Patent Publication Number: US-2006006229-A1

Title: Work station

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      This invention relates to a shopping cart attachment and more particularly a devise for improving the productivity of store employees as well as reducing the incidents of damage to costly hardware.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      It is a common practice for employers to routinely have their employees use shopping carts to carry out numerous tasks within the store with store property such as computers, printers, pricing devices, marking devices, scanning devices, and pricing materials. Such tasks include stocking merchandise items, price marking items, marking shelves with item identifications, and preparing, modifying, and reviewing reports and/or taking notes regarding the condition of the store or the placement of products or merchandise in the store.  
      A major problems that employers are encountering is that costly instruments such as computers, printers, bar scanning devices, bar code label printers, and other pricing and marking devices are often damaged, misplaced or lost, when the devices are carried around by the employees in the shopping cart to perform their work related tasks. As such, it would be useful to have a Work Station that can attach to a shopping cart to prevent store tools and instruments from getting damaged, misplaced or lost.  
      An additional problem with employees utilizing shopping carts to carry out their work related tasks is that the shopping carts do not have a flat writing surface on which the employees can review, modify, and prepare reports and/or take notes while they are stocking merchandise items, price marking items, and marking shelves with item identifications. As such, it would be helpful for employees to have a Work Station that can attach to a shopping cart to provide a flat writing surface on which the employees can review, modify, and prepare reports and/or take notes.  
      A further problem that employees encounter, when using a shopping cart for work related tasks is that small items such as pens, pencils, markers, tape, and scissors and other such supplies are susceptible of falling out of the shopping cart because of their small size. As such, it would be helpful for employees to have a container that can attach to the shopping cart and/or the shopping cart platform to store these items.  
      Further, it is cumbersome for the employees to have to hold and review a report and a writing instrument while retrieving items and/or moving items around when a display is being modified and/or moved. Similarly, it is cumbersome for an employee to hold and review a report and a writing instrument while utilizing hardware such as computers, printers, bar scanning devices, bar code label printers, and other pricing and marking devices. As such, it would be useful for an employee to have a Work Station that can attach to a shopping cart to store pricing and marking devices and reports while the employee is engaged in moving items around the store.  
      The Work Station is superior to the present methods utilized by store employees because it provides a way to organize and protect store property. Whereas in the previous method, an employee would toss the costly hardware in to a shopping cart when the employee was temporarily finished using it. Furthermore, when the employee was finished with the work related tasks, the costly hardware would sometimes be left in one of the numerous shopping carts instead of being returned to its designated spot for use by other employees. By leaving the various instruments laying around, it is just a matter of time before one or more of the instruments turns up missing.  
      One of the benefits of the Work Station is that it attaches to a shopping cart which can be found at almost every establishment. In fact, shopping carts are routinely used by employees to move merchandise or products around the store since shopping carts are relatively large and have wheels. Shopping carts are also used for restocking merchandise and for storing returned merchandise before it is put back on the self. Further, shopping carts are used to carry equipment such as computers, printers, bar scanning devices, bar code label printers, and other pricing and marking devices so that the employee can stock merchandise items, price mark items, and mark shelves with item identifications when the employee is altering and/or moving merchandise or products. This common practice can be seen in stores such as Wal-mart, Target, Best Buy, Staples as well as numerous other stores.  
      Accordingly, there is a substantial need in the art for the Work Station that attaches directly to a shopping cart giving the employees a writing area, a place to store work supplies, and a place to temporarily retain costly hardware such as bar scanning devices, bar code label printers, computers, printers, and other pricing and marking devices thereby improving the productivity of the store employees as well as reducing the incidents of damage to costly hardware. By utilizing a Work Station, an employee will be more organized and efficient and able to carry-out and store all of the necessary instruments for the employee to perform his tasks which include stocking merchandise items, price marking items, and marking shelves with item identifications as well as other store related activities.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention specifically addresses and alleviates the above problems that employers and employees are having when the employees routinely use shopping carts to carry out their work related tasks within a retail store, warehouse or stockroom.  
      The Work Station can be constructed from various plastics or metals to form a base or platform. The platform can be constructed so that it can be attached directly to a shopping cart giving the employee space for carrying pricing material, computers, printers, reports, supplies and the merchandise weather the products are being placed in a store or the stock room.  
      The Work Station can be constructed so that various instruments such as hand held computers, pricing guns, scanning devices, bar code label printers, and other pricing and marking devices can be quickly stored while the employee is temporarily engaged in other work related tasks, and then readily accessed when the employee again needs one of the instruments to perform another tasks.  
      It is an object of the present invention to provide a platform that has attaching means for temporarily connecting the platform to a shopping cart.  
      It is also object of this invention to provide a shopping cart platform that has a stable writing surface for employees to utilize in reviewing, modifying, and preparing reports and/or taking notes while the employee is engaged in various work related tasks through out the store.  
      It is also object of this invention to provide a shopping cart platform that has means for holding devices such as bar scanning devices, bar code label printers, computers, printers, and other pricing and marking devices.  
      It is a further object of this invention to provide a shopping cart platform that has a container that can attach to the shopping cart and/or the platform to store items.  
      It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method of using a Work Station comprising the steps of providing a platform which has attaching means for connecting said platform to a cart; said platform has retaining means for holding at least one instrument; and wherein an employee needs to utilizes at least one instruments to perform at least one work related task, said employee can remove said instrument from said retaining means to perform said task and said employee can store said instrument in said retaining means when said employee is done with said instrument.  
      It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method of using a Work Station comprising the steps of providing a cart; a platform which has attaching means for connecting said platform to said cart; said platform has a writing surface; and wherein an employee needs to utilize said writing surface, said employee can perform at least one work related tasks using said writing surface.  
      It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method of using a Work Station comprising the steps of providing a cart; a platform which has attaching means for connecting a platform to said cart; said platform has a writing surface and retaining means for holding at least one instruments; wherein an employee needs to utilize said writing surface, said employee can perform at least one work related tasks using said writing surface; and wherein an employee needs to utilizes at least one instruments to perform at least one work related task, said employee can remove said instrument from said retaining means to perform said task and said employee can store said instrument in said retaining means when said employee is done with said instrument.  
      It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a method of using a Work Station comprising the steps of providing a cart; a platform which has attaching means for connecting a platform to said cart; said platform has a writing surface and retaining means for holding at least one instruments; said platform has a container for storing items; wherein an employee needs to utilize said writing surface, said employee can perform at least one work related tasks using said writing surface; wherein an employee needs to utilizes at least one instruments to perform at least one work related task, said employee can remove said instrument from said retaining means to perform said task and said employee can store said instrument in said retaining means when said employee is done with said instrument; and wherein said employee uses the container to store and retrieve items while said employee is performing work related tasks in the store.  
      It is also a further object of the present invention to provide an attachment for use on a shopping cart which is simple in construction and use, economical to manufacture and reliable in performance.  
      It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an attachment for use on a shopping cart which provides a way to organize and protect store property and also help the employee work more efficiently.  
      In addition to the above objects, various other objects of this invention will be apparent from careful reading of this specification including the detail description contained herein below. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
      These as well as other features of the present invention will become apparent upon reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like numerals designate corresponding parts in the several figures, summarized as follows:  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the Work Station, which is comprised of a platform, retaining means for holding the instruments, and container.  
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the Work Station and a shopping cart and instruments.  
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the Work Station attached to a shopping cart.  
       FIG. 4  is a bottom view of platform.  
       FIG. 5  and  FIG. 6  are views of the retaining means for holding instruments. 
    
    
      Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, various features of embodiments of the invention.  
     DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      The following detailed description and accompanying drawings are provided for purpose of illustrating and describing presently preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in anyway. It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials arrangements of parts or operational conditions which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention may be made by those skilled in the art within the principles and scope of this invention.  
      Turning now to the drawings, the present invention is adapted to be used with a conventional shopping cart of the type illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . A conventional shopping cart is designated by the numeral  50  and is typical of wire rod construction having opposite side walls  52  and end walls  54  which form a generally cubical basket for reception of merchandise or products. The shopping cart includes a collapsible infant seat  56 . The infant seat  56  includes an adjustable inner wall  58  which provides a back for the infant seat  56 . The infant seat  56  also includes a seat  57  constructed from a number of rod members, including an end portion, formed around the intermediate transverse rod member to provide a pivotal connection there between. The seat  57  also includes a transverse rod portion which is slidably received within a plurality of guide slots formed by the vertical rod members on the rear wall  55  of the cart. Inner wall  58  movable between adjusted positions wherein the wall is either supported in contact with the rear wall  55  or in an angularly displaced forward position, the seat  57  is adjusted relative to the guide slots to define a seating area on which the infant may sit during use of the shopping cart. The rear wall  55  is pivotally adjustable from a vertically oriented position to a horizontally oriented position, whereby adjacent carts can be nested relative to each other when not in use. The above described shopping cart is of conventional construction and the details of the cart have been described so that an understanding can be obtained of the attaching means of the Work Station.  
      In an alternative embodiment not shown, the shopping cart can be constructed of plastic instead of wire rod.  
      As shown in  FIGS. 1-4 , the Work Station  5  is comprised of a platform  10  having a top  11  and a bottom  12  and a upper portion  13  and a lower portion  14 . In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the platform  10  is constructed from various plastic. The platform  10  of the Work Station  5  includes two main sections, a first section having retaining means  20  for holding and storing pricing and marking instruments and a second section having a writing surface  15  for reviewing, writing, modify, and preparing reports and/or taking notes. A third section can also be utilized where an employee needs a container  30  to store small items.  
      As shown in  FIG. 4 , the bottom  12  of the platform  10  has attaching means  15  for connecting the upper portion  13  of the platform  10  to the shopping cart  50 . The attaching means  15  of the platform  10  can connect to the side walls  52  of the cart  50  to provide a secure and stable upper surface. The bottom  12  of the platform  10  also has a grove  17  for stabilizing the lower portion  14  of the platform  10 . The grove  17  of the platform  10  is positioned on top of the inner wall  58  of the cart  50 , when the inner wall is angularly displaced in a forward position, thereby providing a secure and stable lower portion  14  of the platform  10 . Since the lower portion  14  of the platform  10  rests on top of the inner wall  58  of the cart  50  and the inner wall  58  is raise higher than the surrounding side walls  52  and end walls  54 ; in order to ensure a flat uniform surface in the preferred embodiment of this invention, the attaching means  15  for connecting the platform  10  to the side walls  52  of the shopping cart  50  should be raised an inch and a half from the platform  10 .  
      As shown in  FIG. 1-3 ,  5  and  6 , the top  11  of the platform  10  has retaining means  20  for holding and storing instruments  25  such as a Garvey pricing gun  26  and a bar scanning device  27 , as seen in  FIGS. 1-3 . In an alternative embodiments not shown, other pricing and marking instruments can be held and stored in the retaining means of the platform. In another alternative embodiment not shown, the retaining means can be modified to hold the various instruments such as bar scanning devices, bar code label printers, computers, printers, and other pricing and marking devices.  
      As shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , connecting means  40  such as screws  42  and bolts  44  are used for attaching the retaining means  20  to the platform  10  in the preferred embodiment of this invention. However, in an alternative embodiment not shown, the entire Work Station could be molded as one piece of plastic, thereby eliminating the need for screws and bolts to secure the retaining means to the platform. The molding could be accomplished by an injection mold, a compression mold, a blow mold, or a vacuum mold.  
      As shown in  FIGS. 1-3 , the Work Station  5  has a platform  10  that has a writing surface area  15  so that an employee can review, write modify, and prepare reports and take notes regarding various work related tasks. The Work Station also has a spring clip  16  that is secured near upper portion  13  of the top  11  of the platform  10  to secure documents. To ensure a stable and uniform flat writing surface for an employee to work on, it is an object of this invention to rest the grove  17  of the platform  10  on top of the inner wall  58  of the cart  50  and to connect the attaching means  15  to the side walls  52  of the cart  50 . Since the surrounding side walls  52  and end walls  54  of the cart  50  are lower than the inner wall  58  of the cart  50 , the attaching means  15  for connecting the platform  10  to the side walls  52  of the shopping cart  50  should be raised an inch and a half from the platform  10  surface.  
      As shown in  FIG. 1-3 , the Work Station  5  has a container  30  that the employee can use to store and retrieve small items. Connecting means  40  such as screws  42  and bolts  44  are used for attaching the container  30  to the platform  10  in the preferred embodiment of this invention. In an alternative embodiment not shown, the Work Station could be molded as one piece of plastic, thereby eliminating the need for screws and bolts to secure the container to the platform.  
      While the description above refers to particular embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit thereof. The presently disclosed embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.