Patent Application
20050224304
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to collapsible luggage. More specifically, the present invention relates to a collapsible utility bag capable of fitting in a gym locker or under an airplane seat. The present invention further includes a shelf or divider.
2. Description of the Prior Art (Point Out Disadvantages of Prior Art)
Bags and suitcases are available in a variety of sizes and shapes. Bags sized to fit in a gym locker or under an airplane seat are well known in the art. Also described in the prior art are various methods to make a suitcase collapsible for convenient and less expensive shipping, or storage in less space. Various luggage or bags with dividers or shelves are also well known.
Collapsible luggage is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,655,329 to Kaneko. This conventionally collapsible luggage has a pocket on the lower part of each side walls. The pocket accepts the lower end of a removable hard side reinforcing insert. The upper ends of the removable side reinforcing inserts are fixed to the upper part of the side walls by other fastening means, for example hook and loop fasteners. There is a hard bottom board and a ceiling board. The soft sides and front and rear faces may be folded up for storage when the hard side reinforcing inserts are removed. The disadvantage of Kaneko's invention, with a single side pocket design, is that the hook and loop fastener can become easily dislodged. The luggage would then unexpectedly collapse during use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,008 (reissued as Re. 34,361) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,802 (a continuation in part of the preceding referenced '008 patent) to Pratt describe a utility bag sized to fit into an athletic locker or under the seat of an airplane. The bag has transversely positioned generally rectangular rigid frame members that are fixed in position. A fabric door is attached along a vertical side wall edge. A folding generally rigid divider panel is provided. Neither the bag nor the bag frame are collapsible. Furthermore, the attachment of the door along a vertical side wall edge is disadvantages. When the bag is located towards the rear of a gym locker, it is difficult to fully open the fabric door for full access to the interior of the bag. Also, fully opening the fabric door will block access to a neighboring side locker.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,664 to Shyr describes a collapsible utility bag with a hinged door and a plurality of shelves. The intermediary shelves are removable and are supported by a flexible suspension structure. A rigid bottom shelf is disposed along the bottom wall of the bag, permanently attached at the rearward frame member by a hinge attachment and reversibly attached to the forward frame member. To collapse the bag, the bottom shelf is rotated upwardly along the hinge attachment. The flexible side walls are supported by a pair of opposed, generally rectangular rigid frame members. The attachment of the bottom shelf at the opposed frame members imparts the rigidity to the bag. The disadvantage of these frame members is that they must either be thick and therefore heavy and bulky, or if thin, are predisposed to bending or breakage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,526 (a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,662) to Jacober discloses a self supporting, selectively collapsible soft walled carrier. The carrier is made of a plurality of pliable panels. The panel construction is described as an inner and an outer web layer having overlying peripheral edges and a resilient foam sheet layer intermediate the inner and outer layers. A foam sheet of between ¼ inch to 1¼ inches is described. The resilient pliable top and bottom panels include an intermediate fold line which permits each of these panels to be folded inwardly, permitting the sidewalls of the carrier to be brought together into a collapsed condition. A removable resilient pliable end panel insert is further provided for additional support. The other panels are not removable. A shelf member is also described. There are several disadvantages to this design. When collapsed, the folded top and bottom panels, combined with the side panels, result in a thickness of foam of at least one inch, up to five inches. Furthermore, pliable foam panels are not very rigid, and repeated folding of the top and bottom panels in likely to result in premature wear of this bag.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for a collapsible utility bag that will fit in an athletic locker or under a commercial airplane seat.
Another object of the present invention is to provide for a collapsible utility bag that is rigid when assembled, durable, and unlikely to collapse unexpectedly.
Still another object of this invention is to provide for a collapsible utility bag that has a conveniently hinged opening panel and provides for attachment of at least one shelf or divider.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide for a collapsible utility bag that folds to a very small size for economical shipping and convenient storage when not in use.
The objects of this invention are accomplished by a soft sided utility bag with removable inserts. There are two side walls, a bottom wall, and a top wall delineating a front rectangular opening and a rear rectangular opening. The rear rectangular opening is supported by a generally rectangular rigid frame, for example of wire, and is sealed by a rear wall. Hingedly attached to the front rectangular opening is a door. The door has a generally rectangular rigid frame, for example of wire, that matches the frame on the rear rectangular opening. In the preferred embodiment, the door is hingedly attached to the front edge of the bottom wall. A zipper closure is provided to join the door to the front rectangular opening. The inner side of the door may further contain storage compartments. In the preferred embodiment, the side walls each have an upper pocket and a lower pocket. A rigid side panel removably inserts between the upper pocket and corresponding lower pocket on each side, thus providing rigid support to the side walls. A rigid bottom panel is hingedly attached to the rear edge of the bottom wall and is capable of being fastened to the front portion of the bottom wall by fastening means, for example hook and loop fasteners. A rigid top panel is hingedly attached to the rear edge of the top wall and is capable of being fastened to the front portion of the top wall by fastening means, for example hook and loop fasteners. Web like straps may detachably attach to the rigid side panels and are capable of supporting a rigid detachable shelf. The utility bag is collapsed by removing the shelf, removing the rigid side panels from the side wall pockets, detaching the front of the bottom panel and folding it against the rear wall, detaching the front of the top panel and folding it against the rear wall, and then moving the door and front rectangular opening towards the real wall.
In at least one other embodiment, instead of an upper pocket and lower pocket on each side, the rigid side panels insert into a zippered compartment.
The method of collapsing the utility bag comprises removing the side panels from each of the upper pockets and lower pockets of the side walls, pivoting the bottom panel and the top panel towards each other to abut the rear wall, and then moving the front rectangular opening towards the rear wall to collapse the utility bag.
The advantage of the present invention is that the utility bag of the present invention is collapsible to a very thin space for shipping or storage. The bag may be quickly assembled into a rigid form. The semirigid side panels are very securely held in place by the side wall pockets and will ensure that the bag will not unexpectedly collapse. The front and rear generally rectangular rigid frames are very thin, and yet provide excellent support when combined with the rigid side panels. By hinging the door to the bottom of the front rectangular opening, the bag may be fully opened without interfering with neighboring lockers on either side.
Another advantage of the utility bag of the present invention is that it may be used as an advertising vehicle. The bag, with advertising imprinted upon it, may be distributed in expanded form to attendees of a convention. The bag may be filled at the convention with various brochures, literature, and samples. The bag may then be collapsed and conveniently placed within other luggage for the trip home.
The preferred embodiment of the utility bag of the present invention comprises two side walls connected with a top wall and a bottom wall to form a generally rectangular cavity with a generally rectangular front opening and a generally rectangular rear opening; a rear wall connected with said generally rectangular rear opening; a door hingedly connected with an edge of said generally rectangular front opening; a rigid bottom panel hingedly connected with an edge of said bottom wall; a rigid top panel hingedly connected with an edge of said top wall; removable side panels capable of being removably retained against each of said side walls; means for removably retaining each of said side panels to each of said side walls; and; a zipper closure connected with said door, and further connected with the front rectangular opening, wherein the periphery of said door may be closed to the periphery of said front rectangular opening.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein only the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawing and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as exhaustive or restrictive.
The accompanying Figures depict embodiments of the present invention, and features and components thereof. Unless specifically otherwise disclosed or taught, materials for making components of the present invention are selected from appropriate materials such as metal, metallic alloys, natural or synthetic fibers, plastics and the like, and appropriate manufacturing or production methods including casting, extruding, molding, sewing, and machining may be used.
Any references to front and back, right and left, top and bottom, superior and inferior, upper and lower, inner and outer, medial and lateral, and horizontal and vertical are intended for convenience of description, not to limit the present invention or its components to any one positional or spacial orientation.
The foregoing objects, features, advantages and preferred embodiments of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring more specifically to the drawings, there is illustrated in
Referring now to
Referring now to
The present invention further comprises at least one rigid bottom panel 560 that is capable of providing support to the bottom wall 500, and at least one rigid top panel 360 that is capable of providing support to the top wall 300. The rigid bottom panel 560 is preferably hingedly attached to a rear edge of the bottom wall 500 and is capable of being fastened to a front portion of the bottom wall 500 by fastening means, for example hook and loop fasteners. The rigid top panel 360 is hingedly attached to a rear edge of the top wall 300 and is capable of being fastened to a front portion of the top wall 300 by fastening means, for example hook and loop fasteners. When the bag is collapsed, the bottom panel 560 and the top panel 360 are pivoted to a position where they lay flat against each other and the rear panel 400. Alternatively, the top panel 360 and the bottom panel 560 may be completely removable and capable of detachable fastening to the top wall 300 and bottom wall 500 respectively. Fastening means could include, for example, hook and loop fasteners or retaining pockets.
Referring now also to
As shown in
Another advantage of the utility bag of the present invention is that it may be used as an advertising vehicle. The bag, with advertising imprinted upon it, may be distributed in expanded form to attendees of a convention. The bag may be filled at the convention with various brochures, literature, and samples. The bag may then be collapsed and conveniently placed within other luggage for the trip home.
The method of expanding and collapsing the utility bag of the present invention will now be described in more detail. Referring to
Referring now to
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential spirit or attributes thereof. It is desired that the embodiments described herein be considered in all respects as illustrative, not restrictive, and that reference be made to the appended claims for determining the scope of the invention.
