Abstract:
A seat liner may be used in a shopping cart. The liner may be sufficiently resilient to maintain its shape. The liner may display advertisements. The liner may also be disposable and stackable.

Description:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention is related to seat liners for shopping carts. More particularly the present invention is directed to a seat liner for a shopping cart that may be stackable, disposable and include advertisements. 
         [0002]    While shopping, consumers may choose to buy more items than they are able to carry. This may happen often when shopping for groceries, but can also occur when shopping for clothing, household goods or other products. In the present application, retailer means any establishment that sells goods to consumers, including but not limited to, wholesalers, grocery stores, department stores, hardware stores, convenience stores, drug stores, electronics stores and any other specialty stores. To assist consumers, retailers may make carts available for consumer use. Carts may be maintained by retailers and used repeatedly by different consumers. Additionally, carts usually have child seats available for those consumers that may have small children. Children using the seats may come into contact with the same surfaces as consumers and other children. Since many different consumers and children may handle the carts from day to day, consumers may often be concerned with the spread of germs between other consumers and children. One method retailers may use to handle this concern may be to clean the carts periodically; however, this may not alleviate the problem entirely. Another option may be to make sanitary seat liners available to consumers free of charge. Alternatively, liners may be available for purchase by consumers directly. 
         [0003]    Many different seat liners are known in the art. It has been known to make seat liners from a thin paper material, similar to tissue paper. Liners made of this material may be disposable. However, the material may make the liners difficult to install onto the cart and may require consumers to follow a series of complicated steps. Retailers may also have difficulty in getting consumers to use the thin paper liners because they lack an appealing or conspicuous display. 
         [0004]    Other liners may be made from cloth or a quilted material. Consumers may purchase these liners, use them within the retail establishment and take them home to be washed. This allows consumers to reuse the liners and maintain control over the liners. These liners may not be practical for retailers because of their cost. Other known liners may not cover the entire seat or handle. Others may not fit more than one size of cart. 
         [0005]    Retailers may also use carts for additional advertising exposure. Since many consumers may use carts from day to day, carts offer retailers many surfaces to display advertisements. Retailers may display advertisements on the front or sides of the cart itself. However, the consumer pushing the cart may not notice these advertisements since they are not directly in front of them. 
         [0006]    Exemplary embodiments of the present invention may attempt to mitigate or solve many of these problems. The present invention is directed to a disposable seat liner which may have a base, at least one sidewall connected to the base, an aft wall connected to at least one sidewall and an advertisement disposed on a portion of the liner, where the liner is sufficiently resilient to maintain its shape. The liner may be sufficiently resilient to maintain its shape before and during use. The liner may also include a panel connected to the aft wall and a handle portion connected to the panel. A fore wall may also be connected to at least one sidewall. The fore wall may have an aperture which is adapted to receive a seat belt. A flap may be connected to and spaced apart from the sidewall and adapted to receive a portion of a shopping cart. The flap may allow the liner to be placed over different sized shopping carts. The advertisement may be a coupon which may be removable. The aft wall may have an aperture adapted to receive a leg of a person. In one embodiment the base, sidewall and aft wall are adapted to be sufficiently rigid to receive thereupon a second substantially similar disposable seat liner. The may allow one liner to be stacked onto a second substantially similar stackable seat liner. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]    In addition to the features mentioned above, other aspects of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following descriptions of the drawings and exemplary embodiments, wherein like reference numerals across the several views refer to identical or equivalent features, and wherein: 
           [0008]      FIG. 1  illustrates a front perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  illustrates a top plan view of an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  illustrates a front elevation view of an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  illustrates a side elevation view of an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  illustrates a rear elevation view of an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 6  illustrates a rear perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention in place on a cart. 
           [0014]      FIG. 7  illustrates a front perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention in place on a cart. 
           [0015]      FIG. 8  illustrates a rear perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention in place on a cart. 
           [0016]      FIG. 9  illustrates a top plan view of an unassembled embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 10  illustrates a top perspective view of an assembled embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0018]    In the following embodiments, unless otherwise stated, the parts described may be interconnected in any manner known in the art. The term “connected” as used in the present application means formed integrally together as a single piece or connected together in a number of ways, such as with adhesives, fasteners, hinges and/or any combinations thereof. Any known adhesives, fasteners or hinges may be used. As shown in  FIGS. 1-5 , liner  10  may have a base  12 . The upper surface of base  12  may be the surface on which a child sits. Liner  10  may also include sidewalls  14 , aft wall  16  and optional fore wall  18  (shown in  FIG. 8 ), which may define the remainder of the seat portion of liner  10 . Liner  10  may also include panel  20 . Panel  20  may be disposed between handle  22  and aft wall  16 . In one embodiment, panel  20  may have an inverted ‘V’ shape. 
         [0019]    Panel  20  may include advertisement  24 . Advertisement  24  may be printed directly on panel  20 . Advertisement  24  is not limited to being located on panel  20  but may be located on any portion of liner  10  and may include multiple advertisements. Advertisement  24  may also be removably attached to panel  24  in a number of ways. Panel  20  and advertisement  24  may be made of paper, which can be torn or cut from liner  10 . Advertisement  24  may be adhesively attached to liner  10 . Any adhesive may be used as long as advertisement  24  may be removed without substantially damaging advertisement  24 . Other embodiments may include a spiral binding, punched holes in the advertisement attached to panel  20  with rings or perforations between each of the individual advertisements and/or panel  20 . In any of these embodiments, a plurality of advertisements may be used and the advertisements may be “flipped” through like a book. Advertisement  24  may also be coupons, prize giveaways, fill-out cards for raffle drawings, or “scratch-off” game pieces. 
         [0020]    Liner  10  may have handle  22  which may have a ‘C’ shaped cross section or may be large enough to wrap around itself to make a circle shaped cross section. Flaps  26  may extend and be spaced apart from sidewalls  14 . Flaps  26  may allow liner  10  to be placed over different sizes of carts without requiring a new or different liner. Aft wall  16  may include aperture  28 , which allows a person to place their legs through aft wall  16 . 
         [0021]      FIGS. 6-8  show embodiments of the present invention in use on cart  30 . Cart  30  may include child seat portion  32 , handle portion  34  and sides  36 . Liner  10  may be placed over child seat portion  32  of cart  30 . Base  12 , sidewalls  14  and aft wall  16  may cover parts of child seat portion  32 . Optional fore wall  18  may also be included to give additional coverage. Panel  20  and handle  22  may cover handle portion  34  of cart  30 . Flaps  26  may extend over sides  36  of cart  30  to shield more portions of cart  30  where a child might be able to touch. The child may place his or her feet in aperture  28  and sit on the upper surface of base  12 . In one embodiment, panel  18  may have advertisements on aft side  38  of panel  20  and pictures, puzzles or games for the child on fore side  40 . 
         [0022]      FIGS. 9 and 10  illustrate one embodiment of the present invention. Dashed lines in  FIG. 9  may delineate fold lines for assembling liner  10 . Liner  10  may be folded along each dashed line. Liner  10  may also include tabs  42 ,  46 ,  50  and  54 , which are inserted into slots  44 ,  48 ,  52  and  56 , respectively. Liner  10  may be completely assembled once all folds are made and tabs  42 ,  46 ,  50  and  54  are inserted into slots  44 ,  48 ,  52  and  56 , respectively.  FIG. 10  shows assembled liner  10 . 
         [0023]    Liner  10  may have the ability to be stacked so that one liner is placed on top or underneath a second liner. The top of one liner may be shaped in such a way to receive the bottom of another liner. Since liner  10  may be resilient, once a liner is removed from a stack of liners it may not lose its shape. This allows a consumer to easily remove a liner from the top of a stack of multiple liners and immediately place the liner over the cart without a series of complicated steps. 
         [0024]    Liner  10  may be made from any material, which may be sufficiently resilient so that the liner&#39;s shape may be maintained before, during and/or after use. Examples of such materials include but are not limited to, paper, poster board, cardboard, plastic, wood, fiberglass, reinforced cloth, aluminum or any other metal, and/or combinations thereof. 
         [0025]    While certain embodiments of the present invention are described in detail above, the scope of the invention is not to be considered limited by such disclosure, and modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention as evidenced by the following claims: