After 40 years, wheeled-luggage innovator still on a roll

U.S. Luggage and its division, Briggs & Riley Travelware, both in Hauppauge, don't claim to have invented the wheel. But travelers may want to thank the companies anyway -- U.S. Luggage invented rolling luggage 40 years ago this month, and Briggs & Riley has, over the decades, kept the business, well, rolling.

The story goes like this: In 1970, Bernard Sadow, then vice president of U.S. Luggage, a company that made suitcases in Fall River, Mass., was traveling home from a family vacation in Aruba, dragging his suitcases with him, when he spotted an airport worker easily rolling a machine on a wheeled skid. That, Sadow said, was what America needed: luggage on wheels.

Sadow removed casters from a trunk and put them on a large travel bag. He won a patent for "Rolling Luggage" -- which was broken years later -- but his efforts to sell the idea to department stores was an uphill battle. Finally, Macy's ordered a few, and quickly put in an order for more, and the wheeled luggage spun into a success story.

Now, some 75 percent to 80 percent of luggage on the market is equipped with wheels, said Richard Krulik, of Northport, now chief executive of U.S. Luggage and Briggs & Riley. Briggs & Riley bought U.S. Luggage in 1982. The privately held company has about 101 employees.

Krulik, whose father and grandfather were both in the luggage business, said Briggs & Riley now produces 55 different styles of luggage and 35 styles of business cases, the majority of which have wheels. They go under styles called Baseline, Transcend and the newest type, BRX.

"Thirty to forty years ago, getting on a plane was a big to-do," Krulik said. "But now we get up and go, so luggage has had to keep up with the times" and be lightweight and mobile.

The company has even sold the U.S. Transportation Security Administration on several types of luggage -- mostly cases -- that allow for easy transport and inspection of laptop computers.

Briggs & Riley has plenty of competitors, but it is among the top three luggage producers in the country, Krulik said. So how do you celebrate 40 years of wheeled luggage? "We're constantly coming up" with new products, Krulik said.

Sadow, now 85 and living in Westchester County, said he never expected his invention to be so successful. He said he feels a sense of pride when he sees travelers with wheeled luggage. "You never lose that even though it's 40 years," Sadow said. "I feel good over it."