Carrying case with freely hinged closure

Claim 1

A carrying case comprising a body having spaced vertical side and end walls and a horizontal bottom all secured together and forming an open top, a closure flap for closing the open top when said closure flap is horizontally positioned, said closure flap being connected to said body by a hinging member which is secured to at least one of said side walls and to said closure flap, a carrying handle secured to said closure flap, said closure flap extending the length of the body, said hinging member comprising an integrally formed elongated strip of plastic material which is substantially rigid but which is capable of being longitudinally flexed by manual pressure, said elongated strip extending the entire length of said side wall and closure flap, said strip having a continuous longitudinally extending groove intermediate the opposite longitudinal edges of the strip to form a pair of hinge segments with the groove portion forming the hinge or fold line, said hinge segments having coplanar surfaces when integrally formed, said groove extending the length of the strip, said hinge segments being secured respectively to said side wall and to said horizontal closure flap so that the segment secured to the side wall extends vertically and the segment secured to the horizontal closure flap extends horizontally and perpendicular to the side wall when said closure flap is in its load carrying position when carried by the handle, both the edge of the closure flap and the edge of the side wall adjacent the longitudinal groove of the hinging member being spaced from the longitudinal axis of the longitudinal groove, said longitudinal groove forming the fold line of said hinge and extending adjacent the top edge of the vertical side wall and the outer edge of the horizontal closure flap and forming a continuous closurE between said side wall and closure flap and providing the supporting strength for the load carrying position to support the carrying case when carried by the handle , said hinging member permitting the closure flap to be hinged and positioned outwardly of the side wall of the case in its open position and when so positioned said closure flap will be retained in said outward position and provide a full opening for the open end of the case.