The first fish to crawl out of the water no doubt wished he’d packed a towel and sunglasses for his dry-land adventure. Had he done so, he’d have faced an immediate hardship—dragging a suitcase across sand, through dunes and scratchy sea grass, to reach higher ground. And all that effort by what was basically a sponge.
Fast forward to the Age of Homo Sapiens, where the quest to get from A to B with a change of clothing, has spurred numerous inventions for hauling stuff over various surfaces and distances. When it came to personal travel, however, people largely pulled, dragged, lifted or wore their luggage for thousands of years.
Rolling Forward
Early Man may have invented the wheel, but it took Modern Man eons to affix that wheel to personal luggage. Like most innovations, it started out with home jobs—think baby-carriage wheels attached to a suitcase—and advanced to patents, followed by popular usage mostly after World War II and the rise of the leisure classes in some parts of the world.
Over the last half century, various inventions have advanced the personal pack, including the Rollaboard, spinner-style wheels, smart suitcases, expandable luggage, gate-check bags and packing cubes.
Yet despite the billions of years between Early Fish and 21st Century Man, somehow we are still hoisting unwieldy luggage into cars, trains or buses; on to security belts; into overhead bins; up and down stairs; and atop chairs, beds, and shelves. Even when we’re on something called “vacation,” a word meant to convey ease, relaxation and pleasure, we’re still bogged down with our load.
The Bearable Lightness of Well Being
What the modern traveler needs is a Hover Case.
Based on the principle of hovercraft, the Hover Case would glide along on a trapped cushion of air, suspended above land or water. Fans blow air downward, which allows the case to float above the surface. A perimeter of air forms an invisible foundation below the suitcase, before dispersing out the sides.
The height of hover would depend on the ratio of owner’s arms to legs. The owner’s hand should easily grasp the top of the suitcase and direct it with a slight touch. Walking through terminals or across town would require only a light pulling or pushing motion as the suitcase floats in air as opposed to being dragged on the ground. At destination, the case could drift slowly down to rest upon the surface.
All the apparatuses found on common suitcases, such as wheels, telescoping handles and other clunky hardware, would be eliminated, reducing load and freeing up space within the container. A cloth apron or skirt could be added to the bottom of the case to hold the air in as long as possible before it disperses out the sides.
The hover engine could be battery powered, which would eliminate the noisy two- / four-stroke engine model that many personal hover craft use at present, and create a quieter, more efficient system. Hotel rooms, stations, terminals, ports, etc, would be equipped with rechargers.
The hover pack itself could be detachable, clicking into place at the bottom of the suitcase when in use and easily removed for storage or recharge.
Making a Case
It is hard to believe that someone devised a floating lawn chair before putting hovercraft to better practical use by lifting a suitcase. But such is the opportunity we have to expand our imaginations and improve our daily lives.
After freeing up backs and muscles for the business or leisure traveller, a relaxed inventor could tinker with the technology to improve upon it further.
It’s hard to believe that mankind devised a floating lawn chair and yet we’re still dragging luggage.
For instance, a radically-improved hover board could transform the moving industry. This powerful future invention could be affixed to refrigerators, pianos, couches, water tanks or stoves, requiring only the lightest guidance by the mover to propel objects from one home to the next.
We’re not there yet, obviously. Current hover boards would require absurd energy to suspend a piano, and the required air flow could skin a nearby mover. But with ongoing technology, more powerful batteries and a heavy set of coveralls, it just may be possible some day.
After all, if an adventurous fish can make the effort to evolve to land, surely we can do more to improve our experience while we’re here?
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Asa Franz
