Wheeled luggage has been widely used in recent years by travelers in various forms of transportation. When designing a wheeled luggage, a number of important criteria must be considered. For example, luggage should be rigidly constructed for surviving rough handling when pulled in the streets, in and out of buildings with ascending or descending steps, and in and out of various forms of carriers such as airplanes or motor vehicles. The wheeled luggage must also have adequate wheel means such that luggage can be pulled along a pavement with relative ease.
Wheeled luggage should have a convenient pull-handle system that can be easily stowed away when not in use and extended when needed. Most types of luggage of large or medium size sold in markets are equipped with a pull handle of various types so as to facilitate carrying of the same in journey. However, most of pull-handle systems are not suitably designed and cannot be reliably used. For example, in order to carry or lift the wheeled luggage, a separate handle system must be provided on luggage case in addition to the pull-handle system. But such design is unsatisfactory because it protrudes from the surface of luggage case permanently and cannot be retracted into a recess. As such, the requirement for a separate carry handle system not only clutter the simple design of a luggage case, but also increase the cost of luggage.
More recently, the airline industry has strictly enforced the restriction on the dimensions of carry-on luggage that may be brought onboard of an airplane. A protruded carry handle used on a wheeled luggage for carrying purpose further adds to the dimensions and may disqualify a luggage to be carried onboard an airplane. The need for a handle system that can be completely stowed away in a recess built into the luggage case, can be used to both pull luggage on wheels or to carry luggage when needed has been long existing but unfulfilled.