Patent ID: 7549651

Claim:
A shopping cart retriever adapted to move a string of shopping carts along a travel surface, wherein a shopping cart of the string of shopping carts includes wheels that rollably support the cart on the travel surface, a basket for receiving therein shopping items, and frame members that generally vertically extend between the wheels and the basket to support the basket above the wheels, wherein the basket includes a bottom, sides extending generally vertically upward from the bottom, and an open top defined by the sides, the retriever comprising: a body; a drive wheel operably coupled to the body and powered to drive the retriever along the travel surface; and a cart emulator extending generally horizontally from the body at a height above the travel surface such that when the cart emulator properly engages the shopping cart, the cart emulator is received below the bottom of the basket, the cart emulator including a pair of elongated members offset from each other and extending generally horizontally away from the body and a cross member joining the pair of elongated members at a free end of the cart emulator, wherein the cross member and at least one of the elongated members are telescopically related.