Shopping cart with baby seat

Abstract

A shopping cart with a baby seat at the rear of the cart. The front wall of the seat, against which the infant or child leans, has an upright, closed position and an open position. The width of the baby seat front wall is less than the width of the main lading-carrying basket of the shopping cart, so that it can be swung down from its upright, closed position in the forward direction, when desired, to rest on the bottom wall of the basket to increase the capacity of the shopping cart by adding the space enclosed by the side and rear walls of the baby seat. A latch holds the baby seat front wall in its upright, closed position and preferably cooperates with a lost motion hinge at the bottom of the wall, and in its preferred form includes at least one cammed latch member that slides up across a ramp or slide member to (1) move the front wall upward as it approaches its closed position, and then (2) drop the front wall down to seat it in its closed position. The latch can be released by reversing this procedure. The preferred hinge includes a stud carried at each end of the hinge pintle that extends in a transverse direction from the pintle at an obtuse angle, preferably 135°, to the plane of the baby seat front wall. This construction means that the hinge pintle of the hinged front wall is retained in place without special connections, after the baby seat has been fixedly secured to the rest of the shopping cart.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to a shopping cart, and more particularly such a cart with a baby seat at the rear thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Shopping carts for use by customers in grocery stores, discount stores, hardware stores and the like have been in use for more than 40 years. For about 20 years, one widely used type of shopping cart, commonly known as an over-the-counter cart, has had an elevated frame for supporting the main lading-carrying basket just above the top of the check-out counter as the cart is pushed through the check-out station.

From the very first use of over-the-counter carts, such carts (like shopping carts of virtually every other type) have been provided with a baby seat compartment at and facing the rear of the cart, near the handle so that a parent can carry an infant or young child in the cart at the same time the cart is being used to accumulate purchases as it is pushed around the store. Such a seat is ordinarily arranged to permit an infant or young child to face the parent while sitting in the baby seat.

The walls of shopping carts in widest use are formed of an array of interconnected wire elements, and these walls define the main load or lading-carrying space. In carts having the main lading-carrying basket elevated just above the top of the check-out counter, the space defined by the walls of the basket is customarily closed off at its front end by a hinged gate that can be lowered by the check-out clerk, when desired, to provide access to the articles contained in the basket of the cart.

In the usual shopping cart that is of the over-the-counter type described and includes a baby seat, the front wall of the seat, against which the infant or young child leans when seated in the cart, is constructed so as to remain in a fixed, generally vertical position at all times. When the baby seat is unoccupied, the space defined by the seat can be used to hold articles purchased by the user of the cart, in order to augment the load-carrying capacity of the cart by that additional space. However, when the cart is pushed up to the check-out counter, the articles piled in the baby seat space are not easily accessible to the check-out clerk (who ordinarily stands at the forward end of the shopping cart in front of the cash register) because the fixed, generally vertical front wall of the baby seat interposes a barrier over which it is difficult for the check-out clerk to reach.

This disadvantage has been recognized for as long as the automatically in condition for accepting an infant or child as soon as the cart is removed from its nesting with other carts and the basket is lowered into its operative position resting on front portion 14a of elevated frame 14.

Separately Fabricated Baby Seat

Manufacture of the shopping cart of the type described typically proceeds in steps, with wheeled chassis 16 and elevated frame 14 being fabricated separately from basket 12 and baby seat 24 and the various other components then being brought together in a final assembly step. The preferred lost motion hinge 54 that has been described above is especially advantageous in this type of assembly, since it means that the components may be readily assembled in final form with the hinge in immediate operative position without the use of any special or extra fasteners to secure the hinge pintle in place.

The operation of hinge pintle 58 with studs 60 carried at each end, together with the associated vertical elongated slots 56, has been described above by reference to FIGS. 2, 5 and 6. As is shown in those Figures, the special shape and orientation of studs 60 prevent hinge pintle 58 from moving out of slots 56 after the pintle has been seated in those slots and baby seat 24 is fixedly secured to frame 14. Each stud 60 extends transverse to the longitudinal axis of hinge pintle 58 (in the embodiment shown, at right angles to that axis) and away from the bottom edge of baby seat front wall 44 at an obtuse angle to the plane of that wall (in the embodiment shown, at about 135°). Thus, so long as slot 56 is narrower than the length of studs 60, the studs can not slide out of the slots in which the hinge pintle is seated once the baby seat has been fixedly secured to the elevated frame.

Assembly of Cart And Separate Baby Seat

Before baby seat 24 is attached to shopping cart frame 14, specially shaped and oriented studs 60 at the ends of hinge pintle 58 can be slipped through elongated slots 56 by positioning wall 44 at an angle of about 45° to the vertical axis of the slots. This is best seen in FIG. 3. For clarity, most of the array of interconnected elements that make up baby seat side wall 42 and front wall 44 are omitted in that Figure.

The procedure followed in assembling baby seat 24 to the embodiment of shopping cart 10 disclosed is as follows. Hinge pintle 58 with stud 60 at each end thereof is first seated in elongated slots 56 by positioning baby seat front seat 44 at the 45° angle just mentioned, and then inserting the pintle ends in the slots. This insertion is carried out one at a time, with the hinge pintle moved axially off to one side as the first stud 60 is inserted in its associated slot 56, then moved back to a center position as the second stud is inserted in its associated slot. Front wall 44 is then swung upward through approximately 135°, to slide cam members 68 over slide means 70 and drop wall 44 down into its vertical, upright position as shown in FIG. 2. The baby seat is then fixedly secured to rear portion 14b of elevated frame 14.

As seen in FIG. 5, with the movement of baby seat front wall 44 restricted by bottom wall 18 of basket 12, hinge pintle 58 can not be rotated back through 135° as it was when front wall 44 was being assembled to the rest of the baby seat, and thus cannot be removed from elongated slots 56 without disassembling the shopping cart. As seen in FIGS. 2 and 5, rotation of baby seat front wall 44 through the 90° of movement that are available to it after the baby seat is secured to elevated frame 14 moves studs 60 through a progression of positions in any one of which removal of hinge pintle 58 from slots 56 is prevented.

This preferred method of assembly of front wall 44 to the rest of baby seat 24 and shopping cart 10 as a whole is not only quick and easy, but as already mentioned above makes it unnecessary to employ any special fasteners or other components to hold the hinged front wall securely in place.

The above detailed description has been given for ease of understanding only. No unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A shopping cart which comprises:

(a) a wheeled chassis;

(b) an elevated frame carried by said chassis;

(c) a basket defining a main lading-carrying space, said basket including a bottom wall secured to said elevated frame, two opposed side walls, and a gate at the front end of said cart, and having an open end at the rear thereof;

(d) a baby seat compartment secured to the rear portion of said elevated frame, said baby seat including a bottom wall, two opposed side walls, a front wall having an upright, closed position and an open position, the width of said baby seat front wall being less than the width of said lading-carrying basket said hinge for said baby seat front wall being located at a level at least as high as the bottom walls of said lading-carrying basket, said front wall being hinged at its bottom edge portion to permit it to be swung down from its closed position in the forward direction, when desired, to rest on the bottom wall of said lading-carrying basket, said hinge for said baby seat front wall being located at a level at least as high as the bottom wall of said lading-carrying basket and a rear wall defining two openings to receive the legs of a baby seated in said baby seat; and

(e) latching means for providing a positive holding of said baby seat front wall to secure the same against movement in either the forward or rearward direction from its said upright, closed position while a baby is seated in the seat, said means being releasable when it is desired to swing said front wall down to rest on the bottom wall of said basket to increase the lading-carrying capacity of the shopping cart.

2. The shopping cart of claim 1 in which the bottom wall of said basket that defines the main lading-carrying space is at the general level of the bottom wall of said baby seat.

3. The shopping cart of claim 1 in which:

said hinge at the bottom edge portion of the front wall of the baby seat is a lost motion hinge including an elongated slot oriented generally vertically to receive the hinge pintle at each end of the bottom edge portion of said front wall, and

said latch means for holding the baby seat front wall in its said upright, closed position includes at least one cammed latch member that moves said front wall upward when it approaches its said closed position as it is swung up from its open position, and then drops said front wall down to seat it in its said closed position.

4. The shopping cart of claim 3 in which said at least one cammed latch member is carried by said baby seat front wall and a cooperating slide member is provided at the front end of the corresponding side wall of the baby seat.

5. The shopping cart of claim 1 in which:

said basket that defines the main lading-carrying space of the cart has an operative position and a storage position.

said bottom wall of the basket is pivotally secured at its rear end portion to said elevated frame to rest on the front portion of said frame when the basket is in its said operative position, and

the bottom wall of said basket is at the general level of the bottom wall of said baby seat when the basket is in its said operative position.

6. The shopping cart of claim 5 in which said bottom wall of said basket that defines the main lading-carrying space of the cart is pivotally secured to said elevated frame at the rearmost portion of said basket.

7. The shopping cart of claim 5 in which the side walls of said shopping cart basket are spaced more widely than the side walls of said baby seat, so that the basket can be swung from its said operative position upward about its said pivot approximately 90° to its said storage position, in which position the basket bottom wall is generally upright and the baby seat is nested within the basket.

8. The shopping cart of claim 7 in which said hinge at the bottom edge portion of the front wall of the baby seat is a lost motion hinge including an elongated slot oriented generally vertically.

9. The shopping cart of claim 7 in which:

said hinge at the bottom edge portion of the front wall of the baby seat is a lost motion hinge including an elongated slot oriented generally vertically to receive the hinge pintle at each end of the bottom edge portion of said front wall, and

said latch means for holding the baby seat front wall in its said upright, closed position includes at least one cammed latch member that moves said front wall upward when it approaches its said closed position as it is swung up from its said open position, and then drops said front wall down to seat it in its said closed position.

10. The shopping cart of claim 9 in which said at least one cammed latch member is carried by said baby seat front wall and a cooperating slide member is provided at the front end of the corresponding side wall of the baby seat.

11. The shopping cart of claim 10 in which a cammed latch member is carried by said baby seat front wall at each end thereof and a cooperating slide member is provided at the front end of the respective side wall of the baby seat.

12. The shopping cart of claim 1 in which:

said baby seat is fabricated separately from the remainder of the cart,

at least one end of the hinge pintle at the bottom edge portion of the front wall of the baby seat includes a stud extending transverse to the longitudinal axis of said pintle,

said hinge includes means defining an elongated slot to receive said at least one stud, and

means are provided at the other end of said hinge pintle from said stud to prevent movement of the stud out of said slot after said pintle has been seated therein and the baby seat is fixedly secured to said shopping cart frame.

13. The shopping cart of claim 12 in which:

the pintle of said hinge at the bottom edge portion of the baby seat front wall is carried by said front wall,

each end of said pintle carries a stud extending transverse to the longitudinal axis of said hinge pintle, and away from the bottom edge of said front wall at an obtuse angle to the plane of said wall, and

each baby seat side wall carries an elongated slot to receive the stud carried by said pintle end, said slot being narrower than the length of said stud.

14. The shopping cart of claim 13 in which each of said studs extends away from the bottom edge of said baby seat front wall at an angle of about 135° to the plane of said wall.

15. The shopping cart of claim 13 in which said elongated slots to receive said studs on said hinge pintle are oriented generally vertically to serve as part of a lost motion hinge for said baby seat front wall.

16. The shopping cart of claim 15 in which said latch means for holding the baby seat front wall in its said upright, closed position includes at least one cammed latch member that moves said front wall upward when it approaches its said closed position as it is swung up from its open position, and then drops said front wall down to seat it in its said closed position.

17. The shopping cart of claim 16 in which said at least one cammed latch member is carried by said baby seat front wall and a cooperating slide member is provided at the front end of the corresponding side wall of the baby seat.

18. The shopping cart of claim 13 in which:

said basket that defines the main lading-carrying space of the cart has an operative position and a storage position,

said bottom wall of the basket is pivotally secured at its rear end portion to said elevated frame to rest on the front portion of said frame when the basket is in its said operative position,

the bottom wall of said basket is generally at the level of the bottom wall of said baby seat when the basket is in its operative position, and

the side walls of said lading-carrying basket are spaced more widely than the side walls of said baby seat, so that the basket can be pivoted from its said operative position upward about its hinge approximately 90° to its said storage position, in which position the basket bottom wall is generally upright and the baby seat is nested within the basket.

19. The shopping cart of claim 13 in which the side walls of said baby seat slant upwardly and outwardly.

20. The shopping cart of claim 1 in which portions of said baby seat front wall extend rearward of the cart adjacent the two opposed side walls of the baby seat and outwardly thereof, to provide rigid stops restricting outward lateral movement of said baby seat side walls.

21. The shopping cart of claim 1 in which said hinge at the bottom edge portion of the front wall of the baby seat is a lost motion hinge including an elongated slot oriented generally vertically.

22. A shopping cart which comprises:

(a) a wheeled chassis;

(b) an elevated frame carried by said chassis;

(c) a basket defining a main lading-carrying space, said basket including a bottom wall secured to said elevated frame, two opposed side walls, and a gate at the front end of said cart, and having an open end at the rear thereof, said basket having an operative position and a storage position, the bottom wall of the basket being pivotally secured at its rear end portion to said elevated frame to rest on the front portion of said frame when the basket is in its said operative position;

(d) a baby seat compartment secured to the rear portion of said elevated frame, said baby seat including a bottom wall, two opposed side walls, a front wall having an upright, closed position and an open position, the width of said baby seat front wall being less than the width of said lading-carrying basket but greater than the distance between said baby seat sidewalls, said front wall having at its bottom edge portion a hinge to permit said wall to be swung down from its closed position in the forward direction, when desired, to rest on the bottom wall of said lading-carrying basket said hinge for said baby seat front wall being located at a level at least as high as the bottom wall of said lading-carrying basket, said hinge being a lost motion hinge including an elongated slot at each end of the bottom edge portion of said front wall, said slots being defined by means carried by each baby seat side wall and oriented in a generally vertical position, and pintle means carried by said baby seat front wall, said pintle having at each end thereof a stud extending at about 90° to the longitudinal axis of said pintle and away from the bottom edge of said front wall at an angle of about 135° to the plane of said wall, and a rear wall defining two openings to receive the legs of a baby seated in said baby seat; and

(e) latch means for providing a positive holding of said baby seat front wall to secure the same against movement in either the forward or rearward direction from its said upright, closed position while a baby is seated in the seat, said latch means including at least one cammed latch member carried by said front wall that slides across a cooperating member carried by a side wall of said baby seat to move said front wall upward when it approaches its said closed position as it is swung up from its open position and then drop said front wall down to seat it in its said closed position, said latch means being releasable when it is desired to swing said front wall down to rest on the bottom wall of said basket to increase the lading-carrying capacity of the shopping cart.