Device to transport suitcases

A portable baggage carrier having the form of a shallow enclosed housing has straps for securing the carrier to one side of a suitcase. A side panel of the housing opens to provide access to a pair of wheels pivotably mounted to lie flat within the carrier, which extend downwardly below the carrier and articulate through 90 degrees upon being deployed to an operative position. A collapsible handle also is stored within the housing, being accessible through the side panel for attachment to the top of the carrier. Closure of the side panel with the wheels deployed serves to lock the wheels in their extended position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention is directed to a wheeled carrier device and in particular to 
a baggage carrier device having wheels retractable within the device. 
The public is well acquainted with a large number of wheeled devices, 
generally of a collapsible nature, for use by the travelling public in 
handling their baggage. Many of these collapsible devices of the prior art 
are adapted for removable attachment to one side or to the bottom of the 
luggage, so as to travel in the baggage hold of an aircraft as a part of 
the luggage while being readily extensible when required by the owner, to 
facilitate handling of the luggage. Other, generally older types are 
incorporated into the actual construction of the luggage. 
Certain examples of the prior art, of the types referred to above, are to 
be found in the following United States patents; 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,002,836 Rossi, May 28th, 1935 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,539,993 Davis, Jan. 30th, 1951 
U.S. Pat. No. 2,602,675 Forman July 8th, 1952 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,953 Royet, Oct. 22, 1974 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,392 Hartway, Feb. 11th, 1975 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,252 Cassimally, June 1st, 1976 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,624 Royet, Feb. 9th, 1982 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,895 Walker, June 22nd, 1982 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,897, Libit, Mar. 26th, 1985 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,055 Chen, May 13th, 1986. 
In the case of the built-in arrangements, these are not generally suitable 
for use with present day types of luggage, especially soft-sided luggage, 
as they require large rigid support structures. 
The strap-on type of device in the prior art are typified by their 
heaviness and complexity of design and the presence of a miscellany of 
projecting components which can cause snagging, hang-ups and even injury 
to the baggage handlers and their equipment. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention provides a lightweight hand portable baggage handling 
device incorporating an enveloping housing within which the requisite 
functional components of the device may be readily and rapidly concealed. 
The improved device has, in its retracted configuration, the general 
appearance of a thin briefcase and can be secured by a strap to the side 
of a suitcase without adding unduly to the weight or bulk of the luggage 
item, and in such configuration presents no substantial projecting members 
to cause hang ups or damage. The device may thus be left strapped to the 
luggage during transport, without significant loss of luggage space, or 
weight penalty. A small pair of projecting tabs positioned along a lower 
edge provide the attachment points for the securing straps, on which tabs 
the suitcase lower edge can rest. In this manner the securing straps also 
act as a safety device to prevent accidental opening of the luggage in 
transit. 
When required for use, a pair of wheels are deployed from their stored, 
flattened condition within the housing, to an extended position beneath 
the housing, being articulated into spaced, mutually parallel relation. A 
collapsible telescopic handle is withdrawn from inside the housing and 
secured exteriorly thereof, to facilitate handling of the luggage. The 
handle length may be optionally adjusted for ease of use by persons of 
different size, without the need for changes to the remainder of the 
device. Moreover, the unique design allows the entire load being carried 
to sit generally perpendicular over the wheels, thus substantially 
eliminating strain on the operator. 
In the preferred embodiment, the operable back cover of the housing serves, 
in the closed position, to lock the deployed wheels in their operative 
position. 
The present invention thus provides a hand transportable baggage carrier 
having a main wall and a plurality of shallow peripheral side wall 
portions extending generally transversely therefrom to define a housing. 
At least one wheel is rotatably mounted on an axle with a stem portion 
adapted adjacent one end for supporting the axle and having a 
substantially planar bent portion adjacent its opposite other end, said 
bent portion lying in a plane inclined at substantially 45 degrees to the 
axis of the axle. A pivot means is located within the housing, and has a 
pivotal axis inclined at an angle of substantially 45 degrees from the 
main wall, the bent portion being secured to the pivot means in pivotal 
relation therewith for pivoting displacement of the stem portion and said 
axle whereby in a first, retracted position, the wheel is positioned 
substantially within the housing in substantially parallel relation with 
the main wall, and when deployed for use, is positioned in a second, 
extended position substantially outside the housing in operative 
underlying relation thereto, with the wheel at substantially a right angle 
to the main wall, the device having locking means for selectively securing 
the wheel in its second, deployed position. 
The present invention, by use of a simple inclined pivot located within the 
housing and a correspondingly bent portion of the stem portion from which 
the respective wheel is supported, achieves articulation of the wheel 
through 90 degrees, while the stem portion is displaced through 180 
degrees, from a first, retracted position to a second, deployed position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
FIG. 1 shows the baggage carrier 10, in its retracted condition, secured in 
strapped relation to a suitcase 21, so as to form a composite unit, 
suitable for consignment to airlines baggage handlers, or for stowage in a 
car trunk. 
As shown in FIG. 2, the hand transportable baggage carrier 10 of the 
present invention has a removeable back cover 11 which is rigid, and which 
conceals, within a housing 16, a pair of wheels 12, 12 supportingly 
mounted for rotation upon a fork member 13. The wheels 12, 12 are 
perferably of relatively large diameter, for example, 6", so as to allow 
the operator to run the carrier 10 up and down curbs with relative ease. 
The housing 16 is defined by a main wall 53, having an exterior front face 
23 and an interior rear face 48, and by top 17, side 51 and 52, and bottom 
25 peripheral walls. In the preferred embodiment illustrated, these 
elements are integrally moulded of fibreglass or plastic material to form 
a rigid, lightweight unitary structure, but such integration is not 
essential to the invention, so long as the peripheral walls 17, 25, 51 and 
52 are connected to one another to form a rigid housing frame. 
The housing 16 is adapted to contain, in the retracted configuration of the 
carrier 10, a collapsed telescopic handle 14. The handle 14 has a square 
section for insertion into a similarly profiled tubular coupling 15 which 
coupling is centrally positioned along the top peripheral wall 17 of 
carrier 10, so as to open into the housing 16. 
The removeable back cover 11 has a pair of cranked clips 19 for insertion 
beneath an inturned flange portion 38 of the top peripheral wall 17, and 
an opposed pair of release handles 20, 20 are pivotally mounted on the 
inside of the back cover 11. As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 6, the handles 20 
each slidingly engage, by means of notch 34, a latch pin 18, which pin is 
mounted for longitudinal sliding movement in bored mounting blocks 33, 33. 
A spring 35 surrounds the pin 18 so as to bias it and the notchingly 
engaged release handle 20 to the closed position, whereat the free end 36 
of the pin 18 engages an inturned flange portion 29 of a bottom peripheral 
wall 25 of the housing 16. Operative access to the release handles 20, 20 
is by means of a corresponding pair of finger holes 40, 40. Any other 
suitable latching means can be readily adopted for holding the bottom edge 
of the back cover 11 in place on the housing 16. 
A pair of lips 22 project outwardly and forwardly from the bottom 
peripheral wall 25 of the housing 16, upon which lips can rest a piece of 
luggage 21, the luggage being secured in place against the front face 23 
of the main wall 53 by means of a V-strap 24 secured at its mid-point to a 
top strap 27 by means of an adjustable buckle 26. The two free ends of the 
V-strap 24 are permanently affixed one each to the lips 22, 22. The 
straight strap 27 is permanently affixed to the top peripheral wall 17 of 
the housing 16. The buckle 26 allows snug fitting adjustment of the straps 
24 and 27 around the suitcase 21. 
As best seen in FIG. 4, the telescopic handle 14 has a bottom pivotal catch 
member 40a which is spring biased for securement of the handle 14 to the 
tubular coupling 15, whose upper edge 15a protrudes slightly above the top 
wall 17 of the housing 16 to present a slot 41 for engagement by the catch 
member 40a. A second spring biased catch member 42, similar in 
construction to lower catch member 40a, is mounted adjacent to the top 
edge 43 of the handle 14, so as to engage, through slot 46, a slot 45 in 
the telescopically slidable inner tubular portion 44 of the handle 14, 
when the handle 14 is fully extended, thereby to hold the handle 14 in the 
fully extended configuration. 
A chain 30, having a terminal snap-clip (not shown), is secured to the top 
edge 17 of the carrier 10 so as to permit the securing of a second 
suitcase 55 in piggy-back relation to the case 21, by insertion of the 
chain 30 around the handle of the second case (see FIG. 7), whereafter it 
is clipped back upon itself by way of the snap-clip. A small padlock (not 
shown) may also be used to lock the chain 30 upon itself thus preventing 
theft of the carrier from the luggage. As seen in FIG. 8, where the two 
suitcases 21a and 55a are properly positioned, the top surfaces 32 of the 
suitcases 21a and 55 may be used as a platform for a third piece of 
smaller luggage, garment bags etc. (not shown). 
Each fork member 13 has an end stem portion 31 skewed at 45 degrees from 
the plane of the wheel 12. Each stem portion is pivotably secured by a 
pivot bolt 47 to a bracket 37 rigidly mounted within the housing. The 
internal side surfaces 61 of brackets 37 are inwardly inclined at an angle 
of substantially 45 degrees to the inner surface 48 of the front face 23 
of the main wall 53. The pivot bolt 47 extends substantially normal to 
said side surfaces 61 of each bracket 37, connecting the end stem portion 
31 of the fork-stem 13 to the bracket, for pivotal movement about the bolt 
47. 
In the position of retraction illustrated in FIG. 2 and in phantom outline 
in FIG. 5, the wheels 12 are positioned generally parallel to the inner 
surface 48 of the main wall 53. As the wheels 12 are pivotted downwardly 
and outwardly from the interior of the housing 16, the cooperating 
inclined side surfaces 61 and the skewed complementary angle of end stem 
portion 31 causes an articulating reorientation of the wheels 12. When the 
fully extended portion is reached (as shown in solid lines in FIG. 5), the 
place of the wheels 12 is inclined at substantially right angles to the 
plane of the front 23 and inner 48 of the main wall 53 in fully 
operational relation therewith, as also shown in FIGS. 3 and 7. 
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, edge portions 49 of the back cover 11 extend, 
when the cover is in the closed and latched position, into corresponding 
recesses 50 defined by the lower peripheral wall 25 of the housing, so as 
to abut against the stem portions 31, 31 thereby to preclude their 
rearward pivotting about pivot bolts 47. Thus, the wheels 12 are secured 
substantially immoveable in their operative position by the rear cover 11. 
In use, the baggage carrier 10 is secured, in its retracted condition, to a 
piece or pieces of luggage, in which condition the luggage is suited for 
manual handling, automated baggage handling, stowage in a car trunk or 
aircraft, etc. 
The carrier 10 is readily deployed by removing the back 11, pivotting the 
wheels 12 from their retracted positions to their deployed positions, 
withdrawing, extending and inserting the handle 14 into the coupling 15, 
and replacing the back cover 11 in locking relation with the wheels 12. In 
this condition the carrier 10 provides a lightweight, robust and easily 
manoeuvrable baggage transportation system. As shown in FIG. 8, the 
baggage carrier 10 is preferably manoeuvred by an operator 60 pushing the 
carrier 10 from behind, although it is obvious that the carrier may 
instead be pulled by the operator. The inventor's experience suggests that 
the pushing mode of operation illustrated provides better manoeuvrability. 
While the preferred embodiment described herein incorporates a one-piece 
rigid housing having a built-in integral main wall (such as can be simply 
and inexpensively made by modern injection moulding techniques) a 
soft-sided main wall, as in the manner of a soft-sided suitcase, can 
instead be utilized. In such instance, the inclined brackets about which 
the wheels pivot may be attached to, and extend from, the peripheral wall 
portions into the interior of the housing. 
Similarly, the operable cover can be hinged from either side, or the top, 
so as to provide the desired access, and, preferably, to provide the 
locking function for the wheels when deployed. 
Moreover, a soft-sided rear cover can be employed, in which instance the 
wheels are preferably secured in their deployed position by latching means 
comprising one or more latch members mounted on the peripheral walls, 
which walls together form a housing frame. 
Alternatively, the pivot bolts about which the wheels pivot when deployed, 
can have a pair of flats on the sides thereof, with the aperture in the 
wheel stem correspondingly slotted, so as to lock the wheel suspension 
against rotation when the stem is slid upwardly to engage the flats on the 
pivot bolt. (i.e. the stem apertures within which the pivot bolt extends 
are keyhole shaped, so as to lock the wheels against retraction when load 
is applied to the device.) 
Other modifications and design changes will be obvious to those skilled in 
the art from the aforementioned exemplary description and such 
non-inventive changes are to be included within the scope of this 
invention where they fairly fall within the spirit and scope of the 
invention as set out in the following claims.