WO1984002688A1 - Dispositif anti-vol pour chariots a commissions - Google Patents

Dispositif anti-vol pour chariots a commissions Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO1984002688A1
WO1984002688A1 PCT/US1983/001593 US8301593W WO8402688A1 WO 1984002688 A1 WO1984002688 A1 WO 1984002688A1 US 8301593 W US8301593 W US 8301593W WO 8402688 A1 WO8402688 A1 WO 8402688A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
race
lock ring
magnet
thrust
lock
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1983/001593
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Gene Upton
Dennis Brown
Original Assignee
Kart Guard Int
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Kart Guard Int filed Critical Kart Guard Int
Priority to AU21254/83A priority Critical patent/AU2125483A/en
Publication of WO1984002688A1 publication Critical patent/WO1984002688A1/fr

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
    • B62B—HAND-PROPELLED VEHICLES, e.g. HAND CARTS OR PERAMBULATORS; SLEDGES
    • B62B5/00—Accessories or details specially adapted for hand carts
    • B62B5/04—Braking mechanisms; Locking devices against movement
    • B62B5/0404—Braking mechanisms; Locking devices against movement automatic
    • B62B5/0423—Braking mechanisms; Locking devices against movement automatic braking or blocking when leaving a particular area

Definitions

  • This invention generally relates to devices for use in the field of anti-theft applications, and more particularly relates to anti-theft appara ⁇ tus for use with market-type shopping carts and other .similar swivel-wheeled carts.
  • Theft prevention programs have been imple ⁇ mented which include the employment of guards who have been hired to monitor the use of the shopping carts, particularly in the parking lot areas of markets and shops.
  • guards who have been hired to monitor the use of the shopping carts, particularly in the parking lot areas of markets and shops.
  • the use of video camera installations has been employed, but for efficient use thereof, con ⁇ stant monitoring of multiple video screens by additional hired personnel would be required.
  • Other methods which have been tried include the use of optical and electrical sensors and alarm systems, but these approaches are inefficient due to their inability to properly discriminate between the presence of shopping carts versus the presence of automotive vehicles, regardless of the threshold discriminating levels which may conceivably be built into the devices.
  • the known art is limited to the use of sensing devices of one type or another, but none of the known anti-theft devices include the capability of affecting the physical manuverability of the cart.
  • the present invention is designed to attach to a caster assembly on a shopping cart and to lock the swivel wheel in a turn-producing position to frustrate non-permissive usage of the cart or the theft thereof. If the cart should be rolled out of the market or store parking lot, it will pass over
  • _ O PI a magnetic strip which has been embedded around the perimeter of the parking lot, thereby actuating a thrust magnet which is incorporated in the anti- theft device.
  • a locking pin assembly Connected to the thrust magnet is a locking pin assembly which is specially designed to lock a stationary upper-race lock ring which is mounted on the cart frame, to a lower-race lock ring while the caster is turned off-center in either direction from its straight-forward posi- tion, thereby allowing the cart to travel in a circular manner only while its wheels are in con ⁇ tact with the ground.
  • the apparatus incorporates another feature which will effectively aid in frustrating any non-permissive use or removal of the cart from the market parking lot premises.
  • the unique anti-theft fea ⁇ tures which are described herein, depend upon the cart being rolled over a magnetic strip which is embedded in the surface of a parking lot around its perimeter. Accordingly, if the cart were to be tilted upward on its rear wheels as it is passing over the magnetic actuating strip, the thrust mag ⁇ net could easily be outside of the area of the effective magnetic field of the perimeter magnetic strip and the locking-pin assembly would not be actuated. To solve this problem, an additional tilt-lock feature has been incorporated in this apparatus.
  • a steel tilt-lock ball is placed within a cylindrical housing in a near-horizontal posi ⁇ tion.
  • the cylindrical tilt-ball housing is filled with a dampening fluid to prevent the tilt-lock ball from being displaced at the wrong time, such as when being subjected to vibration while the cart is being rolled over a rough surface.
  • a tilt-lock ball housing containing the tilt-lock ball is mounted within the apparatus in such a manner that it will cause the tilt-lock ball to be moved by gravitational force when the cart is tilted up in the front, to a position directly over a tilt-lock magnet which is connected to the upper end of the actuating rod attached to the thrust magnet des ⁇ cribed hereinabove.
  • a thrust-lock plate is attached to the lower end of the tilt-ball housing and is designed to keep the tilt-lock magnet in contact with it so that if the cart were to be lowered and the tilt-lock ball were to then roll back to its original position, the actuating rod would bias the lock-pin assembly into its locked position between the upper and lower races, locking the swivel wheel at an off-center position, thereby permitting the cart to travel in a circular-arc path only when its wheels are again placed on the ground.
  • the apparatus is designed such that when the anti-theft device is actuated, it may be easily reset into a non-locked position of the swivel wheel when a specially designed magnetic deactivat ⁇ ing bar is placed alongside of the apparatus hous ⁇ ing by an individual, such as a store employee. Additional means is provided for retaining the thrust magnet in its operative mode, in order to prevent disengagement or accidental deactivation as a result of an external force, such as vibration, upon the cart or the anti-theft apparatus. Common inexpensive magnets may be used in this apparatus.
  • the apparatus housing may be made of a single piece of plastic material formed through an inexpensive molding process, requiring no precision tolerances while still being highly resistant to wear and tear in its intended environment.
  • OMPI remaining features and elements of the apparatus are equally as simple in form and function and, accordingly, the entire device may be mass-produced at extremely low costs, while still providing a very effective anti-theft function.
  • the present invention has several features of novelty over the prior art for providing shopping cart anti-theft capability, especially since the known prior art is particularly directed toward visual or sensory detection approaches to the prob ⁇ lem of cart theft.
  • an object of this invention to be able to place an apparatus directly upon a shopping cart which will cause the swivel wheel of a shopping cart to lock in a cart-turning position, thereby allowing the cart to travel only in a circular path on the ground, thus frustrating the non-permissive use or theft of the cart.
  • Figure 1 shows an end view of a typical caster as mounted on a lower segment of a shopping cart.
  • Figure 2 is also an end view which shows the same caster of Figure 1, and mounted thereon is a housing which contains operable elements of the present invention.
  • Figure 3 shows a sectional view of the anti- theft apparatus taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2.
  • Figure 4 is a lower, perspective view of one embodiment of the upper-race lock ring which is to be mounted on the upper race of the caster and the frame of the cart.
  • Figure 5 is a sectional view of another embodi- ment of the anti-theft apparatus and is also taken along line 3-3 of Figure 2.
  • Figure 6 is a lower, perspective view of another embodiment of the upper-race lock ring which may be mounted on the upper race of the caster and the frame of the cart.
  • FIG. 1 there is shown at 10 a common caster which is mounted to the lower portion of a frame 12 of a typical shopping cart.
  • An upper race 14 is mounted on a plate 16 which, in turn, is attached to shopping cart frame 12 by any conven ⁇ ient means such as welding or by the use of mechani ⁇ cal fasteners.
  • a lower race 18 is rotatably con ⁇ nected to the upper race 14 in such a manner which permits race 18 to move, with respect to race 14, in a swivelling fashion.
  • An inverted u-shaped caster frame member 20 is rigidly attached to lower race 18 by any convenient means.
  • An axle 22 is mounted near the lower portions of caster frame member 20 to rotatably support the shopping-cart swivel wheel 24.
  • FIG 2 there is shown, for ease of illustration, the same shopping-cart caster 10 as shown in Figure 1 and all of the ordinary elements thereof as described hereinabove, with the addition of a main housing 26 which contains operable ele ⁇ ments of the present invention which are described hereinafter.
  • Housing 26 is attached to caster 10 by mounting lower-race lock ring 28 upon lower race 18 and caster frame member 20.
  • housing 26 and lower-race lock ring 28 may be constructed of a single piece of moulded, inex ⁇ pensive plastic.
  • An upper-race lock ring 30 is shown mounted on upper race 14, and lock ring 30 may also be secured to cart frame member 12 and plate 16 by any convenient means.
  • Vibration-damping means which in the present embodiment is a rubber pad 32, is mounted on housing 26 to reduce the effects of vibration between caster frame member 20 and housing 26 including the elements contained therein.
  • a thrust magnet 34 is depicted in a thrust-magnet housing 36, and in this embodiment is shown to be in a vertical position.
  • Actuating means is connected to the upper end of thrust magnet 34, said actuating means consisting of, in this embodiment, an actuating rod 38 and an L-shaped locking rod 40 pivotally mounted to actuat- ing ' rod 38, said L-shaped locking rod 40 extending upward toward a passage-way 42, located in lower- race lock ring 28.
  • Locking means consisting of a locking pin 44, in this embodiment, is mounted axially on locking rod 40 at its upper end.
  • a washer " 46 is positioned between lower-race lock ring 28 and upper-race lock ring 30 to maintain alignment therebetween.
  • Upper-race lock ring 30 may also include an outer rim 48 which is adapted to protectively lip over the outer perimeter of lower- race lock ring 28 to prevent the disabling of the locking pin 44, which could otherwise be accomp ⁇ lished by inserting a thin object such as a busi ⁇ ness card between lock rings 28 and 30.
  • each groove 50 is of a dimension adequate to permit locking pin 44 to be inserted therein whenever thrust magnet 34 and actuating arm 38 cause the locking rod 40 and the locking pin 44 to be biased in an upward direction when one of the said grooves 50 is in alignment with locking pin 44, thereby locking the caster 10 in a turning position by preventing relative rotational motion between lock ring 28 and lock ring 30, thus further causing the shopping cart to turn in a circle of small radius when it is pushed.
  • the lower end of thrust magnet 34 is located within housing 26 rela ⁇ tively close to the lower portion of the caster 10.
  • Thrust magnet 34 is actuated whenever it passes over a magnetic strip 52 which is located on or within the surface 54 of the perimeter of the area in which the shopping cart is to be confined and used. Accordingly, whenever the shopping cart passes over the magnetic strip 52, locking pin 44 will be biased upwards as previously described here- inabove. Further, as soon as any party who may intend to remove the shopping cart from the prescribed premises attempts to make a turn with the cart, locking pin 44 will be biased upwards and will become aligned with and positioned into one of the grooves 50 as a result of the relative rotation between the upper-race lock ring 30 and lower-race lock ring 28 as the cart is turned.
  • Said thrust-magnet retain ⁇ ing means comprises a thrust-magnet 56, in this embodiment, and is located at the upper end of thrust-magnet housing 36.
  • locking action may be achieved by incorporating, as shown in Figure 3, means for biasing locking pin 44 into any groove 50, shown in Figure 4, whenever the shopping cart is tilted upward on its rear wheels.
  • thrust magnet 34 is not actuated because it is not close enough to the perimeter actuating magnetic strip 52.
  • Said means for biasing locking pin 44 when the shopping cart is tilted upward on its back wheels, herein consists of a tilt-ball housing 58 which is mounted within main housing 58 which is mounted within main housing 26 such that the forward end of housing 58, relative to the direction in which the shopping cart is normally being pushed, is positioned at an angle slightly downward from horizontal.
  • Said downward angle may be at any convenient angle, but for purposes of illustration, it is shown herein at an angle of approximately 15°, however this is not intended as a limitation in the scope of this invention.
  • At tilt-lock ball 60 is contained within said tilt-ball housing 58, and said tilt-lock ball 60 will remain in its passive position at the lower-front end of the tilt-ball housing 58 due to gravity.
  • Any convenient non-corrosive fluid 62 may be placed within housing 58 to produce a damping effect upon tilt-lock ball 60 to keep it from moving from its forward, low position as a result of vibration or from hitting bumps in the surface over which wheel 24 is being rolled.
  • tilt-ball housing 58 which norm ⁇ ally is inclined downward toward its forward end, will pass through a horizontal position and then will further raise up to an upward angle causing the tilt-lock ball 60 to roll backwards to the rear portion of tilt-ball housing 58.
  • Tilt-lock ball 60 may be made of any material having magnetic proper- ties, and when it is in its rearward position as a result of tilting the front end of the shopping cart upwards, a tilt-lock magnet 64, which is located at the upper end of actuating arm 38, is biased upwards as a result of its attraction to the magnetic tilt-lock ball 60.
  • tilt- lock magnet 64 moves upward toward tilt-lock ball housing 58 and tilt-lock ball 60, it engages tilt- lock retaining means which, in this embodiment, is a magnetic thrust-lock plate 66 which in connected to the lower rear portion of tilt-ball housing 58.
  • tilt-lock magnet 64 being attracted to the magnetic tilt-lock ball 60, the actuating arm 38 and locking rod 40 and locking pin 44 are biased upward in the same manner as when they were j-o biased by the action of thrust magnet 34 when it passed over the magnetic strip 52 located at the perimeter of the confined area.
  • the swivel wheel 24 will lock into a turning position, in the manner described earlier herein, as soon as the person pushing the shopping cart makes the first turn. At that time, locking pin 44 will be biased upward into locking association with groove 50 of upper-race lock ring 30. It will remain in this turning and locked position until it is deactivated by someone such as an employee using an appropriate magnetic bar which is not part of this invention.
  • lower-race lock ring 28 may be constructed of a plurality of annular segments.
  • lock ring 28 is depicted as being made of two segments, i.e. a first segment 68 and a second segment 70 which are joined at line 72, in this view, and at a corres- ponding line, not seen in this view, diametrically opposed to line 72.
  • Said segments 68 and 70 may be rapidly joined together by any convenient means, such as the tree-type dowel pin 74, in the cutaway portion of Figure 2, one end of which is adapted for tight fit into hole 76 and the other end is similarly fit into hole 78, said holes being formed at right angles to the mating surfaces of each side of said segments 68 and 70.
  • a matching dowel pin also designated 74, is inserted into similarly matching holes 76 and 78 on the opposing side of lock ring 28.
  • lock ring 28 may be rapidly assembled and disassembled for easy mounting and removal of the main housing 26 from the shopping cart.
  • Figure 5 is a sectional view of the apparatus taken along line 3-3 of Figure 2, and is similar in appearance to the embodiment shown in Figure 3.
  • a thrust magnet 80 is contained in thrust-magnet housing 82 and is adapted to be actuated in the same way as that of thrust-magnet 34, shown in Figure 3, as described previously herein.
  • magnet housing 82 has an outer magnetic strip 84, near its upper end, having the same magnetic polarity as the upper. end of thrust magnet 82.
  • Housing 82 also has an outer magnetic strip 86 near the opposite side of its lower end, and which has the same magnetic polarity as the lower end of thrust magnet 80.
  • thrust magnet 80 is biased upward and held in that upward position due to a cocking effect of thrust magnet 80 as its upper end moves toward magnetic strip 84, and its lower end moves toward magnetic strip 86 in a manner which will cause the bottom surface of thrust magnet 80 to rest upon an inner ledge 88 of housing 82 located near the bottom of housing 82.
  • An L-shaped actuating rod is connected at its lower end to the upper end of thrust magnet 80, and at its upper end it supports locking pin 92 which is slidably supported within hole 94 in lower-race lock ring 28.
  • L-shaped actuating rod 90 and locking pin 92 is similar to that of locking rod 40 and locking pin 44, as previously described hereinabove, and is adapted to prevent relative rotational motion between lock rings 28 and 30 when rod 90 and pin 92 are in their actuated positions.
  • a steel tilt-ball 96 is contained in the lower portion tilt-ball housing 98 which is. positioned at an angle slightly downward from horizontal, similar to housing 50 in Figure 3.
  • Housing 50 contains a damping fluid 100 to prevent undesired motion of tilt-ball 96 from vibration.
  • tilt-ball 96 will roll to the opposite end of housing 98 and will attract thrust-magnet 80 upward, thereby actuating rod 90 and pin 92 into its locked position, similar to the action of tilt- ball 60, magnet 64, rod 40 and pin 44 of Figure 3, as previously described hereinabove.
  • an alternate upper-race lock ring 102 is shown, lock ring 102 having a series of recesses in the lower surface thereof.
  • the series of recesses therein consist of a series of ratchet teeth 104, and they are adapted to accept locking pin 92 into its recessed portion as pin 92 is actuated and lower-race lock ring 28 is rotated a small amount with respect to upper-race lock ring 102 before the locking func- tion is achieved.
  • a rectangular slot 106 is also shown at an end of the series of ratchet teeth 104 and are placed at such end locations to revent locking pin 92 from moving across the lower surface of lock ring 102 past slot 106 as rotation occurs between lock rings 28 and 102.
  • the present anti-theft apparatus dis ⁇ closed herein obviously cannot protect against theft by persons who may physically lift the entire shopping cart, and its contents, into the air and carry it for some distance onto a waiting vehicle or to some remote location, it can certainly pre ⁇ vent, or can be an aid in preventing, a more typi ⁇ cal type of unauthorized removal which occurs in the majority of cases.

Abstract

Dispositif anti-vol destiné à être utilisé dans un chariot à roulettes pivotantes. Un anneau de verrouillage de piste de roulement supérieure (30) est monté sur le châssis du chariot au-dessus de la piste de roulement supérieure de la roulette tandis qu'un anneau de verrouillage de piste de roulement inférieure (28) est monté sur la piste de roulement inférieure de la roulette. L'actionnement d'une clavette de verrouillage (44) empêche le mouvement rotatif relatif entre les anneaux de verrouillage, étant donné que la clavette s'étend dans chaque anneau de verrouillage. A l'intérieur d'un boîtier principal (26) solidaire de l'anneau de verrouillage de la piste de roulement inférieur, un aimant de poussée (34) est agencé pour actionner la clavette de verrouillage lorsque le dispositif passe sur une bande magnétique d'actionnement (52). Une balle basculante (60) et son boîtier sont également illustrés et permettent d'actionner un aimant de balle basculante (64) ainsi que la clavette de verrouillage lorsque l'extrémité antérieure du chariot tourne autour de l'axe des roues arrière du chariot.
PCT/US1983/001593 1983-01-10 1983-10-11 Dispositif anti-vol pour chariots a commissions WO1984002688A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU21254/83A AU2125483A (en) 1983-01-10 1983-10-11 Shopping cart anti-theft apparatus

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US43494183A 1983-01-10 1983-01-10

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO1984002688A1 true WO1984002688A1 (fr) 1984-07-19

Family

ID=23726336

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US1983/001593 WO1984002688A1 (fr) 1983-01-10 1983-10-11 Dispositif anti-vol pour chariots a commissions

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0130993A1 (fr)
WO (1) WO1984002688A1 (fr)

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0354827A1 (fr) * 1988-08-12 1990-02-14 Ateliers Reunis Caddie Roue pour chariot ou similaire comportant un dispositif de blocage sur un plan incliné
US4999742A (en) * 1988-12-27 1991-03-12 Eta Sa Fabriques D'ebauches Electronic module for a small portable object such as a card or a key incorporating an integrated circuit
WO2000061420A1 (fr) * 1999-04-09 2000-10-19 Vitorino Pereira Vieira Chariot d'achats equipe d'un moteur electrique et son systeme de distribution
WO2006122717A1 (fr) * 2005-05-19 2006-11-23 Wanzl Metallwarenfabrik Gmbh Chariot de transport et procede antivol

Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2964140A (en) * 1959-09-14 1960-12-13 Gilbert Florence Anti-theft device for carts
US3031038A (en) * 1959-11-16 1962-04-24 Irving Stollman Magnetic wheel lock
US3083398A (en) * 1960-08-08 1963-04-02 Calvin D Swalm Anti-theft grocery cart caster
US3356185A (en) * 1966-09-22 1967-12-05 Elmer H Isaacks Shopping cart brake
US3495688A (en) * 1968-10-16 1970-02-17 Elmer H Isaacks Shopping cart wheel lock
US3828392A (en) * 1972-08-23 1974-08-13 J Bolger Swivel locking caster brake
DE2310777A1 (de) * 1973-03-03 1974-09-19 Schulte & Co Kugelfab Lenkarretierungseinrichtung fuer bockund lenkrollen aller art
GB2033742A (en) * 1978-10-20 1980-05-29 Homa Castors Ltd Lockable swivel castor

Patent Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2964140A (en) * 1959-09-14 1960-12-13 Gilbert Florence Anti-theft device for carts
US3031038A (en) * 1959-11-16 1962-04-24 Irving Stollman Magnetic wheel lock
US3083398A (en) * 1960-08-08 1963-04-02 Calvin D Swalm Anti-theft grocery cart caster
US3356185A (en) * 1966-09-22 1967-12-05 Elmer H Isaacks Shopping cart brake
US3495688A (en) * 1968-10-16 1970-02-17 Elmer H Isaacks Shopping cart wheel lock
US3828392A (en) * 1972-08-23 1974-08-13 J Bolger Swivel locking caster brake
DE2310777A1 (de) * 1973-03-03 1974-09-19 Schulte & Co Kugelfab Lenkarretierungseinrichtung fuer bockund lenkrollen aller art
GB2033742A (en) * 1978-10-20 1980-05-29 Homa Castors Ltd Lockable swivel castor

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0354827A1 (fr) * 1988-08-12 1990-02-14 Ateliers Reunis Caddie Roue pour chariot ou similaire comportant un dispositif de blocage sur un plan incliné
FR2635296A1 (fr) * 1988-08-12 1990-02-16 Caddie Atel Reunis Roue pour chariot ou similaire comportant un dispositif de blocage sur un plan incline
US4999742A (en) * 1988-12-27 1991-03-12 Eta Sa Fabriques D'ebauches Electronic module for a small portable object such as a card or a key incorporating an integrated circuit
WO2000061420A1 (fr) * 1999-04-09 2000-10-19 Vitorino Pereira Vieira Chariot d'achats equipe d'un moteur electrique et son systeme de distribution
WO2006122717A1 (fr) * 2005-05-19 2006-11-23 Wanzl Metallwarenfabrik Gmbh Chariot de transport et procede antivol

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0130993A1 (fr) 1985-01-16

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