Article of wheeled, steerable luggage

An article of wheeled luggage selectively moveable on and along an underlying support surface in a user-controllable direction of movement, comprising:

• a plurality of walls bounding an interior, closeable compartment for containing articles within said compartment, said plurality of walls including a bottom wall and a front wall;
• a pair of freely rotatable rear wheels mounted to and projecting from said bottom wall remote from said front wall for rolling engagement with the support surface;
• user-controllable means for controlling a forward direction of movement of the article of luggage along the underlying support surface, said means comprising an elongated member disposed closely proximate said front wall and extending along at least a portion of said front wall between a first end proximate said bottom wall and a second end opposite said first end, a freely rotatable front wheel carried at a predeterminately-fixed orientation of rotation on said elongated member proximate said first end for rolling engagement with the underlying support surface, and an elongated pull handle pivotally secured at a first pull handle end to said elongated member proximate said second end and configured at a second pull handle end for grasped engagement with a user's hand;
• and
• mounting means for retaining said user-controllable means in closely proximate relation to said front wall and for axially rotative movement of said elongated member relative to said front wall such that axial rotation of said elongated member correspondingly varies said orientation of rotation of the front wheel relative to said bottom wall;
• said elongated pull handle being pivotally movable between a first storage position in which said pull handle extends along at least a portion of said elongated member and substantially along at least a portion of said front wall, and a second use position in which said pull handle extends outwardly from said front wall and is graspable by a user for transferring user-applied, selectively-directed pull forces to the article of luggage to move the article of luggage along the support surface and to selectively change the direction of movement of the article of luggage along the support surface by pull handle-imparted axially-rotational movement of the elongated member relative to said front wall and a corresponding variation of said orientation of rotation of the front wheel relative to said bottom wall as the elongated member is rotated to thereby change and redirect the direction of movement of the article of luggage in accordance with the variation in orientation of said front wall rotation.