Unarco Industries, Inc.

Norman R Young

Glenmore J Runnion

Benjamin C Baugh

Don A Stover

A shopping cart having a novel locking arrangement for the gate of the upper basket and featuring a baby basket that seats a child below the level of the upper basket for enhanced stability of the cart and economy of storage in the upper basket, as well as to position and face the child towards the mother who is pushing the cart so that the child cannot reach or kick the gate or the groceries in the upper basket. The novel locking arrangement for the gate includes a latch plate having an end restraining shield that provides an abutment stop for limiting the forward movement of the gate unless the gate is manually lifted and opened. The gate has ears which prevent the gate from falling into the interior of the basket, and has at least one pin that engages the end restraining shield. Auxiliary side walls are mounted above the sides of the baby basket to prevent the child from reaching items on the shelves of the store and to protect the child from the corners of shelves and from being accidentally struck by other carts. The rear wall of the upper basket is positioned above the back support of the baby basket to assist in supporting the back of the child. The shopping cart also features side handles extending above the auxiliary side walls for improved maneuverability and for eliminating the conventional crossbar-type handle to remove the possibility of the child bumping his forehead on such a handle.

Shopping cart

A checkstand has a pivotable cash register stand and a counter across from the cash register stand onto which groceries or other items are unloaded. The checkstand generally defines one side of a customer aisle adjacent the counter and a separate cart aisle lying between the other side of the counter and the cash register stand. The cash register stand pivots to a blocking position in the cart aisle to prevent passage of shopping carts through the cart aisle when a shopping cart is being unloaded onto the counter, and subsequently pivots to an open position out of the path of the cart aisle to permit the unloaded shopping cart to exit through the cart aisle. Preferably, a stationary wall unit is mounted adjacent the cash register stand. In order to prevent the shopping carts from accidentally bumping and damaging the checkstand, the cash register stand, unloading counter, and wall unit each have a bumper, preferably in the form of a rotatable wheel or roller, to rotatably engage and guide the shopping cart through the cart aisle.

Checkstand

There is disclosed herein an anti-loading tray assembly, for mounting upon the lower frame of conventional nestable shopping carts, at a position below the basket so as to prevent pilferage by loading of articles onto the cart below the basket. The tray includes a plurality of interconnecting elongated struts, cross members of a size, shape and arrangement to define a forwardly-and-downwardly sloping, plane-like area with lateral wings which prevent loading of articles upon either the tray or lower frame of the cart. Simplified means of connection of the tray to existing structure of the cart's frame provides that the anti-loading tray may be an economical add-on feature. The arrangement provides a simple inexpensive tray which is easily manufactured and may be readily installed both at the factory and on existing carts in the field.

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Oklahoma City, OK, United States of America

Norman R Young