Dock station

A docking station is comprised of a body member having one or more steps leading to a platform. A protective wall is positioned on one side of the steps and around the platform, save for a single opening. A guide rail is positioned on the device on the same side as the opening. The guide rail receives a shopping cart such that the seating portion of the shopping cart is aligned with the opening. A safety rail extends from the guide rail to the platform protective wall opposite the stairs protective wall.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a docking station for shopping carts so 
that small children may safely and easily ascend the station and position 
themselves within the seat portion of the shopping cart. 
2. Background of the Prior Art 
Placing a child into the seating portion at the back of a standard shopping 
cart can be a difficult task. The child, especially a relatively large and 
heavier child, can prove too much for a person of modest strength to lift 
up and place into seat. Even when strength is not a problem, a person's 
hands may be preoccupied with a baby, thus not allowing that person to 
lift the other child. The result is a seating attempt that is fraught with 
danger. 
The person may attempt to lift that child even though the child is beyond 
the person's strength capacity. The person may cause injury to himself or 
the child in the awkward lift. Alternately, the person may encourage the 
child to climb up the front of the shopping cart, into the shopping cart 
and finally into the seat portion of the cart. As the cart was not 
designed for a child to scale the front of the cart, such a maneuver can 
result in toppling of the cart and injury to the child. Another favorite 
for seating a child within the cart is to place the cart near an object 
such as a bench or stacked cartons of groceries and have the child climb 
onto the object and into the seat. In such a maneuver, the cart can roll 
away from the child as he attempts to seat himself in the cart or the 
object onto which he climbed can collapse, again resulting in injury. 
In order to provide a safer means for a child's ascension into the seating 
portion of shopping cart, a shopping cart docking station has been 
proposed by Hubbell in his U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,087. This device provides a 
docking station that corrals the shopping cart within the device and 
permits a child's use of the device only during shopping cart presence. A 
remote release lever must be activated in order to release the shopping 
cart from the device's hold. Although achieving the desired goal, the 
device, by having several moving components, is very complex in design, in 
manufacture, and in maintenance. Such a drawback increases the costs 
associated with the device. The device has a large footprint which 
curtails its presence in many shopping establishments where available 
interior real estate is at a premium. As the device is large and requires 
device activation from the user, many people will be discouraged from 
using the device due to lack of understanding of device operation. 
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a device that permits quick and 
safe child ascension and access to the seating portion of a shopping cart. 
The device must overcome the drawbacks of the prior art in that the device 
must be relatively simple in design, manufacture, and maintenance. The 
device must be relatively simple and straightforward to use and will, 
ideally, have no moving parts or other manipulations required of the user. 
The device should occupy a relatively small amount of real estate. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The docking station of the present invention addresses the aforementioned 
needs in the art. The device is a simple straightforward solution to 
safely loading a child into the seating portion of a shopping cart. 
The docking station is comprised of a body member having one or more stairs 
ascending to a platform. A protective wall extends upwardly on one side of 
the stairs and leads to a protective wall surrounding the platform on 
three sides. An opening is found on one side of the platform protective 
wall. A guide rail, having a relatively wide open end and a closed end is 
attached to the body member on the same side as the opening. A safety rail 
extends from the guide rail to the platform protective wall opposite the 
stairs protective wall. 
The guide rail receives one and possibly two of the wheels on one side of a 
shopping cart such that when properly received within the device, the 
seating portion of the shopping cart is aligned with the opening 
permitting a child who has ascended the stairs to pass through the opening 
and seat himself within the seating portion. One or two lips or detents 
can be appropriately positioned on the guide to help prevent the shopping 
cart from rocking within or from rolling away from the device during 
loading maneuvers. 
The docking station of the present invention is of simple and 
straightforward design and construction and is easy to maintain. Having no 
moving parts, the device can be constructed in a lightweight material such 
as plastic or the like and can be constructed in one or at most a very few 
number of pieces appropriately attached to one another. The simplicity of 
the device makes the device attractive to use even for people who may have 
a technophobia. The protective walls, rail and steadying features of the 
device make the device safe to use. Using the minimal amount of space to 
properly achieve its task, the device has a relatively small footprint 
making its placement into crowded establishments easier.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to the drawings, it is seen that the docking station of the 
present invention, generally denoted by reference numeral 10, is comprised 
of a body member 12, having one or more steps 14 leading to a platform 16. 
Each step 14 and the platform 16 may have appropriate non-slip properties 
such as a non-slip layer 18 secured to the step 14 or appropriate non-slip 
design molded directly into each step 14. A protective stair wall 20 
extends upwardly the length of the steps 14 on one side and leads to a 
protective platform wall 22 surrounding the outer periphery of the 
platform 16. The protective stair wall 20 and the protective platform wall 
22 can be enclosed as shown, or can be of appropriate rail and bar 
construction. An opening 24 is found on one side of the protective 
platform wall 22. A guide rail 26 is attached to the body member 12 on the 
same side as the opening 24. As seen, the guide rail 26 may extend beyond 
either end of the body member 12. One end of the guide rail 26 is open 
while the opposing end is closed. The closed end 28' of the guide rail may 
be curled. The open end of the guide rail 26 may be relatively wider and 
will gradually taper until the guide rail 26 maintains a generally 
constant width. A pair of flange 28 extend upwardly from either side of 
the guide rail. The guide rail 26 may have one or two lips 30, as shown in 
FIG. 1, or one or two detents 32, as shown in FIG. 3, each spaced close 
together, proximate the open end of the guide rail. A safety rail 34 can 
extend diagonally upwardly from the guide rail 26 to the platform safety 
wall 22. 
In order to utilize the docking station 10 of the present invention, a 
standard shopping cart is maneuvering into the device 10 such that one of 
the cart's front wheels enter the guide rail 26. The wide open end of the 
guide rail 26 assures easy threading of the cart into the guide rail 26. 
The cart is further maneuvered until the seating portion at the rear of 
the cart is aligned with the opening 24. A child ascends the steps 14 
until reaching the platform 16 and then passes through the opening 24 and 
seats himself within the cart. The protective stair wall 20 and the safety 
rail 34 protect the child from falling off of the device 10 during step 14 
ascension, while the protective platform wall 22 protect the child from 
falling off of the platform 16 upon reaching the platform 16. 
The guide rail 26 is dimensioned and positioned such that the seating 
portion of the shopping cart aligns with the opening for standard shopping 
carts. The use of one lip 30 or detent 32 will catch the back wheel of the 
shopping cart and prevent the cart from rolling out of the device 10 
prematurely. The lip 30 or detent 32 are of such dimension that a user 
will be able to breach them with very modest effort. The use of two 
closely spaced apart lips 30 or detents 32 will catch the back wheel of 
the shopping cart therebetween and prevent rocking of the shopping cart 
during child seating. The closed end of the guide rail 26 will also assist 
in holding the shopping cart steady during loading maneuvers. 
It is expressly recognized that the lips 30 or detents 32 can be positioned 
proximate the closed end of the guide rail 26 in order to capture the 
front wheels of the shopping cart. It is also expressly recognized that 
the guide rail 26 may be dimensioned and positioned such that a shopping 
cart may be backed into the device 10 through the open end of the guide 
rail. 
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with 
reference to an embodiment thereof, it will be appreciated by those 
skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made 
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.