Improvements in or in connection with Trunks or Chests.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd July, 1897-Accepted, 7th Aug., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or in connection with Trunks or Chests.
I, JOHN SUTTON of 62, Watkinson Street, Birkenhead, in the County of Chester,
Master Mariner, 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:-
This invention relates to trunks or chests for containing clothes and other
articles, and the invention is designed to provide in combination with such trunks
a collapsible or removable till or auxiliary compartment, so arranged that when
collapsed or removed it will in no way interfere with the nesting of a number of
trunks one inside the other for shipment or transmission.
The invention will be understood from the following description, reference being
had to the accompanying drawings, in which,
Figure 1 is a general view showing a trunk or chest fitted with the removable
till or auxiliary compartment;
Figure 2 a detail view of the till separated from the trunk;
Figure 3 a general view of the trunk or chest made ready for having another
chest of smaller size nested inside it for shipment.
Figure 4 a detail view showing another way in which the till or auxiliary com-
partment may be arranged.
Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, A is the trunk or chest, in this case made of
sheet metal, B the till or auxiliary compartment for holding small articles or
valuables. This auxiliary compartment B may be formed of a piece of sheet
metal C bent at right angles so as to form the bottom and one side of the com-
partment, the end of the chest A forming the other side, and the top formed of the
hinged lid D. The sides of the chest form the ends of this trough shaped compart-
ment E are abutments on the inside of the trunk for supporting C in position
the ends of C being provided with hooks F which are adapted to engage in Ein
such a manner as to hold C in place. The lid D is hinged to the chest A, and a
lock and key can be fitted to the auxiliary compartment if desired. To remove the
auxiliary compartment all that is necessary is to unlock the lid D, lift out the
piece C and stow it in one corner of the chest inside, then fold down the lid D flat
against the inside of the chest. A smaller chest can now be neated inside the
larger one, a very important desideratum when it is required to forward a number
of empty trunks by rail or sea.
A modification of this arrangement is depicted in Figure 4, in which the till or
auxiliary compartment instead of being removable is made collapsible. For this
purpose I form the piece C of two plates hinged together at c, one edge c¹ is
hinged to the chest and the edge fastened by any suitable catch or fasten-
ing to the chest, in which position a trough shaped compartment is formed for
holding anything in. D is the lid. To collapse this compartment all that is
necessary is to open the lid, release the catch, and the plates Ċ may then be folded
or turned down flat against one end of the chest inside, after which operation the
D

page_text: lid D is also folded flat against the inside, and the chest is then ready to admit of
another chest of slightly smaller size to be nested inside it.
It will be obvious that any suitable number of these removable or collapsible
tills or auxiliary compartments may be applied to each chest or trunk.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
:
1. The improvements in trunks or chests, which consists in providing them in-
side with a till or auxiliary compartment for holding small articles or valuables
in, said till or compartment being so arranged that it can be removed or collapsed,
substantially as and for the purpose described.
2. The combination with a trunk or chest, of one or more tills or auxiliary
compartments, so arranged that they can be removed or collapsed to facilitate the
trunks being closely nested one inside the other substantially as described.
3. In trunks or chests, the application thereto of tills or auxiliary compartments,
constructed and arranged substantially as herein described and shown.
Dated this 1st day of July 1897.
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.