Abstract:
The shopping cart has a foot pedal mechanism to adjust the height of the shopping basket to accommodate different sized users and can lower the cart height automatically with just the push of a button. The shopping basket includes separate detachable smaller bags used for bringing in items from the car. The cart is also designed to be fully collapsible to a height of only six inches and can be easily loaded into the rear trunk space of a car or SUV. The entire basket is also both collapsible and expandable in size and can also be detached from the cart easily and includes at least two carrying handles.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to shopping carts, and more particularly to a shopping cart that has several substantial capabilities over shopping carts or prior arm. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Shopping carts have been in use since the mid 1930s when Sylvan Goldman obtained the first shopping cart patent on Mar. 15, 1938. Shopping carts are now widely used in almost every country now and continue to grow in popularity due to their many desirable features. However, unlike many other consumer products, the shopping cart has not evolved substantially to adjust to the needs of the modern day consumer shopper. As a first example, shopping carts have failed to evolve for the modern shopper who shops at bulk discount store chains. Shopping at such chains becomes a chore when unloading the groceries into the car due to the fact that many of these bulk shopping chains do not provide bags in the store in order to keep costs low for the shopper. Another example is that prior art shopping carts are not normally sold to consumers and are left in parking lots with large variations in cleanliness and repair of carts. Yet another example is that shopping carts are normally provided at fixed heights and taller and shorter shoppers must deal with the ergonomic difficulties from the fixed height cart designs of prior art. Finally, for urban shoppers, many either are forced to shop in small quantities which they carry by hand back to their city residence or they improvise by using small sized collapsible carts which once again are limited in volume as compared with shopping carts of prior art. Indeed, there is a need to provide a modern shopping cart that can better satisfy these aforementioned limitations of the modern day shopper. 
     Although there have been many patents issued over the last few decades that have provided collapsible shopping carts for storage in cars, they do not have many additional other features desirable to the modern shopper. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,567,809 Collapsible Shopping Cart issued to White discloses a collapsible shopping cart having detachable shopping baskets. Although White&#39;s cart does have some advantages over the prior art, it does not offer any adjustability in height and by design cannot hold a large volume of shopping items typical of modern bulk shopping. U.S. Pat. No. 8,408,581 Collapsible Shopping Cart Device issued to Hunter discloses a collapsible shopping cart that also contains a collapsible open mesh basket large enough to be of use to the modern bulk shopper. However, Hunter&#39;s cart also does not allow for height adjustment and also does not have detachable shopping bags for easier transport of items once loaded into the car. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 8,075,016 Shopping Cart issued to Silberberg discloses a collapsible shopping cart having retractable legs which would allow the cart to be loaded into a vehicle with the entire contents remaining inside the shopping cart basket. Although Silberberg&#39;s cart would not require the shopper to unload items into the car, when the car arrives at home there is no longer any advantage as the basket design of Silberberg&#39;s cart lacks compartmentalization and would therefore rely on shoppers to use their own bags during shopping which is atypical of many modern bulk shopping chains. U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,329 Collapsible Shopping Cart with Removable Mesh Basket issued to Smith discloses a collapsible shopping cart having a single mesh basket which is also removable from the cart. Although Smith&#39;s cart would allow the shopper to carry the basket into the home directly from the car, it is still limited in that the weight of a typical large bulk shopping trip would require at least two people of average strength to carry into the home. Furthermore, Smith&#39;s cart as shown is of a low height and would have to be carried into the car by at least two people of average strength. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,128 Collapsible Shopping Cart issued to Dinkins discloses a collapsible cart having a main basket made of a web material for placing shopping items into one or more nested tub containers. Although Dinkins&#39; cart does utilize multiple detachable baskets, it also has no height adjustment and its design would not allow for easy loading into the truck of a typical modern car or sports utility vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,605 Elevatable Shopping Cart issued to Fisher discloses a collapsible shopping cart that does have height adjustment capability by either a hand crank mechanism or a hydraulic cylinder. Although Fisher&#39;s cart offers a major ergonomic improvement over typical fixed height carts of prior art, it lacks the other features to be disclosed in the present invention such as detachable baskets, and easy loading of the full cart into a car. Furthermore, Fisher&#39;s methods of adjusting the height would be difficult for older shoppers due to the hand strength required to use a hand crank and would not be allowed in many stores because many hydraulic cylinders are prone to leaks over time and the hydraulic oil residue would provide hazards to the store such as slipping on oil residue or potential product contamination from leaked hydraulic oil. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,366 Carry Out Caddy for Shopping Carts issued to Strom discloses a collapsible shopping cart having reusable and fully collapsible shopping bags that are further compartmentalized for easy unloading. Although Strom&#39;s cart would complement today&#39;s environmentally conscientious shoppers as it uses reusable collapsible bags, it is clearly not designed to load easily into a car or sport utility vehicle trunk as it does not allow height adjustment. Strom&#39;s caddy is more of an accessory invention to a shopping cart. As a final example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,646 Collapsible Shopping Cart issued to Cheng discloses a collapsible shopping cart having a base support to enable carrying heavy loads without deforming. However, Cheng&#39;s cart, once again, also lacks other desirable features to the modern bulk shopper such as height adjustment, ease of loading into car trunks and detachable baskets. 
     Clearly, the collapsible cart inventions of prior art disclosed here do not fully satisfy all of the features of the present invention which are easy loading of the full cart into the trunk of a vehicle while still fully loaded, adjustable height to provide for a wide range of shopper heights, detachable and reusable mesh bags to allow easy transport of bulk shopping items into both suburban and urban residences by shoppers of all age groups and genders. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a shopping cart that can collapse down to a very short height of preferably six inches maximum. 
     It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a shopping cart that can be easily loaded and secured into the trunk rear storage space of modern vehicles including trucks and sport utility vehicles with a full load of groceries. 
     It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a shopping cart that has a plurality of compartmented reusable baskets to allow for easy unloading of the shopping cart at the final destination. 
     It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a shopping cart that has an easy to use mechanism to allow the cart to be raised or lowered to various heights to better accommodate different sized shoppers as well as for assistance in the loading of the cart into a vehicle. 
     It is a final object of the present invention to provide a shopping cart basket that can not only collapse to a height of less than six inches but also can expand outward in length and width to accommodate the rear trunk storage space available in both small, midsize and large sized sport utility vehicles. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the shopping cart fully extended state. 
         FIG. 2  is a side view of the shopping cart in a fully collapsed state. 
         FIG. 3  is a side view of the shopping cart fully extended but with a fully collapsed basket. 
         FIG. 4   a  is a side view of the shopping cart shown at the beginning of loading into an SUV rear trunk. 
         FIG. 4   b  is a side view of the shopping cart shown being loaded into the SUV rear trunk. 
         FIG. 4   c  is a bottom view of the shopping cart. 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view showing the shopping basket with detachable internal bags. 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the shopping cart&#39;s elevation mechanism. 
         FIG. 7  is a detailed view of the shopping cart&#39;s elevation mechanism. 
         FIG. 8  is a detailed view of the shopping cart&#39;s handle. 
         FIG. 9  is a detailed view of the shopping cart&#39;s ratchet gear elevation mechanism. 
         FIG. 10  is a top view of the shopping cart shown with the shopping basket at its minimum length and minimum width setting. 
         FIG. 11  is a top view of the shopping cart shown with the shopping basket at its median length and median width setting. 
         FIG. 12  is a top view of the shopping cart shown with the shopping basket at its maximum length and maximum width setting. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to the drawings and in particular  FIG. 1 , a shopping cart according to the present invention is generally designated by reference numeral  100 . Cart  100  is further comprised of a basket  10 , a basket carrier  20 , a handle  30 , an upper leg assembly  40 , a lower leg assembly  50 , a set of front wheels  60 , a set or rear wheels  70 , an elevation mechanism  80 , and a foot pedal  90 . Each of these components shall be further described in detail in order to describe the operation and intended use of the present invention. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 2 , shopping cart  100  is shown in a fully collapsed state. As a first objective of the present invention, the shopping cart  100  can collapse into a flattened state of approximately six inches in height. Only a few simple steps are required to collapse the cart. First, basket  10  consists of a flexible open mesh fabric which is wrapped around a spring coil to form the four walls of the basket. This collapsible fabric with embedded spring design is already commonly practiced to fabricate baskets and containers in other products including collapsible laundry baskets and collapsible toy containers. The top basket rim  14  and bottom basket rim  16  of basket  10  are then compressed together and held in place by securing straps  12 . Preferably and as shown in  FIG. 1 , at least four securing straps  12  (two on each side of the basket) are recommended to keep the basket secured firmly together. Next, basket  10  also has a bottom floor  18  which further contains a center hole  19  allowing said basket  10  to rotate relative to the basket carrier  20 . This allows the now collapsed basket to be in a more compact state because the short sides of the rotated basket  10  are now parallel to the upper legs  40  of cart  100 . 
     Referring next to  FIG. 3 , the distal end  42   a  of support bar  45  which is seated inside a slotted hole  42  located on upper leg  40  is then pushed upward towards the far distal end  42   b  of slotted hole  42 . This movement of the support bar will then cause the now collapsed basket  10  and basket carrier  20  to collapse down upon the top faces of the two upper legs  40 . The final step is then to push the distal end  52   a  of the elevating bar  85  which is seated in slotted hole  52  of lower leg  50  toward the opposite distal end  52   b . This movement will cause the upper leg collapsed assembly to collapse down upon the lower legs  52  to complete the collapsing of the cart  100  to result in the state as previously shown in  FIG. 2 . 
     It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a shopping cart that can be easily loaded and secured into the trunk rear storage space of modern vehicles including trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUV) with a full load of groceries. Referring next to  FIGS. 4   a  thru  4   c , the preferred method of loading said shopping cart  100  into the trunk storage area of an SUV shall next be described. The loading of said shopping cart  100  into a car or SUV trunk is accomplished by several simple steps as follows. The first step is the rotation of basket  10  such that the shorter sides of said basket  10  are parallel to the left and right sides of the main body of cart  100 . The main reason for the cart basket rotation requirement is the limited trunk depth of typical modern cars and SUVs so that the cart  100  will have enough room to fit inside without having to lower the rear seats. Once said basket  10  is rotated, the shopping cart is then elevated such that the height of the basket carrier  20  is just above the surface of the SUV or car trunk (this surface is shown as dashed line “A” and is shown in  FIG. 4   a .) The handle  30  is then retracted fully into said basket  10  which then acts upon said distal end of support bar  45  causing the support bar to slide towards new position “B” as shown in  FIG. 4   b.    
     Although not visible in  FIG. 4   b , handle  30  is rigidly attached to said distal end of support bar  45  inside a slotted pocket inside said basket carrier  20 . The movement of said support bar  45  allows the entire upper leg  40  to rotate upward towards the shopper as the cart  100  is pushed into the truck of the car or SUV. In this position as shown in  FIG. 4   b  essentially the upper legs  40  and lower legs  50  are nearly parallel to each other and provide the shopper ample leverage to slide said cart  100  fully into the car or SUV trunk space and is similar to the motion of moving a hospital gurney into an ambulance. To further help reduce sliding friction on the carpeted interior surface of the car or SUV trunk while said cart  100  is loaded, the bottom face of said basket carrier  20  contains a plurality of thin ribs  22  that run parallel to the direction of cart movement as shown in  FIG. 4   c.    
     Referring next to  FIG. 5 , it is yet another object of the present invention to provide a shopping cart that has a plurality of compartmented reusable baskets to allow for easy unloading of the shopping cart at the final destination. In the preferred embodiment, said basket  10  of cart  100  is further comprised of a plurality of smaller carrying bags  15  with each bag having at least one carrying handle  17 . It should be obvious to one skilled in the art of shopping bag design that the main basket  10  may carry different sized carrying bags  15 , and the cart  100  of the present invention may be sold with different numbers, shapes and sizes of carrying bags  15  to suit the shopping styles of shoppers of all ages and genders. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 5 , three equally sized smaller bags  15  are shown to fit snugly inside main basket  10 . As an option to secure said smaller bags during transit, securing straps  12  can be used to secure the smaller bags  15  to main basket  10  using slotted apertures  14   a  spaced along the perimeter of basket top rim  14 . The basket bottom rim  16  may also contain a plurality of apertures  16   a  for use in attaching securing straps to trunk compartment to help prevent the cart  100  from moving around the trunk during transportation. As an alternative to the preferred embodiment of using carrying bags  15  to carry in the shopping contents, said basket  10  also contains a plurality of carrying handles  11  for use in lifting out said basket  10  from said basket carrier  20  and transporting the entire basket  10  as one unit. 
     It is a final another object of the present invention to provide a shopping cart  100  that has an easy to use mechanism to allow the cart to be raised or lowered to various heights to better accommodate different sized shoppers as well as for assistance in the loading of the cart to the proper trunk height of a vehicle. Referring next to  FIGS. 6  thru  9 , the mechanism for adjusting the height of cart  100  shall next be explained in detail.  FIG. 6  shows a view of the cart  100  with the right lower leg panels removed in order to show the details of the cart elevation mechanism  80 . 
     Referring next to  FIG. 7 , in the preferred embodiment, the cart  100  is elevated in height using a ratchet gear driven belt drive assembly. In order to raise the cart, the shopper first presses down with one of their feet on the foot pedal  90 . The foot pedal  90  is mounted on a shaft  91  which has at one distal end a protrusion  92  which is in contact and can rotate the ratchet gear  93 . The ratchet gear  93  then drives a second gear  95  by using a power transmission belt  94  and is prevented from rotating backwards (or counterclockwise as shown in  FIG. 7 ) by a pawl  97 . Each depression of said foot pedal  90  will therefore index the ratchet gear  93  which further indexes the driven gear  95  an equal degree of clockwise rotation. Finally, said driven gear  95  is meshed together with a toothed rack  96  which is rigidly connected to said support bar  45 . Once the foot pedal is depressed, a set of torsion springs  98  act to return the depressed pedal  90  back to its starting position. With the design of the preferred embodiment, shoppers of all ages can elevate the cart because of the leverage of using their legs. Furthermore, this design is light weight compared to using alternatives such as electric motors and batteries. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 8 , said handle  30  further contains a “raise cart” button  31  and a “lower cart” button  32  that are both connected to an embedded wireless transmitter device inside the handle body which is depicted as item  33  in the drawing. Although a detailed electrical schematic of said wireless transmitter device is not disclosed here, one skilled in the art of wireless switches would be able to design a compact wireless switching transmitter that would send wireless radio frequency waves in two different frequencies depending on which button was selected. Referring finally to  FIG. 9 , the result of the wireless transmitter device  33  is shown. When the raise cart button  31  is depressed on handle  30 , a wireless transmitter device  33  sends a signal to a wireless receiver switch device  34  which is part of the elevation mechanism  80 . Said switch device  34  will move the pawl  97  to the “RAISE” position which is in intimate contact with said ratchet gear  93 . In this mode, the cart can be elevated as explained previously. 
     Referring back to  FIG. 8 , when said cart  100  is to be lowered, the “lower cart” button  32  is depressed and sends a different frequency signal to said wireless switch device  34 . The switching device then acts upon pawl  97  and rotates the pawl counterclockwise and away from contact with said ratchet gear  93 . While the pawl  97  is disengaged from said ratchet gear  93 , the weight of the basket  10 , and carrier  20  will cause the cart to slowly lower itself because the rack  96  would then move in the opposite direction due to counterclockwise rotation of said driven gear  95  as well as ratchet gear  93 . In this manner, the shopper can at will raise and lower the cart. Although gravity will naturally lower the cart, the shopper will have to use foot power to raise the cart as previously explained. 
     Referring finally to  FIGS. 10 through 12 , in an alternative embodiment, the shopping cart basket can be easily adjusted in both its length and width dimensions in order to increase the overall volume of the cart&#39;s carrying capacity. In the preferred embodiment, this is accomplished by pulling outward a set of four basket pull tabs  13  that are located in slotted apertures that are located on pull tab housings  15 . Said tab housings  15  are preferably molded into the main body of said basket bottom  18 . Said pull tabs  13  are also attached to each of the four flexible corners of said basket  10  which is made of a material fabric that is both strong and stretchable. In the first embodiment shown in  FIG. 10 , the pull tabs are not yet pulled outward and this size of 30 inches by 20 inches represents a preferred minimum cart basket carrying capacity of 10800 cubic inches. In the second embodiment shown in  FIG. 11 , the pull tabs are partially pulled outward and this larger size of 36 inches by 26 inches represents a preferred median cart basket carrying capacity of 16848 cubic inches. And finally in the third embodiment shown in FIG.  12 , the pull tabs are now fully pulled outward (to the limits of the fabric of the basket), and this size of 42 inches by 32 inches represents a preferred maximum cart basket carrying capacity of 24192 cubic inches. Although not shown in these drawings, one skilled in the art of flexible fabric baskets may design simple methods to lock down said pull tabs  13  into various intermediate fixed positions which would allow the cart basket to carry other volumes in the range between approximately 10800 and 24192 cubic inches.