Patent ID: 7673410

Claim:
A portable shopping aid, comprising: a clamp, sized to selectively engage the push bar of a shopping cart to mount said shopping aid with respect thereto; and a document clip mechanism, including a document support structure and a clipping member to resiliently urge a document inserted into said document clip mechanism against the document support structure, the document clip mechanism formed to receive and retain an end of the document at a document end closest to the push bar, the document support structure further having two spaced-apart members that define a gap therebetween, the spaced-apart members to provide backing to at least a portion of the document, the document clip mechanism to urge the document toward a reading plane substantially parallel to the push bar of the shopping cart; wherein said aid is formed as an integral component in a single mold, with the clamp and document clip mechanism being generally fixed in relation to one another and with mold half separation along a direction substantially perpendicular to the push bar of the shopping cart; and the clipping member and the document support structure are to bend the document about an axis perpendicular to the push bar of the shopping cart, to thereby enhance rigidity of the document when inserted into the document clip mechanism, wherein: the document support structure and the clipping member are formed so as to be non-overlapping in the direction, to thereby permit mold halves to be separated along the direction, the clipping member to urge the document rearward against the spaced-apart supports substantially at the position of the gap, the document thereby urged to bend to imparts relative rigidity notwithstanding influence of gravity upon the document and notwithstanding absence of any substantial inherent writing support; and the two spaced-apart supports each have a rear surface mounting thereon a magnet positioned to magnetically engage a vertical surface and hold the shopping aid with respect thereto to retain the document in a substantially vertical orientation.