Back in the Stone Age, we even had to haul our luggage over our shoulders.
Now, of course, it all seems so logical. Man has been taking his belongings on the road since Odysseus (or Ulysses, if you prefer). And the wheel’s been around since at least Mesopotamia. (The real one. Not Jon Stewart’s Mess O’Potamia). That we took so long to combine the two might be the greatest knock against our species since the fall from grace.
But salvation did eventually come – thanks to a man named Bernard Sadow. Now 85, Sadow was a pitchman for wheeled luggage in New York in 1970 until every department store turned him down, calling him “crazy.” Undeterred, Sadow prodded the U.S. Luggage company he would go on to one day lead to roll out the mobile carrier. The Massachusetts firm presented the protoyope on October 4, 1970. (The branch of U.S. Luggage in charge of travelware is named Briggs & Riley)
Macy’s finally saw the light, and picked up the idea. And travelling’s never been the same since. (Via eTurboNews and CNN)