Improvements in Dressing or other Fitted Travelling Bags and Portmanteaus.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Aug., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 25th May, 1894-Accepted, 30th June, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Dressing or other Fitted Travelling Bags and
Portmanteaus.
I WILLIAM FREDERICK WILLIAMS, of 4 Park Lane, London W. Gentleman
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :—
My invention relates more especially to what are known as top fitted dressing or
travelling bags having toilet fittings contained within the hinged heads of the bag
and for the sake of convenience I will describe the invention as applied to such
bags, although it is equally applicable to bags containing other fittings, and also to
portmanteaus. The object of the invention is to afford more convenient access to
the fittings concurrently with access to the body of the bag without removing the
fittings therefrom, although they may be made so removable if desired.
According to my invention the fittings are contained in horizontal trays which
may rest loosely in carrier frames abutting together or nearly so at the longitudinal
or transverse centre line of the bag and being connected to the bag mouth frame
or to a removable supporting frame by a radius link or by pairs of pivoted radius
links which admit of the trays being moved or swung outwards with a parallel
motion until they project beyond the sides or ends of the body of the bag in order
to give access to the interior thereof, the trays being always maintained in the
horizontal position.
The trays may be thus moved either separately or conjointly through mechanism
whereby their motion simultaneously in opposite directions may be effected.
According to one arrangement, the trays are moved outwards so as to completely
disclose the body portion of the bag, by the mere act of throwing back the hinged
heads of the bag, the end members of the frames of said heads fulfilling in that
case also the function of one of the radius links by which the trays are constrained
to move with a parallel motion. For this purpose each tray or its carrier frame is
supported on an end pivot carried by the adjacent end member of the hinged head
frame and by a radius link jointed to the end member or other part of the bag
mouth frame, or of a removable supporting frame common to both trays, the
pivotal connection of the trays with the bag heads being in the latter case easily
detachable to permit of the removable frame being lifted out.
According to another arrangement in which the trays swing outwards beyond
the ends of the bag body, the link or pairs of radius links are jointed to the
transverse and longitudinal members of the bag mouth frame or the removable
supporting frame, as the case may be.
In applying mechanism to either arrangement whereby to cause the two trays to
be moved simultaneously, either rack and pinion or lever gear may be employed.
In the former case one of the radius links of each tray would be provided with a
pinion with which a sliding rack gears, the two racks being formed on or otherwise
combined with a suitably guided slide actuated by a handle common to both racks
by which the simultaneous action is ensured. Or the racks may be connected
with the handle by toggle links or levers, or geared with a pinion common to both
on the spindle of the operating handle. Similar sets of operating mechanism may
be applied to act on the links at opposite ends or sides of the tray carriers and in
any case the links at opposite sides or ends may be connected by cross-shafts so as
to ensure simultaneous movement.

page_text: If lever gear be employed to operate the trays, this may consist of sliding plates
connected with the operating handles and engaging by slots or links with crank
pins on the radius links or on arms affixed thereto or to their shafts.
Dated this 24th day of August 1893.
W. F. WILLIAMS,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
UUMIDELE DE DOITICATION
Improvements in Dressing or other Fitted Travelling Bags and
Portmanteaus.
1, WILLIAM FREDERICK WILLIAMS, late of 4, Park Lane, and now of 5 Half
Moon Street, London, W. Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates more especially to what are known as "top fitted"
dressing or travelling bags having toilet fittings which are enclosed by the hinged
heads of the bag and for the sake of convenience I will describe the invention as
applied to such bags, although it is equally applicable to bags containing other
fittings, and also to portmanteaus similarly fitted.
The object of the invention is to afford more convenient access to the fittings
concurrently with access to the body of the bag without removing the trays
containing the fittings from the bag, although they may be made so removable if
desired by being loosely supported on carrier frames, as hereafter described.
According to my invention the trays or their carrier frames (which, when in the
closed position, abut together at the longitudinal or transverse centre line of the
bag) are connected to the bag mouth frame by pairs of pivoted radius links, so
that they may be moved or swung in opposite directions, either separately or
simultaneously, so as to entirely disclose the body of the bag, the trays moving
with a parallel motion, so that they are always maintained in a horizontal position.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
Specification, wherein I have represented perspective views of various arrangements
for carrying my invention into effect, the bag being in each case represented in an
elementary manner and shewn in the partly open position to inore clearly illustrate
the action.
Figure 1 illustrates an arrangement in which the trays are moved outwards
separately, to completely disclose the bag body, and
Figure 2 shews a preferred arrangement in which they are so moved by the act
of opening and throwing back the hinged heads.
A, A', are the heads and B the body of the bag, the heads and body being
shewn only in outline. CC are the carrier frames in which the trays of fittings
are loosely supported, one only of the trays being shewn in Figure 4.
DD' are
pairs of radius links hinged to the frames C and to the bag mouth frame E.
In Figure 1 the head A and tray carrier frame C are represented in the partly
opened position, whilst the head A' and frame C' are shewn in the completely-
opened position.
In order to limit the outward motion, so as to prevent the links reaching a dead
point, which would prevent the trays being easily returned to the inward position,
it is desirable that stops be provided. This may be done by the hinges d by which
the links D are jointed to the frame E being formed with shoulders d¹ upon which
the links D rest before they quite reach the horizontal position.
In Figure 2 the end members of the frames of the heads A A' themselves fulfil
the function of the pairs of radius links D' by which the frames C C are

page_text: constrained to move with a parallel motion.
For this purpose each of said frames.
s connected at each end by an end pivot c to the adjacent end member of the bag
head frame, the distance of said pivots c from the hinges a on which the bag-head
frame works corresponding to the length of the radius link D.
Figure 3 illustrates the application of mechanism to operate simultaneously the
tray carriers supported on pairs of radius links, as illustrated in Figure 1.
This mechanism consists of a pair of rack rods F F¹ fitted to slide within a
casing E' on the end member of the bag mouth frame E, each rack rod gearing
by teeth on the outer end of its upper face, with a pinion & fixed on the pivotal
axis of the radius link D' to which said link is also fixed, so that a longitudinal
motion of the rack-rod will cause a swinging motion of the radius link about its.
centre and so move the tray in or out, as the case may be. The two rack rods.
gear by teeth on their inner opposite faces with a common pinion g between them,
the pinion being fixed on a vertical axis suitably mounted in the bag mouth frame
and provided with a lever handle G, so that by turning said handle the rack
rods FF, and consequently the tray carriers C C', are moved simultaneously in
opposite directions. This rack and pinion mechanism is alike at the two ends of
the bag, but to ensure efficient action and avoid straining the joints, should the
handles G be turned unequally, the corresponding pinions & and radius links D'at
opposite ends of the bag are fixed upon a spindle H extending from end to end
thus ensuring the simultaneous and equal motion of the radius links D' should only
one of the handles G be operated.
Figure 4 illustrates a mode of mounting the trays or their carriers, differing
from Figure 1 in that the trays are adapted to swing outwards beyond the ends of
the bag body, instead of over the bag heads, the one pair of radius links being in
this case jointed to the end members E and the other pair to the longitudinal
members E of the bag mouth frame.
It is to be understood that, although I have shewn the mounting upon radius
links as applied to tray carrier frames from which the trays are removable, the
links might be jointed directly to the trays themselves.
Furthermore the trays (which are not represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3,) are
supposed to be received within the L-shaped bars of the frames C C', but they may
be otherwise fitted thereto. For instance, the frames C C₁ may have slotted end
plates C² as shewn in Figure 4, in the slots C³ of which the shanks of handles 1
fixed to the ends of the trays K may engage, the end plates preventing endwise
displacement, and the slots preventing lateral displacement of the trays on the
carriers, instead of the bottoms of the trays fitting in the carriers, as above
mentioned.
It is also to be understood that, although I have described the radius links as
jointed to the bag mouth frame, they might, except in the case of Figure 2, be-
jointed to a rectangular frame separate from, but corresponding to, and resting on,
the bag mouth frame, so that the trays and their operating mechanism may be
removed as a whole from the bag.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inver-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In a
"top fitted" dressing or travelling bag, mounting the trays or their
carrier frames upon pairs of parallel motion radius links, so that they may be
moved or swung inwards or outwards, as described, whilst retaining their horizontal
position.
2. In a "top fitted" dressing or travelling bag, mounting each of the trays or
its carrier frame upon a pair of radius links and connecting it to the bag head
frame by end pivots, so as to cause the bag head frame to act as a pair of radius
links whereby the tray will be moved or swung out or in with a parallel motion by
the act of opening and closing the bag head, substantially as specified.
3. In a "top fitted" dressing or travelling bag wherein the trays or their carriera

page_text: are mounted to swing on pairs of radius links, as described, the combination, with
said radius links, of rack and pinion mechanism, arranged and operating substan-
tially as described, so as to move or swing the trays inwards or outwards simul-
taneously, substantially as specified.
4. The construction and arrangement of the several forms of parallel motion
radius link mechanism for swinging the trays or their carriers in or out, as herein
described and illustrated in the respective figures of the drawings.
Dated this 25th day or may
W. F. WILLIAMS,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.