Handle structure for adjusting direction

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6530459
  • Patent Number
    6,530,459
  • Date Filed
    Friday, December 28, 2001
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, March 11, 2003
    21 years ago
Abstract
A handle structure for adjusting directions of a luggage handle includes a handle located on the top end of the luggage to fasten to the extensible pulling bars of the luggage. The handle consists of a front frame and a rear frame coupling to form a handle section. In the handle section, a depressing member is provided which has a bottom to contact a push stem. The push stem is formed in an inverse T shape. The push stem is housed in an anchor seat which consists of an upper seat and a lower seat. The upper seat has a retain trough to engage with the push stem. The anchor seat also has a depressing plate which has two ends located above two openings of the lower seat to contact control bars of a control element. Depressing the push button of the depressing member, the push stem may be disengaged from the retain trough of the anchor seat to allow the handle turning to an angle or direction desired. Releasing the depressing member, the push stem will be engaged with the retain trough again to anchor the handle at the selected angle or direction.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The invention relates to a handle structure for adjusting direction and particularly a handle adapted for use on luggage and is capable of adjusting direction.




2. Description of the Prior Art




The commonly used luggage or trunks generally have a handle which is fixedly mounted in one direction (mostly in parallel with the luggage). It is not flexible and cannot meet different requirements of consumers. The luggage thus made have functional deficiency and lack competitiveness on the market. There are still rooms for improvement.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




In view of aforesaid disadvantages, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a handle that is adjustable to various directions.




The handle according to the invention includes a handle section which consists of a front frame and a rear frame, and a depressing member located in the handle section. The depressing member has a bottom to contact a push stem which is formed in an inverse T shape. The push stem is housed in an anchor seat which consists of an upper seat and a lower seat. Through the push stem, the handle may be turned on the anchor seat thereby to change and adjust the direction and angle of the handle.




The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING





FIG. 1

is a perspective view of the invention adapted to a luggage.





FIG. 2

is an exploded view of the invention.





FIG. 3

is a sectional view of the invention.





FIG. 4

is a top view of the invention.





FIG. 5

is a schematic view of the invention in use.





FIG. 6

is a schematic view of the invention for adjusting angles.





FIG. 7

is a top view of the invention at various adjusting angles.





FIG. 8

is a schematic top view of another embodiment of the invention.











DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




Referring to

FIGS. 1 through 4

, the invention mainly includes a handle


20


bridging the top ends of two pulling bars


11


of a luggage


10


. The handle


20


can control a control element of the pulling bars


11


to extend or retract the pulling bars


11


(such a technique is known in the art, and forms no part of the invention, thus will be omitted). The handle


20


includes a front frame


31


to couple with a rear frame


32


to form a handle section


30


. In the handle section


30


, there is a depressing member


40


which has a center on the bottom to contact a push stem


50


. The push stem


50


is housed in an anchor seat


70


which consists of an upper seat


71


and a lower seat


72


. In the anchor seat


70


, there is a depressing plate


60


.




In the handle section


30


, the front frame


31


and the rear frame


32


are similarly formed with a same exterior shape, and have respectively an opening


311


,


321


in the center to couple together for forming a grip section


33


. The front frame


31


and the rear frame


32


further have respectively a channel


312


,


322


, formed in the interior around the periphery thereof to house the depressing member


40


. At the center of the top end of the front frame


31


and the rear frame


32


, there are respectively an indented arch


313


,


323


to couple together for forming an aperture


35


. At the center of the bottom of the front frame


31


and the rear frame


32


, there are respectively a semi-circular jutting stub


314


,


324


which may be coupled together to form a coupling strut


36


. In the jutting stub


324


of the rear frame


32


, there is a retain pin


325


. When the frames


31


and


32


are coupled together to form the handle section


30


, two fasten plates


34


may be attached to two sides of the handle section


30


and may be fastened to the frames


31


,


32


by means of screws


341


for coupling the frames


31


and


32


securely.




The depressing member


40


is housed in the channels


312


,


322


of the handle section


30


, and has a push button


41


located at the center of the top end thereof. The push button


41


is housed in the aperture


35


of the handle section


30


and extended outside thereof.




The push stem


50


includes an upright bar


51


and a transverse bar


52


attached to the bottom of the upright bar


51


to form an inverse T shape. The transverse bar


52


has two ends forming wedge sections. The upright bar


51


further has a slot


53


formed there on for holding the retain pin


325


of the handle section


30


.




The depressing plate


60


is an elongated element which has a pair of through bores


61


.




The upper seat


71


and lower seat


72


of the anchor seat


70


have a similar exterior shape. The upper seat


71


has a retain trough


711


formed in the center on the top section to couple with the coupling strut


36


of the handle section


30


. The retain trough


711


has two retain slots


712


,


713


engageable with the two wedge sections of the transverse bar


52


. The lower seat


72


has a pair of openings


721


formed on two ends thereof to allow control bars


12


of the element to pass through. The upper and lower seat


71


,


72


further have respectively a pair of corresponding struts


722


,


714


to couple with the bores


61


of the depressing plate


60


. The upper seat


71


and the lower seat


72


may be fastened together by means of screws through the struts


722


and


714


.




When in use for adjusting the height of the pulling bars


11


of the luggage


10


(as shown in FIG.


5


), users may do so by following, general operation procedures, i.e. depress the push button


40


to move the push stem


50


downwards. The depressing plate


60


will be pushed downwards and depress the control bars


12


thereby adjust the height of the pulling bars


11


(the depressing movement of the control bars


12


is a technique known in the art, thus will be omitted). Referring to

FIGS. 5 and 6

, when there is a desire to adjust the angle of the handle


20


, depress the push button


41


of the depressing member


40


to move the push stem


50


downwards, the wedge sections of the transverse bar


52


will be moved away and disengaged from the retain slots


712


of the retain trough


711


, then the handle section


30


may be turned and adjusted to a selected angle. Then release the depressing member


40


, the control bars


12


are free from the external force and will be pushed to their original positions by springs


121


. The depressing plate


60


will also be moved to its original position, and the push stem


50


will be moved upwards and engaged with another set of the retain slot


713


(as shown in

FIG. 7

) without sliding downwards. The embodiment shown in the drawings has two pairs of retain slots


712


,


713


in the retain trough


711


for adjusting the handle in parallel with or normal to the luggage.




Referring to

FIG. 8

for another embodiment of the invention, the retain trough


711


′ in the upper seat


71


′ may be a spline bore to allow the handle turning and anchoring in a multiple-stage manner. The wedge section of the push stem also has a spline profile to match and engage with the spline bore.




By means of aforesaid constructions, the handle of luggage or trunks can be turned and adjusted to an angle desired, thus can overcome the disadvantages of the conventional luggage or trunks.




While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.



Claims
  • 1. A handle structure for adjusting directions, comprising:a handle located on a top section of a luggage including a front frame and a rear frame, the front frame and the rear frame being coupled to form a handle section, the handle section having a depressing member located therein, the depressing member having a bottom section which has a center to contact a push stem which is formed in an inverse T shape; and an anchor seat located below the handle section for housing the push stem, the anchor seat including an upper seat and a lower seat coupling with each other, the upper seat having a retain trough to engage with the push stem; wherein the depressing member is depressible downwards to make the push stem disengaging from retain slots formed in the retain trough of the anchor seat for turning the handle, and when the depressing member is released after the handle was turned, the push stem is engaged with the retain trough.
  • 2. The handle structure of claim 1, wherein:the front frame and the rear frame of the handle section have substantially a same exterior shape and have respectively an opening in the center thereof to couple together for forming a handgrip, and a channel in the interior around the periphery thereof for housing the depressing member, the front frame and the rear frame further have respectively an indented arch formed at the center of a top end thereof to couple and form an aperture, and have respectively a semi-circular jutting stub located at the center of a bottom end to couple together and form a coupling strut, the jutting stub of the rear frame having a retain pin, the front frame and the rear frame being coupled to form the handle section; the push stem has an upright bar which has a slot for coupling the retain pin of the handle section and a bottom section forming a wedge section; and the upper seat and the lower seat of the anchor seat have substantially a same exterior shape, the upper seat having a retain trough formed in the center thereof to house the coupling strut of the handle, the retain trough having the retain slots to engage with the wedge section of the push stem, the lower seat having two sides each having an opening to allow control bars of a control element to pass through, the upper seat and the lower seat further have respectively a pair of struts corresponding to each other to engage with a screw for fastening the upper seat and the lower seat together.
  • 3. The handle structure of claim 1 or 2, wherein the anchor seat has a depressing plate which has two ends located above the openings of the lower seat to contact the control bars of the control element.
  • 4. The handle structure of claim 2, wherein the retain trough has two or more sets of the retain slots to engage with the wedge section of the push stem.
  • 5. The handle structure of claim 2, wherein the retain trough is a spline bore to provide a multiple-stage anchoring and positioning effect, the wedge section of the push stem having a spline shape to match and engage with the retain trough.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Number Name Date Kind
5713441 Chen Feb 1998 A
5884362 Tsai Mar 1999 A
6009598 Chang Jan 2000 A
6301746 Myers et al. Oct 2001 B1
6317924 Gallagher Nov 2001 B1
6332242 Chen Dec 2001 B1
6409207 Kuo Jun 2002 B1
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry
Kuo, U.S. 2002/0014382 A1, Feb. 7, 2002.*
Kuo, U.S. 2001/0040080 A1, Nov. 15, 2001.