Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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FORWARDLY INCLINED OVER-THE-COUNTER
SHOPPING CART
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an over-the-counter
shopping cart having a forwardly inclined bottom wall, an
enlarged front end, an improved support frame permitting the
transportation of heavy loads and close nesting of carts, and
an improved baby seat compartment.
BACKGROUND ART
The over-the-counter shopping cart of the present
invention is an improved cart of the type described in U.S.
Patent 3,751,059 issued August 7, 1973. That cart was
designed whereby to replace conventional cantilevered shopping
carts wherein the basket is hinged upwardly on the frame to
permit close nesting. A disadvantage of the cantilevered
shopping carts is that the baskets are difficult to hinge
upwardly to permit nesting and are dangerous should the basket
accidentally fall from its upright nested position. A still
further disadvantage of cantilevered shopping carts is that
because the basket is constructed in two parts and operated on
a hinge it often necessitates repair and most often people do
not take the time and bother of lifting the large front basket
of the cart to its nesting position resulting in many shopping
carts being left unattended and occupying a larger floor space
than conventional nestable carts. These carts are also
bothersome to customers and to the supermarket proprietors
because of their difficulty to nest. Also, these conventional
carts have their baskets horizontally disposed and heavy large
merchandise is often difficult to remove as they must be
lifted out of the carrying basket when positioned adjacent a
merchandise processing station operated by a cashier.
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SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is a feature of the present invention to provide
an improved over-the-counter shopping cart which substantially
eliminates the above-mentioned disadvantages.
Another feature of the present invention is to
provide an improved over-the-counter shopping cart of the type
described in the aforementioned U.S. patent and which
facilitates the sliding removal of merchandise from its basket
and further provides improved nesting and structural rigidity.
Another feature of the present invention is to
provide an improved over-the-counter shopping cart having a
novel baby seat compartment which is automatically actuable to
automatically and securely obstruct the leg holes in the rear
wall of the cart to prevent merchandise from falling through
the leg holes and to further prevent the seat plate from being
positioned out of obstructing engagement with the leg holes
when the backrest is collapsed.
According to the above features, from a broad
aspect, the present invention provides an over-the-counter
shopping cart having an open-top-end merchandise-carrying
basket supported elevated by a frame having casters in a lower
end for displacing the cart on a ground surface. A handle is
provided in a rear end of the basket for moving the cart over
the ground surface. The basket has a bottom wall, opposed
diverging side walls, a rear wall and a forwardly hinging
front gate in a front end of the basket. The bottom wall has
ribs projecting on a top surface thereof and extending
horizontally from the rear wall to the front gate to
facilitate the sliding of merchandise disposed thereon toward
the front gate. The bottom wall also slopes downwardly from
the rear wall to the front gate at a predetermined angle in
the range of from 5 to 7 to further facilitate the discharge
of merchandise by sliding the merchandise on the top surface
of the bottom wall.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will
now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings
in which:
5Figure 1 is a partly fragmented perspective view of
the over-the-counter shopping cart of the present invention;
Figure 2 is side view, partly fragmented, of the
shopping cart of Figure 1 showing a modification to the
support frame;
10Figure 3 is a top, partly fragmented view of the
shopping cart illustrating a further modified frame;
Figure 4 is a side view of the shopping cart of
Figure 1 illustrating how it nests with other carts of the
same type;
15Figure 5 is a fragmented perspective view showing
the construction of the baby seat compartment;
Figures 6, 7 and 8 are sectional side views showing
the operation of the backrest in relation to the seat plate;
and
20Figure 9 is a simplified view showing the hinged
bracket of the hinged front gate illustrating its operation.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawings and more particularly
to Figure 1, there is shown generally at 10 the over-the-
counter shopping cart of the present invention. As herein
shown the shopping cart has an open top end merchandise
carrying basket 11 supported elevated above a ground surface
by a frame 13. Casters 14 are secured under the lower
horizontal frame section 15 and a handlebar 16 projects
rearwardly of the shopping basket 11 to displace the shopping
cart 10 over a ground surface.
As herein shown, the open top end merchandise
carrying basket 11 has a bottom wall 17, opposed diverging
side walls 18, a rear wall 19 and a hinged front gate 20. A
baby seat compartment 21 is defined in a rear end section of
the shopping basket between the rear wall 19 and a hinged
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backrest 22. A hinged seat plate 23 is spring-biased against
leg holes 24 provided in the rear wall 19.
As better seen in Figure 2, the bottom wall 17 of
the basket 11 slopes downwardly towards the front end at a
5 predetermined angle. This angle is within the range of from
about 5 to 7 and this facilitates the discharge of
merchandise, such as 25 resting on the bottom wall by sliding
motion thereof towards the hinged front gate. As herein
shown, the basket is constructed of wire rods 26 welded
10 together to form a meshing. Preferably, the bottom wall
slopes at an angle of about 7. It has been found that a
sloping angle within the specified range is an important
factor of this cart. If the angle is too steep the
merchandise slides forwardly and obstructs the front gate. If
15 the shopping angle is not enough, it does not facilitate
sliding of the merchandise. It is intended with this type of
cart that the customer slides the merchandise to the counter
top for scanning by the cash operator.
As can be better seen in Figure 3, the diverging
20 side walls form a shopping basket which is wider at the front
end 27 than the rear end 28. The bottom wall 17 of the basket
is provided with straight wire rods 17' extending
longitudinally thereof and protruding inside the basket top
surface to constitute sliding ribs on which the merchandise is
25 disposed. Similarly, the wire rods 20' in the front gate 20
extend in the same direction as the wire rods 17' in the
bottom wall 17 and are disposed on the inner surface of the
hinged gate 20 whereby when the hinged gate rests on a station
counter (not shown) the ribs will all extend in the same
30 direction providing ease of sliding motion for the articles,
and particularly heavy articles, contained within the basket.
The elongated side rods 11' provided in the side walls 11 also
extend longitudinally whereby the vertical rods 11' do not
provide any obstruction to goods that may be resting against
35 the side wall. Because the customer stands to one side of the
cart when discharging it, he will be prone to pull merchandise
against a side wall while discharging the basket. Still
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further, the vertical rods 22' in the rear wall of the hinged
backrest 22 also extend in the same direction as the rods 17'
on the bottom wall of the basket. It can therefore be
appreciated that any goods contained within the basket will
slide easily out of the basket and without the goods being
damaged by burrs and welds of the wire rods as the junctures
and welds are now located outwardly of the basket. Plastic
strip guards 29 are also disposed over the top edge of the
side walls 11 to protect the person at the processing station
against any burrs or rough edges one normally finds in these
top edges at the weld junctions of the wire rods.
As shown in Figure 4, the shopping carts 10 are
conventionally nestable with one another. As herein shown,
the wide front end 27 of shopping cart 10' is nested within
the narrower rear end 28 of a forward shopping cart 10' with
the engaged hinged front gate 20 of the shopping cart 10
having been automatically collapsed inwardly over its bottom
wall 17 by obstruction with the rear end 25 of the forward
shopping cart 10'. To re-engage the front gate 20 it is
merely necessary to lift it up and it will fall automatically
in engagement.
Referring again to Figures 1 to 4, there will be
described the construction of the frame 13. As herein shown,
the frame is a tubular structural welded frame having a lower
horizontal U-shaped section 15 and a rear intermediate
elevated frame 30 formed integral extending through about mid-
length of the lower frame section 15. It has a pair of
transverse spaced top support rods 31 and 31', each secured
adjacent an end of a bridge portion 32 of the intermediate
elevated frame 30. A first forwardly inclined tubular top
frame 33, herein constituted by an inverted U-shaped frame
having opposed parallel straight rods 34 and a transverse
interconnecting rod 35, is secured at a top end across the
bottom wall 17 of the basket and between a pair of side
brackets 35. The first forwardly inclined tubular top frame
33 is spaced from the front end 27 approximately one-third the
length of the basket and secured at a bottom end substantially
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across the rearward transverse support rod 31'. A second
forwardly inclined tubular top frame 36 is similarly
constructed and secured in a top end across the bottom wall of
the basket between the front side brackets 35 and disposed
substantially across the front edge of the bottom wall. It is
connected at its lower ends substantially across the front
transverse support rod 31. This provides for a very rigid
frame capable of supporting several hundreds of pounds of
merchandise in the basket.
As shown in Figure 2, the forwardly inclined frame
36' may be bent to define a base section 37 extending from the
forward transverse support rod 31 upwardly to meet and connect
with the first forwardly inclined tubular top frame 33 and
then angled forwardly in a section 38 to terminate below the
bottom wall at the front end 27 of the basket. As better seen
in Figure 2, the front end of the side bracket 35 has a
forward hinged bracket section 40 to which the front gate 20
is hingedly supported for forward and rearward pivotal
displacement.
With reference to Figure 9, it can be seen that the
hinge bracket 40 is provided with an angled guide slot 41 and
a gate retaining slot 42 provided in a top end. A guide edge
43 is formed inwardly in the bracket below the gate retaining
slot 42. The front gate 20 has a side wire rod 44 provided
with the loop rod 45 which is engaged by the hinged bracket 40
with the lower leg 45' of the loop 45 retained captive within
the guide slot 41. When the gate 20 is in its collapsed
position, as shown in phantom lines at 46 resting on the top
guide rods 17' of the basket bottom wall 17, the top leg 45"
of the loop is disposed close to the guide edge 45. By
lifting the front gate in the direction of arrow 47, the top
leg 45" will slide over the guide edge 43 and enter into the
hinged bracket. The front gate is retained by the gate
retaining slot 42 at an angle as shown herein. There is no
engagement with the side walls. The gate is collapsed to its
position at 46 by the nesting of the cart or simply by pushing
the front gate 20 inwardly of the cart with the hand.
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In order to disengage the front gate for unloading
merchandise, it is merely necessary to pull the gate back a
list to disengage the top leg 45" of the loop and to lift the
gate until the bottom leg 45' is at the top of the guide slot
41 to clear the finger 48 of the hinged bracket 40 and to
hinge the gate forwardly to rest over a countertop at a
processing station or else to leave it hang freely downwardly
as shown in phantom lines at 49. In order to nest the carts,
the gate must be at its engaged upward position as shown at 20
or collapsed on the basket bottom wall.
Referring now to Figures 5 to 8, there will be
described the construction and operation of the baby seat
compartment. As previously described, the baby seat
compartment is defined between the rear wall 19 and the
backrest 22 which is pivotally secured to pivot rod 50 by a
loop 51 formed in two opposed vertical wire rods 52. The
pivot rod 50 forms part of the shopping cart basket bottom
wall. The seat plate 23 is hinged at a lower edge 53 to a
hinge rod 54 secured in a lower edge of the rear wall 19. A
coil spring 55 biases the seat plate 23 upwardly against the
leg holes 24 formed in the rear wall 19. Accordingly, as the
seat plate 23 is pushed inwardly within the cart, it will have
a spring force urging it back against the leg holes.
As herein shown, a seat plate engageable frame 56 is
formed by a U-shaped wire rod having opposed side rod sections
57 and a transverse interconnecting end rod 60. The side rod
sections 57 are looped at a free end 58 to a transverse hinge
rod 59 forming part of the backrest 22. The frame 56 is
slidingly displaceable over a rear portion of the bottom wall
17 of the basket 11 adjacent the rear wall 19. As better seen
in Figures 6 and 7, an arresting rod 61 is secured on the rear
side of the backrest 22 and abuts with the top rod 17' of the
bottom wall to prevent the backrest from hinging forwardly
beyond a predetermined plane as shown in Figure 6. Also, when
the seat plate 23 is in its engaged seating position, as again
shown in Figure 6, it also arrests the backrest from forward
movement. Furthermore, the weight of an infant seated on the
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seat plate also prevents the backrest from hinging forwardly
or collapsing rearwardly due to transverse rod 64.
It can be seen that the seat plate 23 is also
provided with a catch 62 protruding from a rear surface
thereof and at a predetermined location whereby to engage with
a transverse engageable wire rod 63 welded between the wire
rods 57 of the seat plate engageable frame 56 when positioned
in a downward position as shown in Figure 6. As shown in
Figure 7, a further transverse seat plate abutment rod 64 is
secured across the side rod sections 57 and spaced inwardly
towards the backrest for release abutment of the catch 62 from
its engagement with the rod 63 by forward movement of the
backrest in the direction of arrow 65. The abutment rod 64
permits the hinge seat plate to return to its obstructing
position against the rear wall prior to the backrest 22
collapsing over the basket bottom wall. This feature prevents
entanglement of the various movable elements of the baby seat
compartment and namely the back seat, the frame 56 and the
backrest 22. As can be appreciated, the cart 62 permits the
seat plate 23 to be engaged over the bottom wall 17 of the
basket in the baby seat compartment whilst the hands of the
person are free to place a child in the baby seat compartment.
It can also be seen that a projecting handle 70 is
formed or connected to a top edge 71 of the backrest 22 and
disposed at least centrally therealong. The handle extends
substantially horizontally towards the basket front end when
the backrest is in a position of use. This handle has two
purposes, one being to retract the backrest to a position of
use or to displace the backrest to a position of non-use and
furthermore to obstruct the seat plate 23 when the backrest 22
is collapsed, as shown in Figure 8. This permits the basket
to be used in totality to carry merchandise while preventing
the leg holes 24 to become unobstructed by displacement of the
seat plate in the direction of arrow 73. This is particularly
useful when the seat plate 23 is not of the spring-bias type
or if the spring 55 malfunctions. The baby seat compartment
as herein described and particularly the backrest construction
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is much more simple than that as described in U.S. Patent
3,751,059 and provides numerous advantages thereover. The
support frame also provides more rigidity and stability to the
basket and can support heavy loads as is also illustrated in
Figures 1 to 4. A lower basket 80 may be secured to the frame
in a rear portion thereof and substantially in part or close
alignment with the space 81 between the rear wall 19 and the
handle bars 16 whereby elongated objects can be supported
vertically by the lower basket 80 and projecting through this
opening 81, as described in another pending patent application
to the Applicant.
It is within the ambit of the present invention to
cover any obvious modifications of the preferred embodiment
and its modifications described herein, provided such
modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.
