It has been suggested that Flightcase be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2012.

Road cases

A road case, commonly referred to as a roadie case, is a shipping container specifically built to protect musical instruments, motion picture equipment, audio and lighting production equipment, properties, or other sensitive equipment when it must be moved between locations, or frequently thrown around by airport baggage-handling personnel. A large number of varying-sized road cases can be built to outfit the needs of an entire touring production company, or custom designed individually for a specific industry or product^[1].

The term is mostly used in the United States and implies that the case is primarily for road based travel, unlike a flight case. The term originates from its use for storing and shipping band equipment while the musicians were on the road. The singular term can be used interchangeably with ATA case and flight case.

History[link]

The history of road case design is based on an airplane parts packaging specification. It was designed by airline packaging engineers. The specification is ATA 300 Category 1. IATA is The International Airline Transport Association located in Washington, D.C. and consists of members of Boeing Airlines, Airbus, Fed-Ex, American Airlines, United Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines. ATA 300 Cat 1 cases are designed to withstand 100 trips and Cat 2 containers are rated for 10 trips. The original design required the cases to be white, so they would not be left on the airport runway when loading cases at night time. The first ATA 300 Cat 1 spec was published circa 1960.

Construction[link]

Most road cases are constructed of three main layers. An outer layer of laminate known as ABS acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, which is adhered to a middle layer of lightweight 3/16" to 1/2" cabinet-grade plywood such as birch, poplar, or maple. High grade cases are made from composite material such as Plasti-Clad. Inside the case, an internal shock-absorbing layer such as polyurethane or polyethylene foam is adhered to the walls of the middle layer with negative space removed that corresponds to the exact shape of the component which it is preserving. The edges and corners of road cases are further reinforced with aluminium angle bar or extrusions, and form-fitting metal case corners which are cast and often coated in zinc or nickel. Caster wheels are often built into or attached to the case for ease of transit. Major manufacturers of road cases are Calzone / Anvil and Encore case companies. Transit cases differ from road cases in that they are typically made of molded plastic in the case where waterproofing is a concern; manufacturers such as Pelican and Storm sell plastic road cases that can be outfitted with a custom foam interior. All road cases, wood or plastic, may be further customized to suit any application; for example by adding a power adapter and a computer fan, certain equipment may operate while on the road without leaving the protection of the road case. While road cases are available in an incredible variety, the North American standard size is roughly 30"W x 44"L x 33"H including the casters.

Uses[link]

Typical uses for road cases on tour are wardrobe, hair and make-up, catering, rigging, backline, sound, lights, video, production and carpentry. Road cases got their name because they are usually used by touring entertainment companies that need to take their show out 'on the road'. Road cases configured with rackmounts are widely used on the road for pro audio, lighting, sound recording and video. Other applications include motion picture production, military, sports, medical, rental and staging. Road cases are also called ATA Cases, Reusable Shipping Containers, Custom Cases, and Flight Cases.

See also[link]

• Plasti-Clad
• Transit case
• Anvil case

References[link]

1. ^ ATA Cases

Look up case in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Case may refer to:

Academia and education[link]

• Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), a non-profit organization which promotes science and engineering research in the UK
• Case analysis, division of a problem into separate cases
• Case study, examination of a single instance or event
• Case Western Reserve University, independent research university in Cleveland, Ohio
• Center for Advanced Studies in Engineering, graduate engineering program, Islamabad, Pakistan
• Center for Social and Economic Research
• Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology
• Council for Advancement and Support of Education, nonprofit association of educational institutions, United States
• Case Middle School, part of Punahou School in Oahu, Hawaii

Computing and software engineering[link]

• Computer-aided software engineering (CASE), use of computers to assist in the software development life cycle
• Switch statement in computer programming; control statement that may include the keyword "case".
• Use case in software engineering and systems engineering; a description of a system’s behaviour as it responds to a request originating outside the system.
• Computer assisted structure elucidation use of computers to elucidate molecular structures
• Computer Applications in Aerospace Science and Engineering (C2A2S2E) of DLR

Containers and packaging[link]

• Case (goods), package of related merchandise, including Case binding
• Attaché case
• Bookcase
• Briefcase
• Computer case, enclosure that contains the main components of a computer
• Flightcase
• Keep case, DVD or CD storage case
• Packing case
• PDA Case
• Road case
• Suitcase

Vehicles[link]

• Case Corporation, defunct manufacturer of agricultural equipment, tractors and cars
  • Case CE, a manufacturer of construction equipment - a decedent of the company above
  • Case IH, a manufacturer of agricultural equipment - a decedent of the company above

Law and business[link]

• Business case, captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task
• W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co., American manufacturer of knives
• Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchange
• Case (policy debate), part of a policy debate in a debate competition
• Legal case, dispute between opposing parties, being resolved by a court of law

Linguistics[link]

• Grammatical case, type of linguistic inflection
• Letter case, typography, distinction between majuscule (capital or upper-case) and minuscule (lower-case) letters
• Sentence case, style of capitalization
• Conceptually Accurate Signed English, form of Manually Coded English

People[link]

• Case (rabbi), rabbi and Polish religious leader
• Case (singer), American musician
• Case (name), surname

Other[link]

• The Case (film), 2007 Chinese film
• Case (Henry Dorsett Case), fictional character in Neuromancer
• Case Township, Michigan
• Case-shot, a type of anti-personnel canister ammunition similar to a shrapnel shell
• Casement window

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Case"
• All pages with titles containing "Case"
• Casing (disambiguation)
• Box
• Casa (disambiguation)
• Crate
• Carton

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