April 28, 2008
In praise of the wheel-along suitcase
Having been travelling recently (I have just shifted from London, via New York and Washington, to Los Angeles for the Milken Institute Global Conference) I am sensitive to things that help or hinder the voyager.
In this context, I am struck by the fact that the wheel-along suitcase is one of the great consumer product inventions of recent years. I would go so far as to place it alongside the upside-down tomato sauce bottle as a transformative variation of an existing product.
Unfortunately, the industrial designers who come up with inventions such as this rarely gain the recognition they deserve. I wonder if the readers of this blog can think of other examples?
clickable ball point pens.
Posted by: tom t | April 28th, 2008 at 10:49 am | Report this commentSuitcases with wheels have been around for a good 25 years or more, so it’s surprising they’ve only recently taken off. Maybe helped by trendy design, distancing the look from the wheeled ‘pensioners shopping bag’, as well as improved telescopic handles. But those handles create a new problem, as I frequently find in busy airports or tube stations: as the handle stretches out behind, people and their luggage take up twice the space they did and become articulated (with no rear view mirror) - leading to tangles and gridlock.
Posted by: Russ | April 28th, 2008 at 12:34 pm | Report this commentHistory is full of examples that it may be even worse than this for even more important discoveries. Rudolf Diesel (diesel engine) killed himself because he did not get any recognition. Ludwig Boltzmann (with the incredibly important statement of entropy) ended up likewise. Frank Whittle (jet engine)was rejected for a long time …this list is ‘endless’.
Designers get paid to do their job, it may not be much but at least it will leave them with something.
But they deserve your recognition anyhow!
Posted by: Eric Van Wetering | April 28th, 2008 at 4:49 pm | Report this commentMaybe designers are lucky. They get paid, alas sometimes not as much as they deserve. They deserve your recognition anyhow.
The list of people who contributed very important discoveries or inventions but were mistreated is frightfully long.
Ludwig Boltzmann (entropy) killed himself after years of derision. Rudolf Diesel (diesel engine) killed himself when he could not get any recognition. Frank Whittle (radial jet engine) had to fight for years against the RAF and was never rewarded when the US took over his designs during the war.
Perhaps small change is safer than major change
Posted by: Eric VW | April 28th, 2008 at 4:59 pm | Report this commentZiplock bags. Using them seems to automatically expand the capacity of any suitcase, drawer, shelf, shopper, box. And bar codes, invented by an American afaik.
Posted by: J.J. | April 28th, 2008 at 5:58 pm | Report this commentFlossers! Those throw-away things that suspend a piece of floss between a U-shaped end of a plastic toothpick. The *sole* reason I floss. Not sure if credit’s been given, but it’s due!
Posted by: Rachel | April 29th, 2008 at 2:39 am | Report this commentGel pens. They didn’t exist 10 years ago and now they are ubiquitous
Posted by: Bob | April 29th, 2008 at 2:43 am | Report this commentJohn, it is very exciting to see someone praising such a small but great element of comfort in life. I always had the inquisitiveness to highlight these kind of unadorned yet significant facets but never have come across a fine forum. There are quite a few inventions of this kind which haven’t gained the due popularity, I am sure you might have heard about a dual sim card facilitated mobile phone, head phones translated to ear phones (not the bluetooth though) and more, which are vital not just for a traveller but anyone who have a roaming profile. Thank you for this ardent column, I shall write to you when I can recall more of these. Have a Good day
Posted by: Manjunath DVS | April 29th, 2008 at 7:55 am | Report this comment