WO2009151348A1

WO2009151348A1 - Wheeled basket for goods storage and transport

Info

Publication number: WO2009151348A1
Application number: PCT/PT2009/000031
Authority: WO
Inventors: Manuel Joaquim Duarte Alves; Pedro Dinis
Original assignee: Joalpe Industria De Expositores, S.A.
Priority date: 2008-06-09
Filing date: 2009-06-03
Publication date: 2009-12-17
Also published as: PT104095A; PT104095B

Abstract

This invention relates to a basket (1) with wheels (2) intended for storing and transporting goods for personal use. It is basically comprised of a body (3), which is preferably made of a plastic material, including a bottom and four walls, all of them with holes, movement means enabling it to be displaced, support means (4) so that it is kept steady when stationary, said basket (1) being provided with a grip handle (5), which is adjustable in height along the rear wall, and the basket (1) is stackable. The aforementioned movement means comprise two wheels (2) of at least 50 mm diameter being assembled on to the body (3) in a backward position; said rear wall (7) has two slots in such a way to accommodate the wheels (2) when stacking the baskets; said adjustable handle (5) can be regulated by its user to a given position in height, along sliding guides; the rear wall (7) is higher than the front wall (6); the side walls (9) are gradually higher until they reach the rear wall's height (7).

Description

DESCRIPTION

"WHEELED BASKET FOR GOODS STORAGE AND TRANSPORT"

Scope of the invention

This invention relates to a wheeled basket intended for storing and transporting goods for personal use, namely in points of sale, more particularly to a wheeled basket designed for users of large shopping areas such as hypermarkets and supermarkets.

Previous art

There are many different baskets which are used for storing and transporting goods, mainly on large shopping areas such as hypermarkets and supermarkets. There are baskets with and without wheels, with folding and/or telescopic handles, most of them being made of plastic. Their bodies, manufactured by injection, comprise a bottom and walls which configure substantially trapezoidal storage and transport spaces, comprising holes so that the basket is of light weight, thus providing for a reduced use of material .

Among the baskets known from the previous art and which resemble the object of this invention, reference is herein made to the basket of the patent application WO 2006/056627 and patent FR 2 906 212, which belongs to the present patent owner.

The patent application WO 2006/056627, filed by Araven, S. A., relates to a basket for use in large shopping areas and which is generally parallelepiped, whose walls have holes, said basket comprising a pivoting handle, a telescopic handle, a pair of wheels enabling it to roll, and said wheels being, when stacking the baskets, accommodated on the space delimited by two L-shaped elements which are arranged next to the vertexes of the basket's parallelepiped bottom.

The patent application FR 2 906 212, filed by Joalpe S. A., also relates to a basket for use in large shopping areas with the same general characteristics of this apparatus, such as having a substantially parallelepipedal configuration, being stackable, having holes in the body walls, comprising rolling means and comprising pivoting handles. It is essentially characterized in that the grasping means of said basket are comprised of a telescopic arm which is fixed in an innovative manner.

However, all the baskets known from the previous art, including the ones object of the aforementioned patent applications, have some disadvantages, namely: - they are wheeled baskets intended for use only in totally flat surfaces as the floors of hypermarkets and supermarkets ; - They were not designed to be used in slopes with step ladders/escalators or any other obstacles;

- The handle for towing/pushing the wheeled basket does not allow the user to regulate its operating height according to his/her anatomical features.

These problems are solved by the basket of the prevent invention.

Summary of the invention

The present invention relates to a basket whose fundamental characteristics are disclosed in claim 1. Other characteristics are also referred to in the dependant claims .

More specifically, the basket of this invention was designed to overcome the problems and/or disadvantages of the previous art, namely the use in any surface, the easiness of use in surfaces with steps, the use of a handle which is adjustable in height as chosen by the user.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a basket which can be used in any surface, that is successfully used in unlevelled floor, such as for instance a step and which can, consequently, be applied to any type of personal use. For that purpose, said cart is equipped with movement means, wheels of a larger than usual dimension, thus enabling it to roll in any surface, namely unlevelled floor as is the case of steps, which are often an obstacle in the common use of these baskets. However, the fact that the wheels have a larger dimension should not prevent the baskets from being stacked, so there was a need to provide a stacking system different from the ones used in the previous art .

Another object of this invention is to provide a handle which can be used at different heights, i.e. at a selected height by the user.

These and other advantages and objectives of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, drawings and claims.

Brief description of the drawings

The following description is based upon the enclosed drawings, with a non-limiting character and for illustration purposes only. In the drawings are represented :

- In Figure 1, a raised, right side view of the basket object of the invention;

In Figure 2, a main section raised view of the basket of the previous figure;

- In Figure 3, a raised, left side view of the basket shown in the previous figures;

- In Figure 4, a back view of the basket shown in the previous figures; - In Figure 5, a main section raised view of several stacked baskets;

In Figure 6, a raised side view and a cross- sectional view taken along the line A-A of the figure 5, of several stacked baskets;

In Figure 7, a main section raised view of the basket with the handle in lifted position;

- In Figure 8, a raised side view of the basket with the handle in lifted position;

- In Figure 9, a back view of the basket with the handle in lifted position;

- In Figure 10, a perspective view of the basket with the handle in lifted position but still not completely assembled;

In Figure 11, a detail view of the female part fitting into the guides;

- In Figure 12, a perspective view of the basket with the handle in retracted position;

- In Figures 13 to 18, details from the fixing system of the handle with raised main section and side views;

- In Figures 19 and 20, back views of the basket with a magnetic fixing system of the handle; and

- In Figure 21, a raised side view of the basket in tilted position.

Detailed description of the invention

As can be observed in the figures, the basket object of the invention comprises a body (3) , preferably made of a plastic material, including a bottom and four walls, all of them with holes, movement means enabling it to be displaced, support means (4) so that it is kept steady when stationary, said basket (1) being provided with a grip handle (5) , which is adjustable in height along the rear wall, said handle being movable through rails existing on the rear wall (7) of the basket (1) which is stackable. All of these characteristics are already known and used in the baskets of the previous art, namely in the aforementioned documents.

The basket (1) object of the invention is essentially characterized in that:

- said movement means comprise two wheels (2) of at least 50 mm diameter, enabling them to roll over any surface, as well as surpass the difficulties of unlevelled floors such as in the case of stairs, said wheels being for that purpose assembled on to the body (3) in a backward position, their axis being positioned vertically on the rear wall (7) ;

- said rear wall (7) has two slots (8) in such a way to accommodate the wheels (2) when stacking the baskets;

- said adjustable handle (5) can be regulated by its user to a given position in height, along the sliding guides (24) which are vertically deployed alongside the rear wall (7) ;

- the wall to which is affixed the handle (5) , i.e. the rear wall (7) , is higher than the front wall (6) ; and

- the side walls (9) are gradually higher until they reach the rear wall's height (7) .

The fact that the wheels (2) have a diameter of at least 50 mm will allow them to be used in surfaces distinct from the ones of supermarkets and of shopping areas in general where the floor is completely flat. So, the wheels attached to this basket are appropriate to be used outside the points of sale, namely in parking lots. However, there are other possible uses outside the shopping and surrounding areas. In effect, thanks to these movement means, the basket can be employed for personal use in any circumstance. The wheels (2) of the basket (1) have a diameter which also enables them to be used in slopes with steps, etc. For that purpose, they are assembled on to said body (3) in a backward position, their axis being positioned vertically on the rear wall (7) . As will be understood, if the wheels were assembled as usually in the already known baskets, i.e. under the bottom of the basket, it would not be possible for it to successfully "roll" over the slope. In this case, the most part of the wheels (2) being out of the basket, it is easy to cause them to "roll" over the obstacles to be surmounted.

Besides providing a basket with movement means for personal use, and consequently with wheels of a larger diameter, the stacking characteristic was also a must, since this is required when the baskets are aimed at being used in large shopping areas. So, the front wall (7) of the basket (1) comprises two parallel slots 8 in such a way that, when stacked, the wheels (2) of the baskets (1) will fit said slots (8) . The stacking situation can be more easily understood by observing the figures 5 and 6. The height of said slots (8) will enable at least one basket (1) to be stacked, its width being higher than the thickness of its wheels (2) .

As an integral part of the basket (1) , on the upper end there is a grip handle (5) , said handle being adjustable so that it can be regulated by its user to a given position in height, along the sliding guides (24) which are vertically deployed alongside the rear wall (7) .

The adjustable handle (5) is blocked in position by mechanical means and in particular by friction. Said mechanical means essentially comprise a sliding channel (20) , a stop guide (15) comprised of the lower end of the handle (5) , which is configured as the male part (17) , and a female part (16) which fits the male part (17) of the lower end of the handle (5) .

Said female part (16) with guiding levers (18) is inserted into the sliding channel (20) and on the sliding guides (24) (see figure 11) before the handle (5) is pressure-fitted on to the male end (17) of said handle, the male part (17) being for that purpose comprised of tongues (21) and the female part of recesses (22) . As mentioned above, the handle (5) is blocked by friction within the - S -

sliding channel (20), as the tilted walls (23) enter into the channel (20) and knock against the side walls of the channel (20) , thus causing the handle (5) to be blocked by friction.

Said female part (16) also includes a detent (19) to avoid the handle (5) coming out of the sliding channel (20) .

The adjustable handle (5) can also be blocked by magnetic means. Therefore, it comprises a permanent magnet (12) and a metal ingot (13) which are assembled on to the basket (1) and the handle (5) respectively, or vice-versa, in places where they can be applied for the intended purpose (see figures 19 and 20) . Said magnet (12) is preferably placed into a recess made on the top of the rear wall (7) and the metal ingot (13) is longitudinally positioned at the middle of the handle (5) .

Said body (3) comprises an upper skirt (10), which on the side walls (9) configures a curved indenture (11) aimed at being grasped so that the basket (1) can be easily lifted and lowered by user. This is another functionality with which the personal use is made easier, in circumstances different from the usual ones in large shopping areas .

As can be seen on the figures, the side walls (9) are gradually higher until they reach the rear wall's he ight ( 7 ) .

The front wall (6) can have two vertical rails (14) which are designed to exhibit advertising elements.

In Figure 19, the basket is also illustrated in a tilted position which, in ergonomics terms, is preferably of about 20° .

This description is provided for illustrative and clarifying purposes only. It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that changes can be made to the disclosed embodiment while keeping within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

— 1 —CLAIMS

1. A basket (1) with wheels (2) intended for storing and transporting goods for personal use, namely in points of sale, comprising a body (3) , which is preferably made of a plastic material, including a bottom and four walls, all of them with holes, movement means enabling it to be displaced, support means (4) so that it is kept steady when stationary, said basket (1) being provided with a grip handle (5) , which is adjustable in height along the rear wall, said handle being movable through rails existing on the rear wall (7) of the basket (1) , the latter being stackable and characterized in that:

- the aforementioned movement means comprise two wheels (2) of at least 50 mm diameter enabling them to roll over any surface, as well as surpass the difficulties of unlevelled floors such as in the case of stairs, said wheels being for that purpose assembled on to the body (3) in a backward position, their axis being positioned vertically on the rear wall (7) ;

- the wall to which is affixed the handle (5), i.e. the rear wall (7) , is higher than the front wall (6) ; and - 2 -

- the side walls (9) are gradually higher until they reach the rear wall's (7) height.

2. A wheeled basket according to the previous claim, characterized in that said body (3) comprises an upper skirt (10) , which on the side walls (9) configures a curved indenture (11) aimed at being grasped so that the basket (1) can be easily lifted and lowered by user.

3. A wheeled basket according to claim 1, characterized in that the height of said slots (8) will enable at least one basket (1) to be stacked, its width being higher than the thickness of its wheels (2) .

4. A wheeled basket according to claim 1, characterized in that the adjustable handle (5) is blocked in position by mechanical means, in particular by friction.

5. A wheeled basket according to claim 1, characterized in that the adjustable handle (5) is blocked by magnetic means comprising a permanent magnet (12) and a metal ingot (13) which are assembled on to the basket (1) and the handle (5) respectively, or vice-versa, in places where they can be applied for the intended purpose.

6. A wheeled basket according to claim 4, characterized in that said mechanical means comprise a sliding channel (20) , a stop guide (15) comprised of the lower end of the handle (5) , which is configured as the - 3 —

male part (17) , and a female part (16) which fits the male part (17) of the lower end of the handle.

7. A wheeled basket according to claims 4 and 6, characterized in that said female part (16) with guiding levers (18) is inserted into the sliding channel (20) and on the sliding guides (24) before the handle (5) is pressure-fitted on to the male end of said handle (5) , the male part (17) being for that purpose comprised of tongues

(21) and the female part of recesses (22) .

8. A wheeled basket according to claims 4, 6 and 7, characterized in that the handle (5) is blocked by- friction within the sliding channel (20) , as the tilted walls (23) enter into the channel (20) and knock against the side walls of the channel (20) , thus causing the handle (5) to be blocked by friction.

9. A wheeled basket according to claims 4 and 6 to 8, characterized in that said female part (16) comprises a detent (19) to avoid the handle (5) coming out of the sliding channel (20) .

10. A wheeled basket according to claim 5, characterized in that said magnetic means comprise a permanent magnet (12) which is placed into a recess made on the top of the rear wall and a metal ingot (13) which is longitudinally positioned at the middle of the handle (5) . - 4 -

11. A wheeled basket according to claim 1, characterized in that the front wall (6) comprises two vertical rails (14) which are designed to exhibit advertising elements.