Patent ID: 7281616

Claim:
An item of expandable luggage comprising: a frame having a first substantially rigid component and a second substantially rigid component, each of which includes a pair of opposite rectangular peripheral wall panels that together with another pair of peripheral wall members form the peripheral boundary of a variable volume enclosure and a generally rectangular area; a peripherally continuous gusset of flexible material connected between the peripheral wall panels and peripheral wall members of the two frame components; and a bridge assembly joining each wall panel of the first component to a corresponding wall panel of the second component in coplanar relation and for linear displacement of the two components toward and away from each other, each bridge assembly including: a receiving member coupled to the wall panel of the first component, the receiving member having an edge defining an aperture therein, and a bridge plate coupled to the wall panel of the second component and slidably received by the receiving member, the plate having first and second at least partially resilient elements, each resilient element configured to engageably cooperate with at least a portion of the edge defining the aperture to substantially fix the linear displacement of the two components to each other wherein the at least partially resilient element comprises a tongue having a portion inherently biased toward the surface of the receiving member that includes the aperture and wherein a biased leading edge of the tongue of the first resilient element engages the portion of the edge defining the aperture substantially furthest from the second component and a substantially unbiased following edge of the first resilient element is substantially flush with the portion of the bridge plate surrounding at least a portion of the first resilient element.