Patent ID: 7232018

Claim:
A luggage piece comprising: an upper compartment and a lower compartment, each of the upper compartment and the lower compartment being joined at a seam that includes a fastener adapted to allow the upper compartment and the lower compartment to hingedly detach from each other; a fastener assembly that selectively moves the upper compartment from an expanded configuration, wherein the upper compartment defines a respective interior storage space, into a compressed configuration so as to form a thickened lid with respect to the lower compartment, that is substantially free of the respective interior storage space; and wherein a top side of the upper compartment in the expanded configuration and the top of the thickened lid in the compressed orientation are each adapted to receive, stacked thereon, an upper luggage piece including an top compartment and a bottom compartment, each of the top compartment and the bottom compartment of the upper luggage piece being adapted to move between an expanded configuration, wherein the top compartment of the upper luggage piece defines a respective interior storage space, and a compressed configuration, wherein the top compartment of the upper luggage piece is substantially free of the respective interior storage space, by selective movement of an upper luggage piece fastener assembly.