Abstract:
A cart chair for moving a load and for sitting on, the cart chair including a body including a first, second, and third pluralities of poles forming parallel top and bottom faces, two parallel side faces perpendicular to the top and bottom faces, and parallel back and front faces perpendicular to the top and bottom and two parallel side faces; a handle including a fourth plurality of poles coupled to the body and extending in the plane of and parallel to the back face; a leg support including a fifth plurality of poles foldably coupled to the handle for supporting the handle when the body is placed on the front face; a back support including a sixth plurality of poles foldably coupled to the body and extending in the plane of and parallel to the bottom face; and a sling for covering the two side, back and front, and the bottom faces.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This invention relates to a cart for transport items and more specifically to a cart that can be used as a chair and a lounge. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    These who cannot afford or are not willing to pay the exorbitant rental fees for beach umbrellas and beach chairs so enticingly offered for rent by the ocean front hotels and these who like to enjoy secluded beaches where such staples crucial for beach and picnic enjoyment are not offered for rent, carry their own umbrellas, chairs, blankets, towels, and food in their hand. These items, necessary for beach or picnic enjoyment are commonly carried from home, if in walking distance from the beach, to and from the bus stop, or to and from the car. This chore becomes much more complicated when small children are in tow. 
         [0003]    Prior art solutions have largely been directed to affixing oversized wheels to foldable beach chairs and affixing coolers for transporting over sand. This leaves umbrellas, blankets, and lunch baskets to be hand carried. Not to mention that large wheels are difficult to roll over paved surfaces, to and from transportation on the way to the sand line. Such solutions also use hooks and straps that are difficult to manage, especially because the size of the load changes. 
         [0004]    Further, commonly sold foldable beach chairs are never as comfortable as the full size beach lounges that are provided by the hotels. 
         [0005]    What is needed is a compact, lightweight, easy to handle cart having a capacity sufficient to carry all the necessities for an outing at the beach or a picnic. What is also needed is a chair that as comfortable as the lounges provided for their customers by the beach side hotels. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    It is an object of the invention to overcome disadvantages in the prior art. 
         [0007]    Provided is a cart chair for moving a load and for sitting on, the cart chair including a body including a first, second, and third pluralities of poles forming parallel top and bottom faces, two parallel side faces perpendicular to the top and bottom faces, and parallel back and front faces perpendicular to the top and bottom and two parallel side faces; a handle including a fourth plurality of poles coupled to the body and extending in the plane of and parallel to the back face; a leg support including a fifth plurality of poles foldably coupled to the handle for supporting the handle when the body is placed on the front face; a back support including a sixth plurality of poles foldably coupled to the body and extending in the plane of and parallel to the bottom face; and a sling for covering the two side, back and front, and the bottom faces. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    The invention is explained in further detail, and by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective diagram of a cart-chair of the preferred embodiment of the invention; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a perspective diagram of the cart-chair of the preferred embodiment of the invention showing a folded handle, side bars, and a back support; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a perspective diagram of the cart-chair of  FIG. 2  including tilting of the back support; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a perspective diagram of the cart-chair of the preferred embodiment of the invention showing an extended handle and leg support; 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is a perspective diagram of the cart-chair of  FIG. 2  showing folded handle support; 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a perspective diagram of the cart-chair of the preferred embodiment of the invention showing the extended handle and folded handle support, side bars, and back support; 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is a perspective diagram of the cart-chair of  FIG. 6  showing two unhinged poles for enabling folding of the side faces of the cart-chair; 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is a perspective diagram of the folded cart-chair of the preferred embodiment of the invention; and 
           [0017]      FIG. 9  is a perspective diagram of a sling for covering faces of the cart-chair. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0018]    The following are descriptions of illustrative embodiments that when taken in conjunction with the drawings will demonstrate features and advantages of the invention. In the following description, for purposes of explanation rather than limitation, illustrative details are set forth. However, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments that depart from these details would still be understood to be within the scope of the appended claims. 
         [0019]    Moreover, for the purpose of clarity, detailed descriptions of well known devices are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the invention. It should be expressly understood that the drawings are included for illustrative purposes and do not represent the scope of the present system. In the accompanying drawings, like reference numbers in different drawings may designate similar elements. 
         [0020]      FIG. 1  illustrates a cart-chair  1  of the preferred embodiment of the invention that is similar in form to a personal shopping cart commonly used by shoppers to carry groceries from supermarkets. The cart-chair  1  includes an inner space  100  defined by opposite top and bottom faces  102  and  104 , opposite side faces  106  and  108 , and opposite front and back faces  110  and  112 . The faces are formed by a set of four poles  114 , a set of four poles  116  relatively perpendicular to the poles  114  and a set of four poles  118  relatively perpendicular to the poles  114  and  116 . Each set having unique length that may differ. 
         [0021]    To simplify the description, the faces  102 ,  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110 , and  112  are shown in the Figures to be flat or planar. It will be readily understood by these skilled in the art that the poles may be curved and the faces may have different outlines. 
         [0022]    The cart-chair  1  includes wheels  120  below the bottom face  104 . Optionally there may be four wheels  120 , as illustrated or only two below the back face  112 . The size of the wheels may vary, however it is preferred that the wheels accommodate rolling of the cart-chair along a firm surface. Additionally, for sliding the cart-chair  1  over sand, tall grass, snow, or like terrain skis  130  are attached below the front face  110 . The skis may be permanently or removably affixed and their length may vary with the size of the cart and condition of the sand. Alternatively, wheels commonly used for sand navigation may be used instead the skis. In other words, one pair of wheels  120  is for hard surface and another pair of wheels is for sand and like terrain. 
         [0023]    The cart-chair  1  further includes a handle extending away from the top face  102 , in the same plane as the back face  112 . The handle is formed by two vertical poles  122  connected by a horizontal pole  124 . Preferably, a length of the poles  122  does not exceed a length of poles  114  or  118 . The poles  122  and  124  may be fixed in a horizontal position, as seen in  FIG. 1 , or can be attached to the cart-chair  1  with brackets that enable the handle to be folded. The folding may be onto the back face  112  or, as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , on to the top face  102 . Alternatively, by enabling the poles  122  to (or along) into and retract from (or along) the poles  114  on the back face  112  of the cart-chair  1 , the handle may be made to retract. 
         [0024]    As will be discussed below in more detail, all the faces of the cart-chair  1 , except the top face  102 , are covered by a strong material that is attached to the poles. This allows placement of items into the space  100 . The top face  102  can also be covered, but such covering must be at least partially removable to allow placement of the items into the space  100  of the cart-chair  1 . When, as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the front face  110  of the cart-chair  1  is placed on the ground, the cart-chair  1  can be used as a chair. The material covering the back face  112  functions as a cushion. It is anticipated that for added comfort, an actual cushion may be attached to the poles forming the back face  112 . In the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the handle poles  122 ,  124  are in the folded position. 
         [0025]    For added sitting comfort, as illustrated, the side bars formed from poles  200  and  202  and a back rest formed by poles  204  and  206  may be optionally added. Similar to the poles  122 , poles  202  and  206  may be attached to the cart-chair  1  using brackets that allow movement and affixing in multiple positions and folding. Therefore, the side bars may be folded onto the side faces  106 ,  108 , respectively, or onto the back face  112 . Similarly, the back rest may be folded onto the back face  112  or, as illustrated in  FIG. 3 , positioned in numerous positions suitable for reclining. Also, similar to the handle, the poles  202  and  206  of the side bars and the back rest, may fit into (or along) and retract from (or along) corresponding poles  118  of the cart-chair  1 . 
         [0026]    When the poles  122  are in the extended position, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , to assure sturdiness of the cart-chair  1 , a leg support, formed by poles  400  and  402 , is added to support on the ground the poles  122  of the handle, which now functions as a leg rest. This, as is seen from  FIG. 4 , turns the cart-chair  1  into a lounge chair. As Illustrated in  FIG. 5 , similar to the poles  122 ,  202 , and  206 , the poles  402  of the leg support are foldable. 
         [0027]      FIG. 6  further illustrates the cart-chair  1  with the side bars, the back rest, and the leg support folded onto the back face  108 . In this position, as illustrated, the cart-chair  1  is again, similar to  FIG. 1 , usable to accept and carry cargo. When at the destination, placement of the cart-chair  1  on the front face  110  and quick unfolding of the hinges connecting the poles  202  and  206  of the side bars and the back rest reveals the chair of  FIG. 2 . And additional unfolding of the poles  402  of the leg support (and possibly of the poles  122  of the handle) reveals the lounge chair. 
         [0028]    As further illustrated in  FIG. 7 , the poles  114  on the front face  110  of the cart-chair can be unhinged or uncoupled at one end, e.g., as illustrated, from the opposite poles  116  and folded against the adjoining poles  116 . This then, given foldable connection of the poles  118  of the side faces  106  and  108  to the back face  112 , allows folding of the opposite side faces  106  and  108  against the back face  112 . This, in turn, allows the cart-chair  1  to be folded as illustrated in  FIG. 8 . Thus folded cart-chair  1  can be easily stowed away in narrow places or a car trunk. It is also noted, as discussed above with reference to  FIG. 2 , that the poles  122  of the handle can also be folded for further compactness of the folded cart-chair  1 . 
         [0029]    The poles  114 ,  116 ,  118 ,  122 ,  124 ,  200 ,  202 ,  204 ,  206 ,  400  and  402  can be made of the same or different types of material, for example, PVC or aluminum tubes or piping of various diameters and cross section shapes, or any other kind of material utilized in manufacture of outdoor, patio, or beach furniture. The cross section shapes of the tubes may include circular, oval, triangular, rectangular, star, and other geometrical shapes. The materials for and the manufacture of carts and lounge chairs, including hinges for folding and retracting parts are well known in the art. If piping material is used, various fittings including tees, elbows, caps, etc., can be used to connect the poles. 
         [0030]    Similarly, manufacture of slings to cover the inner space  100  of the cart-chair  1  to enable the cargo of the cart-chair  1  to be safely transported and to enable comfortable sitting, when the cart-chair  1  is used as the chair or lounge chair, is well known. As illustrated in  FIG. 9 , a sling of strong and durable material, e.g., UV fabric, is attached to the poles  114  and the poles  116  and  118  of the bottom face of the cart-chair  1 . The sling includes pockets  114 ′ for fitting over or otherwise attaching to the poles  114  and pockets  116 ′ and  118 ′ for fitting over or otherwise attaching the poles  116  and  118  of the bottom face  104 . Further, the sling includes surfaces  104 ′,  106 ′,  108 ′,  110 ′, and  112 ′ for covering corresponding bottom, side, front and back faces  104 ,  106 ,  108 ,  110 , and  112  of the cart-chair  1 . It is also envisioned that each of the bottom, side, front, and back faces can be covered separately. Only the back face of the cart-chair  1  requires that the covering material be attached such as to support a weight of a user. Other faces may be covered using, for example, Velcro or laces. 
         [0031]    Additional slings having surfaces  900  and  902  for the handle and back support and include pockets  122 ′,  204 ′ and  206 ′ for fitting over the corresponding poles  122 ,  204  and  206 . Furthermore, slings (not shown) may be included for the side bars. A cover for the top face may also be added. 
         [0032]    Once the sling is in its place, the cart-chair  1  has all the functionality of a commonly used personal shopping cart and that of the chair and lounge chair as discussed above. Accordingly, the cart-chair  1  can be used for either purpose. 
         [0033]    Finally, the above discussion is intended to be merely illustrative of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the appended claims to any particular embodiment or group of embodiments. Thus, while the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it should also be appreciated that numerous modifications and alternative embodiments may be devised by those having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the broader and intended spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims that follow. The section headings included herein are intended to facilitate a review but are not intended to limit the scope of the present system. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative manner and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims.