Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A45—HAND OR TRAVELLING ARTICLES
  • A45C—PURSES; LUGGAGE; HAND CARRIED BAGS
  • A45C5/00—Rigid or semi-rigid luggage
  • A45C5/04—Trunks; Travelling baskets
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A45—HAND OR TRAVELLING ARTICLES
  • A45C—PURSES; LUGGAGE; HAND CARRIED BAGS
  • A45C5/00—Rigid or semi-rigid luggage
  • A45C5/14—Rigid or semi-rigid luggage with built-in rolling means
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A45—HAND OR TRAVELLING ARTICLES
  • A45C—PURSES; LUGGAGE; HAND CARRIED BAGS
  • A45C7/00—Collapsible or extensible purses, luggage, bags or the like
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A45—HAND OR TRAVELLING ARTICLES
  • A45C—PURSES; LUGGAGE; HAND CARRIED BAGS
  • A45C7/00—Collapsible or extensible purses, luggage, bags or the like
  • A45C7/0018—Rigid or semi-rigid luggage
  • A45C7/0022—Rigid or semi-rigid luggage comprising an integrated expansion device
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A45—HAND OR TRAVELLING ARTICLES
  • A45C—PURSES; LUGGAGE; HAND CARRIED BAGS
  • A45C7/00—Collapsible or extensible purses, luggage, bags or the like
  • A45C7/0018—Rigid or semi-rigid luggage
  • A45C7/0036—Rigid or semi-rigid luggage collapsible to a minimal configuration, e.g. for storage purposes
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A45—HAND OR TRAVELLING ARTICLES
  • A45C—PURSES; LUGGAGE; HAND CARRIED BAGS
  • A45C7/00—Collapsible or extensible purses, luggage, bags or the like
  • A45C7/0059—Flexible luggage; Hand bags
  • A45C7/0063—Flexible luggage; Hand bags comprising an integrated expansion device
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A45—HAND OR TRAVELLING ARTICLES
  • A45C—PURSES; LUGGAGE; HAND CARRIED BAGS
  • A45C7/00—Collapsible or extensible purses, luggage, bags or the like
  • A45C7/0059—Flexible luggage; Hand bags
  • A45C7/0077—Flexible luggage; Hand bags collapsible to a minimal configuration, e.g. for storage purposes
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A45—HAND OR TRAVELLING ARTICLES
  • A45C—PURSES; LUGGAGE; HAND CARRIED BAGS
  • A45C3/00—Flexible luggage; Handbags
  • A45C2003/008—Travelling bags
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A45—HAND OR TRAVELLING ARTICLES
  • A45C—PURSES; LUGGAGE; HAND CARRIED BAGS
  • A45C5/00—Rigid or semi-rigid luggage
  • A45C5/14—Rigid or semi-rigid luggage with built-in rolling means
  • A45C2005/148—Other arrangements of the rolling means

Definitions

• the present invention relates to luggage technologies, and in particular to systems and methods for providing various foldable/collapsible duffle bags, sacks or the like that can have significant volume in an expanded state, and also achieve significant compression of volume, and ease of portability, in a compressed state.
• Such exemplary collapsible duffles can have two states: (i) a fully extended state in which said luggage is used by a user to hold, for example, clothing and objects, and its wheels fully extended and usable, and (ii) a compressed or folded state in which the luggage has a minimum volume and can be easily and conveniently stored and carried, especially where space is a premium, where the wheels are invisible and out of the way.
• Various novel technologies are used to obtain maximal compression in the compressed state, and to allow for convenient transformation between the two states.
• Exemplary duffles of rather significant fully expanded size can be rolled or folded onto themselves, the wheels can be turned inside out, and the article compressed into a small hand held carrying case.
• Fig. 1 depicts an exemplary foldable duffle according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention
• Fig. 2 depicts a rearview of the exemplary foldable duffle of Fig. 1 ;
• Fig. 3 illustrates the foldable duffle of Figs. 1 and 2 as laid horizontally and with the top cover and the bottom portion unzipped;
• Fig. 4 shows a similar view as seen in Fig. 3 with the front cover zipped closed such that the front face of the foldable duffle can be seen and only the bottom portion having been unzipped;
• Fig. 5 shows the exemplary foldable duffle of Fig. 4 turned over and the bottom portion having been turned inside out such that the wheels are in the interior;
• Fig. 6 shows the process of folding the upper portion, now collapsed, of the exemplary foldable duffle of Fig. 1 into what remains of the upper portion of the foldable duffle such that the lower portion (containing the wheels) can now be folded over on top of it;
• Fig. 7 illustrates the entire upper portion of the foldable duffle now stored in a lower portion of said upper portion of the foldable duffle
• Fig. 8 illustrates the configuration of Fig. 7 after the zipper has been zipped between the bottom portion and the lower portion of the upper portion of the exemplary foldable duffle
• FIG. 9 recapitulates the various steps shown in Figs. 1 -8 synoptically;
• Fig. 10 shows an alternative exemplary embodiment of a foldable duffle according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention
• Fig. 1 1 shows a series of steps of collapsing, reversing, folding and closing the exemplary foldable duffle of Fig. 10;
• Fig. 12 depicts an alternate exemplary variation of the foldable of Fig. 10 wherein instead of a pair of handles on the top of the article there is a pair of handles arranged on the front face so that the article can be carried horizontally;
• Fig. 13 depicts various steps in collapsing, reversing, folding and closing the exemplary foldable duffle of Fig. 12;
• Fig. 14 is an alternate exemplary embodiment of the exemplary foldable duffle of Figs. 1 -9 where there are two handles on the top and with certain aesthetic and design differences; and Figs. 15 through 54 present various series of photographs of two exemplary prototypes of 4-wheel folding duffles according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
• Such exemplary collapsible duffles can have two states: (i) a fully extended state in which said luggage is used by a user to hold, for example, clothing and objects, and its wheels fully extended and usable, and (ii) a compressed or folded state in which the luggage has a minimum volume and can be easily and conveniently stored and carried, especially where space is a premium, where the wheels are invisible and out of the way.
• Various novel technologies are used to obtain maximal compression in the compressed state, and to allow for convenient transformation between the two states. Where less rigidity is required, duffles of rather significant fully expanded size with four wheels can be rolled or folded onto themselves and compressed into a small hand held carrying case that looks like a laptop computer case.
• various folding or duffle bags can be provided that compress into a rather small footprint and can be easily transported. It is often noted that when people go on vacation they often come back with much more clothing, presents, gifts and other goods and merchandise than they left with. This is due to the fact that people often go to destinations which are known for their shopping, such as, for example, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, etc., and while in such a destination they feel the desire to purchase many articles. These can include, for example, clothing, shoes, electronics, luggage, trinkets and souvenirs, etc. For these reasons people often purchase a piece of luggage while they are there and fill it with some of their purchases and bring it home.
• exemplary embodiments of the present invention this is no longer necessary, inasmuch as a vacationer can bring a collapsible duffle bag either in its own collapsed state or placed inside one of the user's other articles of full-size luggage.
• Exemplary small footprint foldable duffle bags as described below expand to a rather large full size, and have wheels in such expanded configuration, thus satisfying all a user's needs for an additional article of luggage.
• the present invention is directed to various embodiments of such folding foldable duffle bags, as next described.
• Figs. 1 -14 illustrate two basic types of 4-wheel folding duffles according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
• Figs. 1 -9 illustrate a first type of foldable duffle according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
• a foldable duffle arranged to be primarily held by a user at the top, where the duffle is oriented vertically.
• a handle for holding the duffle in its full extension horizontally there is a handle for holding the duffle in its full extension horizontally; however the easiest way to maneuver the piece is by rolling it on its four wheels in the vertical configuration and holding it at the top.
• a front pocket a zippered upper front flap, and the upper portion of the duffle is zippered so that the top portion can be opened.
• the entire front flap can also be attached and reattached via zippering.
• Near the bottom there is a horizontally placed zipper that runs around three sides and small portions of the fourth backside of the duffle. This can be used to detach the bottom portion of the duffle, swing it around so that it can be reversed, with the wheels turned inward, and the entire upper portion folded such that the duffle is fully collapsed.
• Fig. 2 illustrates a rear view of the exemplary foldable duffle of Fig. 1 .
• Visible in Fig. 2 at the top portion of the back side is a space for a business card or other identification of the luggage so that it can be readily identified in an airport or other public transport situation.
• the horizontal zipper which surrounds three sides does not go across the entire fourth (rear) side of the duffle.
• the band in the center of the rear panel is a kind of a cloth hinge about which the bottom portion of the foldable duffle can be swung for use in the collapsed state, as described more fully below.
• Figs. 3-8 illustrate the collapsing of the exemplary foldable duffle of Figs. 1 and 2 into a fully collapsed state, as shown in Fig. 8.
• the duffle is now shown in a configuration similar to that of Fig. 1 where the duffle has been spread out horizontally to rest on its rear panel, and the bottom portion has been separated from the remainder of the exemplary duffle by unzipping the zipper.
• the front flap has been entirely unzipped prior to folding, although this is not necessary, as shown in Fig. 4 below.
• the exemplary duffle can be collapsed without unzipping the front flap.
• FIG. 3 Further visible in Fig. 3 is the second rigid surface of the foldable duffle.
• An interesting feature of the exemplary foldable duffle of Figs. 1 -9 is that there are two rigid surfaces which define front and rear panels once the duffle is in its fully collapsed state, as shown in Fig. 8. As can be seen in Fig. 3 these are shown as two shaded planes which have piping or a frame on the perimeter; one is visible at the bottom portion of the duffle and it is the plane into which the four wheels are connected.
• the top rigid surface is the one that has been angled back so that it rests in a semi-horizontal orientation, at about an angle of 30° with the remainder of the upper portion which lies underneath it.
• Fig. 4 is identical to Fig. 3 except that the front flap of the exemplary foldable duffle has not been unzipped and therefore the upper portion of the foldable duffle will be folded over without unzipping the front flap.
• Fig. 4 is identical to Fig. 3.
• Fig. 5 is the view of Fig. 4 rotated 180° about an axis perpendicular to the page where the foldable duffle has also been flipped over or rotated about the plane of the paper by 180° as well.
• the four wheels have been turned inside out such that the ring of fabric comprising the bottom portion of the foldable duffle now surrounds the four wheels which are now contained within its interior. This reversal of the bottom panel of the bottom portion thus sets the stage for the foldable duffle to be fully collapsed. This process is shown as continuing in Fig. 6 where the upper portion of the foldable duffle is now shown on the bottom
• Figs. 3-6 Also seen in Figs. 3-6 is labeling of the two rigid panels of this exemplary foldable duffle for ease of identification and visualization of the collapsing process.
• the upper panel which is the bottom portion of the upper portion of the foldable duffle, is labeled as 310 or 410 or 510 (last two digits are always “10") in these figures, and the bottom panel which is the bottom most panel of the entire duffle and the supporting panel onto which the wheels are provided, is labeled as 320, 420 and 520, etc. (last two digits are always "20").
• Fig. 7 The process of folding continues as shown in Fig. 7 where the entire upper portion of the foldable duffle is now entirely within the bottom portion or bottom cup-like portion of the upper portion as shown in the foreground of Fig. 7.
• the arrow in Fig. 7 indicates that the upper portion of the foldable duffle - which has no rigid panels and therefore easily collapses -- needs to be folded completely within that cavity.
• Fig. 8 shows the top portion of Fig. 7 having been totally folded over and zipped onto the bottom portion of Fig. 7 such that now the bottom rigid panel 820 is on top and the upper rigid panel 810 is on the bottom.
• Fig. 8 also shows in the bottom image the same configuration as shown in the upper image except that an exemplary trademark is shown embossed, imprinted or painted onto the bottom panel 820, for example, as may be desired. This insignia is only visible in the collapsed state, as the rigid panels are only on exterior faces in such collapsed state.
• Fig. 9 synoptically recapitulates all of Figs. 1 -8 and therefore has seven (7) panels, as follows. Beginning from the upper left of Fig.
• Figs. 10 and 1 1 show an alternate exemplary embodiment of the 4-wheel folding duffle of Figs. 1 -9, where there is no structural panel provided in the top portion, i.e., the portion which does not contain the 4 wheels, of the duffle, which is thus all soft material. The only structure to the article thus being the horizontal surface on the bottom to which the 4 wheels are attached.
• FIG. 1 1 there are shown exemplary folding steps of the exemplary 4- wheel duffle of Fig. 10. With reference to the top left of Fig. 1 1 , the zipper is totally unzipped, and at 1 1 10 the wheels have been turned inside out. In the middle row of Fig.
• Fig. 12 is similar to Fig. 10, but shows an exemplary duffle with handles on the side as opposed to on the top. In all other respects it is similar to the duffle of Figs. 10-1 1 . 1210 presents a front view, and 1220 a rear or back view. Finally with reference to Fig. 13 the same folding steps as were illustrated in Fig. 1 1 are provided for the exemplary duffle of Fig. 12. Items 1310, 1320 and 1330 refer to analogous features and elements to elements 1 1 10, 1 120 and 1 130 of Fig. 1 1 , as described above. As noted, the main difference as regards this exemplary duffle lies in the handles provided along the front face of the duffle so that the duffle can be primarily held or carried in a horizontal position.
• Fig. 13 illustrates folding and rolling
• Fig. 13 illustrates simple rolling.
• Fig. 14 is a similar exemplary foldable duffle to that shown in Figs. 1 -9. It illustrates a different approach to the handles on the top of the duffle, where they extend a lesser amount upwards, and do not connect.
• 1410 presents a front view, and 1420 a rear or back view.
• Various exemplary folding steps are shown at 1430.
• the zipper is unzipped completely, leaving the two portions of the bag connected at a small hinge like swath of material running across most of the rear side of the duffle.
• This swath can be reinforced, for example, and can be made of various materials besides cloth, fabric or animal hide, for example, such as metal or the like.
• the swath or hinge can be made of the same material as is used in the upper portion and the lower portion of the duffle, the same material as used in the upper portion and the lower portion, but strengthened and reinforced, or from a different material than that used in the upper portion and the lower portion of the duffle.
• the upper portion of the bag has begun to be folded on itself.
• the bottom band of material has now been folded downward so as to cover or encompass the wheels - which are now upside down in an inverted position.
• the upper portion of the bag can be tri-folded so as to conveniently fit within the remainder of the top portion, and in folding step (4) it is fully fit within the remainder of the top portion.
• the bottom part of the top portion (just above the zipper band) has a substantially horizontal surface, which now becomes - in the inverted and collapsed bag, one of the two semi-rigid surfaces of the final form, as described above in connection with Figs. 1 -9.
• this horizontal surface As framed by a ring of material connected to it, which is the bottom of the upper portion of the duffle, that the remainder of the upper portion of the duffle is fit into, as shown at 1430(4).
• This surface can be made somewhat more rigid, such as by using padding or other structuring elements, for example, as well as wire, carbon fiber or other materials provided around its perimeter, as shown.
• one or both of the horizontal surfaces can be reinforced with one of padding, thicker material, a mesh structure, a honeycomb structure, and/or a frame along its perimeter.
• the frame for example, can be made from one or more of wire, carbon fibers, and dowels.
• folding step 5 the bottom portion is now folded back over the top portion such that the former bottom portion is now on top, with wheels inverted, and the zipper is once again zipped together. This time, however, the entire upper portion is folded inside and it assumes the carrying case configuration as shown in folding step 5.
• Figs. 15 through 54 are next described. These figures are photographs of two exemplary foldable duffles according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
• Figs. 1 -9 and Fig. 14 the red one with the "Biaggi" logo, with two rigid side panels
• Figs. 10-13 the blue one, with only one rigid side panel
• the first type has essentially two similar rigid portions which are zipped together such that there is a rigid wire or structure on both of faces of the finished closed zipped up bag.
• the other prototype version similar to the design shown in Figs. 10-13, has only one face which is rigid and the other face is non-rigid.
• the advantage of the only one rigid face version is that it has a smaller thickness relative to the first type and may, in various exemplary uses, be preferred, whereas in other exemplary uses, the first type may be preferred.
• Figs. 15 and 16 there is seen the two rigid face version and single rigid face version respectively shown in red and blue, and Figs. 17 and 18 show the opposite views of both of these articles.
• Figs. 19 through 35 focus on the two rigid face version, the bag shown in red, next described.
• Fig. 19 With reference to Fig. 19, one can see the bag unzipped from its collapsed state and the upper portion of the bag now visible.
• Fig. 20 shows the upper portion having been pulled outside of the top rigid portion and resting on the blue bag.
• Fig. 21 is a close up of the bottom rigid panel of the bag in which the wheels are provided, as shown, in the collapsed state so that the wheels are pointing towards the inner portion of the bag.
• Fig. 22 shows the wheels now being reversed to their normal fully extended
• Fig. 23 shows the configuration of Fig. 22 where the bottom panel has now been folded underneath the upper portion of the bag so that it can be zipped as shown in Fig. 24, and thus the bottom portion of the bag which gives it some structure and contains the panel holding the wheels is now fully attached to the upper portion of the bag as shown in Fig. 25.
• Fig. 25 is the bag shown in essentially its totally extended state, here laid on a surface horizontally. In some cases this is how it would be carried, but in others it would be carried from the top handles (so that it can be rolled on the wheels) and it would be thus provided in a vertical state.
• Fig. 26 is a bottom view of the configuration of Fig. 25, showing the wheels in the bottom panel of the foldable duffle and showing the bottom portion of the foldable duffle now zipped to the upper portion of the bag.
• Fig. 27 is a rear view of the configuration shown in Figs. 25 and 26, and
• Fig. 28 is a view of the front and top portion of the same configuration.
• Fig. 29 is an alternate rear view also showing one side of the foldable duffle. It is noted that the face of the foldable bag in its collapsed state can be provided with a trademark identifying the bag. In the depicted configuration, the trademark can be placed on the inside portion of the bottom panel to which the wheels are fixed.
• Fig. 30 illustrates the feature where the bag is once again in the process of being collapsed so the first step is to take the bag, unzip the bottom portion from the top portion and, as can be seen, when this is done there are two faces which come into contact with each other, one fitting inside the other, when the wheels are exposed.
• Fig. 30 illustrates the change from Fig. 30 to Fig. 31 where the former outside face of the bag as collapsed, which has the trademark printed on it, now becomes the bottom panel of the foldable duffle in the expanded state and the wheels protrude from it, as shown in Fig. 31 .
• the trademark now being on the underside, on the same panel form which the wheels protrude. What is also seen in Fig.
• Fig. 32 illustrates a re-collapsing process of the bag which ultimately ends in the configuration shown in Fig. 15.
• the bag has been turned so that its rear portion is upwards and the bottom portion has been flipped so that the wheels now point to the interior of the bag in contrast to the configuration shown in Fig. 31 where they point outwards from, and to the exterior of the bag.
• the upper portion of the bag will need to be folded on itself such that it fits within the lower (rigid) portion of the upper portion of the duffle and so that those two can then be folded together to reach the configuration shown in Fig. 15.
• This process is shown continuing in Fig. 33, where essentially the upper portion of the bag -- which was totally spread out in Fig.
• Figs. 36-54 refer to the blue colored exemplary foldable duffle, as shown in Figs. 16 and 17, and as also shown schematically in Figs. 10-13.
• Figs. 36 and 37 are front and rear views, respectively, of the exemplary single rigid panel foldable duffle according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
• Figs. 36 and 37 are views of the fully collapsed and zipped up configuration of the same article, where the duffle can be carried as a small attache case.
• Fig. 38 illustrates the beginning of an unfolding or expansion phase for the exemplary foldable duffle of Figs. 36 and 37.
• the duffle's horizontal zipper has been unzipped, but otherwise the article is unchanged. Therefore, in the top half of Fig.
• Fig. 39 shows the upper portion now being unfolded and unrolled but the bottom portion is still in its reverse wheels-in state.
• Fig. 40 shows the completion of the unfolding of the upper portion of the duffle.
• Fig. 41 shows the bottom portion now reversed so that the wheels protrude from the bottom panel in the normal expanded configuration, and the band/ring of cloth which comprised the walls of the bottom portion of the duffle in the collapsed state now points upwards and lies above the plane of the bottom plate from which the wheels protrude. All that remains here is to zip the bottom portion of the duffle to the bottom part of the upper portion of the duffle, resulting in the configuration of Fig. 42 resulting in the expanded state.
• Fig. 43 is a rear view of Fig. 42.
• Fig. 44 shows a user pulling the duffle to its full extendable vertical state by pulling on the handles provided on top.
• Fig. 45 is a side view of the top as seen in Fig. 44, showing the two handles and the extended -- but otherwise collapsed - volume of the duffle.
• Fig. 46 shows once again the view of Fig. 44 in what is now the beginning of a re-collapsing sequence of images. These are presented so that it can be easily appreciated how the foldable duffle is re-collapsed to the fully collapsed state.
• Fig. 47 shows the same view as in Fig. 47; however, now the top portion has been rolled on itself and the bottom portion has been flipped over in preparation for flipping the cloth band so that it can encompass the wheels which will point to the interior of the bag. The reversing of the wheels as accomplished is shown in Fig. 49, which is the configuration of Fig. 48 flipped over, where the band of fabric is now reversed and encompassing/containing the wheels.
• Fig. 50 shows the same configuration shown in Fig. 49 but now the upper portion of the duffle is beginning to be folded on itself. This process is completed as shown in Fig. 51 where the upper portion of the duffle has been totally rolled upon itself.
• Fig. 52 shows that rolled up portion of the upper duffle now folded over so that it covers the bottom portion holding the wheels, and
• Fig. 53 shows the zippering of the configuration shown in Fig. 52, but in a side view.
• Fig. 54 shows the entire collapsible bag zippered and presented as an easy attache type case.
• Fig. 54 On the right side of the image in Fig. 54 is the soft surface with no piping, padding or reinforcing, which contains the rolled up upper portion of the duffle within it.
• the surface now seen as an outer surface at the right side of Fig. 54 is an interior piece of cloth or other material that rests inside the bottom portion of the upper portion of the duffle when it is in its expanded state, as shown, for example, in Fig. 41 , where on the bottom or underside of the upper portion of the duffle is that same surface now seen as the outer surface in the right side of Fig. 54.
• This surface is labeled A and indicated by the arrow in Figs. 41 , 48, 52 and 54 for easy tracking visually of where the surface is at various stages in expanding and collapsing.

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• Purses, Travelling Bags, Baskets, Or Suitcases (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (10)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=49769456

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (1)

Cited By (1)

Citations (5)

• 2013
  • 2013-06-21 WO PCT/US2013/047191 patent/WO2013192595A1/fr not_active Ceased

Patent Citations (5)

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