Corner bumper for shopping cart

A shopping cart having an upwardly opening basket supported on a wheeled base. The basket includes a front wall rigidly joined between a pair of side walls through intermediate front corners. The front and side walls are defined by intersecting wire rods which extend vertically and horizontally to form a gridlike construction. The horizontal wires are normally positioned outermost relative to the vertical wires and are substantially vertically spaced apart. An elongated striplike plastic bumper is positioned to extend longitudinally along and conform with each of the vertical front corners of the basket. The bumper is of a substantially L-shaped cross section and has an inner surface which enables it to conform to and abut against several of the vertically spaced horizontal wires. Upper and lower hooks associated with the bumper project inwardly and downwardly to engage a pair of vertically spaced horizontal wires.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a shopping cart of the type having a 
goods-receiving basket formed from a plurality of horizontally and 
vertically extending wires which intersect and are suitably rigidly joined 
together and, in particular, to an improved protective bumper which can be 
readily mounted on the front corners of the basket. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The use of wheeled shopping carts within supermarkets and the like has long 
presented the problem of damage to store fixtures such as refrigerator and 
freezer cases. Such shopping carts are conventionally pushed against or 
slid along the faces of the store fixtures and, since the baskets are 
constructed from wire rod, this causes substantial damage to the store 
fixtures and makes them unsightly. To minimize such damage, many store 
fixtures have been provided with a rub strip extending longitudinally 
along the front face thereof, which strip was intended to engage the cart 
basket and maintain it spaced from the front face of the fixture. While 
such rub strips are themselves less than desirable and detract from the 
appearance of the store fixtures, nevertheless they have tended to 
minimize damage to the fixtures, particularly when the supermarket 
utilizes conventional shopping carts of the type having baskets which nest 
one within the other. Such baskets are normally provided with a rather low 
bottom wall and permit the rub strip to engage the front corners of the 
basket. Such rub strips, however, have not always solved the problem of 
damage to store fixtures, and such strips themselves can be damaging to 
carts due to the rubbing on the wires of the basket. 
To improve upon this problem, most cart manufacturers offer an optional 
bumper which can be mounted on the front corner of the basket. This bumper 
comprises a small L-shaped plastic element which is positioned to 
horizontally wrap around the front corner of the cart, with the bumper 
having a horizontally elongated groove on the inner side thereof to 
effectively snap over one of the horizontal wires of the basket. Such 
bumpers have traditionally been of only small vertical extent, such as 
less than two inches, and in addition can be provided only where the 
basket has horizontally extending wires. Such bumpers have been of only 
minimal effectiveness in view of their size and positional limitations. 
For this reason, some users request that the carts be equipped with 
several such bumpers disposed vertically spaced along the front corners of 
the cart in an attempt to improve upon the protection afforded the store 
fixtures. This, however, results in the cart being rather unsightly. In 
addition, these small bumpers can often be readily removed or accidentally 
dislodged from the cart, and hence use of these small bumpers has been 
limited. 
In an attempt to improve upon this problem, many years ago the assignee of 
this application developed and attempted to commercialize a vertically 
elongated bumper which would extend along the majority of the front corner 
of the basket. This prior bumper involved an elongated plastic bumper 
strip which had several horizontal slots formed in the inner surface 
thereof in vertically spaced relationship. These vertical-spaced slots 
were positioned to correspond to the positioning of the horizontal wires 
on the basket so that the bumper could be positioned over these wires 
adjacent the external front corner of the basket. The bumper strip also 
had integral protrusions which projected through the wall of the basket 
into the interior thereof, which protrusions defined a vertically 
elongated slot extending along the inner corner of the basket. An 
elongated plastic locking pin was then inserted downwardly in the interior 
of the basket through the slot defined by the protrusions to hence lock 
the bumper to the basket. In this arrangement, however, it was found that 
the pin could not be snugly fitted in the slot since the pin tended to 
work loose, and in addition the carts could be vandalized in that the pins 
could be removed so that the bumpers would hence become lost. Thus, it was 
necessary for the plastic pins to be fixed to the bumper strip, as by 
means of a solvent which effected a welding of the plastic pieces 
together. However, users of shopping carts did not commercially accept 
this bumper for several reasons. First, a different style of bumper had to 
be designed for each style cart inasmuch as the bumper required an 
interfitting relationship with the horizontal wires on the basket, and 
hence prevented the bumper from being universally fitted on most 
commercially available carts. Secondly, the necessity of having to use a 
solvent to secure the locking pin to the bumper was also undesirable since 
most bumpers are retrofitted on the carts in the field, and end users do 
not wish to undertake any project which involves the use of solvents and 
the like in order to permit such a retrofitting operation to be 
accomplished. For this reason, this prior type bumper was not accepted, 
and hence its commercialization and use was discontinued many years ago. 
Nevertheless, the problem of damage to store fixtures as caused by the cart 
baskets has continued to be an ongoing and long-standing problem. The 
extent of this problem is evidenced by the fact that, in recent years, 
many supermarkets have utilized carts of the type referred to as 
"over-the-counter" carts. These latter carts have a much higher basket 
since the bottom of the basket is designed to be positioned over the 
checkout counter. These baskets, due to their height, have also created a 
substantial problem with respect to damaging store fixtures, and it has 
hence been conventional in the shopping cart industry to provide such 
carts with a plastic bumper at the lower front corners. 
Of late, however, supermarkets are demanding carts having increased 
goods-carrying capacity in the basket, and thus many supermarkets are now 
switching from over-the-counter carts back to conventional carts of the 
type having baskets which nest one within the other, except that such 
carts are being provided with significantly larger baskets to provide 
substantially increased capacity. Further, these conventional carts are 
being provided with baskets of increased length to increase the capacity 
thereof, and hence the problem of damage to store fixtures is again a 
significant one since it has been observed that these carts often do not 
contact the rub strips on the fixtures due to such strips being improperly 
elevationally positioned. Further, when the front corners of the basket do 
contact the rub strips, these strips themselves have been observed to 
damage the basket. For example, where two side-by-side cabinets are joined 
together, the rub strips of the two cabinets normally have a small joining 
plate positioned at the joint or seam, which joining plate projects 
slightly forward from the rub strips inasmuch as it overlaps the adjacent 
ends thereof. When a cart is slidably moved along the rub strip, the 
vertical wires of the cart adjacent the front corner often engage this 
joining plate, which hence causes the front vertical wire to be severely 
stressed and effects a braking of the weld from the supporting horizontal 
wires. 
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved 
bumper arrangement for a shopping cart basket which provides improved 
protection for both the basket and store fixtures, which bumper 
arrangement is believed to overcome or significantly minimize the problems 
associated with prior structures of this type, as explained above. 
More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved 
bumper arrangement which can be mounted on the front corners of the cart 
basket to extend along a substantial majority of the vertical extent of 
each corner to optimize protection for both the basket and the store 
fixtures, which can be readily and universally mounted on substantially 
any conventional cart basket irrespective of the arrangement or 
positioning of the horizontal wires making up the cart basket, which can 
also be readily retrofitted in the field to most existing carts in a very 
simple manner requiring only minimal time and effort and without requiring 
any sophisticated tools or the like, which can be manufactured efficiently 
and economically, and which provides the cart with a desirable appearance 
when mounted on the cart basket. 
In the improved cart and bumper arrangement of this invention, there is 
provided a vertically elongated plastic bumper strip which has a 
substantially L-shaped cross section so that the bumper will fit in a 
wrapped-around relationship along the front corner of the cart basket. The 
bumper strip has a length which enables it to extend over a substantial 
majority of the length of the front corner. The bumper strip has a pair of 
sidewardly and downwardly directed L-shaped securing hooks provided at the 
upper and lower ends thereof, which hooks project transversely inwardly a 
substantial extent beyond the inner surface of the bumper strip. The 
bumper strip is positioned to abut against several of the horizontally 
extending wires of the cart basket directly at the front corner thereof. 
The securing hooks project inwardly through the wall of the basket by an 
extent sufficient to overlap the horizontal wires. The bumper arrangement 
can, after positioning of the bumper against the front corner, be slidably 
moved downwardly so that the upper and lower hooks overlap and project 
downwardly past a pair of horizontal basket wires, following which the 
lower free end of the upper hook is suitably deformed into a position 
beneath the horizontal wires to fixedly secure the securing rod, and hence 
the bumper strip, to the cart basket. 
With the improved bumper arrangement as described above, the bumper strip 
has a smooth internal surface which extends vertically thereof and abuts 
the horizontal wires of the basket, and the same bumper strip can thus be 
utilized on baskets having significantly different configurations without 
requiring the manufacturing and stocking of several different sizes of 
bumper arrangements. Further, once the bumper arrangement is mounted on 
the basket, it is securely retained and is not readily subject to 
vandalism. The resulting bumper strip provides protection along a majority 
of the vertical extent of the front corners of the basket, and hence 
provides effective protection for both the store fixtures and the basket. 
Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent to persons 
familiar with shopping carts of this general type upon reading the 
following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.

Certain terminology will be used in the following description for 
convenience in reference only and will not be limiting. For example, the 
words "upwardly", "downwardly", "rightwardly" and "leftwardly" will refer 
to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words 
"forward" and "rearward" will refer to opposite ends of the cart as 
respectively appearing on the right and left sides of FIG. 1. The words 
"inwardly" and "outwardly" will refer to directions toward and away from, 
respectively, the geometric center of the cart and designated parts 
thereof. Said terminology will include the words specifically mentioned, 
derivatives thereof, and words of similar import. 
DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
FIG. 1 illustrates therein a shopping cart 10 which includes a wheeled base 
11 supporting an upwardly opening basket 12 thereon. 
The base 11 includes a U-shaped bottom frame rail 16 which defines a pair 
of converging side rails 17 having an integral front rail or bight portion 
18 at the forward and thereof. A pair of conventional casters 19 are 
supported under the front end of the base rail. The rearward ends of the 
side rails 17 are fixedly joined, as by welding, to a further U-shaped 
frame member 21 which includes a U-shaped basket portion 22 which is 
spaced upwardly from the base rail 16 in approximately parallel 
relationship therewith. This basket-supporting portion includes a front 
leg or cross rail 23 which extends across beneath the basket and 
terminates in side rails 24 which project rearwardly toward the rear of 
the basket and then bend downwardly to define rear legs 26 which, at their 
lower ends, have rollers 27 mounted thereon. Suitable reinforcing braces 
28 extend between and are fixedly connected to the vertically spaced rails 
17 and 24. 
The base 11 is of a generally tapered or converging configuration as it 
projects forwardly from the rear end thereof to permit the base of one 
cart to partially nest within the base of the next forwardmost cart to 
facilitate storage of like carts. 
The construction of the base 11, as briefly described above, is 
conventional so that further detailed description thereof is believed 
unnecessary. 
The basket 12, in the illustrated and preferred embodiment, is constructed 
of wire rod. The basket includes a bottom wall 31, an upright front wall 
32, and a pair of opposed side walls 33, which walls are all integrally 
and rigidly joined together. These walls are all formed from a plurality 
of intersecting metal wires or rods, such as the vertical rods 34, which 
are suitably welded together at their intersection points to define a 
gridlike structure. The front and side walls include a plurality of 
substantially horizontal rod elements 36 which are U-shaped and extend 
across the front wall and longitudinally rearwardly of the side walls, at 
least one of these rods 36 defining the upper edge of the basket. The 
bottom wall 31, which is supported on the basket support 22, is slightly 
upwardly sloped as it projects forwardly. The opposed side walls 33 also 
have a slight converging relationship therebetween as they project 
forwardly. These relationships permit the baskets of like carts to nest 
one within the other during storage. 
The rear vertical edges of the side walls 33 are defined by upright rods or 
posts 41 which have their lower ends fixedly secured to the base, as to 
the side legs 24 of the basket support. The upper ends of these posts 41 
project upwardly above the upper edge of the basket side walls, and a 
horizontally extending rodlike handle 42 is fixed to and extends between 
the upper ends of these posts 41. 
The rear of basket 12 is closed by means of an end or rear gate 51, this 
gate also being formed from a plurality of intersecting wire rods which 
form a grid-like structure. The gate 51 includes hook portions 52 at the 
upper edge thereof, which hook portions hingedly support the gate on the 
top cross rod 53. This enables the gate to vertically swing inwardly of 
the basket in a conventional manner to permit nesting of like carts. 
According to the present invention, as illustrated by FIGS. 2-5, there is 
provided an improved bumper arrangement 61. A pair of identical such 
bumper arrangements are adapted to be mounted on the front corners of the 
basket 12. 
This bumper arrangement 61 includes a vertically elongated striplike bumper 
62 which is preferably formed of a plastics material, such as by being 
extruded. This bumper 62 is substantially L-shaped in horizontal cross 
section and includes a pair of short and substantially identical leg 
portions 63 which project outwardly in approximately perpendicular 
relationship from a common integral corner. This bumper 62 has a rounded 
concave inner surface for abuttingly contacting the horizontal wires 36, 
which inner surface includes a smooth and substantially uninterrupted 
inner surface 64 extending vertically along each of the leg portions 63 
adjacent the free ends thereof. The bumper 62 also has an outer surface 66 
which is rounded, being generated about the center point 65 so as to be of 
a partial circular profile. The bumper 62 extends through an angular 
extent of about 180.degree. as generated about the center point 65, and 
hence is generally of a semi-annular configuration. 
The bumper 62 also has at least one, and three in the illustrated 
embodiment, elongated grooves 67 formed therein and extending 
longitudinally throughout the length thereof. These grooves open outwardly 
through the outer surface 66, and each is preferably provided with a 
rounded bottom wall 68. One of the grooves is formed substantially at the 
center of the bumper, that is, directly along the corner. The other two 
grooves are disposed in parallel relationship on opposite sides of the 
center groove (i.e., disposed 90.degree. apart) so that one of the other 
grooves is hence associated with each of the leg portions 63. 
To attach the bumper 62 to the basket, the bumper arrangement 61 includes 
at least one securing rod 71. This securing rod 71 includes a main or 
central rod part 72 which is straight and vertically elongated so as to 
have a length which is of similar magnitude, but slightly less than, the 
length of the bumper 62. This main rod part 72 is preferably of circular 
cross section and of a diameter to snugly fit within the groove 67 and 
substantially seat against the rounded bottom 68 thereof. 
The securing rod 71 also includes upper and lower substantially L-shaped 
hooks 73 and 74 fixedly secured, here integrally, to the upper and lower 
ends of the main rod part 72. Each of these hook parts 73 and 74 includes 
a bridging portion 76 which is fixed to and projects transversely from the 
end of the main rod part 72 in substantially perpendicular relationship 
therewith, with the other end of this bridging portion 76 terminating in a 
downwardly directed rodlike locking portion 77, the latter being of 
substantial length and extending substantially parallel with the main rod 
part 72. The upper hook 73 results in the upper end of the securing rod 71 
having a substantially downwardly opening U-shaped configuration, whereas 
the lower hook 74 results in the lower end of the rod having a 
substantially sidewardly oriented Z-shaped configuration. This securing 
rod 71 is preferably formed from a single elongated piece of steel rod, 
being suitably bent to form the upper and lower hooks. 
The bridging portion 76 associated with the lower hook 74 extends through a 
small hole 79 which extends transversely through the bumper member 62 for 
communication with the bottom of the groove 67. This hole 79 is positioned 
closely adjacent the lower end of the bumper 62, and an identical such 
hole extends through the bumper for communication with each of the grooves 
67. 
As illustrated by FIGS. 4 and 5, the upper hook portion 73 is disposed so 
that the bridging portion 76 thereof is positioned closely adjacent but 
extends transversely across and above the upper end 78 of the bumper 62. 
To initially assemble the bumper arrangement 61, the securing rod 71 is 
positioned in substantially perpendicular relationship with the bumper 62 
so that the free end of the locking portion 77 associated with the lower 
hook 74 is disposed adjacent the outer surface of the bumper and 
substantially aligned with the hole 79 associated with the centermost 
groove 67. The securing rod 71 is then moved inwardly to cause the locking 
portion 77 to be inserted through the hole 79 and, upon reaching the 
rounded bend 81, the securing rod 71 is thence pivoted upwardly so as to 
be substantially parallel with the bumper 62. This results in the outer 
end of the bridging portion 76 being disposed within the opening 79, but 
the main rod part 72 is still spaced from the groove 67. Due to the 
limited flexibility of the securing rod 71, the securing rod is disposed 
so that the upper hook 73 is positioned adjacent one side of the upper end 
of the bumper 62. This enables the upper hook 73 to effectively straddle 
the bumper 62, whereupon the securing rod 71 can then be displaced 
sidewardly relative to the bumper 62 so that the upper hook 73 straddles 
the bumper and effectively extends over the upper end 78 thereof 
substantially along the central plane of the bumper. Thus assembled, the 
bumper arrangement 61 is ready to be mounted on the cart basket. 
To mount the assembled bumper arrangement 61 on the front vertically 
extending corner of the cart basket 12, the bumper arrangement 61 is 
initially positioned adjacent the cart basket 12 so that the upper end of 
the bumper 62 is disposed fairly close to the upper edge of the basket. 
The upper end of the bumper arrangement is then tilted outwardly away from 
the basket through a small angular extent, whereupon the locking portion 
77 associated with the lower hook 74 is then moved inwardly between a pair 
of vertical basket wires 34 to penetrate slightly into the interior of the 
basket, with the locking portion 77 being positioned directly above one of 
the lower horizontal rods 36. The bumper arrangement is then lowered a 
small extent to cause the lower horizontal rod 36 to enter into the slot 
defined by the lower hook 74. The upper end of the bumper arrangement is 
then pivoted inwardly back toward the basket, which pivoting preferably 
results in the locking portion 77 of the lower hook 74 being positioned 
inwardly of and in slightly vertically overlapping relationship with one 
of the lower horizontal rods 36. This inward pivoting of the upper portion 
of the bumper arrangement continues until the inner surface of the bumper 
62 effectively abuts solidly against the basket, which abutment occurs due 
to the inner surfaces 64 (or the rounded inner surfaces of the grooved 
parts) of the bumper 62 engaging two or more of the vertically spaced 
horizontal rods 36. When the bumper is swung inwardly into this latter 
position, the upper hook 73 passes over one of the upper horizontal rods 
36 so that the upper hook is substantially aligned above the adjacent rod 
36 as illustrated in FIG. 5. Thereafter, the complete bumper arrangement 
61 (including both the bumper 62 and securing rod 71) are then slidably 
pushed downwardly relative to the basket so that the upper rod 36 is 
relatively moved into the slot defined by the upper hook 73. This downward 
movement of the bumper arrangement 61 preferably occurs until one of the 
rods 36 effectively abuts its respective bridging portion 76 to prevent 
further downward movement. With the bumper arrangement so positioned, the 
inner locking portions 77 each project downwardly a substantial extent 
below the inner side of the respective horizontal rod 36. The free end of 
at least one of the locking rods 77, and preferably the free ends of both 
locking rods 77, are then suitably deformed by a tool such as pliers or 
the like so as to have the free end positioned beneath the respective rod 
36, thereby forming a partially closed hook substantially as illustrated 
by FIG. 4, to prevent manual removal or accidental dislodgement of the 
bumper arrangement without first again deforming the locking portions 77 
back to their original shape. 
In most instances, the bumper 62 will sufficiently snugly fit against the 
corner of the cart basket to enable the bumper to be secured to the basket 
by means of a single locking rod 71, which rod is then positioned within 
the centermost groove 67. However, if desired or necessary, the bumper can 
be secured to the basket by use of two identical securing rods 71, in 
which case one of the rods would be positioned within each of the 
sidewardly spaced grooves (the middle groove not being used), so that one 
securing rod would attach to the front wall and the other to the side wall 
of the basket. The mounting of the bumper arrangement on the cart, when 
utilizing two securing rods rather than one, is substantially identical to 
that described above. 
Referring now to FIGS. 6-8, there is illustrated a second and preferred 
embodiment of the bumper arrangement 61' according to the present 
invention. The bumper arrangement of this embodiment is structurally and 
functionally similar to the bumper described in relationship to FIGS. 2-5 
above, and thus corresponding parts have been designated by the same 
reference numerals but with a prime (') added thereto. 
The bumper 62' is preferably formed by being molded and is not provided 
with exterior grooves extending longitudinally along the outer surface 
66', but rather this outer surface 66' is a smooth and rounded surface. 
The bumper 62' is again secured to the basket by upper and lower hooks 73' 
and 74', respectively. The lower hook 74' is of an inwardly and downwardly 
projecting L-shaped configuration but, in this embodiment, this lower hook 
74' is fixedly secured, as by being integrally molded, to the bumper strip 
62'. This lower hook 74' results in the defining of a slot between the 
vertical leg 77' and the inner surface of the bumper strip so that the 
lower hook can be snugly slidably inserted downwardly over one of the 
lower horizontal basket wires 36. 
The upper hook 73' is again formed from a selected length of metal rod and 
includes a bridging portion 76' which extends inwardly from the top of the 
bumper strip and terminates in a downwardly directed rodlike locking 
portion 77' which fits downwardly past one of the upper horizontal basket 
wires 36, with this rodlike portion 77' being deformed to lockingly secure 
the upper hook to the basket wire. The bridging portion 76', at its 
forward end, is secured to a vertical rod part 72' which projects 
vertically downwardly for seating engagement with the bumper strip 62'. 
This rod part 72' projects downwardly and engages the rod over only a 
selected vertical extent, such as approximately one inch, and for this 
purpose the bumper strip 62' has a small cylindrical opening 82 formed 
therein and opening downwardly from the upper end thereof, which opening 
snugly accommodates therein the rod part 72'. 
To mount the bumper arrangement 61' on the front vertical corner of the 
cart basket, the bumper arrangement is positioned so that the bumper strip 
62' is disposed close to the corner with the hooks 73' and 74' 
substantially aligned with vertical spacings between the horizontal basket 
wires 36. The bumper strip is moved inwardly until the hooks pass between 
the horizontal wires 36 so that the inner surface 66' is effectively 
seated against the horizontal wires 36. The bumper strip 62 is then slid 
downwardly so that the upper and lower hooks pass over the horizontal 
basket wires 36. After the bumper strip has been slid downwardly to ensure 
proper seating of the hooks on the wires 36, then the rear leg 77' of the 
upper hook 73' is deformed under its wire 36 to securely and positively 
lock the bumper strip to the basket. 
The improved bumper arrangement of the present invention, as described 
above, has also proven highly desirable in maintaining alignment between 
the baskets of nested carts, and hence preventing a lock-up between nested 
baskets. 
More specifically, particularly in carts employing larger baskets, the 
length of the basket is generally increased significantly with respect to 
the basket height, and particularly with respect to the height of the 
swingable rear gate. Hence, when the basket on a rear cart is nested 
within the basket of a front cart, the rear gate on the front cart swings 
upwardly into its nesting position. With most conventional carts, the 
raised rear gate of the front cart rests on the upper edge of the front 
wall associated with the rear basket. With the cart baskets becoming 
longer, however, the baskets internest through a greater distance, and it 
has been observed that nesting of these longer baskets now results in the 
front wall of the rear basket being disposed forwardly from the lower free 
edge of the rear gate associated with the front basket when this latter 
gate is in its raised nested position. To maintain the gate in this raised 
nesting position, the gate has to bear on the upper edges of the opposed 
side walls of the rear basket. While this support is maintained so long as 
the nested baskets are properly aligned, nevertheless the clearances 
permit the baskets to assume a substantial degree of misalignment when 
nested together, and when this misalignment occurs, one side of the raised 
rear gate of the front basket will no longer be supported on the side wall 
of the rear basket, whereupon one corner of the raised rear gate on the 
front basket will deflect downwardly into the interior of the rear basket. 
Hence, when a customer attempts to separate the nested carts by pulling 
the front cart forwardly, the rear gate on the frontmost cart interferes 
with the basket of the rear cart, and thus prevents unnesting of the 
carts. 
This latter-described problem has been minimized, if not eliminated, with 
the improved bumper arrangement of this invention. This bumper arrangement 
projects sidewardly a substantial extent beyond each of the basket side 
walls. Hence, when a rear basket is moved nestingly into a front basket, 
the bumpers on the rear basket slidably engage the side walls of the front 
basket and maintain the two baskets in a more properly aligned 
relationship when nested. In this manner, the raised rear gate of the 
front basket will always remain supported on the upper edges of the side 
walls of the rear basket, and hence the raised gate of the front basket is 
prevented from drooping downwardly into the rear basket to prevent 
denesting when the front cart is pulled forwardly. 
To facilitate efficient and economical manufacture of the bumper 62, same 
is preferably extruded of a plastics material in the form of an elongated 
strip, which strip can then be cut to the desired lengths. This extrusion 
is facilitated by utilizing a cross-sectional configuration for the bumper 
corresponding to that illustrated by FIG. 3. With this configuration, the 
central portions of the bumper where the grooves 67 are located are hence 
deformed inwardly so that the resulting bumper has a substantially uniform 
thickness throughout the cross section thereof, except at the extreme side 
edges as defined by the surfaces 64. These rounded groove portions 
themselves have smoothly rounded inner surfaces which can also effectively 
contact the horizontal wires 36 when the bumper is mounted on the basket. 
Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has been 
disclosed in detail for illustrative purposes, it will be recognized that 
variations or modifications of the disclosed apparatus, including the 
rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the present invention.