Shopping cart having a basket and basket vertical side wall used therein, as well as method of assembling said basket

A shopping cart having a basket includes a cart body which, in turn, includes a wheeled chassis and a basket supporting frame mounted to the wheeled chassis. A plurality of discrete panel members, fittable to the basket supporting frame for making up the basket, include a pair of side panel members and a bottom panel member, each of the side panel members including a first wall and a second wall which are integrally made of plastic in such a manner as to have a generally L-shape in plan. The first wall makes up a part of a front wall of the basket, the second wall makes up a part of a front wall thereof, and the bottom panel member makes up a bottom wall thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a shopping cart, and more particularly to a 
shopping cart having a basket of a relatively large size which includes a 
plurality of discrete panel members. 
A shopping cart of a conventional type carries various types of a basket, 
such as a metal basket and a plastic basket. The metal basket is welded or 
fixed via other conventional fixing means to a cart body having a basket 
supporting frame, and a plastic basket. In actual application, it is 
possible that a user directly places a purchased article in the basket, or 
first places the article to an independent basket, and then places this 
basket in a prefixed basket of the cart body. 
However, the shopping cart having the metal basket as stated above has 
various problems as follows: 
The metal basket is usually of a box-like shape, that is, it includes a 
front, a rear, lateral sides and a bottom. The metal basket of such a 
shape is formed by meshing wires in a latticelike pattern. Specifically, 
the bottom of the basket, having substantially a trapezoidal plan is first 
meshed with wires, and the wires extending from the bottom portion are 
upwardly and vertically bent to form vertical sides of the basket. The 
wires are cut at a predetermined height which corresponds to an upper end 
of the vertical sides of the basket by a grinder or the like, then the 
other wires cross the wires vertically extending from the bottom, and is 
spot welded. 
In accordance with this arrangement, it may be unavoidable to manually form 
the vertical sides of the basket, and to subject the basket to a 
galvanizing treatment to avoid rust on the metal basket. These processes 
may increase the manufacturing cost of the basket. In addition, even 
though the wires have been subjected to the galvanizing treatment, a 
welded portion of the wire is likely to rust. This may deteriorate an 
appearance of the basket. 
On the other hand, there is disclosed a shopping cart having the plastic 
basket, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-41789, as 
illustrated in FIG. 12. The basket of this type includes a front panel 
member 41, two lateral side panel members 42 and a bottom panel member 43. 
These panel members are provided along respective edge portions with 
grooves, and fixed to a metal frame of the shopping cart via these grooves 
for making up the basket. 
The basket of this type is disadvantageous in the fact that a relatively 
large number of parts including four discrete panel members should be 
prepared, and a basket body using those discrete panel members inherently 
has sharply angled corners at connecting portions between front and 
lateral side panel members 41 and 42. These corners may damage a display 
case, etc., in a shopping area if the shopping cart accidentally hits 
against them. 
To assemble the basket of this type, it is necessary to form the grooves in 
the panel, into which the frame of the shopping cart is fitted. However, 
each panel member necessarily includes an undercut with regard to a panel 
surface. This requires a die of a slide-core type or the like for molding, 
which may increase the manufacturing cost of the basket. The manufacturing 
of the panels, particularly the side panels 42 with a relatively long 
groove involves a further difficulty in molding, since the grooves should 
be exactly shaped so as to be snugly fitted to lateral frames 45. 
In actual use of the basket of this arrangement, since the panel members 
are fixed to the frame via grooves only, they are likely to be released 
from the frame via an impact from the outside. In addition, since the 
plastic lateral side panels 42 surround the frame 45 with their edge 
portions, they are likely to be damaged with the impact from the outside. 
There is further provided a plastic basket of the type which is unitarily 
molded. This basket may solve the above problems, however, it needs a 
relatively large die for molding. 
An object of the present invention is to provide a shopping cart having a 
plastic basket of an improved structure and a basket vertical wall used in 
the basket of the shopping cart, which is suitable for molding from 
technical and economical points of view. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide a shopping cart 
having a plastic basket of an improved structure, a basket vertical wall 
used in the basket of the shopping cart, and a method of assembling the 
basket, which enable the basket to be securely fixed to a cart body, while 
avoiding the basket from being unexpectedly released from the cart body 
during the shopping cart is actually used. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with the above objects, a shopping cart having a basket 
includes a cart body which, in turn, includes a wheeled chassis and a 
basket supporting frame mounted to the wheeled chassis. A plurality of 
discrete panel members fittable to the basket supporting frame for making 
up the basket include a pair of side panel members and a bottom panel 
member, each of the side panel members including a first wall and a second 
wall which are integrally made of plastic in such a manner as to have a 
generally L-shape in plan. The first wall makes up a part of a front wall 
of the basket, the second wall makes up a lateral side wall thereof, and 
the bottom panel member makes up a bottom wall thereof. 
The basket of the present invention is formed of three component parts 
only, that is, a pair of the side panel members and the bottom panel 
member. Specifically, the basket of the present invention can be molded by 
a relatively small die. Whereby, the basket of the present invention can 
readily be assembled in a cheam manner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to FIG. 1, a cart body 1, which is made of iron, or other metals, 
includes a receiving table 2 at its lower portion to receive a basket or 
the like, a wheeled chassis 4 with four casters 3 provided at corners of 
the cart body 1, a basket supporting frame 7 connected to the wheeled 
chassis 4 via a supporting member 5. The basket supporting frame 7 
includes an upper horizontal frame 6 and a lower horizontal frame 8. These 
frames are welded together, and are subjected to a resin coating treatment 
to avoid the occurence of rust thereon. 
The lower horizontal frame 8 is formed from a band-like plate, and fixed to 
the supporting member 5 so that a flat surface of the frame 8 is 
vertically directed, and has a generally trapezoidal plan with a front 
edge extending transversely, and two lateral side edges advancing 
rearwardly apart from one another. A rear side of the lower horizontal 
frame 8 is open to outside. 
The upper horizontal frame 6 has substantially the same outline as that of 
the lower horizontal frame 8, but is formed of a metal round bar. The 
upper and lower horizontal frames 6 and 8 are supported by a pair of front 
arms 10a, a pair of middle arms 10b and a pair of rear arms 10c at a 
front, middle but closer to a rear end, and the rear end of the basket 
supporting frame 7 so that the upper horizontal frame 6 extends forwardly 
and downwardly from its rear end at a slight angle relative to the 
horizontal. Accordingly, the upper and lower horizontal frames 6 and 8 
become gradually closer to one another as they advance forwardly. The 
middle arms 10b and the rear arms 10c are terminated by a handle 9 above 
the upper horizontal frame 6. Between the upper and lower horizontal 
frames 6 and 8, the middle arms 10b and the rear arms 10c preferably 
extend straight. 
The upper horizontal frame 6 is provided along its downwardly facing 
surface except for a curving corners 8a thereof and its peripheral 
portions with a side-panel fitting member 12 of a U-shape defining a 
groove downwardly open. 
A plurality of cut-outs 29, each having a rounded cross section, are 
provided in the lower horizontal frame 6 with predetermined spacing to 
each other to receive respective bottom-panel receiving bars 32, which are 
rigidly fixed to the lower horizontal frame 8. The bottom-panel receiving 
bars 32 fitted in the cut-outs 29 are welded together, as best shown in 
FIG. 3. With this arrangement, the bottom-panel receiving bars 32 are 
unlikely to drop from the cut-outs 29, thereby obtaining a structural 
strength which is tolerable against a certain given load from a bottom 
panel member of the basket or the like. 
A babyseat compartment which also functions as a means for closing the rear 
side of the cart body 1, is indicated by the two-dot chain lines of FIG. 
1, but is illustrated in a simple manner to omit detailed poritons since 
it is of a conventional structure. The babyseat compartment includes a 
seat portion made of plastic and a frame formed of an iron bar, and is 
foldable to close the rear side of the cart body 1, when it is not in use. 
In addition, the babyseat compartment has a pivotable structure so as to 
be upwardly pivotable when the shopping cart is nested with another 
shopping cart. 
A vertical side wall 11 includes a pair of plastic side panel members 14, 
which are structurally symmetrical, and fittable to the basket supporting 
frame 7 with its front wall 7a and opposite lateral side walls 7b. Each 
side panel member 14 is formed into a generally L-shape in plan to have a 
first wall 14a and a second wall 14b for respectively making up a half of 
the front wall 7a and the lateral side wall 7b, and has a gradually 
curving corner 14e between the first and second walls 14a and 14b, as 
illustrated in FIG. 4. A pair of the side panel members 14 are 
structurally symmetrical. With this arrangement, a pair of the side panel 
members 14 make up the front and opposite lateral side walls 7a and 7b of 
the basket when assembled together. 
Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, each side panel member 14 is provided along its 
upper edge 14c with a frange which can be fitted into a space within the 
groove of the side-panel fitting member 12 of the upper horizontal frame 
6, and a shoulder 17 with a horizontal surface 17a which extends outwardly 
and inwardly from the side panel member 14 to abut against lower edges 12a 
of the side-panel fitting member 12. 
Each side panel member 14 is further provided along its lower edge 14d and 
inner side with an auxiliary bottom extension 18 which extends inwardly, 
and is provided above the auxiliary bottom extension 18 with an inward 
extension 19 having a width narrower than the auxiliary bottom extension 
18 to define an engaging concave 20. In this arrangement, the inward 
extension 19 may have the same width as or a width larger than that of the 
auxiliary bottom extension 18. An integrally formed protrusion 16 extends 
outwardly from the outer surface of the side panel member 14, thereby 
allowing the side panel member 14 to rest on an upper edge 8a of the lower 
horizontal frame 8. 
Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, an engaging groove 22 of a rounded cross 
section vertically extends in the outer surface of the first wall 14a of 
each side panel member 14, into which the corresponding front arms 10a can 
be fitted. Recessed areas 24 are respectively formed in the inner and 
outer surfaces of the first wall 14a of each side panel member 14 by 
making a predetermined area of the first wall 14a thinner than the 
residual area, in such a manner as to define inner and outer unitary 
rectangular panel receiving portions, when the side panel members 14 are 
coupled together. A pair of coupling plates 23, each having substantially 
the same outline as the unitary panel receiving portion, are respectively 
fitted to the unitary panel receiving portion defined by the recessed 
areas 24 to couple a pair of the side panel members 14 together via their 
first walls 14a. 
By defining the recessed area 24, the coupling plates 23 are unlikely to 
slip from a predetermined position. In addition, the coupling plates 23 do 
not protrude outwardly and inwardly from the first walls 14a so that the 
front wall 7a of the basket can substantially evenly surfaced. However, 
the recessed areas 24 for receiving the coupling plates 23 may be omitted 
from the first walls 14. 
When the coupling plates 23 are fitted in position, a plurality of 
through-holes 25 are defined by the coupling plates 23 and the first walls 
14a of the side panel members 14, through which conventional tightening 
members (not shown) pass for tightening the two coupling plates 23. The 
side panel members 14 are thus clamped by the coupling plates 23 and 
securely coupled together. 
Referring to FIG. 9, a pair of gripping members 26, each of which is formed 
of two linear protrusions to define an engageable groove of a rounded 
cross section, is fixed to an outer surface of the second wall 14b of each 
side panel member 14 in such a manner as to grip the corresponding middle 
and rear arms 10b and 10c via their grooves, when the side panel member 14 
is fitted to the basket supporting frame 7. 
Each gripping member 26 for gripping the corresponding rear arm 10c is 
provided with a generally oblong flexible fixing strip 27. Referring to 
FIG. 10, the fixing strip 27 is wound around the corresponding gripping 
member 26, and tightens the rear arm 10c within the gripping member 26 via 
a conventional tightening member, for example, a rivet, a combination of a 
bolt and nut, and pin, which is insertable into a through-hole defined by 
the opposite ends of the fixing strip 27 and the side panel member 14. 
Thereby, the fixing strip 27 arrests the movement of the rear arm 10c from 
the gripping member 26, with the result that the side panel member 14 is 
unlikely to drop from the basket supporting frame 7. 
Referring to FIGS. 5 and 8, a plastic bottom panel member 30 is formed in 
such a manner as to snugly fit via its peripheral edge into the engaging 
concave 20 between the auxiliary bottom extension 18 and the inward 
extension 19, and become tolerable against a certain given load from the 
article placed in the basket. The bottom panel member 30 is further 
provided along its rear edge with a detent member 33 of a generally U 
cross section open to the downside, into which the rearmost bottom-panel 
receiving bar 32 is fitted. The bottom panel member 30 may be provided 
with two or more detent members 33 for replacing the cut-outs 29, so that 
the residual bottom-panel receiving bars 32 are fitted thereinto. 
A method of assembling the basket in accordance with the above arrangement 
will be described herein. 
1. The flange 15 of the side panel member 14 is fitted into the side-panel 
fitting member 12 of the upper horizontal frame 6 until the horizontal 
surface 17a of the shoulder 17 abuts against the lower edge 12a of the 
side-panel fitting member 12, as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 8. As being 
outwardly bent, the side panel member 14 is brought into a position, so 
that the protrusion 16 rests on the upper edge 8a of the lower horizontal 
frame 8. A pair of the side panel members 14 are thus fixed to the basket 
supporting frame 7. The flange 15 of the side panel member 14 is shaped in 
such a manner as to define a clearance between an upper end thereof and 
the inner and top surface of the side-panel fitting member 12 in the 
fitting state. The front arms 10a are fitted into the respective engaging 
grooves 22. 
2. The gripping members 26 of each side panel member 14 respectively grip 
the middle and rear arms 10b and 10c. The fixing strip 27 is wound around 
the rear arm 10c and tightened to the same by riveting via the 
through-hole, as illustrated in FIG. 9. Thus, the rear portions of the 
side panel members 14 are rigidly fixed in position. 
3. The bottom panel member 30 is first fitted into the engaging concaves 20 
of the second walls 14b of the side panel member 14 via its lateral side 
edges. Then, the detent member 33 of the bottom panel member 30 is brought 
into a fitting engagement with the rearmost bottom-panel receiving bar 32, 
as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 8. A front edge 30a of the bottom panel 
member 30 is fitted into the engaging concave 20 of the first walls 14a of 
the side panel members 14. The bottom panel member 30 is thus securely 
held within the basket supporting frame 7 via its entire periphery by the 
engaging concaves 20 of the side panel members 14 and the bottom-panel 
receiving bar 32. In this state, since the side panel members 14 are 
pressed towards the outside of the basket supporting frame 7 by the 
fitting of the bottom panel member 30, an inward force effected by the 
side panel members 14 acts on the bottom panel member 30. Thereby, the 
bottom panel member 30 is unlikely to partially or entirely drop from any 
fitted portions. 
4. The two coupling plates 23 are respectively attached to the unitary 
panel receiving portion defined by the recessed areas 24 in the inner and 
outer sides of the first walls 14a of the side panel members 14, and 
rivetted together via the through-holes 25. The side panel members 14 are 
thus coupled together by clamping their first walls 14a via these coupling 
plates. 
5. The protecting members 34 are respectively attached to the front curving 
corners 6a of the upper horizontal frame 6. 
The order of the above steps from Item 2 to 5 may be varied by a user. 
The shopping cart in accordance with the present invention can easily be 
assembled since at least the front and lateral side walls 7a and 7b of the 
basket are made of plastic, while avoiding any problems associated with 
the shopping cart made of metal. In addition, the shopping cart of the 
present invention does not need the die of the slide core type for molding 
the side panel member 14 or the like, which may be required for 
manufacturing the conventional plastic basket. This arrangement enables 
the shopping cart to be easily manufactured by the reduced number of 
parts. As a further advantage, since the side panel member 14 is provided 
with the flange 15 which can easily be fitted into the side-panel fitting 
member 12, the assembling thereof can also easily be performed. 
Since the shoulder 17 with the horizontal surface 17a, which protrudes 
outwardly and inwardly from the side panel member 14, abuts against the 
lower edge 12a of the side-panel fitting member 12, the side panel member 
14 is unlikely to be bent, even if the outside force is applied to the 
side panel members 14. This advantage will be verified by comparing the 
side panel member of this arrangement to the side panel member 14 without 
the shoulder 17. In FIG. 11, when the outside force, which is indicated by 
the arrow, is applied thereto, the side panel member 14 is outwardly bent, 
and the upper portion thereof is pulled downwardly as indicated by the 
two-dot chain lines. 
Although, the shoulder 17 has the above advantage, it is not essential to 
form the shoulder 17 on the side panel member 14 of the present invention. 
In forming the engaging concave 20, the auxiliary bottom extension 18, 
which extends vertically and inwardly from the side panel member 14, 
preferably has a relatively large surface. Therefore, it is unlikely that 
the bottom panel member 30 drops from the engaging concave 20, even if a 
relatively heavy load is given from the article or the like. By clamping 
the middle and rear arms 10b, 10c with the respective gripping members 26, 
and tightening the rear arm 10c within the gripping member 26 via the 
fixing strip 27, the side panel member 14 can more securely be fixed to 
the basket supporting frame 7. 
The coupling plates 23, which couple a pair of the side panel members 14 
together, also function as a means for covering the first walls 14a of the 
side panel members 14, and therefore concealing somewhat obstacle parts or 
edges of the side panel members 14. Thereby, articles on a shelf of a 
store, or the like is hardly damaged with these portions. In addition, the 
coupling plates 23 can also display information such as an advertisement, 
or other written messages thereon. The protecting members 34 protect the 
front curving corners 6a of the upper horizontal frame 6, which are 
frequently subject to damages. 
A conventional cart having a basket which is separable into four vertical 
side panel members and a bottom panel member, inherently has right-angled 
connected portions between the panel members. On the contrary, since the 
side panel member 14 of the present invention includes a gradually curving 
corner 14e between the first and second walls 14a and 14b, it is unlikely 
to damage the article on a display stand or the like, even if it hits 
against the same. This arrangement is effective since the gradually 
curving corners 14e are positioned in the front of the basket, through 
which the shopping cart sometimes hits against the display stand or the 
like. 
In the above embodiment, a pair of the side panel members 14 are preferably 
structurally symmetrical, since it is not necessary to prepare a 
relatively large die for molding the side panel member 14 with the first 
wall 14a larger than that of the opposite side panel member 14, which has 
to be made when the symmetrical arrangement is not employed. However, this 
symmetrical arrangement is not essential in the present invention. 
Although, the side panel members 14 and the bottom panel member 30 are 
latticed in the above embodiment, a geometrical pattern, for example, an 
oval, circle and triangle, letters or other designs may be employed by 
punching or other conventional manners, since the side panel member 14 is 
made of plastic. This patern variation renders the basket more attractive 
in design than the metal basket. 
The bottom panel member 30, which is made of plastic in the above 
embodiment, may be made of metal, since the bottom panel member 30 is of a 
substantially flat shape, which allows the bottom panel member 30 to be 
manufactured by a machine in a cheap manner. 
The protrusion 16 or the shoulder 17 may be varied in shape, provided that 
it can be held by the side-panel fitting member 12 or the lower horizontal 
frame 8. The side-panel fitting member 12, which is separably made and 
fixed to the downwardly facing surface of the upper horizontal frame 6 in 
the above embodiment, may integrally be formed in the upper horizontal 
frame 6. Further, the protrusion 16 and the shoulder 17, which are 
continuously formed along the upper edge 14c and the lower edge 14d 
respectively in the above embodiment, may discontinuously be formed. 
Instead of the band-like plate, a pipe, a C-shaped steel or the like may be 
employed to make the lower horizontal frame 8. 
This specification is by no means intended to restrict the present 
invention to the preferred embodiments set forth therein. Various 
modifications to the shopping cart, basket vertical side wall, and method 
of the present invention, as described herein, may be made by those 
skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the 
present invention as defined in the appended claims.