FI71869B - ANORDING FOR THE RECEIVER OF THE ORGAN UPP COPPER - Google Patents

Description

71 869

Shopping cart return and arrangement device Anordning för att returnera och ordna upp köpvagnar

The invention relates to a device for returning and arranging shopping trolleys, comprising a shopping trolley return port through which shopping trolleys are pushed into the storage area of the trolleys, and adjacent trolley guides fixed to the floor of the storage area to obtain shopping trolleys in the storage area in direct queues.

Returning shopping carts after use and arranging them in the area reserved for them is a rather difficult problem in shops, especially in large department stores. If customers are not motivated in any way to return the shopping carts to their place after use, the shopping carts are often left near checkouts, where they significantly impede movement in the store. Such an arrangement also requires additional manpower to properly return the shopping carts.

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In order to motivate customers to return the trolleys to the area reserved for them, special return trolleys for shopping trolleys are used, especially in large stores, which give the trolley returner a certain return fee. In such a case, the return port is equipped with a las-20 client device that registers the shopping cart as it is pushed through the port. The gate also has a device that gives the customer a receipt or the like for each returned shopping cart. Against the receipt, the customer then receives a certain amount of money or a purchase credit. It has been found that such an arrangement actually causes customers to return the shopping carts in place.

25 However, there is a problem with this arrangement in that the return gate of the shopping trolleys is permanently installed, as a result of which the shopping trolleys can be directed from the gate to only one single wagon queue. This in turn requires that there be 30 separate return ports for each wagon queue. However, return gates are very expensive to purchase, which is why such an arrangement is not widely used. If, on the other hand, the wagons are not directed to the specified queue after the return gate, they will spread into a confusing cluster in the return area of the wagons, as a result of which there must be a person in the return area of the wagons arranging the wagons.

The present invention provides a significant improvement over the previously known solutions. The invention is mainly characterized in that the return port is arranged to move laterally to allow filling of several adjacent shopping cart lines from the same return port directly to the shopping cart lines.

Advantages of the invention over the prior art include e.g. the fact that, when using the system according to the invention, the shopping trolleys are automatically placed in adjacent queues when the trolleys have been pushed through the return port. The area reserved for shopping trolleys thus remains tidy without the need to constantly have hen-15 kilos arranging the trolleys.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawing.

Fig. 1 schematically shows a return and arrangement device for a shopping trolley according to the invention in a perspective view.

Figure 2 is a schematic plan view of the present invention.

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The return port 2 of the shopping trolleys shown in Figures 1 and 2 is in itself a completely conventional structure. Ts. return port 2 has means that identify the shopping cart as it is pushed through port 2. It also has disadvantages that prevent the carriages from being pulled in the opposite direction.

30 In addition, it has a device which issues a receipt or the like for each carriage inserted through port 2. Usually such return gates 2 are attached directly to the floor of the store. However, in the present invention, the return gate 2 is mounted above the floor, on the stand 4. As a result, a ramp 6 should naturally lead to the stand 4 so that the shopping trolleys can be easily pushed through the gate 2 and a second ramp 8 leads out of the stand 4. According to Figures 1 and 2, the 3 71869 ramp 8 is further provided with a trolley guide 10 for holding the shopping trolleys in the correct direction.

The stand 4 of the return port is provided with the necessary means, such as a wheel, roller or the like, on which the return port 2 can be moved. A guide 14 is also attached to the floor, which may be a railing-like rod as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Correspondingly, slides 12 are mounted on the return port 2 and slide along the guide 14. The guide 14 is preferably mounted so that the return port 2 is displaceable in the direction of the guide which is transverse to the direction of the port 2. If the guide 14 is a railing rod as shown in Figures 1 and 2, a second rod 16 may be attached below it, on which conventional, e.g. plastic, barriers 18 for the carriage lines are mounted, which prevent the shopping carts from being pulled in the wrong direction.

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In the storage area A of the shopping carriages 26, floor-mounted carriage guides 20 for shopping carriage rows are mounted. The direction of the guides 20 is preferably perpendicular to the guide 14. With the shopping trolley guides 20, the shopping trolleys 26 are tightly aligned. When the return port 2 of the shopping trolleys 20 can be moved laterally along the guide 14, several rows of trolleys can be filled with one and the same port 2. At the same time, the carriage guides 20 ensure that the carriages 26 remain in good order in the storage area A reserved for them, so that the carriages do not have to be arranged separately. The return port 2 can, for example, be freely movable so that it is always pushed by hand to the new carriage guide when the previous carriage queue has been filled. In such an embodiment, the guide 14 or the return port 2 should have a locking device or the like which locks the return port 2 at the carriage guide 20.

The return port 2 may also be provided with a special transfer mechanism by means of which the port 2 is self-moving. Such a transfer mechanism can be implemented in several different ways. The return port 2 may, for example, be provided with its own electric motor and the traction may be transmitted from the electric motor to at least one of the transfer wheels or 35 rollers of the return port 2, whereby the port 2 moves independently in the direction of the guide 14. Gate 2 may further have batteries for the motor, or power may be supplied to the return port 2 from outside, e.g. via line 14.

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The transfer mechanism can also be arranged in such a way that a rack is formed in the guide 14 and e.g. a gear running along this rack is mounted in connection with at least one slider 12, to which traction is transmitted from an electric motor in the gate 2.

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Other implementation options include fitting a movable chain or wire to the guide 14, whereby this chain or wire moves the return port 2. The guide 14 does not necessarily have to be a railing as shown in Figures 1 and 2, but the guide 14 can be installed e.g. in the floor 10, whereby the return port 2 moves the guide 14 along the top of the wire.

If the gate 2 is, for example, self-moving by means of its own motor, a control device 15 can be arranged in the gate or in the guide 14 or both, which guides the gate 2 at the carriage line or carriage guide 20. In addition, the operation of the device can be automated, e.g. by installing sensor elements 22 and 24 at the beginning and end of the carriage guides 20, by means of which it is possible to detect when the carriage line in question is full. A calculation device mounted on the return port 2, for example, to which the sensor elements 22 and 24 send their signals, may be connected to the sensor elements 22 and 24. The arrangement may be, for example, such that the sensor member 22 at the beginning of the carriage guide 20 sends a signal to the counter when a new carriage 26 is inserted in the queue and the sensor member 24 of the carriage driver 20 sends a signal to the calculator when the carriage 26 is removed from the queue. Thus, the calculator always knows how many carriages 26 there are in each carriage queue.

The system can be further automated, e.g. If the calculator also has a memory, the return port 2 can always be directed to the carriage controller 20 with the fewest shopping carts 26. With the port 2 being made self-propelled, it is naturally advantageous if the port 2 is fitted with safety devices to prevent it from colliding with any obstacles on the floor.

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A return device can be further mounted on the return port 2, which pushes the shopping carts 26 through the port 2 and thus ensures the transfer of the carts to the storage area A. The return port 2 with its transfer devices and guide systems can be naturally installed in the store rail systems 5 and store ports 30. The most advanced form of the present invention can be considered to be one in which the return port 2 is formed as a "carriage", in which case not even a conductor is required, but only a line painted on the floor, followed by the return port and along which it moves.

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The invention has been described above only with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in its figures. However, this is in no way intended to limit the invention to these examples only, but many modifications are possible within the scope of the inventive idea defined by the following claims.

Claims (12)

1. Device for returning and arranging cup trolleys, to which belongs a return port (2) for the trolleys, through which the trolleys (26) are pushed into the storage area (A) of the trolleys, and adjacent control devices (20) for the trolleys attached to the floor of the storage area (A) for securing the shopping carts (26) in straight rows on the storage area, characterized in that the return port (2) is arranged movable in the lateral direction to enable a loading of several adjacent shopping car rows from the same return port (2). ) directly to the cart lines. 10 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the return port (2) is movably mounted on carrier wheels or rollers. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the movement of the return port (2) is arranged to be controlled by a conduit (14) and that at least one slide (12) or equivalent is mounted on the return port (2) to move along the line (14). 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that, in connection with the return port (2) and / or the conduit (14), there is mounted a pulling device which is arranged to move the return port (2) in the direction of the conduit (14). 5. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the pulling device includes an electric motor mounted on the return port (2). Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the pull from the electric motor is conveyed to at least one of the carrier wheels or rollers on which the return port (2) is mounted. 7. Apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that a rack is mounted on the line (14) and that in conjunction with the slide (12) of the return port (2) there is mounted a tow and running along the rack with the rack. is