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  • Roll Aboard!

Roll Aboard!

November 24, 2015 by Monica M. Smith
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As I finish packing for my vacation, I’ve been thinking a lot about the large and small ways in which travel has changed, including the increasing number of gadgets and other conveniences taken for granted today.

Consider something as seemingly simple as the suitcase.

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English women with luggage on cart, undated, via The Guardian.

English women with luggage on cart, undated. Ann Ward/Associated Newspapers/Rex via The Guardian.

Historically, luggage essentially consisted of large, heavy trunks usually made out of wood, leather, and sometimes iron. Since transportation options were limited and most people didn’t own many possessions and couldn’t afford to travel anyway, cumbersome trunks that would be carried by multiple people (i.e. servants) were sufficient. However, around the turn of the 20th century, smaller, lighter-weight suitcases carried by one person—for example, immigrant Miljenko Grgich’s 1950s humble suitcase seen here—became the standard.

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 immigrant Miljenko Grgich’s 1950s suitcase

Miljenko Grgich secured a visa to the U.S. and in 1958 moved to Napa, where he began his career in grape growing and winemaking. Throughout his celebrated career, he kept the scratched and dented cardboard suitcase as a reminder of his long journey to America. In 2006, Grgich donated this suitcase, as well as selected Croatian and German textbooks, an atlas of Old World grape varieties, and other items he had brought with him when he emigrated in the 1950s. From the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Although it is ubiquitous now, and seems like an obvious innovation in retrospect, it wasn’t until 1970 that anyone added wheels directly to suitcases rather than carry them by hand or put them on rolling carts. American tourist Bernard Sadow came up with the idea while he was dragging his bags through customs after a vacation in Aruba. When he returned home, he took four rolling casters from a wardrobe trunk and strapped them onto a suitcase. Sadow applied for a US patent in 1970 and received #3,653,474 two years later, after his product was already being marketed by Macy’s as “the luggage that glides.”

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Patent for Rolling Luggage, 1972

Bernard Sadow's U.S. Patent 3,653,474 for a rolling suitcase, 1972,

However, for most travelers the big breakthrough came with the “Rollaboard” suitcase invented by Northwest Airlines pilot Robert Plath in 1987. Working in his garage in Boca Raton, Florida, he put two wheels and a long, collapsible handle on his suitcase to roll it at an upright angle. He began making Rollaboards for his fellow pilots and flight attendants, and they quickly gained popularity after members of the public saw flight crews strolling along with these wheeled bags. Plath left the airline business to start his own luggage company, TravelPro.

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Robert Plath and Rollaboard Luggage

The “Rollaboard” suitcase was invented by Northwest Airlines pilot Robert Plath in 1987. Photo courtesy of Molly Bradley.

Now we have suitcases that have four or eight wheels on the bottom so they can roll even more easily, either at an angle or vertically, and turn 360 degrees. Not to mention luggage with special, lightweight shells; built-in mechanical or digital locks; and/or tracking accessories that allow you to watch your luggage travel along with you (or possibly get misdirected to another airport). There are even novelty suitcases like ones with built-in scooters designed for adults! Maybe that will be my luggage purchase for my next trip…

blog_smith-monica-2015-11-24_Man-on-luggage-with-built-in-scooter_Google-Images.jpg

Ad for Steve Aoki Micro Kickboard Carry-On Luggage Scooter

Advertisement for Steve Aoki Micro Kickboard Carry-On Luggage Scooter, courtesy of Cool Gadgets.

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ARTICLE: How the Rollaboard Suitcase Changed Travel Forever

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