a maximum in a use position and each slanted end is engaged with the front tooth of each ratchet member once the sliding of the slanted ends is stopped, thereby preventing the sliding board from backward moving at the use position; or the lock pin is continuously pushed rearward to cause the plate member to move rearward for compressing the elastic members, the sliding members are forced to move toward each other with the pins moved from lowest positions in the slanted slots to highest positions therein, each slanted end is disengaged from the ratchet member, and the sliding board is operative to slide rearward until the width of the flexible section has reached the minimum and once the lock pin is released each slanted end is again engaged with the rear tooth of each ratchet member, thereby preventing the sliding board from forward moving at the unused position.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5749446 (1998-05-01), Hsieh
patent: 6021874 (2000-02-01), Nykoluk
patent: 6220411 (2001-04-01), Scicluna et al.
patent: 6305513 (2001-10-01), Lu

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