ROLLING RUSSIAN
English speaking people have coffers, Germans have Koffer. Although both words are derived from the Latin word cophinus = basket, they don't mean the same, according to the dictionary a coffer is a box or chest, especially one for valuables, the German Koffer is a suitcase.
Young readers may not know that there was life before suitcases on wheels were invented, they may think that wheels have always been an integral part of a suitcase, in fact they may not use the word suitcase at all but only talk of trolleys.
The few people that travelled in former times used chests to transport their belongings, not only when they emigrated, but also when they went to the seaside for their summer hols, after all they had to change several times a day and not into dresses that barely covered their private parts but into foot-long petticoats and skirts. These chests were transported on trolleys - contraptions for the transport of luggage - and only strong men could lift them.
My father lived in Brazil for some years in the first half of the last century, from him I inherited such a trunk, I used it for years to store things in but didn't travel with it. Together with the trunk came two suitcases, a big and heavy one which I couldn't lift when it was full and a smaller one which I could carry for some metres. We used to take them to the train station on a small hey-cart, I can't remember ever to have taken a taxi (yes, I *am* old!)
I took the two suitcases with me when I left home to study in another town, those were the days when the trains had extra luggage waggons and one could find porters on the platforms. These suitcases were made of impregnated cardboard and had metal locks, they usually didn't look new for long but became shabby rather quickly.
One could sit on the cardboard suitcases while waiting, a very important asset, from this you may deduce that when the time had come for my suitcases to go to suitcase heaven, I bought a hardshell specimen, for example a Samsonite, which can even stand the weight of an elephant as you may know (not that I weigh as much as an elephant!) No, I didn't! Much that I regret that I can't sit on a soft suitcase, I'd never, ever buy a hardshell one. The times of the porters with their trolleys on the platforms of train stations and in airports are gone, I have to think of the weight I can carry myself.
I'm a modest traveller, I don't take many things with me even when I go abroad and I think it's absurd to buy a hardshell suitcase weighing as much when it's empty as my soft suitcase when it's full. I always look pityingly at the poor misguided creatures trying to lift their full hardshell suitcases off the conveyor belts in airports!
"But they last forever!", I hear the ones among you crying who've also fallen for the ads. I've found a site on the net on which travellers exchange their horror stories about damaged hardshell suitcases (the hobbies some people have!). Weight apart, I'm not attracted by a suitcase that lasts forever. Why should it? I had a small, no name, cheap, soft suitcase with wheels for about fifteen years, when the zipper gave up the ghost, I thanked it for its faithful service, threw it into the bin and bought a new one with even better wheels because technology had developed in the meantime.
Ah, the wheels! I wouldn't want to do without them now that I know them. The first time I saw a suitcase with integrated wheels was in the early seventies when I visited a fair displaying achievements and products from the People's Republic of China. Up to the research for this review I had always believed that the Chinese had invented the trolley-type suitcase, now I know that I had seen an early example of the Chinese art of plagiarising. If I can believe the Samsonite peeps, it was this firm that revolutionised the suitcase market in the early 1979s with the invention of a suitcase on wheels.
Can we expect any further developments? Oh yes, the Russians are working on a suitcase robot which will hit the market in 2009 for a price of 1960$. From the net, "Russian specialists intend to become first in the world to launch mass production of robot-suitcases that are able to follow their owner in footsteps. In order to make the mechanism follow its owner, it is enough for the person to put a sensor-card into a pocket and the suitcase will dutifully roll after the owner. A gyroscope, light sensitive detectors, ultrasound and infrared sensors help the smart suitcase bypass obstacles, to roll in conditions of an inclined surface, and to stop when stumbling upon the edges of staircases and balconies. The robot-suitcase's accumulator charge is said to be enough for non-stop operation during 2 hours.
The suitcase developers (Robotronic.ru) have given the mechanism a human name Tony."
Just picture a train station or an airport with hordes of suitcases rolling after their owners, the ILLT (International League of Luggage Thieves) must be in hysterics about this invention! Im sure that the moment they heard about Tony they organised a convention and the members ROFLed for an entire weekend.