AU2002310995A1

AU2002310995A1 - Stackable shopping trolley

Info

Publication number: AU2002310995A1
Application number: AU2002310995A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Martin Blaha; Herbert Eberlein; Karl Horn
Original assignee: Wanzl Metallwarenfabrik GmbH
Current assignee: Wanzl GmbH and Co Holding KG
Priority date: 2002-02-06
Filing date: 2002-05-03
Publication date: 2003-09-02
Anticipated expiration: 2022-05-03
Also published as: JP2005516841A; DE50208088D1; KR100600836B1; ES2271259T3; EP1472130A1; DE10204801A1; WO2003066410A1; ATE338669T1; JP4113501B2; KR20030094378A; EP1472130B1; BR0208570A; CN1505575A; CN100358762C; AU2002310995B2

Abstract

The invention relates to a stackable shopping trolley (1) comprising an undercarriage (2) carrying a basket (3) for receiving goods. A support (12), positioned on a common horizontal axis (5), is arranged on each of the two lateral sides (4) of the basket (3) and inside the surface of the lateral walls (4). Said supports (12) are used to pivotably position a storage device (8) in such a way that it can be pivoted towards the rear. Said storage device (8) is located outside of the basket (3), is designed to receive other goods, is fitted with carrier arms (10), and is embodied in the form of a swing. The invention is characterised in that a region (31) for receiving the upper section (11) of a carrier arm (10) is respectively formed on the supports (12) or through the supports (12), and the distance measured between the outer sides (34) of the supports (12) and transversally in relation to the pushing direction of the shopping trolley (1) is larger than the distance determined in the same way between the outer sides (35) of the upper sections (11) of the carrier arms (10).

Description

VERMFCATION OF TRANSLATION INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION NO. PCTIDE 02/01603 1, Colette Elizabeth Jagg BA(Xons) DipTST MIL MIfCB. of 39 Hanson Close, Beckenh=a, Kewi BR3 IWO. Great Britain. am the trmnsar of the document attached a I state that the following is a trxUeanslation to the best of my knowledge and belief pLILY Document: 870534 M&C Folio: G02390 PCT/DE 02/01603 Nestable shopping trolley Description The invention relates to a nestable shopping trolley comprising a wheel frame carrying a basket for holding goods, wherein a bearing is arranged on each of the two side walls of the basket within the area of the side walls and on a common horizontal axis, and the bearings are provided for pivotably mounting a shelf arrangement located outside the basket, pivotable rearwards, intended for holding further goods and provided with supporting arms, the shelf arrangement being constructed in the manner of a swing. In a known shopping trolley, the structure of which for the most part corresponds to a shopping trolley described in DE 100 27 706 Al, the two bearings are formed from flat steel and are fixed to the side walls of the basket in a suitable manner. The shape of the bearings is selected so that a flat first portion lying against a side wall is adjoined by a further, bent portion leading away from the side wall and adjoined by a second flat portion also intended to lie against the side wall. The bent portions of the bearings form a space between the respective side wall and the associated bearing. The two spaces are used for partially accommodating fixing means provided for pivotably fixing the shelf arrangement. The upper portions of the supporting arms of the shelf arrangement are arranged on the outside of the bearings. In this region, these upper portions form, together with the fixing means, the outer lateral boundary of the shopping trolley. This has proved disadvantageous in the meantime because the bearings form angular projections projecting laterally from the side walls. When using the shopping trolley, one can damage or scratch shop furniture in a supermarket by knocking against it with the projections. Furthermore, a shopping trolley of this type is very broad in the region of its bearings, which is not desirable. The object of the invention is to develop further a shopping trolley of the type in question so that the aforementioned disadvantages can be avoided or at least reduced. The object is achieved in that a space for accommodating the upper portion of a supporting arm is formed on the bearings or by the bearings, and in that the distance measured between the outer surfaces of the bearings transversely to the pushing direction of the shopping trolley is greater than the similarly determined distance between the outer surfaces of the upper portions of the supporting arms. By accommodating the upper portions of the supporting arms in a space, these portions can no longer project laterally. Consequently, the shopping trolley is narrower in the region of its two bearings, which proves advantageous when handling and moving the shopping trolley. Arranging the upper portions in the said spaces makes it possible to form the outside of the bearings in such a way, e.g. inclined or convex, that the bearings have a deflecting effect if they knock against shop furniture. Damage to the shop furniture is thereby advantageously avoided. The proposed solution permits further developments. For example, a locking means, e.g. an elevation, can be provided on or near the space. When the shelf arrangement is pivoted into the position of use, the locking means have the effect of holding the empty, pivoted-out shelf arrangement in this position of use so that it can easily be loaded.

Furthermore, a stop can be provided on each bearing so that the shelf arrangement can only be pivoted out to a certain degree, thereby preventing overrotation of the shelf arrangement. A shopping trolley with a shelf arrangement for boxes or the like is known from German utility model G 85 00 639.4. Its shelf arrangement provided with supporting arms is either mounted on the handlebar of the shopping trolley or on fixing arms which extend rearwards from the upper longitudinal edges of the basket so that the bearing points for the supporting arms lie slightly below the level of the handlebar. Consequently, the bearing points are not located within the area of the side walls. Furthermore, the shelf surface of the shelf arrangement is downwardly supported on a guide bracket. Therefore, the shelf arrangement is not constructed in the manner of a swing. There are also no spaces for accommodating the upper portions of the supporting arms. The invention will be further described with reference to embodiments. In the drawings: Fig. 1 shows a shopping trolley provided with a shelf arrangement; Fig. 2 shows a simply constructed bearing; Fig. 3 shows a further developed bearing according to fig. 2; Fig. 4 shows a bearing fixed to a supporting plate; Fig. 5 shows a bearing according to fig. 4 as it is being mounted on the supporting plate; Fig. 6 shows a bearing with a device for holding an unladen shelf arrangement in the position of use; Fig. 7 shows a bearing with a stop for limiting the pivoting range of a shelf arrangement; and Fig. 8 shows a rear view of a shopping trolley according to the above embodiments; Fig. 9 shows a further development of a bearing; and Fig. 10 shows a plan view of two shopping trolleys provided with bearings according to fig. 9. Fig. 1 shows a nestable shopping trolley 1 which, in a known manner, is constructed so that it can be pushed in a space-saving manner into an identical shopping trolley 1. The wheel frame 2 carries a basket 3 for holding goods. A shelf arrangement 8 provided with a shelf surface 9 is arranged at the rear of the shopping trolley 1 and is suitable for holding further goods, in particular shrink-wrapped drinks bottles. The shelf arrangement 8, which is constructed in the manner of a swing in accordance with EP 0 684 176 B1, is mounted in bearings 12 on the side walls 4 of the basket 3 so as to be pivotable about a horizontal axis 5 and can be moved rearwards from a position of non-use into a position of use, from which it can independently move back again into the position of non-use. The shelf arrangement 8 is held in the bearings 12 by the upper portions 11 of its two supporting arms 10. Fig. 2 shows a plan view of a very simply constructed bearing 12. The bearing 12 comprises flat steel arranged on edge. A first portion 13 of the bearing is welded to vertical wires 7 of a side wall 4 of the basket 3. The first portion 13 is adjoined by an oblique portion 14 acting as a deflection surface and leading away from the side wall 4. The oblique portion 14 is adjoined by a second portion 15 extending parallel to the first portion 13, but arranged at a distance from the side wall 4. This distance produces a space 31 for accommodating the upper portion 11 of one of the two supporting arms 10 of the shelf arrangement 8. A pivot pin 17 is fixedly arranged on the inner surface 16 of the second portion 15. The horizontally extending pivot pin 17 extends towards the side wall 4 and carries the upper portion 11, e.g. formed as an eyelet, of a supporting arm 10. Securing means (not described in further detail), which are mountable on the pivot pin 17 from the inside of the mesh-type side wall 4, ensure that the upper portion 11 of a supporting arm 10 cannot become detached from the pivot pin 17.

The bearings 12 shown in figures 3 and 4, likewise in plan view, are made of plastics. The bearing 12 constructed according to fig. 3 has holding means 22 which allow the bearing 12 to be fixed to horizontal and vertical wires 6, 7 of a side wall 4. The bearing 12 shown in fig. 4 also has holding means 22 which engage with a supporting plate 28 fixed, e.g. welded to a side wall 4. Both bearings 12 have an oblique portion 14 acting as a deflection surface if the bearing 12 strikes an obstacle, for example a piece of shop furniture. Fig. 5 shows a perspective view of the bearing 12 shown in fig. 4 together with the supporting plate 28 welded to vertical wires 7 of a side wall 4 by means of beads. The supporting plate 28 has two horizontally extending holding bores 29 and a supporting bore 30. The bearing 12 is wedge-shaped and has a vertical contact surface 18 for resting against the supporting plate 28. The contact surface 18 is adjoined at right angles by a spacing surface 19 adjoined by a likewise vertically extending supporting surface 20 arranged at a parallel distance from the contact surface 18. A horizontally arranged pivot pin 17 extending towards the supporting plate 28 is formed on the supporting surface 20. The supporting surface 20 is adjoined by a back 24 which, when viewed from above, comprises an elevation 25 and the oblique portion 14 and joins the contact surface 18 again. Two horizontally arranged pins 21 are formed on the contact surface 18 as holding means 22 and are provided at their tip with an undercut or punctiform elevations. The pins 21 have the same axial distance as the holding bores 29 of the supporting plate 28. As can be seen from the drawing, the bearing 12 can be used as a right-hand bearing for the right-hand side wall 4 of the basket 3 and as a left-hand bearing for the left-hand side wall 4 of the basket 3. The arrow in the drawing shows the direction in which the bearing 12 is mounted on the supporting plate 28. When the shelf arrangement 8 is mounted, first the eyelet-shaped upper portions 11 of the supporting arms 10 of the shelf arrangement 8 are mounted on the pivot pins 7 of the left hand and the right-hand bearing 12. Next, the bearings 12 are pushed with their pins 21 against the supporting plates 28, the pins 21 extending into the holding bores 29 and engaging therewith so that each bearing 12 is locked on the corresponding bearing plate 28. The length of the pivot pins 17 is selected so that, when the bearings 12 are mounted on the supporting plates 28, the pivot pins 17 extend into the supporting bores 30 and are supported therein. Reliable mounting and supporting of the supporting arms 10 is thereby made possible. When the bearings 12 are mounted on the supporting plates 28, a space 31 is formed between each side wall 4 or each supporting plate 28 and the respective bearing 12 and accommodates the upper portion 11 of one of the two supporting arms 10 of the shelf arrangement 8. Each space 31 is bounded by the supporting plate 28, the spacing surface 19 and the supporting surface 20. The space 31 is open upwardly, downwardly and rearwardly to enable the supporting arms 10 to be pivoted on the pivot pins 17. A bore 32 for receiving a screw can be provided in each supporting plate 28 and in each bearing 12 so that it is additionally possible to screw each bearing 12 to the respective supporting plate 28. According to the embodiment shown in fig. 6, it is possible to arrange on the supporting surface 20 of each bearing 12 a projection which has to be surmounted by the supporting arms 10 when the shelf arrangement 8 is pivoted. The position of the projection 23 is selected so that, when the shelf arrangement 8 is pivoted into the position of use, the projections 23 of the two bearings 12 prevent the shelf arrangement 8 from automatically pivoting back into the position of non-use. Instead, the shelf arrangement 8 remains resting against the projections 23 in the pivoted-out position so that e.g. a relatively large box can be placed on the shelf arrangement 8 with both hands without one hand having to hold the shelf arrangement 8 in this position. By pressing lightly on the shelf arrangement 8, the locking means can be surmounted by the supporting arms 10 being pushed past the projections 23. During this process, the supporting arms 10 contact the projections 23 with a certain pressure. It is possible to provide a projection 23 on each supporting plate 28.

In the bearing 12 shown in fig. 7, the pivot pin 17 is concealed from above by a cover 26. If the shelf arrangement 8 is pivoted rearwards, the supporting arms 10 of the shelf arrangement 8 strike the rear edge 27 of the cover 26, thereby limiting the pivotability of the shelf arrangement 8. As a back-up, however, a stop 33 can also be formed on the underside of the cover 26 at a distance from its rear edge 27 and can achieve the same effect as described hereinabove. It is also possible to provide a stop 33 on each supporting plate 28. Alternatively, it is possible to weld or rivet a pivot pin 17 to the two supporting plates 28. In this case, the supporting bore 30 is omitted from the supporting plates 28. An outwardly extending pivot pin 17 is provided in its place. A horizontally arranged supporting bore 30, into which the free end of the respective pivot pin 17 then extends and is supported when the bearings 12 are mounted on and secured to a supporting plate 28, can then be provided in the supporting surface 20 of each bearing 12. In this embodiment too, the pivot pins 17 are arranged on the horizontal axis 5. Here too, the pivot pins 17 each traverse a space 31 in the horizontal direction and the upper portions 11 of the supporting arms 10 are each arranged in a space 31. The technical features shown in fig. 8 apply to all the embodiments described here. The drawing shows a rear view of a shopping trolley 1. The rear of the shopping trolley 1 is viewed in the pushing direction thereof. The wheel frame 2, shown simplified, carries the basket 3. The two bearings 12 carrying the shelf arrangement 8 are arranged on the two side walls 4 of the basket 3. For the sake of clarity, the two bearings 12 and the supporting arms 10 of the shelf arrangement 8 are shown excessively large. It can be seen from the drawing that the distance A, measured between the outer surfaces 34 of the bearings 12 transversely to the pushing direction of the shopping trolley 1, is greater than the similarly determined distance B between the outer surfaces 35 of the upper portions 11 of the supporting arms 10. It can also be seen that a space 31 for accommodating the upper portion 11 of a supporting arm 10 is formed on the bearings 12 or by the bearings 12. The side walls 4 and/or the supporting plates 28 shown in figs. 4 and 5 can participate in the formation of the spaces 31. Furthermore, each bearing 12 can optionally be formed so that it is capable of forming a space 31 without the co-operation of a side wall 4 or a supporting plate 28. A corresponding recess or a stepped or forked shape allows this. The bearing 12, shown in plan view in fig. 9, is provided for use in shopping trolleys 1 which have a relatively small "nesting depth". The skilled person understands this term to mean the distance in the pushing direction of a shopping trolley 1 measured between two identical measuring points when two shopping trolleys 1 are pushed as far inside one another as possible, i.e. nested. The distance between the handlebars of two shopping trolleys 1 is an example of that distance. The bearing 12 shown corresponds substantially to the construction proposed in figures 2 to 7, but with the difference that the outer surface 34 of the bearing 12 is divided into a front portion 36 and a rear portion 37. The front portion 36 is arranged closer to the side wall 4 of a basket 3 than the rear portion 37. Fig. 10 illustrates the significance of the measure described in fig. 9. The drawing shows, in plan view and greatly simplified, two known baskets 3 of trapezoidal form fitted with bearings 12. The baskets 3 are ultimately intended to represent two shopping trolleys 1 which, in a known manner, are to be pushed inside one another in a space-saving manner so that the basket 3 of the rear shopping trolley 1 is for the most part located inside the basket 3 of the preceding shopping trolley 1. The clear width, measurement C, of the rear basket opening 38, usually closable by a flap, measured transversely to the pushing direction of the shopping trolleys 1, is larger than the similarly measured distance D between the front portions 36 of two bearings 12 provided on the basket 3. Accordingly, when two shopping trolleys 1 are pushed inside one another in a space-saving manner, the front portions 36 of the bearings 12 of a rear shopping trolley 1 to be pushed in extend into the interior of the basket of the preceding shopping trolley 1. In this way, the nesting depth of two shopping trolleys 1, as described in relation to fig. 9, can continue to be kept small.

Claims

1. A nestable shopping trolley (1) comprising a wheel frame (2) carrying a basket (3) for holding goods, wherein a bearing (12) is arranged on each of the two side walls (4) of the basket (3) within the area of the side walls (4) and on a common horizontal axis (5), and the bearings (12) are provided for pivotably mounting a shelf arrangement (8) located outside the basket (3), pivotable rearwards, intended for holding further goods and provided with supporting arms (10), the shelf arrangement (8) being constructed in the manner of a swing, characterised in that a space (31) for accommodating the upper portion (11) of a supporting arm (10) is formed on the bearings (12) or by the bearings (12), and in that the distance measured between the outer surfaces (34) of the bearings (12) transversely to the pushing direction of the shopping trolley (1) is greater than the similarly determined distance between the outer surfaces (35) of the upper portions (11) of the supporting arms (10).

2. A shopping trolley according to claim 1, characterised in that a supporting plate (28) is arranged on each side wall (4), and each supporting plate (28) is intended to secure a bearing (12), and in that a space (31) is located between a supporting plate (28) and a bearing (12).

3. A shopping trolley according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that each space (31) is open upwardly, downwardly and rearwardly.

4. A shopping trolley according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that each space (31) is concealed by a cover (26).

5. A shopping trolley according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that each bearing (12) is provided with holding means (22) for engagement in a supporting plate (28). 1I

6. A shopping trolley according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that each bearing (12) or each supporting plate (28) has a horizontally arranged pivot pin (17), and each pivot pin (17) is provided for pivotably mounting the upper portion (11) of a supporting arm (10).

7. A shopping trolley according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the pivot pin (17) arranged on each bearing (12) is intended to be supported on a supporting plate (28).

8. A shopping trolley according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the pivot pin (17) provided on each supporting plate (28) is insertable into a supporting bore (30) provided in the bearing (12).

9. A shopping trolley according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterised in that each bearing (12) has an oblique portion (14) provided as a deflection surface.

10. A shopping trolley according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterised in that each bearing (12) is constructed so as to be fixable to both the right-hand and the left-hand side wall (4) of a basket (3).

11. A shopping trolley according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterised in that each bearing (12) can additionally be screwed to a supporting plate (28).

12. A shopping trolley according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterised in that a projection (23) is arranged on each bearing (12) or each bearing plate (28) and is intended to hold the shelf arrangement (8) in the position of use.

13. A shopping trolley according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterised in that a stop is provided on each bearing (12) or each I J, bearing plate (28) and is intended to limit the pivoting range of the shelf arrangement (8).

14. A shopping trolley according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterised in that the outer surface (34) of each bearing (12) is divided into a front portion (36) and a rear portion (37) and in that the clear width of the rear basket opening (38) measured transversely to the pushing direction of the shopping trolley (1) is greater than the similarly measured distance between the front portions (36) of the bearings (12).