Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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NESTABLE SHOPPING CART WITH IMPROVED
LOWER CONTAINMENT MEANS
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a nestable
shopping cart having an improved lower containment
means whereby elongated objects may be supported in a
secondary containment basket supported in a lower
section of the shopping cart and in line with a
restraining open area def fined between the rear wall of
the main containment basket, the handle bar and spaced
side attachment members of the handle bar with the
elongated objects passing through the restraining open
area whereby to maintain the objects substantially
vertically in a restrained manner within the confines
of the cart.
BACKGROUND ART
Shopping carts have been provided with a
containment means in a lower part of the frame and such
containment means is usually provided by a support
meshing extending between opposed side frame members to
which the casters are secured directly under the bottom
wall of the containment basket. A typical example of
such lower support frame is shown in U_S_ Patent N°
3,751,059 which relates to an over-the-counter shopping
cart. It is pointed out that it has not been feasible
to provide a lower container whereby more products may
be retained by the shopping cart as most carts are made
to nest within one another, when not in use, and as
also illustrated in the above reference U.S. patent,
and a lower basket would prevent the nesting. By
providing a lower flat frame as shown in the above
referenced patent, the shopping carts can still be
nested.
With the advent of large warehouse-type shopping
stores, it is now common to purchase large objects in
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such warehouse-type but a disadvantage has been to
carry elongated size objects by conventional shopping
cart. For this reason, some of these warehouse outlets
provide dollies which is merely a rectangular pallet
supported on wheels and being displaced by a large U-
shaped vertical handle bar in the rear thereof. A
disadvantage of these pallets is that they are very
large and cannot be nested and occupy a lot of space in
the aisles and consequently these must be stored
outside the stores and this causes several secondary
problems such as the pallets being left stranded in the
parking areas causing damage to automobiles, they can
be stolen and also cause injuries to people's legs and
anckles, etc.
Another disadvantage of the conventional
shopping cart, when used in these warehouse-type stores
is that elongated objects of irregular sizes, such as
garden tools, i.e_ shovels, rakes, etc. or any
elongated object is usually placed into the basket and
protrude outwardly thereof from the sides rear or front
causing injuries to customers and causes damage to
goods stored in shelving along the sides of the aisles
through which these shopping carts are displaced.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a feature of the present
invention to provide a nestable shopping cart having a
main containment basket as well as a secondary
containment basket which has its open top end aligned,
at least in part, with a restraining open area defined
between the rear wall of the main containment basket,
the handle bar and spaced side attachment members so
that elongated objects may be supported substantially
vertically in the lower containment basket with a
portion of the object extending through the restraining
open area whereby the object is supported in a vertical
orientation, rearwardly of the basket and in a manner
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which will not cause damage and wherein such
containment means further permits nestable
shopping cart to carry more objects than
heretofore possible while still permitting
nesting.
According to the above features, from a
broad aspect, the present invention provides a
nestable shopping cart comprising a main
containment basket supported elevated by a frame.
to Casters are secured to the frame to displace the
shopping cart on a floor surface. The
containment basket has a bottom wall, side walls,
a front wall and a rear wall. A handle bar is
secured rearwardly spaced from the rear wall by
spaced side attachment members at opposed ends
thereof. A restraining open area is defined
between the rear wall, handle bar and spaced side
attachment members. A secondary containment
basket is secured between a pair of rear frame
members in a lower section of the frame and has
at least a portion of a top open end thereof
aligned substantially on a vertical axis passing
through the restraining open area. The secondary
basket and the restraining open area are
dimensioned to position and retain elongated
objects supported in the secondary basket and
extending through the restraining open area
whereby the object is transported substantially
upright by the shopping cart in a rear portion
thereof and within the containment space of the
restraining open area. The secondary basket is
secured spaced inwardly of said pair of rear
frame members by nesting support brackets. The
nesting support brackets have a pair of
attachment members disposed spaced in parallel
planes and interconnected by an integral
intermediate bridge member. A nesting space is
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defined between the pair of attachment members
for receiving therein a respective one of a pair
of rear frame members of another shopping cart.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the present
invention will now be described with reference to
the accompanying drawings in which:
FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an over
the-counter shopping cart having incorporated
therein the improved lower containment means of
the present invention;
FIGURE 2 is a rear view of Figure 1;
FIGURE 3 is a fragmented perspective view
showing the manner in which the lower secondary
containment basket is secured between a pair of
rear frame members;
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FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a lower
secondary containment basket secured to the frame of a
conventional nestable shopping cart;
FIG. 5 is a side view showing the nesting of the
cart of Figure 4;
FIG. 6 is a top view along section IV of Figure
5;
FIG. 7 is a fragmented perspective view showing
the construction of a collapsible back rest frame which
co-act with a seat plate to obstruct leg holes in a
rear of a shopping cart, and
FIG. 8 is a perspective view similar to Figure 7
but showing the back rest in a collapsed position to
maintain the seat plate immovable against the leg holes
of the rear wall.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring now to the drawings, and more
particularly to Figures 1 to 3, there is shown in
generally at 10, an over-the-counter nestable shopping
cart adapted with the improved lower containment means
of the present invention. The shopping cart comprises
a main containment basket 11 which is supported
elevated by a frame 12 having casters 13 secured
thereunder. The lower horizontal part 14 of the frame
is substantially rectangular and of approximately the
same width and length as the basket 11. The
containment basket 11 has a bottom wall 15, side walls
16, a hingeable front wall 17 and a rear wall 18. A
handle bar 19 is secured rearwardly spaced from the
rear wall 18 by spaced side attachment members 20 which
are secured to the frame or the main containment basket
and the opposed ends of the handle bar. A restraining
open are 21 is defined between the rear wall 18, the
handle bar 19 and the spaced side attachment members
20.
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The improvement of the shoppping cart resides in
that a lower secondary containment basket 22 is secured
between a pair of upwardly extending rear frame members
23 in a lower section of the frame and has at least a
portion of a top open end 24 of the basket 22 disposed
substantially on a vertical axis 25 which passes
through the restraining open area 21. The secondary
basket 22 is secured spaced inwardly of the pair of
rear frame members 23 by nesting support brackets 26.
As can be seen from Figures 1 and 2 and
previously mentioned, the lower, generally rectangular
frame 14, has a length and a width substantially equal
to the length and width of the main containment basket
11 whereby to stabilize the main containment basket
over a floor support surface. As also shown in these
figures, the frame is provided with two pairs of
upwardly extending rear frame members 23 and 23' with a
forward most one these pairs being secured to the lower
rectangular frame 14 at substantially mid-length by a
vertical tubular member 24' of the frame to provide
added support of the main carrying basket 11. These
pairs of rear frame members 23 and 23' are generally U-
shaped members and have an angled support tubular
member 24" and extend upwardly outwardly to connect the
basket support frame to the lower frame 14.
As shown in Figure 3, the nestable support
brackets 26 have a pair of attachment members 27 and
27' disposed spaced in parallel planes and
interconnected by an integral intermediate bridge
member 28. A nesting space 29 is defined between the
pair of attachment members 27 and 27' for receiving
therein a respective one of the upwardly extending
frame members 23 of another shopping cart nested
therewith. The nestable support brackets 26 are
secured to the rear frame members 23_
As shown in Figure 1, the secondary basket 22
and the restraining open area 21, aligned therewith,
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are adapted to retain elongated objects, such
as the shovel 30, brooms, pipes, etc., whereby
one end of the objects, herein the shovel 30,
is placed in the secondary basket 22 with the
other end extending through the open area and
being contained by the restraining open area in
a substantially vertical orientation thereby
not causing obstruction outside the confines of
the shopping basket.
Referring now to Figures 4 to 6, there is
shown a conventional shopping cart 31 having a
main containment basket 32 supported elevated
by a frame 33 supported on casters 34 and
wherein the lower secondary basket 22' is
secured to the pair of upwardly extending rear
frame members 35 by nesting support brackets
26'. The attachment means 36, combined with
the nesting support brackets 26', form U-shaped
members and a nesting space 29' is defined
between the attachment members 36 and 36',
respectively. When the baskets of these types
are nested together, as shown in Figures 5 and
6, the front tubular frame member 33' is
received within the nesting space 29'.
As also shown in Figure 4, the spaced side
attachment members 20' which secure the handle
bar 19' are formed of rigid metal wires which
are secured to the side walls 37 of the
containment basket 32 by welding and these wire
members 20' extend rearwardly of the rear wall
38 and define fastener receiving cavities 39 to
receive fasteners 40 therein which are secured
in the ends of the handle bar 19'.
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As shown in Figure 1, the spaced side
attachment members 20 are formed by opposed
side arms of a tubular member which is
integrally formed with the handle bar, the
handle constituting an intermediate arm section
thereof. The side arms 20 are secured to the
frame or integrally formed therewith and may
also be secured to the bottom wall 15 of the
containment basket 11 by welding or by brackets
(not shown).
Referring now to Figures 7 and 8, there is
shown the construction of the rear wall 18 of
the containment basket 11 of the over-the-
counter shopping cart 10 as shown in Figure 1.
As can be seen the containment basket has a
pair of leg holes 45 and a seat plate 46 is
pivotally secured internally of the containment
basket adjacent the rear wall and is spring-
biased by a helical springs) 47 against the
leg holes 46 to obstruct these holes to prevent
merchandise from falling out of the main
containment basket through the leg holes 45
when the baby seat containment does not support
a child. A collapsible back rest 48 is hinged
at a bottom end by loop rod ends 49 to wires 50
forming the bottom wall 15 of the basket.
Attachment means in the form of a bent wire 51
is pivotally secured at a bent end 52 to a
horizontal wire 53 in the back rest 48 and
forms a pair of shoulder portions 54 which are
slidingly received in a respective one of wired
guide loops 55 angularly secured between the
back wall 45 and the bottom wall 15. Such a
mechanism is shown in the above-referenced U.S.
Patent .
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As can be seen in Figure 8, when the back
rest 48 is collapsed rearwardly towards the
back wall 18, the shoulder portions 54 will
slide up into the guide slots 55 and cause the
shoulder portions 54 to abut against the seat
plate 46 thereby preventing the seat plate from
being pushed inwardly of the basket. This
provides for maximum carrying capacity of the
main containment basket while providing the
added safety feature of positively blocking the
leg holes 45 to prevent products from falling
out of the main carrying basket.
As also shown in Figure 8, a plastic edge
plate 58 is secured on the top edge 57 of the
back rest and has an inscription thereon, such
as shown at 59, to inform the user to lift the
back rest 48 in order to form a baby seat
compartment 59, as shown in Figure 7,
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to place a child seated in the rear end of the shopping
cart on the seat plate 46, which is hinged downwardly
against the spring action 47 to positioned a child
thereon with his legs extending through the leg holes
45. When the carts are nested, the back rest
automatically falls down to provide maximum space in
the shopping basket.
As can be seen that, even if a child is seated
in the rear end of the basket, there is still
sufficient space provided by the open area 21 whereby
to permit the passage of elongated objects to each side
of the leg holes and in an unobstructing manner to the
child. The larger part of such elongated object would
be placed in the lower containment basket 22 and only
the least obstructive part would extend next to the
child, not to endanger the child.
It is within the ambit of the present invention
to cover any obvious modifications of the preferred
embodiment described therein, provided such
modifications fall within the scope of the appended
claims_
