Shopping cart caddy

A book-like shopping cart attachment rests on the cart pushing handle at a convenient angle for viewing by a shopper in a supermarket or other store. The device can mount a hand calculator, note paper, a pencil and coupon holding clips. Attaching hooks engage a cross bar of the cart near and below the pushing handle and the hooks are pivotally connected to a center bar of the device and are limited in their swinging movement in one direction by a stop plate, whereby the hooks always assume a proper angle to stabilize the device during its use on the cart.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Technical Field: 
The present invention relates to improvements in customer convenience 
attachments for supermarket shopping carts and the like. 
2. The Prior Art: 
Attachments for shopping carts which promote their convenience and usage by 
customers in supermarkets and other stores are known in a variety of 
forms. Generally speaking, devices of this type in the prior art have not 
met with wide public acceptance for several reasons. Some of the devices 
are far too complex and costly to make them practical to manufacture and 
sell. Others are too large and unwieldly to satisfy the desires of users. 
Still other devices require more-or-less permanent attachment to the cart 
and others are not sufficiently stable in their mountings on the cart to 
satisfy the needs of store customers. 
The objective of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a shopping 
cart convenience attachment or caddy which is easily attached by a 
customer to a commonly used cart, and which during periods of non-use can 
be folded like a book and placed in a purse or in an automobile glove 
compartment. 
A further object of the invention is to provide a shopping cart caddy of 
extremely simplified and economical construction which is supported on the 
cart during use stably and in an optimum position for easy reading and for 
checking off items on a grocery list, as well as operating a small 
calculator forming a part of the attachment. 
Still another object of the invention is to provide a customer convenience 
attachment for shopping carts having simplified and reliable, easily 
releasable attaching means which utilizes gravity in supporting a 
"backbone" member of the attachment on the pushing handle of the cart 
while pivoted attaching hooks are engaged with a cross rod of the cart 
below and somewhat forwardly of the pushing handle. 
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during 
the course of the following detailed description. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention is best summarized as a folding book-like shopping cart 
attachment equipped on its opposite side folding leaves with a note pad 
and hand calculator. A center backbone member of the attachment rests 
solidly on the shopping cart handle at a convenient viewing angle and is 
stabilized by pivoted releasable attaching hooks which engage a rod of the 
cart forwardly of and below the pushing handle. The hooks are hinged to 
the backbone member and are restrained in their swinging movement in one 
direction by a stop plate on the backbone member. When the device is 
removed from the cart and folded for storage, the hooks straddle the 
folded leaves of the device and tend to hold the leaves in their closed or 
folded positions for added convenience.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
Referring to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals designate like 
parts, a shopping cart convenience attachment 10 or caddy forming the 
subject matter of this invention includes a center top-to-bottom backbone 
bar 11 which is preferably quite rigid bounded on its opposite sides by 
rectangular leaves or wings 12 to form a book-like structure. The leaves 
12 are suitably hingedly attached to the backbone bar 11 so that the caddy 
10 can assume a flat configuration, FIGS. 1 and 2, during use or a folded 
configuration, FIG. 3, for convenient storage in a purse or automobile 
glove compartment. 
Referring to FIG. 2, the caddy 10 is provided on the front face of one leaf 
12 with a small calculator 13 suitably fixed thereto and on the 
corresponding face of the other leaf 12 with a note pad 14 suitable for 
making a shopping list. A pen or pencil 15 is held on the center backbone 
bar 11 between the two leaves 12, and spring clips 16 for securing 
discount coupons are provided at the top edges of the leaves 12. Other 
types of convenience attachments may be included on the caddy 10, in some 
cases. 
The caddy 10 is conveniently releasably attached to a conventional shopping 
cart shown in FIG. 1 having a push bar 17 and a parallel transverse rod 18 
disposed somewhat forwardly of the push bar and slightly below it, as 
shown in the drawings. 
The caddy carries releasable attaching hooks 19 which engage the rod 18 
with a light snap-locking action due to the provision of a restricted 
passage or throat 20, FIG. 3. The two hooks 19 which are spaced apart by a 
distance roughly equal to the thickness of the caddy 10 when the leaves 12 
are folded are carried by parallel arms 21 connected by a transverse bight 
portion 22 which is pivotally received within an opening 23 formed through 
the backbone bar 11 near and somewhat above its longitudinal center. 
A stop plate 24 for the two arms 21 is fixed to the exterior of the 
backbone bar 11 and carries two side extensions 25 whose lower edges 
define a positive stop surface which limits swinging the arms 21 and hooks 
19 away from the backbone bar 11 in one direction, as best shown in FIG. 
3. When the arms 21 are engaged with the stop extensions 25, they define 
an acute angle of approximately 45.degree. with the backbone bar 11. 
Consequently, when the hooks 19 are engaged with the rod 18, the pivoted 
arms 21 can rest on the shopping cart push bar 17 while the backbone bar 
11 simultaneously rests on the opposite side of the push bar 17. Since the 
stop extensions 25 prevent further separation of the arms 21 and backbone 
bar 11, the caddy rests solidly with the assistance of gravity on the push 
bar 11 while being anchored through the hooks 19 to the rod 18. 
When the leaves 12 are separated to lie in a common plane, FIG. 1, they 
assume a convenient angle relative to the user of the cart for viewing the 
shopping list or checking off items thereon, or for writing on the pad 14, 
and using the calculator 13. The caddy is quite stable in its mounting on 
the shopping cart and does not tend to be displaced from its use position 
until the hooks 19 are forcibly separated from the rod 18. The two leaves 
12, when in the use position, are further stablized by contact with the 
push bar 17 and extensions 25. 
A further feature of the invention resides in the use of the pivoted arms 
21 and hooks 19 to secure the leaves 12 in folded approximately parallel 
relationship when the caddy 10 is separated from the shopping cart for 
storage in a purse or the like. The arms 21 are swung into straddling 
relationship with the folded caddy, as indicated in phantom lines in FIG. 
3, and then serve to resist opening or separation of the folded leaves 12, 
which they frictionally engage. 
The invention is characterized by extreme simplicity, economy of 
manufacturing, durability and convenience of use. Its uncomplicated 
nature, its compactness and its ready attachability and removal from the 
shopping cart render the invention practical where much of the known prior 
art has proven to be impractical. 
It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and 
described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that 
various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be 
resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope 
of the subjoined claims.