Abstract:
An insulating compartment is combined with a type grocery cart characterized by an open basket having forwardly-tapering sidewalls and bottom wall which terminate in a common front wall, as well as having a top-hung rear flap-panel that swings up when the nose of a like grocery cart&#39;s basket pushes inside from the rear to enter and dock inside the basket space of the first grocery cart. The insulating compartment is limited in extent to generally the front portions only of the grocery cart&#39;s basket. Preferably, the insulating compartment comprises a front wall that matches flush against substantial portions of the basket&#39;s front wall. It also comprises abbreviated sidewalls and bottom wall arranged to match flush against front portions of the basket&#39;s sidewalls and bottom wall. Thus, the insulating compartment provides insulation service to cold or frozen food and beverage merchandise during grocery shopping trips.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
   This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/369,185, filed Feb. 15, 2003, now abandoned which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/357,229, filed Feb. 16, 2002, all of the foregoing disclosures of which are incorporated by this reference. 

   BACKGROUND AND OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention relates to grocery shopping carts and, more particularly, to an insulating compartment that lines an inside portion of a grocery cart&#39;s basket in order to provide insulation service for cold or frozen food and beverage merchandise during the duration a customer shops, checks out and leaves a grocery store. 
   A number of additional features and objects will be apparent in connection with the following discussion of preferred embodiments and examples. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is an object of the invention to provide a grocery cart with an insulating compartment that lines the inside of a grocery cart&#39;s basket in part (ie., it lines part of, and not all, the inside of the grocery cart&#39;s basket). 
   It is an alternate object of the invention that the above insulating compartment provide insulation service to cold or frozen food and beverage merchandise during the time a customer shops, checks out and departs a grocery store. That way, the cold or frozen temperatures of such merchandise can be sustained or preserved for longer periods of time than in the absence of the invention. 
   It is another object of the invention that the above insulating compartment be formed with an abbreviated (ie., in the sense as shortened) bottom wall as well as an open back wall so as not to interfere with the upswing of the top-hung rear flap-panel of the grocery cart&#39;s basket. Briefly, such swing capability in the top-hung rear flap-panel of conventional grocery cart baskets allows one cart&#39;s basket to nose inside the basket space of another in order to form more compact trains. In other words, when the nose of a trailing grocery cart&#39;s basket is rammed into the rear flap-panel of a leading forward grocery cart, the leading cart&#39;s rear flap-panel swings up so that the trailing cart&#39;s basket&#39;s nose can push into and nest inside the basket space of the leading cart. Lengthy trains of grocery carts can be formed in such a procession of one cart after another nosed into the rearwardly-accessible basket space of the immediately preceding cart. Doing this forms more compact lines or trains of grocery carts during non-use and storage as well as mass maneuvering. 
   It is a further object of the invention that the above insulating compartment be formed with an open top or, in other words, without means of a lid or like closure. This is preferred so that store merchandise can be more readily deposited and/or withdrawn by either the customer and/or cash-register clerk. 
   These and other aspects and objects are provided by combining an insulating compartment with a given grocery cart of the type comprising an open basket defined by forwardly-tapering sidewalls spaced by a bottom wall and which all terminate in a front wall. The given grocery cart&#39;s basket is also as well defined by a top-hung rear flap-panel that swings up when the nose of a like grocery cart&#39;s basket pushes inside from the rear to enter and dock inside the basket space of said given grocery cart. 
   The insulating compartment is sized and arranged to be generally limited in extent to the front portions only of the given grocery cart&#39;s basket. That is, the insulating compartment comprises a front wall arranged to match flush against substantial portions of the given grocery cart&#39;s basket&#39;s front wall. It as well comprises abbreviated sidewalls and bottom wall arranged to match flush against front portions of the given grocery cart&#39;s basket&#39;s sidewalls and bottom wall. And so, the insulating compartment provides insulation service to cold or frozen food and beverage merchandise during the temporary time a customer shops a grocery store. 
   A number of additional features and objects will be apparent in connection with the following discussion of the preferred embodiments and examples with reference to the drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     There are shown in the drawings certain exemplary embodiments of the invention as presently preferred. It should be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed as examples, and is capable of variation within the scope of the appended claims. In the drawings, 
       FIG. 1  is a fragmentary perspective view of an insulating compartment in accordance with the invention for combining with a conventional grocery shopping cart; 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view comparable to  FIG. 1  except illustrating the insulating compartment nested as shown in the basket of the grocery cart, wherein parts of the basket&#39;s wireframe sidewall is removed from view for illustrative purposes only; 
       FIG. 3  is a reduced scale top plan view of  FIG. 2 ; 
       FIG. 4  is a lateral side view thereof; and 
       FIG. 5  is a lateral side view comparable to  FIG. 4  except showing a train comprising two like grocery shopping carts, a relatively trailing one having the nose of its basket docked inside of through the rear frame of the basket of the relatively leading grocery shopping cart, wherein each of the grocery shopping carts are outfitted with an insulating compartment in accordance with the invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an insulating compartment  10  in accordance with the invention for combining with a conventional grocery shopping cart  50 . The insulating compartment  10  is preferably produced from a water-resistant insulating material including without limitation styrene foam. That is, preferably the insulating compartment  10  is produced from a single material as shown. However, the insulating compartment  10  could alternatively be produced as a composite of insulating material and then other materials such as either rigid plastics or soft synthetics for the coating or covering layer and the like. It is an object of the invention that the insulating compartment  10 &#39;s walls possess insulating capabilities concurrently with surface finishes which afford easy to wipe-clean convenience. 
   As shown by  FIG. 1 , the insulating compartment  10  has a bottom wall  12 , left and right sidewalls  14  and a front wall  16 . Absent from the insulating compartment  10  is a full back wall and/or full top wall as well. Indeed in the preferred embodiment the insulating compartment  10  has neither back wall nor top wall whatsoever, not even rudimentary ones. Although, when the reasons for the absent top and rear wall are more particularly described below, the objects of the invention could be achieved nevertheless if rudimentary top or rear walls were included (none shown). The insulating compartment  10  can be produced as a molded product or alternatively constructed from four (4) pieces of generally planar stock material bonded together in the shape shown. 
   The grocery cart  50  illustrated in  FIG. 1  is representative of conventional grocery carts in general. This particular grocery cart  50  has a basket  52  of wireframe construction although other popular varieties have molded plastic baskets perforated with apertures in the fashion of grillwork resembling wireframe construction. It is conventional and highly preferred to ventilate grocery shopping carts in order that they not become rainwater or snow catching buckets when stored or temporarily parked/idled outdoors during weather. The inventive insulating compartment  10  is producible in various sizes and shapes in order to get it to match all sorts of conventional popular grocery cart styles. Hence the particular grocery-cart style shown by the drawings represents a single example for convenience in this description but otherwise does not limit the invention to combining with that one style alone. Persons having ordinary skill in the art would be able to routinely match the dimensions of the insulating compartment  10  to about any particular conventional grocery-cart style and thus still be proceeding in accordance with teachings of this disclosure. 
     FIG. 2  shows the insulating compartment  10  installed in the front part of the grocery cart  50 &#39;s basket  52 . Preferably the insulating compartment  10  closely lines the inside of the basket  52 &#39;s front margin as shown. More particularly, the insulating compartment  10 &#39;s front and bottom walls  16  and  12  line the inside of the grocery cart basket  52 &#39;s front wall  54  and front margin of a bottom wall  56  as shown. Likewise the insulating compartment  10 &#39;s sidewalls  14  mate with the interior front margins of the basket  52 &#39;s wireframe sidewalls  58  as shown, and in a fashion as spread flat up against them. Preferably the insulating compartment  10  is sized and shaped such that its front left and right vertical seams  22  wedge tightly in the grocery cart basket  52 &#39;s front left and right vertical corners  62 . The advantage of such wedging action is that the wedge fit provides retention of the insulating compartment  10  without use of any other positive fastening. That way, the insulating compartment  10  is in a general sense permanently installed in the grocery cart  50  basket without fasteners or the like. Yet at the end of its use life—say after the inventive insulating compartment  10  wears thin or becomes too soiled—one such insulating compartment  10  can be replaced with a fresh replacement (fresh replacement not shown by the drawings). 
   To turn to  FIG. 3 , it shows the insulating compartment  10 &#39;s tight fit in the front corners  62  of the basket  52 . As mentioned above, preferably the insulating compartment  10  is especially sized to achieve the desired amount of wedging which holds the insulating compartment  10  relatively tight in position. 
     FIGS. 3 and 4  show better that the bottom wall  12  of the insulating compartment  10  is relatively abbreviated. That is, this bottom wall  12  extends only part way back from the front  54  of the grocery cart basket  52  to terminate in a rear edge  24  at some intermediate point on the grocery cart basket  52 &#39;s bottom wall  56 . In connection with the foregoing, a related design choice with the insulating compartment  10  is the omission of a back wall. Pause can be taken to consider a conventional feature of conventional grocery carts. That is, grocery cart baskets  52  are conventionally provided with a top-hung rear flap-panel  64  at the rear of the basket  52  which swings up if pushed inside.  FIG. 5  shows two such carts in a train. Whereas  FIG. 5  shows a train of just two carts, it is well known that trains of carts  50  can be readily formed in an indefinite length comprising an indefinite number of carts  50 . Such upswing action with top-hung rear flap-panels  64  allows the nose of a relatively trailing grocery cart  50 T to dock forward inside a basket of a relatively leading grocery cart  50 L. Hence the basket nose of the relatively trailing grocery cart  50 T penetrates into the basket interior of the relatively leading grocery cart  50 L. To enable this, the relatively leading grocery cart  50 L (indeed, likewise with the relatively trailing grocery cart  50 T because in another instance it may be the relatively leading cart) is provided with such a swinging top-hung rear flap-panel  64  as indicated in the drawings. The nose of the relatively trailing grocery cart  50 T causes this top-hung rear flap-panel  64  to swing up in order to admit the entry and docking of the relatively trailing grocery cart&#39;s nose. Therefore, large numbers of like grocery carts can be formed into compact trains (or the like, eg., queues, lines, barge rafts) having the basket of one grocery cart nesting compactly into basket space of a preceding grocery cart, and so on indefinitely. Such trains of grocery carts can be formed up thereby in relatively compact queues during non-use and storage, as well as for mass maneuvers such as when baggers are sent out to the parking lots to retrieve the empty ones. 
   Typically such swinging top-hung rear flap-panels  64  are trapezoidal, having parallel top and bottom edges extending on horizontal axes spaced by side edges which taper toward each other in the direction from top to bottom. Generally, the rear flap-panel  64 &#39;s bottom edge is sized short to allow it clearance between the basket  52 &#39;s sidewalls  58  because the sidewalls  58  taper toward each other in the direction from rear to front. That is, further features of grocery carts that allow such docking include the basket  52  being tapered such that its sidewalls  58  are gapped more narrowly at the nose than at the rear flap-panel  64 , where the sidewalls  58  are gapped more broadly. Additionally, the bottom wall  56  of a grocery cart (eg., consider bottom wall  56  of trailing cart  50 T in  FIG. 5 ) is also inclined upwardly in the forwards direction so that it too can dock above the bottom wall  56  of a relatively leading grocery cart (eg.,  50 L in  FIG. 5 , and as illustrated). Also, the grocery cart&#39;s wheels are attached on a square-U shaped wheelbase whose legs flare outwardly in the rearward direction. Similarly, the grocery cart basket  52 &#39;s upper rim (or, ie., at least that much which forms the upper terminuses of those of the front and sidewalls  54  and  58 ) likewise has a square-U shape which flares outwardly in the rearward direction. 
   Given the foregoing, the insulating compartment  10  is therefore formed with such an abbreviated bottom wall  12  and absent back wall so as not to interfere with the upswing (and return downswing) of the top-hung rear flap-panel  64 . Such a conventional grocery cart  50  as shown can be equipped with the insulating compartment  10  in accordance with the invention without any detrimental effect on a relatively leading grocery cart  50 L&#39;s ability to fully receive a docking or penetrating (relatively) trailing grocery cart  50 T. Hence compact trains of forward docking grocery carts can be formed just the same whether the insulating compartment  10  is incorporated or not. The size and shape of the insulating compartment  10  is preferably scaled to avoid all interference with the docking or queue-forming ability of like grocery carts. Presumptively, the relative choice of where to terminate the insulating compartment  10 &#39;s bottom wall  12  is a design factor dependent on the particulars of a given style of grocery cart. The drawings provide one non-limiting example of where to terminate one given abbreviated bottom wall  12  for the insulating compartment  10  in accordance with the invention. 
   Returning to  FIG. 5 , it shows that the insulating compartments  10 &#39;s bottom walls  12  are sloped to match and be flush with the grocery carts sloping bottom walls  52 . Not only does this assist the work of providing for a snug fit and retention of the insulating compartment  10  in the front margins of the baskets  52  but the sloping bottom walls  12  also facilitate run-off or drainage of rainwater or snow-melt during or after times when the grocery carts are parked outside on outdoor parking lots. 
   Additionally, the insulating compartments  10 &#39;s sloping bottom walls  12  allows clearance for the bottom wall  56  of a trailing cart  50 T&#39;s basket  52  when the trailing cart  50 T&#39;s basket  52  is docked in the basket space  52  of a leading cart  50 L. That is, the sloping bottom wall  12  of the insulating compartment  10  in the leading cart  50 L does not impede or interfere with the docking of the trailing cart  50 T. Likewise, the insulating compartments  10 &#39;s forwardly tapering sidewalls  14  allow clearance for the sidewalls  58  of a trailing cart  50 T&#39;s basket  52  when the trailing cart  50 T&#39;s basket  52  is docked in the basket space  52  of a leading cart  50 L. Again, the reason for this is to avoid impeding or interfering with the docking of the trailing cart  50 T. 
   Generally, given the docking of a trailing cart  50 T in a leading cart  50 L, the limit of forward docking by the trailing cart  50 T in the leading cart  50 L is conventionally limited by interferences or stops associated wherein one cart&#39;s legs, wheelbase or lower frame collides against the legs, lower frame or wheelbase of the other cart. 
   It is a further aspect of the invention that the insulating compartment  10  is formed with an open top. In other words, absent from the insulating compartment  10  is any lid or like closure. That way, both the customer (ie., the shopper who fills the cart while shopping) and the cash register clerk (who empties the cart while ringing up the merchandise) can reach in easily and deposit or withdraw items to or from the insulating compartment  10 . The provision of a lid or closure would likely result in annoyance or interference with the reach in of either customers or grocery store employees. Also, there is little worthy benefit to be gained by any lid because cold air sinks, and thus the lid would certainly not be needed to contain a rising plume because none is expected. A lid might offer a minor benefit in shielding out ambient thermal radiation or reducing turbulent mixing while the cart is being pushed about. Nevertheless, those minor benefits are arguably outweighed by various annoyance factors in contemplation of inclusion of a lid such as:—how to movably secure a lid to prevent its loss, and then how to fashion a movable securing means for the lid that is not easily broken during rough use or is not generally inconveniencing either the customer of grocery store employees when accessing merchandise in the insulating compartment  10 , and so on. Therefore in view of the objects of the invention, the balance of the foregoing factors tips in favor of omitting a lid or the like. 
   Among other views,  FIG. 4  shows that the height of the insulating compartment  10  is designed to be level with or slightly lower than the rim of the basket  52 . This again is preferred in order to avoid interfering with one grocery cart basket  52  from nesting and/or docking cleanly inside the basket  52  of a preceding grocery cart  50  (this is not shown) even if equipped with the insulating compartment  10  in accordance with the invention. 
   In use, the insulating compartment  10  provides insulation service to cold or frozen food and beverage merchandise while transported in the grocery cart  50 . The insulating compartment  10  better preserves or sustains the cold or frozen temperatures of such merchandise for longer periods of time than in the absence of the invention. Customers can idle more lazily while grocery shopping and be freer from concern over the degradation of temperature with such cold or frozen merchandise. Customers are relieved from the urgency to wait until last to pick up the most delicate cold or frozen merchandise because the insulating compartment  10  lengthens the time such merchandise can persist without known or detectable degradation. Also, the front and sidewalls  16  and  14  function as windbreaks during travel with the grocery cart  50 . 
   The invention having been disclosed in connection with the foregoing variations and examples, additional variations will now be apparent to persons skilled in the art. The invention is not intended to be limited to the variations specifically mentioned, and accordingly reference should be made to the appended claims rather than the foregoing discussion of preferred examples, to assess the scope of the invention in which exclusive rights are claimed.