Why did it take until the 1970s for wheeled luggage to appear when patent applications were being filed in the 1940s?
Also in travel news: flying to Hawaii from Hong Kong made easier, new titles for 500 Hidden Secrets guidebooks, and Phuket package deals
Several decades of fascinating but seemingly fruitless invention can be found with a Google Patents search for “wheeled luggage”. One of the earliest of these patents was filed by the splendidly named Saviour Mastrontonio of New York, whose Luggage Carrier could permanently mobilise “a bag, satchel, suitcase or the like” by means of fixed wheels and an adjustable pulling handle.
Barnett H. Book filed his Wheeled Suitcase patent in 1945; and, in 1947, Clarence F. Norlin of Chicago filed a patent for retractable suitcase wheels (an idea trumpeted on Gizmodo and other websites with the unveiling of the yet-to-be-launched Heys Stealth line in 2015).
A note supplied with a patent application for a Wheeled Suitcase, filed by Grace and Malcolm McIntyre of Connecticut in 1949, offers another reason. One problem with previous models, they suggested, “was that they were awkward in movement and required considerable attention to steer them around and great annoyance, or even physical injury, when they encounter obstacles”.
Despite their improvements, the McIntyres’ design seems also to have vanished.
Wheeled suitcases can, of course, still require “considerable attention”, especially at running speed, when they are prone to wobbling and tipping over. A recent scientific study in France has revealed that the best thing to do in this event is run faster.
Travel lists
Belgian publisher Luster has added four titles – New York, Rome, Dublin and Madrid – to its 500 Hidden Secrets series of guidebooks. Each volume contains 100 locally compiled lists, each featuring five examples, in categories such as “Mosaics You Should See” and “Unusual Places to Sleep” in Rome, and “Secret Streets” and “Palatial Bars” in Paris.
Hawaiian connections
Hong Kong has had air links with Hawaii since the mid-1930s (in those days by seaplane via Manila, Guam, Wake Island and the Midway Atoll). So it’s perhaps surprising there are no direct flights between the two places today. United Airlines or Japan Airlines (JAL) will get you from Hong Kong to Honolulu, via Guam or Tokyo, respectively, but getting to the spectacular volcanoes and rainforests of the Big Island requires a third connecting flight.
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Fortunately, from September, JAL will be landing there after a seven-year absence, with a daily non-stop service from Tokyo to Kona International, so Hong Kong travellers will be able to make the trip with just one stopover instead of two.
Deal of the week The Ibis Phuket Patong will be your host if you choose the cheapest option from Farrington Vacations’ two-night Phuket Package, which starts at HK$2,590 per person, twin share.
Further upmarket, nearby Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort is offered from HK$3,370, while over on the east coast, the more exclusive Como Point Yamu starts at HK$4,080 with the option of two extra nights for the price of one (from HK$1,780).
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