Improvements in Portmanteaus and Trunks.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Aug., 1892-Accepted, 17th Sept.. 1892
CODE TETE OF DIGITIVATION.
Improvements in Portmanteaus and Trunks.
We, ARTHUR DOUGLASS SOUTHGATE and WILLIAM GEORGE SOUTHGATE,
of 75, and 76, Watling Street, London E.C. Trunk, Portmanteau, and Bag
Manufacturers, 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: -
Our invention has for its object to protect portmanteaus and trunks (whether
made of leather, cloth, canvas, wood, cane, cork, or other materials of which
trunks or portmanteaus are usually made) from the effects of the rough usage to
which they are ordinarily subjected and at same time afford means for retaining
the straps in place. For the sake of convenience we will describe our invention
as applied to portmanteaus, it being understood that the invention is applicable to
trunks of all descriptions with equal advantage.
Our invention consists in providing the portmanteau or trunk on all four sides
with longitudinal or transverse strips of leather of a thickness to project from the
surface of the portmanteau or trunk sufficiently to protect the body of the article
from ordinary injury, these strips being rivetted to the body of the portmanteau or
trunk at frequent intervals and extending over the corners thereof. The straps
which encircle the portmanteau or trunk are passed under all the longitudinal strips
and are secured or not as desired to those at the bottom, the others constituting
loops to retain the straps and prevent them from becoming displaced when the
portmanteau or trunk is handled. The strips as above described are supposed to
be external, but the invention comprises the application of similar strips to the
internal surface of the top and bottom portions of the portmanteau or trunk in
addition or not to the external strips.
The
In order that our invention may be better understood we have illustrated it as
applied to a portmanteau in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
Specification, which shew respectively a perspective view and cross-section of a
portmanteau with external longitudinal strips applied according to our invention.
A A, A¹ A¹, Figure 1, are pairs of leather strips on the top and front side of
the portmanteau, and A' A', A' A³, Figure 2, are those at the bottom and rear
side, the whole of these strips being secured by rivets at frequent intervals as
shewn and extending from end to end and around the corners thereof.
straps B B which encircle the portmanteau pass beneath the said strips and are
preferably secured to the bottom strip A² or bottom and rear strips A³, A³, and
they may be passed beneath the other strips A, A¹ at a a so that the said strips
serve the two-fold purpose of protecting the portmanteau or trunk from injury and
as loops or retamers for the straps B. These strips are of leather of a thickness
varying with the size of the portmanteau or trunk. They would generally be
about a quarter of an inch thick which is sufficient to afford adequate protection to
the portmanteau or trunk without being objectionable on account of the extra
weight. The number of strips is not limited to two on each side of the portmanteau
or trunk but may be increased, if necessary, on the top and bottom.
These strips
not only protect the surface of the portmanteau or trunk from external injury but
increase the stiffness of the portmanteau or trunk and enable it the better to resist
rough handling and crushing by the superincumbent weight of other luggage to
which it is exposed in transport and so tend to prevent what is a very common
occurrence, viz. the fracture of the iron frame.
:
The strength and rigidity of the structure would of course be still further
increased by the application of other similar strips to the inner surfaces (as
represented in dotted lines at A' in Figure 2) such inner strips if applied coinciding

page_text: in position with the outer ones and being secured by the same rivets passing
through both the inner and the outer strips.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be perfornied, we declare that what we
claim is―
1. A portmanteau or trunk having on each of its four sides longitudinal or
transverse or both longitudinal and transverse strips of leather which are rivetted
to the body of the portmanteau or trunk and serve both to protect and strengthen
the article and as retainers for the straps, as specified.
2. A portmanteau or trunk having on each of its four sides longitudinal or
transverse or both longitudinal and transverse leather strips applied externally in
combination with similarly placed strips applied internally, both sets of strips
being secured by rivetting to the body of the article, substantially as specified.
Dated this 10th 1..
1002
A. D. SOUTHGATE,
W. G. SOUTHGATE,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.