Travel Bag

[Curtis]

As discussed in another thread it can be difficult on some trips with the 50# weight restrictions taking bogu, clothes, etc., especially to a seminar or tournament. By time I pack in bogu, dogi, CPAP machine and clothes, I am overweight for one bag and leaving me with just the my 10 shinai bag to try and stuff things in.

So my wife and I designed a new travel bag to carry shinai, dogi, etc. She did a great job sewing it up for me and I nearly drove her crazy hovering over the process. After a prototype and several changes it is all done. Complete with zip down front and hideaway backpack straps. Made it from #1000 cordura. Measures 5x12x49.5 inches.

Now I can just slip in a lightweight cloth shinai bag to use when I get there.

http://www.kendo-usa.org/images/bagfront2.jpg
http://www.kendo-usa.org/images/bagback2.jpg

[Manuka]

Very nice.

[Halcyon]

Cool! You should get that patented. I would totally buy one if it were available commercially.

[Gideon]

^ www.uspto.gov

I hate that site with a passion.

[Curtis]

Cool! You should get that patented. I would totally buy one if it were available commercially.

Well there really is not any original ideas in it. We copied features from several bags. I looked at snowboard bags, guitar backpack bags, bogu bags, gym bags and of course shinai bags.

I have someone who is interested in making them. My wife and I simply do not have time to do it. We have a pattern for it and a layout for the material to minimize waste. She even sewed pads for the backstraps using closed cell foam and the cordura.

Looking at the cost of bags I have figured a bag like this would sell for around $100 or more. You can get the material cost down, but labor takes a bit of time. Nice thing is you can easily customize it for size and color. Place where we bought the material has several colors available. I of course wanted blue.

[Gideon]

Well there really is not any original ideas in it. We copied features from several bags. I looked at snowboard bags, guitar backpack bags, bogu bags, gym bags and of course shinai bags.

It may still be patentable if you are so inclined. Patents don't actually protect ideas. They protect the specific creation from the idea. Pizza cutters for example - nothing new. If you come up with the same wheel cutter with something a little different from the rest - patentable.

Anyway, just a recommendation not to rule the possibility out if you're otherwise inclined to patent them. It might be worth talking to someone about. It is a nice design. Have you taken it on a trip yet where it's solved the problem you mention in your first post?

[Curtis]

It may still be patentable if you are so inclined. Patents don't actually protect ideas. They protect the specific creation from the idea. Pizza cutters for example - nothing new. If you come up with the same wheel cutter with something a little different from the rest - patentable.

Anyway, just a recommendation not to rule the possibility out if you're otherwise inclined to patent them. It might be worth talking to someone about. It is a nice design. Have you taken it on a trip yet where it's solved the problem you mention in your first post?

Thanks, certainly something to consider. We used the prototype to pack and see how things fit. It was 6 x12 and we decided that was a bit too big and changed it to 5x12. The shinai bag I based it on is 6" diameter. My wife tore things apart a couple times to make changes.

I get to use it this weekend going to Denver for the seminar. I can hardly wait to use it next year for my trip to Japan, what a pain to pack for. What with gifts and all.

The nice thing is you get around the size because it is "sports equipment".

[JCM]

A patent could be difficult and expensive...

Did your wife consider doing them for order?

[Curtis]

A patent could be difficult and expensive...

Did your wife consider doing them for order?

I will have to check on the patent.

Not really. We need to have her machine fixed since the clutch slips. You really need a commercial machine to do it efficiently. Time is really a problem for us. Kendo, odori, kids, kendo...

I have one person who is interested in making them and I know another that could do it as well.

[foundinsea]

Just thought I'd mention this, in case you weren't aware...for all international flights into and out of the US (except to Canada and Mexico, I think) the baggage restriction is 2 bags at 30kg per bag...so you'll be fine for Japan. That said, it's a nice bag and kudos to your wife...she sure can sew...wish mine could...lol.

[Curtis]

Got to use my new bag this weekend and it worked great. My wife added a flap to cover the zipper and TSA lock, but of course the TSA could not manage on the way down to put it back under the flap. They did put it back on the trip home. I do not know what they find find so interesting in there.

Going to add a D ring under the flap so they have to put it back. The back pack straps were really nice.

[Ignatz]

. . .I do not know what they find find so interesting in there. . .

cvoming back from texas we bundled all of our shinai bags together as we normally do and had about 20 or so shinai in 6 bags all taped together. I saw that airline person drag it over to the TSA guy so I went over to tell him what it was. We had a long conversation about kendo because he said that on an earlier flight they were going through the bogu bags with great fascination.

It depends on whether or not they are used to seeing the stuff. For example, I would often go through Norfolk with dry boxes full of dive gear and underwater movie cameras that looked like small atomic devices and the wouldn't even bat an eye becuase that is where the have Navy amphibious training and the SEAL base.
Try that in Idaho.

[Alicia]

Most airlines here have a weight limit of 20kgs for domestic flights, which is impossible with bogu etc, especially as i usually have to take some textbooks to study too. My two best tactics: being quite small, check in next to a humongous person, and if the people try to charge you for overweight bogu just raise one eyebrow and look at the person next to you, well, i can't raise one eyebrow, but you get the idea. other one is to pack eveything heavy in daypack ie shoes, metal stuff, books, then get someone else to hold it whilst checking in, and act like it is a featherweight, even if i can hardly lift it up.

maybe this was off topic of the original post, but I don't see how putting everything in one bag instead of more changes the weight of it??? i would like to know though, it could come in handy!

[cesarekim]

In Europe, you normally have a 20 or 30 kg total allowance for check in baggage. In the US, I saw that you had a two bag limit where either bag could weigh up to 50 lbs.

Please correct me if I made a mess of this...

Cheers

[JSchmidt]

Most airlines here have a weight limit of 20kgs for domestic flights, which is impossible with bogu etc

Bogu is about 10kg, leaving you 10kgs worth of other stuff. Further, most airlines give you 5kgs extra for 'free' and with a decent sized carry-on bag and some clever packing, you can squeeze a lot in there too.
Not impossible at all...

[Theodore]

cvoming back from texas we bundled all of our shinai bags together as we normally do and had about 20 or so shinai in 6 bags all taped together. I saw that airline person drag it over to the TSA guy so I went over to tell him what it was. We had a long conversation about kendo because he said that on an earlier flight they were going through the bogu bags with great fascination.

It depends on whether or not they are used to seeing the stuff. For example, I would often go through Norfolk with dry boxes full of dive gear and underwater movie cameras that looked like small atomic devices and the wouldn't even bat an eye becuase that is where the have Navy amphibious training and the SEAL base.
Try that in Idaho.

What? There is a very active dive community in the Boise area. A patient of mine is with TSA here in town. I called him and he said that they are all au courant with dive equipment.

[Curtis]

Most airlines here have a weight limit of 20kgs for domestic flights, which is impossible with bogu etc, especially as i usually have to take some textbooks to study too. My two best tactics: being quite small, check in next to a humongous person, and if the people try to charge you for overweight bogu just raise one eyebrow and look at the person next to you, well, i can't raise one eyebrow, but you get the idea. other one is to pack eveything heavy in daypack ie shoes, metal stuff, books, then get someone else to hold it whilst checking in, and act like it is a featherweight, even if i can hardly lift it up.

maybe this was off topic of the original post, but I don't see how putting everything in one bag instead of more changes the weight of it??? i would like to know though, it could come in handy!

Each time we travel for kendo we have to take our bogu and shinai. Shinai bag really do not hold much else. With the 50lb restriction I face I cannot put much in a suitcase before I am over. Bogu, my CPAP machine, and a couple other things and then what?

I looked for a bag I could use to pack shinai and other items and they just were not right. Too long, short or flat as in a snowboard bag. The CPAP machine is subject to a sniff test every time to make sure it does not blow up anything more than my lungs. I get tired of that and having to carry it on.

So as you say, then you are trying to force stuff into a carryon. The custom bag lets me shift things from the suitcase and can go as 'sports equipment' to get around the size limits.

This bag worked great and then I did not have one really heavy bag and then the shinai which weigh very little. And I did not have much in a carryon. I slapped it on my back and away I went. It carries really well and I just had to tow along my suitcase at about 40+ lbs.