Abstract:
A cart-separable traveling bag includes a traveling bag that may be easily associated with a cart to form a wheeled traveling bag with a telescopic handle to be conveniently moved around, or separated from the cart to enable full collapse of the bag and the cart into two minimized volumes that enables easy storage of the cart and the traveling bag by a use when they are not in use, and reduced warehousing and transporting costs of the cart and the traveling bag to be undertaken by manufacturers and distributors.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to a cart-separable traveling bag, and more particularly to a traveling bag that could be easily associated with a cart to form a wheeled traveling bag with handle for easy moving around, or be separated from the cart for full collapse of the bag and the cart to enable easy storage thereof.  
           [0002]    People use portable bags or other containers, such as trunks, cases, etc., to pack and carry necessary items, particularly when people go to other distant places for traveling, working, visiting friends, studying, etc. Most currently available trunks or traveling bags include wheels or casters and a telescopic handle. When the telescopic handle is in an extended state, a user may conveniently pull or push the trunk or traveling bag at the handle to move around easily in an effortless manner.  
           [0003]    To enable mounting of the handle and the wheels on the trunk or the traveling bag, the trunk or the bag must have considerable strong and rigid back and bottom portions for the handle and the wheels to attach thereto without causing deformation of the trunk or the bag. The conventional wheeled trunk or traveling bag with telescopic handle therefore has an increased volume and is not easily collapsible for convenient storage when it is not in use. The big-volume and wheeled trunk and traveling bag also result in increased costs for warehousing and transporting thereof. When there are two or more trunks and/or traveling bags in different sizes, a considerable large space is needed to store them when they are not in use.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a cart-separable traveling bag that includes a traveling bag that can be easily associated with and separated from a cart having a telescopic handle. The traveling bag and the cart, when being separated from each other, may be fully folded to occupy only a minimized space that allows a user to easily store the cart and the traveling bag and reduces warehousing and transporting costs undertaken by manufacturers and distributors.  
           [0005]    To achieve the above and other objects, the cart-separable traveling bag of the present invention mainly includes a traveling bag and a cart. The cart includes a wheel support, a vertical handle, and a bag seat. The traveling bag is provided at rear and/or bottom side with a plurality of horizontal belts, such that the handle could be extended through a space between the belts and the traveling bag. The traveling bag is also provided at predetermined positions with a plurality of fastening means, such as Velcro tapes, for winding around left and right and transverse tubes of the handle to securely locate the traveling bag on the wheeled cart to be conveniently moved around.  
           [0006]    In the cart-separable traveling bag of the present invention, the handle of the cart includes left and right tubes and a handle grip connected to upper ends of the left and the right tubes. The left and the right tubes may be two-section or three-section telescopic tubes and could be extended for pulling or pushing the cart, or be telescoped to facilitate storage of the cart.  
           [0007]    In the cart-separable traveling bag of the present invention, the wheel support of the cart includes left and right wheels, and two open-topped tube holes for receiving two lower ends of the left and the right tubes of the handle. The bag seat is pivotally connected at a rear end to the wheel support, so that the bag seat is pivotally turnable between an extended horizontal position for use and a folded vertical position for storage.  
           [0008]    In the cart-separable traveling bag of the present invention, the bag seat is provided at a front edge with a leg that together with the left and the right wheels stably support the cart in a stand position. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view of a cart-separable traveling bag of the present invention in the state of attaching to a cart;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the cart-separable traveling bag of FIG. 1;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the cart-separable traveling bag of the present invention in the state of attaching to a cart;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is an assembled perspective view of the cart for using with the traveling bag of the present invention in a fully extended state;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the cart of FIG. 4;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 6 is a fragmentary side view of the cart of FIG. 4 with a bag seat thereof in a folded position;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 7 is a fragmentary side view of the cart of FIG. 4 with the bag seat thereof in an extended position;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the cart of FIG. 4 with the bag seat thereof in a half-folded position; and  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the cart of FIG. 4 in a fully folded state. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0019]    Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2 and  3  in which a cart-separable traveling bag according to the present invention is shown. As shown, the present invention mainly includes a traveling bag  40  and a cart  1 . The cart  1  includes a wheel support  10 , a vertical handle  20 , and a bag seat  30 .  
         [0020]    The handle  20  mainly includes left and right tubes  21 ,  22 , and a horizontal handle grip  23  interconnecting top ends of the left and the right tubes  21 ,  22 . The left and the right tubes  21 ,  22  may be two-section or three-section telescopic tubes. A transverse bar  24  may be fixed to upper ends of the lowest sections of the left and the right tubes  21 ,  22  for the handle  20  to provide an increased structural strength.  
         [0021]    The traveling bag  40  is provided at a rear side and/or a bottom side with one or more horizontal fastening belts  44 , such that the handle  20  of the cart  1  may be extended through a space between the fastening belts  44  and the traveling bag  40 . Moreover, a plurality of fastening means  41 ,  42  and  43 , such as Velcro tapes, are separately provided on the traveling bag  40  at predetermined positions for detachably binding traveling bag  40  to the left and the right tubes  21 ,  22  and the transverse bar  24  of the handle  20 , so that a user may conveniently move the traveling bag  40  by pulling or pushing the cart  1  at the handle  20 .  
         [0022]    The Velcro tapes  41 ,  42  and  43  provided on the traveling bag  40  are adapted to wind around the left and the right tubes  21 ,  22  and the transverse bar  24  of the handle  20  and therefore firmly bind the traveling bag  40  to the cart  1 . The horizontal fastening belts  44  provided on the rear and/or bottom side of the traveling bag  40  also provide good binding force to bind the traveling bag  40  and the cart  1  together. When the horizontal fastening belts  44  are sufficient in its number and width, the Velcro tapes  41 ,  42  and  43  may be omitted. However, another fastening means  45 , such as a Velcro tape, may be additionally provided at a lower front of the traveling bag  40 , as shown in FIG. 3, for detachably winding around a front bar of the bag seat  30  to ensure secured locating of the traveling bag  40  on the cart  1 .  
         [0023]    Please refer to FIGS. 4 and 5. The bag seat  30  of the cart  1  is a horizontal frame. The wheel support  10  of the cart  1  has two wheels  11  mounted to two ends thereof, and two vertical open-topped tube holes  12  connected thereto at predetermined positions for lower ends of the left and the right tubes  21 ,  22  of the handle  20  to insert thereinto. The bag seat  30  includes left and right arms  31 , rear ends of which are pivotally connected to a pivot shaft  13  transversely extended between and through the two tube holes  12  of the wheel support  10 , so that the bag seat  30  may be pivotally turned upward about the shaft  13  to a position closely attached to the handle  20 .  
         [0024]    While the pivot shaft  13  extends through the rear ends of the left and the right arms  31  of the bag seat  30  as well as the two vertical tube holes  12  of the wheel support  10 , it also extends through the lower ends of the left and the right tubes  21 ,  22  of the handle  20  to connect the handle  20  to the wheel support  10 .  
         [0025]    The bag seat  30  is a frame formed from metal bars and includes a leg  32  pivotally connected to a front edge of the frame to be downward turnable relative to the frame, and two laterally outward turnable U-shaped braces  33 . Two links  14  are symmetrically and pivotally connected at first ends to points close to a lower side of the wheel support  10 , and at second ends to two sides of the leg  32 , so that the leg  32  is pulled by the bag seat  30  to turn downward toward a bottom side of the bag seat  30  when the latter is pivotally turned upward, allowing the cart  1  in a folded state to occupy an even smaller space, as shown in FIG. 6. The left and the right U-shaped braces  33  are located on a top of the bag seat  30  with their two ends at an open side pivotally connected to the bag seat  30 , so that they could be pivotally turned leftward and rightward, respectively, to together provide an increased area for carrying the traveling bag  40  thereon, as shown in FIG. 4. When the cart  1  is to be folded for storage, the two braces  33  may be turned inward to flatten on the top of the bag seat  30  to reduce the space needed for storing the cart  1 , as shown in FIG. 8.  
         [0026]    To use the cart  1 , first pull the handle  20  to the extended state with the bag seat  30  turned into the horizontal position. When the bag seat  30  is turned downward from the handle  20  and the leg  32  is turned upward from the bottom side of the bag seat  30 , the two parts move and press against each other to finally stop the bag seat  30  from moving down any further when the same moves into a horizontal position, as shown in FIG. 7. Thereafter, turn the two U-shaped braces  33  leftward and rightward, separately, to provide an increased bag supporting area on the cart  1 . Then, extend the handle  20  through the space between the horizontal fastening belts  44  and the back of the traveling bag  40 , so that the traveling bag  40  is located on the bag seat  30 , as shown in FIG. 1. Finally, use the fastening means  41 ,  42  and  43  to wind around the left and the right tubes  21 ,  22  as well as the transverse bar  24  of the handle  20 , so that the traveling bag  40  is securely attached to the cart  1 .  
         [0027]    To collapse the cart  1 , first turn the two U-shaped braces  33  inward, so that they are flatly positioned on the top of the bag seat  30 . Then, fully collapse the handle  20  and turn the bag seat  30  upward to closely attach to the collapsed handle  20 . While the bag seat  30  is moving toward the handle  20 , the two links  14  pull the leg  32  for the latter to pivotally turn downward to abut on the bottom side of the bag seat  30 , as shown in FIG. 9. The leg  32  in this position allows the collapsed cart  1  to occupy an even smaller space for easy storage.  
         [0028]    The cart  1  may be easily associated with the traveling bag  40  to form a traveling bag  40  with handle  20  and wheels  11  for moving around conveniently. With the design for the cart  1  to easily associate with and separate from the traveling bag  40 , the cart  1  and the traveling bag  40  may be separately folded to reduce the room and accordingly the cost needed by the manufacturer to transport the product. Similarly, the separately folded cart  1  and traveling bag  40  also require reduced space for storage and accordingly reduce a distributor&#39;s warehousing cost. These advantages also allow the user to store the cart  1  and the traveling bag  40  easily. Moreover, the user may purchase two or more differently sized traveling bags  40  for selectively associating with the cart  1  depending on actual need.  
         [0029]    In brief, the cart-separable traveling bag of the present invention allows the traveling bag  40  to be used with or without the cart  1  according to actual need, and enables the traveling bag  40  and the cart  1  to be separately folded and stored to reduce warehouse and transportation costs of the product. The present invention is therefore very practical for use.