Another is the English luxury goods manufacturer H.J. of Petersburg, Virginia - still makes them for school and camp, and another company - Shwayder Trunk Company of Denver, Colorado - would eventually become Samsonite.
One of the largest American manufacturers of trunks at one point - Seward Trunk Co. Secor, Winship, Hartmann, Belber, Oshkosh, Seward, and Leatheroid. Taylor, Haskell Brothers, Martin Maier, Romadka Bros., Goldsmith & Son, Crouch & Fitzgerald, M. There were hundreds of trunk manufacturers in the United States and a few of the larger and well known companies were Rhino Trunk & Case, C.A. By the end of the 1940s their use had become rare and in modern times is almost unknown.ĭuring Britain's imperial century (1815–1914), some people on long voyages used their trunks as a substitute board for the game Donko! This practice stopped after the rules were lost in the late 19th century. The use of classic trunks for luggage was widespread through the first two decades of the twentieth century but began to fade in popularity thereafter in favor of the modern suitcase. They sometimes were made with a small brass handle on top and were made in many sizes. Some of the earliest trunks are covered with studded hide or leather and look much like the furniture of the same period (which makes sense as trunk manufacturing was sometimes an offshoot of a furniture business.) Later coverings include paper, canvas, plain or embossed tin, with an uncounted assortment of hardware and hardwood slats to keep it all down. Trunks were generally constructed with a base trunk box made of pine which was then covered with protective and decorative materials. Although trunks have been around for thousands of years in China and elsewhere, the most common styles seen and referred to today date from the late 18th century to the early 20th century, when they were supplanted in the market by the cost-effective and lighter suitcase.