US 112937

Patent Overview — US 112,937

Title: Improvement in Traveling-Trunks
Inventor: John C. Locke, of Rochester, Monroe County, New York
Patent Number: US 112,937
Date of Patent: March 21, 1871
Assignee: None stated in the supplied text (no assignee named)
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US112937](/patent/US112937)/en

Purpose

The patent addresses fastening and propping mechanisms for traveling-trunks. It replaces ordinary leather straps and buckles used to hold the cover down, and ordinary flexible webbing or jointed elbow stays used to hold the cover up, with metal alternatives intended to be self-adjusting and more durable.

Plain-Language Scope

Two improvements are described:

1. Spring-strap fastening. Two metal straps (hoop-iron, steel, or brass) are pivoted to the valance, their upper ends resting loosely in caps or escutcheons to allow lateral play. Their lower ends are dovetailed. Matching catches on the trunk body have wedging lugs spaced to receive and embrace the strap when it drops down. When the cover shuts, the strap rides over the lugs and locks automatically; an open space beneath the strap end allows a finger to raise and disengage it. The described benefit is that the strap has no break or slot, preserving its full tensile strength—unlike a hasp-eye or a slotted strap over a pin.

2. Hinged stays. Thin metallic bands, narrower than the trunk boards, are hinged at their lower ends to the trunk body's end pieces. Their upper portions have a longitudinal slot with an offset bend at the top, through which a screw or pin passes into the cover's end piece. When the cover is raised, the pin slides up the slot and drops into the offset, making the band a rigid stay; the cover cannot fall until the stay is deliberately disengaged. When closed, the bands fold flat between body and cover.

Claims

1. The spring-straps D D in combination with the catches G G, substantially as described.
2. The pivoted or hinged stays H H with slots s s', arranged to lie flat between the body and cover ends when closed.

What the Excerpt Does Not Establish

The supplied text does not identify an assignee, does not state filing or priority dates (only the grant date), and does not address litigation, ownership transfers, validity, or prior art beyond the listed similar documents.