Telescoping Shopping Cart
date: label: date made
content: ca 1949
name: label: maker
content: Telescope Carts, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: The convenience and carrying capacity of shopping carts play an important role in the sales of a self-service supermarket. Inventor of the earliest model of the shopping cart, Sylvan Goldman of Oklahoma City, described his idea in 1939 as a "combination of basket and carriage." The frame he devised held two baskets and was like a folding chair with wheels. In 1946, Orla E. Watson of Kansas City, developed these <i>telescoping</i> shopping carts that were "always ready" and required no assembly or disassembly of components before or after use.
label: Description
content: Watson's telescoping feature allowed carts to nestle into other carts for compact storage. Each additional parked cart, claimed the brochure, required "only one-fifth as much space as an ordinary cart," which meant more carts for shoppers as well as more retail space for store owners.
place: label: place made
content: United States: Missouri, Kansas City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Retail and Marketing
label: See more items in
content: Food
label: See more items in
content: Family & Social Life
label: See more items in
content: FOOD: Transforming the American Table 1950-2000
label: Exhibition
content: Food: Transforming the American Table
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Edith Watson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2000.0166.02
label: accession number
content: 2000.0166
label: patent number
content: 2479530
label: catalog number
content: 2000.0166.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: shopping cart
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 94 cm x 39.5 cm x 60 cm; 37 in x 15 9/16 in x 23 5/8 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 49 in x 89 in x 28 in; 124.46 cm x 226.06 cm x 71.12 cm