Patent ID: 8245825

Claim:
A luggage case having a front panel, a rear panel, a flexible rail extending around at least one corner portion of the case and extending at least part of the distance between the front panel and the rear panel, a resilient frame device in said rail, with portions of said frame device located in a corner portion of said case for providing a restoring force to push the front and rear panels away from one another whereby the luggage case tends to remain in an expanded condition, whereby the resilient frame device is capable of repeated flexural strain such that at least portions thereof can be brought together repeatedly, whereby said frame device provides a restoring force to said rail when said rail is flexed by a cinching device, said cinching device is located remotely from the corner portions, said cinching device is carried by a force transferring structure affixed to said at least one of said front panel and rear panel, that facilitates cinching action of the cinching device, wherein said cinching action exerts a force in the direction opposite the direction of the restoring force, the force transferring structure includes a panel extension that extends from the cinching device to the corner portion, and wherein the panel extension is a triangularly-shaped portion of flexible fabric, the base of the triangularly-shaped portion of fabric is attached to and extends along a side of said at least one panel, and the cinching device applies a force generally perpendicular to the base of the triangularly-shaped portion.