FR2884697A1 - Shopping bag for collecting articles in store, has flexible pocket carried by shopping cart, and straps removably connecting pocket of bag to pocket of another bag for coupling bags in head to tail position to form chain - Google Patents

Abstract

The bag has a flexible pocket (19) carried by a shopping cart and connected to straps (21, 24), which are arranged for surrounding a horizontal bar (2) or the pocket according to a choice of a user. The straps removably connect the pocket of the bag to the pocket of another bag for coupling the bags in a head to tail position to form a chain. The straps are placed in a zone closer to an opening (20) of the bag to form a transport handle (18). An independent claim is also included for a method for utilizing a shopping bag.

Description

The present invention relates to a shopping bag to be worn

  by a shopping cart to collect items from a store.

  A person wishing to buy goods in a big-box store can, in general, temporarily take possession of a shopping trolley at the entrance, to browse the shelves and deposit the desired articles, and then empty it by depositing these items. items on a treadmill scrolling to an outgoing scanning station, where will be entered bar codes of these items. It may be a private-use, factory-owned store containing spare parts, accessible to people from various departments, such as manufacturing or maintenance. The barcodes make it possible to manage the stock, that is to say to relaunch in time a replenishment with the suppliers. It can also act from a store accessible to the public.

  To get to the work place or car, the person has the choice of reloading the shopping cart or using disposable plastic bags.

  In the first case, the user of the shopping trolley must load one by one the various items in his car and he must then go back to put the shopping cart back in the queue.

  In the second case, the plastic bags sometimes break or their handle, of very limited width, shears the fingers of the user if the weight of the articles is excessive. In addition, these bags represent a considerable annual tonnage of waste, harmful to the environment.

  It is known to hang a bag of personal bag at a rim of the shopping cart, so that the corresponding area of the bag remains pressed against a side wall of the shopping cart and thus keep the bag in the open position. However, such a bag, necessarily bulky if one wants to accommodate enough items, is therefore an unnecessary inconvenience when transported to the store.

  The present invention aims to provide a solution to mitigate at least one of the disadvantages mentioned above.

  To this end, the invention relates first of all to a shopping bag comprising a pouch of flexible material intended to be carried by a shopping trolley, characterized in that the pouch is integral with fastening means and packaging arranged to enclose, at the option of a user, a frame element of the shopping trolley or the pocket itself in a folded state.

  Thus, the bi-functional means, fixation and packaging, allow to bring the bag in a reduced volume form, for example wound on itself. Since these two functions are mutually exclusive at any given instant, the same material means can be arranged to alternately provide one and the other of the two functions.

  Advantageously, the pocket carries removable connection means with another pocket, not belonging to said bag.

  One can thus couple the bag to another, and it is easy to provide to have the removable connection means preferably in the upper part of the bags, so that they retain their functional position of loading, that is to say with their opening turned upwards. If the other bag conforms to that of the present invention, the removable connection means are preferably arranged for such a coupling with in fact two other bags arranged on either side of the base bag, thus allowing constitute a rosary of any desired number of bags. Such a string may thus have an extension corresponding to the length of the shopping trolley, so that all the useful volume thereof, or at least its bottom surface, is occupied by the bags, which allows to empty the trolley provision of his articles by only removal of the bags, without individual handling of the articles.

  Advantageously, the fastening and packaging means also constitute the detachable connection means with the other pocket.

  These means are then tri-functional, which limits the necessary equipment.

  Advantageously, the detachable connection means are disposed in an area close to an opening of the bag to thereby form a loop, connecting two said bags forming a pair, the handle being adapted to be mounted astride a frame bar of the shopping cart The user can arrive with the two bags already coupled, possibly holding them by the handle, and then it has, after deployment, only ask them as the saddlebags of a saddle, on horseback on a high bar of the shopping cart, without any manipulation of attachment to it.

  The detachable connection means comprise, for example, a flexible strap attached to the pocket, a base portion of which is arranged to functionally form a bag support hook body, that is to say a lateral appendage, provided for pressing a substantially horizontal bar of the shopping trolley, and an end portion of which is arranged to be coupled to another bag belonging to said pair and having a certain weight, so as to transmit, to the base part, a force of return reaction due to said weight and opposing the force of gravity exerted on the bag comprising the flexible strap.

  The weight of the other bag, or second, thus makes it possible to provide, at the end portion of the flexible strap, a downward reaction tension force opposing the weight of the first bag which tends to lift it up and to tip over. above the horizontal support bar above. Thus, the base portion of the strap remains in place on the horizontal bar of the shopping cart and, therefore, although flexible, it does not deform. The second bag and the flexible strap is equivalent to a hook or rigid peak.

  The fastening means and packaging, or even the removable connection means, comprise for example a strap of the type belonging to the group consisting of a self-gripping strap and a strap provided with a removable attachment piece to a section opposite strap, the attachment end being for example of the type belonging to the group consisting of a button, a buttonhole, a snap button and a transverse axis, turning, by winding, a terminal segment of the segment opposite, axis associated with a blocking finger in position of the returned segment.

  The detachable connection means comprise, for example, a fixing buffer comprising a hook and loop ply of self-gripping type extending in an area of the group constituted by a median zone of the pocket and by an edge zone limiting two walls of the poached.

  It is thus possible to easily couple two such bags in the head-to-tail position.

  The invention also relates to a method of using a bag according to the invention, in which a fixed user, in the deployed position, at least one said bag to a shopping trolley by the fixing and packaging means for then browsing article storage shelves to fill the bag of selected items and present themselves at a scanning station of the selected items, to establish a list, the articles being deposited on a treadmill for this purpose and, after scanning, put back into the bag, the fixing and packaging means being maneuvered to release the shopping cart so that the user leaves while carrying the bag.

  When passing to the scanning station, the bag can possibly remain in the shopping cart for transport to a car.

  Advantageously, the bag remains attached to the shopping cart, during the passage to the scanning station, to facilitate the delivery of items in the bag.

  The user can in particular partition a bottom surface of a useful internal volume of the shopping trolley by placing several said bags, which it connects by the detachable connection means.

  The user can partition a useful internal volume of the shopping trolley by placing and fixing a first said bag, filling it to a height less than a height of the internal volume of the shopping trolley, and fixing, with hooking to determined height, a second said bag above the first bag.

  By at least one of the two types of partition above, in the horizontal or vertical direction, the user can thus provide bags of limited volume, so more easily transportable, while completely filling the shopping cart.

  The present invention will be better understood with the aid of the following description of two embodiments of a shopping bag according to the invention and of the associated method of use, with reference to the appended drawing, in which: FIG. a perspective view from above of a bag according to the first embodiment, Figure 2 is a perspective view of a bag according to the second embodiment, and Figure 3 is a highly diagrammatic plan view of a shopping trolley equipped with bags according to the first and second embodiments.

  FIG. 1 represents a bag 10, or bag, designed to be detachably hooked to a shopping trolley 1, shown in FIG. 3.

  The bag 10 comprises a flexible pouch 19, here in fabric, of substantially rectangular parallelepipedal shape here, comprising a bottom 11, a top 12, a front wall 13, a rear wall 14, a so-called left side wall 15 and a side wall 16. The top 12, optional, is here a flap masking an access opening 20 inside the pocket 19, flap that can pivot around a crown edge of the rear wall 14. The above 12 is here provided with a closure 17 of the slide fastener type, that is to say with two stackings facing mutually spaced bars, with terminal hook turned towards one of the neighboring bars in the stack, and staggered of a half-step stack to be assembled by bringing together under the control of a slide. It may also be provided a web of webs hooks lateral, said self-gripping, cooperating with three respective upper edges of the walls 15, 12 and 16, limiting the opening 20 and equipped with a fleece hooks to hang. A transport loop 18 is here fixed in the upper part of the rear wall 14. The pocket 19 could, however, have any other functional form and could likewise be in the form of a net, possibly with an arch occupying the position of the closure 17 to maintain the opening 20 in the deployed position. Optimally, the pocket 19 extends here, in the deployed state, over substantially the entire width of the shopping trolley 1.

  For the sake of convenience, the shopping trolley 1 and the bags are supposed to be oriented according to their functional position, that is to say with the shopping trolley 1 placed on a horizontal ground, the bags being upright , that is to say having their bottom substantially horizontally and thus having their opening 20 at the top.

  In this example, the bag 10 is located outside the shopping trolley 1 and, precisely, it is attached to a horizontal bar 2 located in the upper part, here before, a mesh of welded rods constituting, conventionally , a front wall of the shopping trolley 1, opposite a horizontal rear handle bar 5 used to move the shopping trolley 1. The bag 10 thus constitutes, for the shopping trolley 1, a supplement of external storage volume of items. The bag 10 could however, as an alternative use, be hooked, externally or internally, so as to be held in position at the desired height by any other horizontal bar, at the top or intermediate portion, of any other side wall of the shopping trolley 1. The bag 10 may have a height substantially equal to that of the internal volume of the shopping trolley 1. However, if it is intended to have it hung in this internal volume, it may have a more limited height, for example half, or it can be expected to fill only partially in height. In such a case, another bag can be first deposited in the thus-planned lower volume free in the shopping trolley 1, to be first filled with articles, the bag 10 then being put in place and held by hooking. This other bag, placed on the bottom of the shopping trolley 1, may be in accordance with the bag according to the second embodiment, exposed later, being hooked laterally so that one of its side walls remains pressed against a side wall of the trolley. 1, so that it remains in the open position.

  For attachment to the shopping trolley 1, the rear wall 14, intended to come against the front lattice wall of the shopping trolley 1, carries two flexible strips respectively 21 and 24 laterally opposite, here of the fanged web type. lateral, self-gripping. Note however that only one such lanyard, preferably central, could have been provided. Specifically, the strap 21, 24 comprises a respective fixed vertical section 22, 25 stitched or glued on the outer face of the rear wall 14 near the left side wall 15, respectively of the right 16. The fixed section 22, 25 is continues upwardly by a free section 23, 26 respectively, which can be folded down to hook to the associated fixed section 22, 25 and thus form a loop trapping the horizontal bar 2 or any other bar. However, for the transport of the bag 10, the pocket 19 can be crushed, for example folded or rolled along a horizontal virtual axis, into a folded state in which each of the strips 21 and 24 has a length sufficient to surround the pocket 19 and loop back with hanging.

  The strap 21, 24 may even be of sufficient length to enclose at least one other bag, whether or not according to the invention.

  As a variant, the removable and fast fastening, here by a layer of hooks, can be ensured in various other ways, for example by a conventional device on a belt, with a rigid buckle, mounted at the end of a strap section, which can be traversed by an opposite portion of the strap having one or more locking holes provided to receive a central locking longitudinal finger pivotally mounted on the loop. Push-button coupling may also be considered. It can also be provided a variant of the rigid loop above, with a transverse axis provided for winding, on a lathe, an opposite section of strap which a free end strand thus leaves in the opposite direction of a strand of base, the two opposite strands being pressed against one another by passing through a baffle formed by a finger parallel to the axis, thereby effecting frictional locking. A carabiner hook can also be provided.

  In the description above, the fixed section 22, 25 could alternatively have been constituted by a crushable crotch, for example made of plastic or metal material, fixed to the pocket 19 and protruding for attachment to the bar. horizontal 2, crocodile whose free end continues with the free and flexible section then serving only for the packaging by clamping the pocket 19. By cons in the example described, the strips 21, 24 are flexible and not showing the rigidity desired to form indestructible fangs. However, this characteristic can be conferred as follows. It is further placed a same bag 10 inside the shopping cart 1, against the inner face of its front wall, so facing the bag 10 external. The free sections 23 and 26 then form bridges or coupling loops between the two bags 10, being coupled by two respective pad-fanged pads, located for example in two upper rear corner areas of the side wall 15, respectively 16. The fixed sections 22 and 25 may then be located in these lateral zones, and no longer on the rear wall 14, which has become inaccessible. The fixed sections 22 and 25 may in particular carry, as before, a sheet of fangs still intended to receive a free portion 23, 26, but then belonging to another bag 10. The pair of bags 10 thus coupled is then mounted on horseback on the horizontal bar 2 or on any other upper bar, for example the handlebar 5.

  Insofar as the two bags 10 will be loaded in articles of substantially the same weight, no imbalance force will be manifested on the straps 21, 24, which will therefore retain their shape. A base zone 23A, 26A of the free section 23, 26, that is to say the zone resting on the horizontal bar 2, thus functionally constitutes a substantially horizontal support body or shaft belonging to a kind of shaped hook. U returned. The returned U comprises a first downward vertical leg, external to the shopping trolley 1, is constituted by the pocket 19 of the outer bag 10 and the fixed portion 22, 25 which is secured thereto, and a second vertical leg is constituted symmetrically. by the pocket of the internal bag 10, secured to an end portion 23B, 26B of the free portion 23, 26, which thus becomes virtually indeformable and, above all, fixed with respect to any vertical movement, so that it inhibits any outward sliding of the base area 23A, 26A, due to the weight of the outer bag. Such coupling between two bags is also explained below for the second embodiment.

  FIG. 2 represents a bag 30 according to the second embodiment, the references of the elements functionally homologous to those of FIG. 1 being preserved, but however increased by two tens.

  The bag 30 comprises a flexible bag 39, here in fabric, having a bottom 31, a top 32, a front wall 33, a rear wall 34, a so-called left side wall 35 and a right side wall 36. The top 32, optional, is here a flap masking an access opening 40 inside the pocket 39, flap which can pivot about a crown edge of the rear wall 34. The top 32 is here provided with a closure 37 of the type zipper or self-gripping strip, with lateral folds or loops, cooperating with three respective edges of the walls 35, 32 and 36 limiting the opening 40 and equipped respectively with loops or lateral hooks.

  A transport loop 38 connects here high parts of the side walls 35 and 36.

  The bag 30 differs essentially from the bag 10 in that its attachment to the shopping trolley 1 is effected by a strap 41 which is provided for a folding in a substantially horizontal plane and which serves to freeze the lateral position of a wall of the bag 30, the suspension function of the bag 30 at a determined height being optional. Specifically, the strap 41 with lateral hooks is similar to the strap 21, with a fixed horizontal section 42 with lateral hooks, fixed to the left side wall 35, extending by a free section 43 foldable on the fixed section 42, by turning 180 degrees, thereby forming a loop trapping a bar or vertical rod 3 of the latticework frame of the shopping trolley 1. To better ensure the maintenance in position, it can be provided, as here, the same kind of strap 44 on the right-hand side wall 46, for a total of hanging the bag 30 on two opposite lateral sides of the shopping trolley 1. The pocket 39 can be folded, for example wound around a vertical virtual axis, and held in position. 'state by the strap 41 looped around it in the manner of a belt. A fixed strap 45 with lateral hooks, here horizontal, is carried by the rear wall 34, as additional fixed securing portion for receiving the section 34, instead of the fixed portion 42, this by folding at 90 degrees. The free portion 34 will therefore have fangs on its two opposite faces, otherwise it will be necessary to twist to put it in one of its two offered hooking positions.

  FIG. 3 illustrates, in top view of the shopping trolley 1, the positions of the bag 10, external to the shopping trolley 1, and of the bag 30, arranged in the shopping trolley 1. Another bag has also been shown. 50, identical to the bag 30, its elements homologous to those of the bag 30 bearing the same reference but increased by two tens. The bag 50 thus comprises a pocket 59 with an opening 60 and a handle 58, and a coupling strap 61, with a fixed section 62 and with a free section 63. In the head-to-tail position of the two bags 30 and 50, it can be seen that the free section 43 can come to couple with the strap 64, and this by passing outside the shopping trolley 1, between two vertical rods of the lattice on the right lateral side of the shopping trolley 1, to then enter the volume of this one, thus trapping at least one vertical bar 3. The strap 64 could then be limited to a fixed section, forming a buffer or mounting base, since the free section 43 performs the desired bridging between the two bags 30, 50. However, as shown, the strap 44 may constitute a supplement of As the strap 41, 61 has been placed substantially at the upper half of the pocket 39, 59, the structure constituted by the two bags 30, 50 will thus be somewhat stiffened against any tilting towards the front or rear of the shopping trolley 1, since the side wall 35 is secured to the side wall 56 in the same plane. It is the same for the side walls 36 and 55. In addition, the free section 43 can pass just above a horizontal intermediate level rod in the lattice of the side wall of the shopping trolley 1, so that the lateral attachment of the bags 30, 50 is completed by a hook at a certain height. In short, the vertical rod 3 and the intermediate level horizontal rod functionally equivalent to a hook that would be attached to a wall, preventing any lowering and retraction back.

  The same type of bridging is here carried out, as an improvement of the holding in position, on the left lateral side of the shopping trolley 1, the free section 63 thus trapping a vertical rod 4 to then be coupled to the strap 44 which, unlike the drawing, can be limited to a totally fixed buffer. The bag 30, 50 can be placed on the bottom of the shopping trolley 1 or be suspended laterally to stay at a distance from it.

  In the case where, contrary to the drawing, it is planned to install internally only the single bag 30, the free section 43 will then be folded to 180 degrees and hooked on the fixed section 42. However, it can be provided that the section free 43, having imprisoned the vertical rod 3, is folded over another area of the pocket 39, comprising a pad fang web, for example the fixed strap 45. In such case the presence of the fixed strap 45, and returning to the assumption of two bags 30, 50 in the shopping trolley 1, the fixed strap 45 may be provided, as drawn, to extend at least in a middle part of the pocket 39, and therefore also half -width of the shopping trolley 1, so that the opposite pocket 59 will have, facing, the same part, in the middle position, of a fixed fixed strap 65, the two buffer strips 45 and 65 thus clinging to each other by simple pressure.

  To be able to thus couple more than two bags, 30, 50 in a string that can extend over the entire length of the shopping trolley 1, it is then necessary to provide a possibility of coupling forward and back of the bag 39. In such a case the bag 30 drawn is assumed to be turned 180 degrees to present the same orientation as the bag 50, the free section 63 will be coupled to the fixed section 42 and the free section 43, then extending to the left and towards the front of the carriage 1, will be coupled likewise to a third bag, before. Preferably then, these couplings are duplicated, the strap 44 then having, as drawn, a free hanging portion to the bag 50 or the third bag, before.

  As a variant of the various fang webs described above, it is possible to provide pressure-sensitive self-adhesive layer pads which can be separated later, or push-button or button-type devices, for example, by tilting disk or tilting rod. or swivel. It can also be provided a hooking type of belt buckle or carabiner.

  As explained above, the invention also relates to a method of using a bag 10 or 30, in which a fixed user, in the deployed position, at least one said bag 10, 30 to the shopping trolley 1 by its elements. fastening and packaging to then browse the article storage shelves to fill the bag of selected items and present themselves at a scanning station of the selected items, to establish a list, the articles being for this purpose deposited on a treadmill or equivalent and, after scanning, returned to the bag 10, 30, the fixing and packaging elements being maneuvered to release the shopping trolley 1 so that the user leaves while carrying the bag 10, 30. Advantageously, the bag 10, 30 is kept fixed to the shopping trolley 1, during the passage to the scanning station, to facilitate the delivery of items in the bag 10, 30, the liberation maneuver of the shopping trolley 1 mentioned above. above only intervening For example, a transport of the bag 30, 30 by the shopping trolley 1 to a car of the user.

  The user can in particular partition a bottom surface of the useful internal volume of the shopping trolley 1 by placing several bags 10, 30, which it connects by the removable connecting elements.

  The user can also partition the useful internal volume of the shopping trolley 1 by placing and fixing a first bag, such as the bag 30, by filling it to a height less than a height of the internal volume of the shopping trolley 1, and fixing, with hooking at a determined height, a second bag, such as the bag 10, above the first bag.

Claims (12)

claims   1. A shopping bag (10, 30) comprising a pocket (19, 39) of flexible material intended to be carried by a shopping trolley (1), characterized in that the pocket (19, 39) is integral with means fastening and packaging means (21, 24, 41, 44, 45) arranged to grip, at the option of a user, a frame member (2, 3) of the shopping trolley or the pocket (19, 39 ) itself in a folded state.   2. Bag according to claim 1, wherein the pocket (19, 39) carries means (21, 24, 41, 44, 44, 45) of detachable connection with another pocket (59), not belonging to said bag (10).   3. Bag according to claim 2, wherein the fastening and packaging means (21, 24, 41, 44, 45) also constitute the removable connection means.   4. Bag according to one of claims 2 and 3, wherein the detachable connecting means (21, 24, 41, 44, 45) are arranged in an area adjacent to an opening (20, 40) of the bag so forming a handle, connecting two said bags forming a pair, the handle being adapted to be mounted astride a bar (2, 5) frame of the shopping cart.   5. Bag according to claim 4, wherein the removable connection means (21, 24, 41, 44, 45) comprise a flexible strap (22, 25), attached to the pocket (19, 39), a portion of which base (23A, 26A) is arranged to functionally form a bag support hook body, provided to bear on a substantially horizontal bar (2) of the shopping trolley, and an end portion (23B, 26B) of which is arranged to be coupled to another bag belonging to said pair and having a certain weight, thereby transmitting, to the base portion (23A, 26A), a biasing force due to said weight and opposing the force of gravity exerted on the bag comprising the flexible strap (22, 25).   Bag according to one of claims 1 to 5, in   wherein the fastening and packaging means comprise a strap (21, 41, 44) of the type belonging to the group consisting of a hook and loop strap and a strap provided with a removable attachment tip to an opposite strap section.   7. The bag of claim 6, wherein the attachment piece is of the type belonging to the group consisting of a button, a buttonhole, a snap and a transverse axis, turning, by winding, a end segment of the opposite section, associated with a blocking finger in position of the returned segment.   8. Bag according to one of claims 2 to 7, wherein the detachable connecting means (41, 44, 45) comprise a fastening pad having a hook-and-loop pile of tongues extending in an area of the group. constituted by a median zone of the pocket (19, 39) and by an edge zone limiting two walls of the pocket (19, 39).   9. A method of using a bag (10, 30) according to one of claims 1 to 8, wherein a user fixed, in the deployed position, at least one said bag (10, 30, 50) to a carriage (1) by the fastening and wrapping means (21, 24, 41, 44, 45) to then traverse article storage shelves to fill the bag (10, 30) of selected articles and presenting to a scanning station selected items, to establish a list, the items being for this purpose deposited on a treadmill and, after scanning, returned to the bag, the fixing and packaging means (21, 24, 41, 44, 45) being operated to release the shopping trolley for the user to leave while carrying the bag.   10. The method of claim 9, wherein the bag (10, 30, 50) remains attached to the shopping trolley (1) during the passage to the scanning station, to facilitate the delivery of items in the bag.   11. Method according to one of claims 9 and 10, wherein the user partitions a bottom surface of a useful internal volume of the shopping trolley (1) by placing several said bags (30, 50), it connects by means (21, 24, 41, 44, 44, 45) of removable connection   according to one of claims 2 to 8.   12. Method according to one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the user partitions a useful internal volume of the shopping trolley (1) by installing and fixing a first said bag (10, 30, 50), by filling up to a height less than a height of the internal volume of the shopping trolley, and fixing, with snap at determined height, a second said bag (10) above the first bag.