Hingeable baby seat backrest for shopping cart

A hinge gate construction for a baby seat compartment of the type which is securable to a rear portion of an elevated frame of an over-the-counter shopping cart. The gate is hingedly secured under the bottom wall of the baby seat compartment and the main merchandise-carrying basket, and is displaceable from an upright arrested position to a collapsed position forwardly over the bottom wall of the merchandise carrying compartment. A sliding latch is displaceably secured in a top portion of the gate and has engageable extensions disposed outwardly of opposed end edges of the gate. These extensions are received in restraining cavities formed in a front edge of each of opposed side walls of the baby seat compartment by displacing the sliding latch upwardly to engage in these cavities. The gate is disengaged from the cavities by sliding the latch upwardly and hinging the gate forwardly over the bottom wall of the merchandise carrying basket.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
The present invention relates to an improved hinge gate construction for a 
baby seat compartment and wherein the gate is hingedly secured under the 
baby seat bottom wall and is actuable from an upright to a collapsed 
position by means of a finger engageable sliding latch displaceably 
secured in a top portion of the gate and retained within cavities 
integrally formed in a front edge of the side walls of the baby seat 
compartment. 
BACKGROUND ART 
Various types of baby seat compartments having hingeable backrests or gates 
are known for securement to the rear portion of the elevated frame of an 
over-the-counter shopping cart, and such is for example disclosed in U.S. 
Pat. Nos. 4,682,782; 4,875,695; and 4,423,887 and its reissue RE 32,453. 
The present invention is an improved hinge gate design which substantially 
overcomes some of the disadvantages and inconveniences of known hinge gate 
designs of the type exemplified by the above-referenced patents. One 
disadvantage of these designs is that the hinge for the gate is located 
above the baby seat bottom wall or the lading-carrying basket bottom wall, 
and this can lead to damage to the clothing of a child seated in the baby 
seat, or the child, or to articles disposed on the baby seat. Also, the 
hinge rods of these gates usually have a stud end which extends outwardly 
of the side walls of the compartment which can also catch articles of 
clothing of a person in close proximity to this side wall. 
The hinge connection of some of these gates are also slidingly captive in 
brackets secured to the side walls of the baby seat compartment and 
utilize split ring clips to restrain the transverse displacement of the 
gate secured about a hinge rod. These split rings can become undone and 
can cause the gate to become detached. Also, these rings have burrs which 
can cause injury to a child's hand when sitting in the baby seat 
compartment, as above described. Furthermore, latches have been secured to 
the opposed side walls of the baby seat compartment, and extend inwardly 
thereof to retain the gate upright. This has also proven hazardous and 
causes malfunction of the gate when these latches become slightly bent, as 
they will no longer permit the gate to be engaged. These latches can also 
prevent the lading-carrying basket from being fully hinged up in the 
storage position, thereby risking the possibility of the lading-carrying 
basket that can accidently fall and injure a person. These inner latches 
are formed of bent metal rods with hook ends which may have burrs, and 
these are exposed internally of the baby seat compartment. Therefore, they 
can damage all sorts of articles, and especially articles of clothing 
placed in the baby seat compartment. A still further disadvantage of the 
prior art baby seat compartments with hinged gates is that they require 
frequent repair and maintenance. 
SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
It is a feature of the present invention to provide an improved hinge gate 
construction for a baby seat compartment which is secureable to an 
over-the-counter shopping cart, and which substantially overcomes the 
above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art. 
Another feature of the present invention is to provide an improved hinge 
gate construction for a baby seat compartment and wherein the gate is 
hinged below the bottom wall of the baby seat compartment. 
Another feature of the present invention is to provide an improved hinge 
gate construction for a baby seat compartment and wherein a sliding latch 
is displaceably secured in a top portion of the rectangular frame with the 
hinge connection being a stationary hinge connection. 
Another feature of the present invention is to provide an improved hinge 
gate construction for a baby seat compartment wherein the gate is 
restrained within cavities formed integrally in a front edge of the 
opposed side walls of the baby seat compartment, therefore having no 
inwardly extending latch members within the compartment. 
According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the present invention 
provides a hinge gate construction for a baby seat compartment securable 
to a rear portion of an elevated frame of a shopping cart. A main forward 
merchandise-carrying basket having a bottom wall and an open rear end is 
secured to a forward portion of the frame. The baby seat compartment has 
opposed side walls, a rear wall with leg holes and a bottom wall. The 
hinge gate has a rectangular frame which forms a front wall for the baby 
seat compartment. A pair of spaced hinge connectors extend from a bottom 
edge of the rectangular frame. The hinge connectors are secured under the 
bottom wall of the baby seat compartment and the merchandise-carrying 
basket, and permits the rectangular frame to be displaced from an upright 
arrested position to a substantially horizontal collapsed position 
forwardly over the the bottom wall of the merchandise-carrying 
compartment, which is substantially in the same plane as the bottom wall 
of the baby seat compartment, to expand the area of the basket. A sliding 
latch is displaceably secured in a top portion of the rectangular frame 
and has engageable extensions disposed outwardly of opposed end edges of 
the rectangular frame. The sliding latch being a finger engageable sliding 
member which is retained captive between guide means provided in the 
rectangular frame and accessible in a top portion thereof. Restraining 
means is provided in the opposed side walls to receive and retain a 
respective one of the engageable extensions therein to arrest the 
rectangular frame in the upright position.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1, there is 
shown generally at 10 an over-the-counter shopping cart which comprises 
essentially a frame 11 mounted on casters 12 and having an upper 
horizontally disposed frame section 13 on which there is secured a main 
forward merchandise-carrying basket 14 having an open rear end 15 and a 
rear baby seat compartment 16 secured to the rear portion of the 
horizontal frame section 13. A handlebar 17 is provided to push the cart 
on the casters 12. The main forward merchandise-carrying basket 14 is 
hingeable along the rear edge 18 of the bottom wall 19 thereof to tilt 
upwardly over and about the baby seat compartment 16. The present 
invention is concerned with an improved construction of the baby seat 
compartment 16, and particularly the hinge gate 20 and its attachment, 
which constitutes the front wall or backrest of the baby seat compartment 
16. 
Referring now additionally to FIGS. 2 to 4, there will be described the 
construction and operation of the hinge gate 20. The baby seat compartment 
is constructed of steel wire rods which are shaped to define component 
parts thereof, and this compartment is comprised essentially by opposed 
side walls 21, a rear wall 22 having leg holes 23, a bottom wall 24, and 
the hinge gate 20. 
The hinge gate 20 is defined by a substantially rectangular wire rod frame 
25 and is provided with a pair of spaced apart hinge connectors, herein 
defined by straight rod sections 26, secured vertically with the 
rectangular frame and extending a predetermined distance from a bottom 
edge 27 of the frame 25. The rod sections 26 have forward rod extension 
portions 28 disposed substantially transverse to the plane of the 
rectangular gate, and spaced below the bottom edge 27. At the free end of 
the extension portion 28 there is formed a securement loop 29. These loops 
29 are securable about a stationary hinge connector 30. The hinge 
connector is constituted by a pair of downwardly extending U-shaped wire 
rod sections 31 formed in the opposed end regions of a bottom wall rod 32 
positioned in a forward region of the baby seat bottom wall 24. The 
integrally formed connecting rod section 33 of the U-shaped rod section 
constitutes a stationary pivot rod. Accordingly, the shape of the 
extension portions 28 permits the rectangular frame 25 to be displaced 
from a collapsed position, as shown in FIG. 3 where the frame lies 
substantially horizontally over the bottom wall 19 of the 
merchandise-carrying basket 14, to a position of use which is an upright 
arrested position, as shown in FIG. 4. The bottom wall 19 of the 
merchandise-carrying basket is substantially in the same plane as the 
bottom wall 24 of the baby seat compartment 16. 
In order to secure the gate 20 in its upright position as shown in FIG. 4, 
there is provided a sliding latch member 35 which is retained captive 
between two or more pairs of guide wires 36 secured vertically within the 
rectangular frame 25 and forming guide channels. The sliding latch 35 is 
retained in a top portion of the rectangular frame and is displaceable 
between the top horizontal rod 37 and a spaced lower adjacent horizontal 
rod 38. The sliding latch is constituted by an elongated rectangular wire 
loop having spaced parallel horizontal wire sections 39 and a short 
transverse end wire section 40. To this transverse end wire section 40 is 
secured an engageable extension member constituted of a further small wire 
loop 41 welded to a respective one of the transverse end wire sections 40. 
The extension members or wire loops 41 each have an inwardly turned free 
end portion 42. The extension members are retained within a respective 
restraining means defined by a cavity 43 formed in a front edge 44 of the 
opposed side walls 21 of the baby seat compartment 16. 
As shown more clearly in FIGS. 3 and 4, the side walls are formed from 
vertically extending wire rods 21' and a few cross rods 21". The cavity 43 
is defined by a mouth opening 45 formed between opposed inwardly turned 
front edge rods 46 and 47, both of which are looped back and shaped to 
define a smooth rounded shape rod section 49 adjacent the mouth opening 
45. The lower front edge rod is also inclined rearwardly to facilitate 
placement of the extension members within the mouth opening. 
A recessed holding trough 48 is defined between the inturned rod section 
47' of rod 47, which is inwardly and downwardly shaped, and an adjacent 
vertical rod 50. The recessed holding trough 48 receives and restrains a 
respective one of the engageable extensions 41 secured to the opposed ends 
of the sliding latch 35. 
In order to engage the extensions of the sliding latch within the holding 
trough 48 to retain the gate in its upright position, as shown in FIG. 4, 
it is necessary to move the sliding latch upwardly between the guide rods 
36 which are secured to the transverse rods of the rectangular frame to 
position the extensions 41 in line with the mouth opening 45. The gate is 
then drawn rearwardly with the engageable extension loop 41 entering into 
the mouth opening 45, or until the wire loop 41 touches the vertical rod 
55 in the side wall 21 of the baby seat compartment. The sliding latch is 
then released and falls by gravity until the lowermost rod 39' of the 
sliding latch abuts the adjacent horizontal rod 38 in the rectangular 
frame 25. The extension loop 41 is thus restrained between the rear rod 
section 47' and the vertical rod 55 and cannot be displaced forwardly or 
rearwardly. 
To disengage the gate from its upright position the sliding latch is 
engaged by the hand and pulled upwardly, and the gate is pushed forwardly 
with the engageable extensions aligned with the mouth openings. Because 
the front wire rods have a rounded end section 49 adjacent the mouth 
opening, it guides the engageable extension loop 41 out of the mouth 
opening if not perfectly aligned. The gate is then placed or dropped on 
the bottom wall 19 of the merchandise-carrying basket 14. 
As can be seen, the hinge gate construction of this baby seat compartment 
achieves the advantages and features of the present invention in that the 
hinge is located below the bottom wall of the baby seat compartment, the 
hinge is stationary (not a floating hinge), no latching or restraining 
parts extend inwardly of the baby seat compartment side walls to retain 
the gate in its upright position, and the sliding latch is easy to 
operate. It is also within the ambit of the present invention to provide a 
different hinge connection located below the baby seat compartment bottom 
wall, but achieving the same function as the one disclosed herein. For 
example, the hinge connecting rod extension 28 may be a shallow U-shape 
rod extension secured by a stationary loop or a clamp retained under the 
tubular horizontal frame members 13. The sliding latch 35 may have a 
different configuration as well as the engageable extensions at the ends 
thereof.