Portable easel suitcase

A portable easel suitcase comprising a casing which is preferably a parallelepiped with an opening closed by a removable flat lid. A shallow pan-like, rectangular tool holder, for receiving therein painting tools, is disposed inside the casing in such a way to form an interspace therebetween so as to interpose pieces of drawing paper therebetween. A plurality of supporting slots are formed on the casing to support the flat lid in an inclined position for serving as a painting board. A handle may also attached on the casing for carrying the portable easel suitcase.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates generally to a portable suitcase inside which a 
plurality of painting tools can be disposed for outdoor paintings and in 
particular to such a suitcase which is convertible into an easel. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
It usually requires many kinds of tool in doing a painting. This 
constitutes no problem when people are doing paintings indoors. However, 
it is quite inconvenient to prepare and carry those painting tools 
outdoors for doing paintings in an outdoor environments. It is desirable 
to have a device which is compact and easy to carry to handle the painting 
tools when people are travelling and doing paintings outdoors. 
Furthermore, it is also desirable to have storing means to store the 
painting tools when the tools are not used. 
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a portable 
easel suitcase which is convertible into an easel. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a portable easel 
suitcase inside which painting tools can be disposed for carrying 
outdoors. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a portable easel 
suitcase which is used to store painting tools not in use. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a portable easel 
suitcase which is convertible into an easel. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a portable easel 
suitcase which is convertible into a black board or a white board. 
To achieve the above-mentioned objects, there is provided a portable easel 
suitcase comprising a casing which is preferably a parallelepiped with an 
opening closed by a removable flat lid which constitutes a drawing board. 
A shallow pan-like, rectangular tool holder, for receiving therein 
painting tools, is disposed inside the casing in such a way to form an 
interspace therebetween so as to interpose pieces of drawing paper 
therebetween. A plurality of supporting slots are formed on the casing to 
support the flat lid in an inclined position for serving as an easel. A 
handle may also attached to the casing for carrying the ease suitcase. 
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the 
following description of the preferred embodiment taken in connection with 
the accompanying drawing wherein:

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
With reference to the drawings and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, a 
portable easel suitcase in accordance with the present invention, 
generally designated with the reference numeral 10, comprises a casing 11, 
preferably in the form of a parallelepiped. The parallelepiped casing 11 
has a first dimension much less than a second and a third dimensions 
thereof which define a top and a bottom sides, opposing each other, of the 
casing 11, lateral sides of the casing 11 being secured and connected 
therebetween to form the casing 11. The top side of the casing 11 is 
opened to receive therein pieces of drawing paper (not shown) and is 
closable with a removable flat lid 12. Guiding means, such as slot 13, is 
formed on the circumference of the top side to guide the movement of the 
removable lid 12. A handle 14 is also attached to the casing 11 for 
carrying the portable easel suitcase 10. 
The removable lid 12 can serve as a painting board made of a suitable 
material. The lid 12 may be made of a transparent material, such as 
acrylic, to serve as means for duplicating drawings or it may be coated 
with a smooth surface to serve as a black board for chalks or a white 
board for oilbased marking pens (not shown). 
The portable easel suitcase 10 of the present invention further comprises a 
shallow pan-like, rectangular tool holder 15 which is sized in such a way 
that it is insertable inside the casing 11 and supported and spaced from 
the bottom of the casing 11 by steps 16 (only one is shown in the 
drawings) respectively formed on two of the lateral sides that are 
opposing each other so that the pieces of drawing paper is interposed 
therebetween. Preferably, the tool holder 15 has a height about half of 
the internal height of the casing 11 and the steps 16 are formed halfway 
of the internal height of the casing 11. It is also preferable for the 
tool holder 15 to have a length about half of the internal length of the 
casing 11 so as not to fully cover the bottom of the casing 11. Painting 
tools (not shown) are placed in the tool holder 15 and will be kept 
therein during travelling because of the compactability in dimensions of 
the casing 11 and the tool holder 15. 
On each pair of opposing lateral sides of the casing 11, a pair of 
supporting slots 17, each pair being opposing each other, are respectively 
formed. The supporting slots 17 are inclined in such a way that when the 
flat lid 12 is slidably guided thereinto, it is in an appropriate inclined 
position for painting, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. It is to be understood 
that other kinds of supporting means can also be applied herein to replace 
the slots 17. In this way, an easel can be constructed. 
It is apparent that although the invention has been described in connection 
with the preferred embodiment, it is contemplated that those skilled in 
the art may make changes to certain features of the preferred embodiment 
without altering the overall basic function and concept of the invention 
and without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as 
defined in the appended claims.