GB2049565A

GB2049565A - Trolley collecting unit

Info

Publication number: GB2049565A
Application number: GB7916516A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: BRITISH AIRPORTS AUTHORITY
Current assignee: BRITISH AIRPORTS AUTHORITY
Priority date: 1979-05-11
Filing date: 1979-05-11
Publication date: 1980-12-31

Abstract

For collecting a plurality of nested trolleys such as supermarket or airport baggage trolleys, a trolley collection unit has a pair of resiliently-mounted wheels 32 connected to a handle 16 by a frame 10. The frame carries means 42 for engaging with a rear cross-member of a trolley to be collected so that the rear wheels of the trolley are lifted off the ground. One or more straps is used to temporarily secure the nested trolleys to the unit so they can be conveniently returned to a place of use. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Trolley collecting unit This invention relates to a trolley collecting unit.

In this Specification, the word "trolley" is used to refer to a wheeled container which can be used temporarily by a user for load-carrying within a particular area. A well known example is a four-wheeled supermarket trolley in which a purchaser carries his foodstuffs, etc., to a supermarket check-out area and thence often to a car park area. A second example is a personal baggage trolley of the kind found at airports which enables a passenger to load his baggage thereon and transport it from place to place in the airport.

Such trolleys are usually abandoned by the user when the user gets to a certain place, e.g. the car park or taxi-stand. A problem arises in collecting and returning these trolleys to where they are required by arriving customers or passengers. These trolleys can be nested together when empty but a string of nested trolleys is not easytd manoeuvre and may present safety hazards.

According to the invention, there is provided a trolley collecting unit which comprises a pair of freely rotatable wheels supporting a frame, means on the frame for engaging the frame with, or hooking the frame onto, a trolley to be collected, means for raising the frame relative to the wheels for lifting a pair of the wheels of the trolley off the ground, and at least one extended flexible member of which one end is secured to the frame and the other end can be secured to the leading one of a plurality of nested trolleys.

In the use of such a unit, a plurality of trolleys to be collected together are nested into one another and the frame is engaged under a suitable part of the frame of an end one of the trolleys which is herein called the rearmost trolley. Then the raising means cause the rear wheel pairofthattrolleyto be lifted from the ground, and the extended flexible member has its free end (i.e. its said other end) fixed temporarily to the leading trolley. The whole nested collection of trolleys can then be pulled manually while being kept under control and without any substantial "wandering".

In an optional refinement of the invention, a basket or a spring-biassed reel may be provided on the frame to carry the flexible member when it is not in use.

The frame may have a stud and a keyhole slot or its equivalent. The purpose of these parts is to allow a series of "empty" collection units to be wheeled along as a group by one man, whose task would be to deliverthe collection units to a number of different places in the airport or supermarket for example from which trolleys are to be collected and returned to a central point.

The raising means may comprise compression springs arranged in a piston-cylindertype of wheel suspension unit. It is preferably arranged that the stroke of movement of the frame relative to the axis of the wheels is about 4 to 6 inches (about 10 to 15 cms).

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a flex ible member, e.g. a fabric web, may be secured to the frame so that when extended over a string of nested trolleys, tensioned, and attached centrally to the leading trolley, e.g. at the centre of its handle, the tensioned web keeps the string in a compact nested condition.

Advantageously, the frame may have a sloping surface which can be inserted in a generally horizontal direction under a cross-bar or member of the frame of a trolley to be collected. Such a surface may have a recess into which the bar can fall when the surface has been inserted a sufficient distance. In this way the frame of the collection unit can be engaged with the frame of a trolley in a secure manner.

An illustrative and non-limiting embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which the figure is a perspective diagrammatic view of one example of trolley collection unit according to the invention.

The illustrated trolley collection unit includes a frame 10 having a main cross piece 12 and an upwardly and forwardly extending handle 16.

A fabric or webbing strap, (not shown in the Figure) is used to strap together a series of nested trolleys when these are collected.

The frame cross-member 12 extends between two upstanding suspension housing units 22 and 24.

Each suspension unit includes a piston 26 within a cylinder 28, the lower end of the piston being connected to a lateral tube 30 within which is carried an axle connected to the two wheels 32. Naturally suitable bearings will be provided. This suspension allows limited relative movement between the wheels 32 and the frame 10, and each suspension housing contains a cdmpression coil spring urging the frame upwardly relative to the wheels.

The frame cross piece 12 carries a member having an inclined forwardly projecting surface 40. The member is denoted by reference 42. This member has a laterally extending recess 44 therein, constructed and arranged to receive a cross-member of a frame of the trolley to be collected.

In use, the trolley collection unit is brought up to the rear end of a trolley to be collected, and the unit is then tilted downwardly and forwardly about the axis of the wheels 32, thereby lowering the front portion of the surface 40 so that it can move beneath a rear frame cross-member on the trolley. The collection unit is then pulled forwardly towards the trolley, or vice versa, until the trolley cross-member is snugly engaged in the recess 44. At this time, the rear wheels of the trolley to be collected will be lifted off the ground, and other trolleys which have been collected can be nested into the rearmost trolley.

Naturally as an alternative it will be understood that a nested string of trolleys can be collected, and then the trolley collection unit can be engaged in the above described way with the mar most trolley of the string. The fabric web is then stretched along the top of the nested string of trolleys and securely attached to the leading trolley of the string. Thus the whole string is firmly united in a secure but temporary manner, and can be steered and moved by one man without danger of the string running out of control.

This, it will be understood, is particularly important when the string has to be negotiated through areas open to the general public and up and down slopes.

It has been found in the past that serious accidents are caused by a collected string oftrolleys running out of control of a man who is attempting to move them up or down a slope to a particular point. Once the string of trolleys is brought to its intended destination, the flexible member is unclipped or untied from the leading trolley and the trolley collection unit is disengaged from the rearmosttrolley. The trolley collection unit is then free for use elsewhere to collect a fresh string of trolleys.

Claims

1. A trolley collecting unit which comprises a pair of freely rotatable wheels supporting a frame, means on the frame for engaging the frame with, or hooking the frame onto, a trolley to be collected, means for raising the frame relative to the wheels for lifting a pair of the wheels of the trolley off the ground, and at least one extended flexible member of which one end is secured to the frame and the other end can be secured to the leading one of a plurality of nested trolleys.

2. A unit according to claim 1 in which a basket is supported on the frame to carry the flexible member when it is not in use.

3. A unit according to claim 1 in which a springloaded reel is supported on the frame to carry the flexible member when it is not in use.

4. A unit according to claim 1,2 and 3 in which the frame is provided with a stand and a keyhole slot.

5. A unit according to any preceding claim in which the raising means comprise compression springs arranged in a piston-cylinder suspension unit.

6. A unit according to claim 5 in which the stroke of the suspension unit is from 10 to 15 centimetres.

7. A unit according to any preceding claim in which a flexible fabric web is secured to the frame so that it can be extended over a string of nested trolleys, tensioned, and attached to the leading trolley, in order to keep the string of trolleys in a compact nested condition.

8. A unit according to any preceding claim in which the frame has a part having a sloping surface which can be inserted in a generally horizontal direction under a cross-member of the frame of a trolley to be collected, the said surface having a recess into which the bar can fall when the part has been inserted a sufficient distance, the arrangement being such that the frame of the collection unit can be engaged with the frame of a trolley in a secure manner.

9. Atrolley collection unit substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.