GB2284985A

GB2284985A - Shopping and like stacking trolley

Info

Publication number: GB2284985A
Application number: GB9424115A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Derek William Roberts; Melvyn Arthur Smith
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-11-26
Filing date: 1994-11-28
Publication date: 1995-06-28
Also published as: GB9424115D0

Abstract

A trolley 1 has a frame 3 and a front pair of castor wheels 9, and a rear pair of castor wheels 11 and a basket 5. A pivotally mounted arm 91 is movable between a locking position in which a portion of the arm engages a flat 101 on a castor shaft 85 and a second position in which the wheel is free to castor. A manual override is provided. The arm 91 is moved by another trolley nesting in the trolley, to a position in which the castor is free to swivel, thus allowing manoeuvrability when nested. When the nested trolley is removed the castor is locked again for steerability when used individually. Also disclosed are arrangements where one pair of the wheels are fixed axis and the other pair are castors. In this case when the trolleys are nested, the fixed axis wheels are lifted clear of the ground to provide manoeuvrability. <IMAGE>

Description

SHOPPING AND LIKE STACKING TROLLEY This invention relates to shopping and like stacking trolleys. By the term "shopping and like stacking trolleys" is meant any trolleys suitable for carrying goods when in use but being capable of being stacked together so as to take up less room when stacked. Thus the invention relates not only to trolleys commonly used in super- markets but also other trolleys such as those used for transporting luggage at airports, railway stations etc.

In present day shopping, there is an increasing tendency for shops to become larder and to be of the self service variety. Such shops come into the category of "super markets" and, it particularly large and carrying a particularly large selection of goods, into the category of "hypermarkets".

In such shops or stores, the customer moves around the displayed items in the store wheeling a trolley. He picks up any item. which he wishes to buy d p@aces it in the trolley. When he has collected all the goods which he wishes to purchase, be proceeds to a check-out where he places the goods from the trolley onto a belt which moves the goods forwards to a cash point.Mere the operator takes the goods and passes them across a bar code reader which provides a read-out of what the goods are and their price The hardware provided at the cash point totals up ail the goods, provides an itemised bill and will, ff necessary read credit and debit cards and print cheques The goods which have passed the cash point are fed on another belt to the customer who then removes them from the belt and packs tliem in bags or other' receptacles prior to taking them away.

Once the customer has finished with the trolley, he may return the trolley to the entrance to the store or may park it in areas designated as trolley parks". In this latter evenr, staff from the store or retail outiet concerned need to collect the "parked" trolleys and deliver them to the region of t:e store entrance for use by new customers. To collect trolleys individually would be both costly and inefficient.

Therefore, what is usually done is for the trolleys to be stacked together in a relatively long iine and are then moved around as a stacked unit.

fn order that such a procedure be possible, it is necessary for the trolleys to be steerabie both individually and en bloc. To this end, each of the four wheels of the trolley are castored so as to be independently steerable.However, while such a move enables steering, it is not entirely satisfactory siticC, in individual use tr.e fact of having four castored wheels makes them difficult to steer when loaded A more satisfactory solution, as far as individual use is concerned, is to have one pair of castored wheels, preferably at the rear, and the other pair of wheels fixed.With this arrangement the trolley is eminently steerable individually but becomes impossible to steer when stacked. The number of sets of filmed wheels along the stack effectively prevents steering.

The present invention seeks to provide 2 shopping or like stackable trolley which is easily steerable individually and is also steerable when stacked.

According to the invention, a shopping or like stackable trolley comprises a base member, carrying means on the base member for carrying goods or the like, a flist pair of wheeLs carried by the base member, a second pair of castored wheels carried by the base member and means associated with the first pair of wbeel for ensjrrng that the first pair of wheels is fixed when the trolley is not stacked whi preventing the engagement of fixed wheels with the ground when vo ore more trolleys are stacked together.

According to a first aspect of the invention a shopping or like stackable trolley comprises a base member, carrying means on the base member for carrying goods or the like. a first pair of fixed wheels carried b. the base member, a second pair of castored wheels carried by the base member and raising means operable with raising means on other like trolleys for raising the fixed wheels from contact with the ground when two or more trolleys are stacked together.

Preferably the raising means comprise two parts a first part cooperating with a second part on an adjacent trolley in front and a second part cooperating with a first part on an adjacent trolley behind.

Suitably, one part may comprise a ball, roller, wheel or sliding member while the second part may comprise a ramp element or inclined surface on which the ball, roller, wheel or sliding member (of another trolley) rolls or slides.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a stack of trolleys koulprises a plurality of trolleys of the above described type in which one trolley has all four wheels on the ground while the remaining trolley(s) contact the ground with only two wheels.

Preferably the front trolley has all four wheels on the ground although it may be the rear trolley which has all four wheels on the ground. In the first case, the trolleys will usually have fixed wheels at the front while in the second case they will usually have fixed wheels at the rear but certain embodiments of the invention permit the opposite to be the case.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a shopping or like stackable trolley comprises a frame, carrying means on the frame for carrying goods or the like, two pairs of castored wheels carried by the frame and locking means associated with one pair of castored wheels for automatically locking at least one of the castored wheels of the said one pair in a specific direction when not stacked and for automatically unlocking the castored wheel or wheels of the said one pair for swivelling when two or more trolleys are stacked together.

Preferably the locking means are biassed towards their locking position and are unlocked by pressure from another trolley acting thereon.

The locking means may comprise an arm pivoted to the base of the trolley by a generally vertical pivot, one end of the arm carrying a locking element for locking the castor shaft of the lockable one of said one pair of castored wheels and the other end of the arm being biassed generally horizontally outwardly from the base frame of the trolley into the path of the base frame of another trolley with which it is to be stacked.

The locking means may comprise an arm pivotally mounted on the frame of the trolley, one end of the arm cooperating with the or each lockable wheel and the other end of the arm being biassed generally outwardly from the frame of the trolley into a prior position in which the or each lockable wheel is locked when in said specific direction, stacking of the trolley with another trolley causing movement of the arm to a second position in which the or each lockable wheel is unlocked.

The arm preferably pivots about a generally vertical axis, and preferably cooperates with a castor shaft of the or each lockable wheel.

The castor shaft of the or each lockable wheel may have a flat orientated in a particular direction in relation to the direction of the castored wheel and the locking means may have a flat portion engageable with the flat on the castor shaft to prevent rotary movement of the castor shaft.

The trolley preferably includes a manually operable override control switchable between a first state in which the locking means can lock the or each lockable wheel when the trolley is unstacked and a second state in which the lockable wheels are not lockable.

The override control may comprise a lever connected to the locking means to prevent engagement of the locking means with the or each lockable wheel.

The lever is preferably connected to the locking means by a mechanical linkage.

Both wheels of said one pair may be lockable.

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side view of a first embodiment of a trolley in accordance with a first aspect of the invention in which @wo adjacent trolleys stacked therewith, are shown in broken or chain lines: Figure 2 is a view sinlilarto figure 1 but showing a second embodiment of a trolley in accordance with the invention; Figure 3 is a view similar to figures 1 and 2 but showing à third embodiment of trolley in accordance with the invention; Figure 4 is a view similar to figures 1 to 3 but showing two trolleys in accordance with a fourth embodiment stacked together:: Figure 5 a view similar to figures 1 to 3 but showing a fifth embodiment of trolley in accordance with the invention; Figure 6 is a view similar to figure 4 but showing two trolley ; of a si: embodiment of the invention; Figure 7 is a view similar 10 figure 4 but showing two trolleys qf a seventh embodiment of the invention; Figure S is a fragmentary view of the base part of a trolley showing tY\e use Of the arrangement of figure 4 applied to an airporolike trolley; Figure 9 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a forward stacking trolley in accordance with the second aspect of the invention;; Figure 10 is a side elevation of one of He lockable castors of the trolley bf figure 9; Figure 11 is a plan View of the lockable castor of figure 10 showing the locking and unlocking action; Figure 12 is a diagram used to explain the operation of the locking castor of the embodiment of figures 9 to 11; Figure 13 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a sideways stacking trolley in accordance with the second aspect of the invention; Figure 1- is a side elevation of one of the lockabie castors of the troley of figure 13:: Figure 13 is a plan view of the ]ockable castor cf figure 14 showing the locking and unlocking action, and Figure 16 is a diagram used to explain the operation cf the locking castor oi the embodiment of figures 13 to 15.

Referring firstly to figure 1, there is shown a diagrammatic side view of a trolley 1 of generally standard construction, in stacking arrangement with two further similar trolleys la and ib. 'The trolley 1 comprises a wheeled base frame 3 which supports a generally well known basket arrangement 5. With this type of trolley, the trolleys are stacked by pushing one trolley basket into the basket of the adjacent trolley from the rear.To enable this to be carried out, these baskets 5 have a rear wall 7 pivotable about its upper edge so that it is movable between a lowered position in which it closes the rear of the basket 5 to a raised position 2S shown in figure li where it lies parallel to tile upper edge of the basket 5.

The wheeled basJ frame 3 carries two pairs of wheels 9 and 11 of which':1 uniike sith shown trolleys, only the rear pair 11 are castored, the front pair 9 being fixed. This permits the trolley I to be steered without the disadvantages of trolleys with four castored wheels which have a tendency to slide sideways and wander generally.

However, it will be appreciated that for a vehicle to be steerable, it is esential that only one pair of wheels be fixed Thus with a trolley with four wheels only two of the wheels can be fixed. When trolleys are stacked together in the usual way, they, in effect make up a multi--wheeled vehicle. Thus with three trolleys stacked there are twelve wheels in six pairs and for this "vehicle" to be steerable, there must be only one pair of fixed wheels.In order to overcome this problem the invention proposes to use trolleys witb one pair of fixed wheels and one pair of castored wheels and to so arra ige stacking of the trolleys that all except one pair of fixed wheels are raised out of contact with the ground. In these circumstances, three stacked trolleys which would normally provide @welve wheels on the ground will now only provide eight, all of which except two are castored. For additional manoeuvrability 2 separate device could be used to raise the front wheels of the front trolley. This could tEke the form of a simple jack bearing on a castored bogey wheel or a tension belt cOuld be used connecting the front trolley to those following as is at present used to retain trolleys, in some cases in a stack. The tension in rhe belt could then lift the front of the front trolley.

In the currently described embodiment, the lower front end of the basket 5 is provided with a rolling arrangement 15. This may take a number of different specific forms. It may comprise balls, rollers or wheels. They may be located as@two elements one at each side of the trolley basket 5. They may be protided as a s@@gle element located centrally of the basket or may be a combination of bot these, i.e. three or more elements located spaced apart across the width cf the trolley basket. V Where a roller is used, a single roller could be provided extending over a large part it not all.

of the width of the basket 5.

To cooperate with these rolling arrangements, the trolleys may also be provided with suitable inclined members 17 on which the rolling arrangements 15 run These inclined members may be constituted by the side frames of the basket 5, or, with suitable construction of the baskets 5, the inclined members may be provided by the floor of he basket. Additionaiiy, stop means 19 may be provided to effectively lock the trolleys together while enabling easy separation when required as will be described hereafter.

In stacking operation, the action of stacking is carried out in the normal way. Thus with the trolley 1 located in position, the second trolley la is pushed :.into the first trolley I from behind so that its basket 5a enters the basket 5 by pushing up its rear wall 7. Due to the inclined construction of the baskets 5, 5a and Sb, the bails, rollers wheels 15a or the like will engage the inclined surface 17 provided on the trolley 1 and the front of the trolley Ib will ride up, raising the front wheel pair 9h from contact with the ground.

While in manv cases, this action will be sufficient, it is possible that because of the inclinations involved, the two trolleys la and ib will tend to slip apar@ To prevent this, the stop means 19 are provided. These stop members 19 comprise a raised element positioned adjacent and to the rear of the rolling arrangements 15 in the stacked position.Thus as the trolleys are pushed together, the rolling arrangements 15 will ride o"er the stop means so as to locate in front thereof and will be prevented from rolling backwards. Depend; on the shape of the stop tnembers 19, the trolley will be locked together to a grater or lesser extent, the force needed to separate them being varied accordingly.

Once the second trolley la has been stacked with the first trolley 1, a further trolley -ib can be stacked with the trolleys 1 and la in the same way. Furthest trolleys can then be stacked to the initial trolleys until a suitable sized stack has been achieved.

The stack can the be moved around as a unit, for example, from a trolley park to the main trolley collection point.

It will be observed that it is only the trolleys la, lb, which have their front wheels raised the first trolley 1 having all four wheels in contact with the ground. However.

as previously mentioned, it desired the first trolley may also have its front wheels raised by means of a separate jack or a tensioning strap for greater manbeuvrability Figure 2 shows another embodiment of trolley in accordance with the invention in this embodiment, raising of the front end of the trolley la is achieved by means of a ramp 21 located inside the basket 5 and which picks up the front end 23a of the trolley la as it reaches its innermost position in the basket 5 of the trolley 1.

Retention of the trolley la in this position may rely on friction between the bottom of the basket 5a and the ramp 21 or an additional projection on the front cf the trolley 1 which cooperates either with the ramp 21 in the sense that it passes just over the top edge of the ramp or with a separate element, siniilar to the stop element 19 in figure 1, over which it passes. It will be understood that while the ramp 21 is shown as a separate element inserted into the baske;, it could well be formed by shaping the basket itself.

In an alternative form (not shown), the ramp 21 could be replaced by a series of balls, wheels or rollers to reduce the inherent friction, making stacking and unstacking easier.

Figure 3 shows 2 third embodiment of the invention, In this embodiment, the middle trolley is shown as the main trolley 1 and the other two trolleys la and 1b are shown as front and rear trolleys respectively. To lift the front of the trolley 1, the forward trolley 1a has a scoop arrangement 31a which picks up the forward wheel 9 of the trolley 1 when the trolleys are pushed into their stacking position. It will be seen that the scoop 31, 31a and 31b has an indentation 33, 33a and 33b in which the front wheel 9 sits.This acts in part as a stop means, similar in a sense to the stop means 19 in the first embodiment, and prevents unintentional separation of the trolleys 1, Ia and ib.

Figure 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment only rwo trolleys 1 and la are shown. This trolley 1 has a different form of wheeled base fr & riie 3 in that the basket 5 is supported on a rear parallel framework 41 while the front wheels 9 (which are fixed) are carried on a "U"-shaped frame only the side legs 43 of which are shown.

To raise the front end of stacked trolleys, a roller or sliding member 45a, protruding sideways from the legs 43a of the rear trolley la cooperates with a ramp element 47 on the front trolley 1. Thus, during stacking of the trolleys 1 and la the roller or sliding member 45a of the trolley la slides up the ramp element 47 of the trolley 1 so as to lift the front wheels 93 out of contact with the ground The upper end of the ramp element 47 may have an indentation 49 to prevent accidental separation of the stacked trolleys 1 and ia.

As shown the roller or sliding members 45, 45a are shown coaxial with the axis of the front wheels 9, 9a and thus may be formed by an extension of the wheel axles.

However, this coaxial design is not essential and the sliding members 45. 45a could be positioned at any suitable position along the side legs 43 43a Figure 5 shows fifth embodiment of the trolley 1 in which the rollers etc. and ramp are provided in the upper part of the basket 5.To this end, a roller wheel or sliding member 51 is provided on the inside of the basket 5 of the trolley 1 which cooperates with a ramp element 53a on the second trolley 1.a As the trolleys 1 and la are stacked, the ramp element 53a of the trolley la rides over the roller, wheel or sliding member 51 of the trolley 7 and thus raises the front of the trolley la and thus its front wheels 9a.

@t sill be understood that variations of this form of embodiment are possible. For example. the roller, wheel or sliding member 51 could be placed on the outside of the basket 5 of the trolley 1 in the position of the ramp element 53 while the ramp element 53 could be placed on the inside of the basket 5 in the position previously held by the roller, wheel or sliding member.

Furthermore, the arrangement could be such that the front of the first trolley 1 could be raised instead of the front of the rear trolley la, lifting of the front of the trolley la being achieved by the next following trolley 1b Figure 6 shows a variation of the embodiment shown in figure 1. In this embodiment, the ball, roller or wheel 15 is replaced by a skid 61 which performs the same purpose but is less expensive. Also in this case there may be an increased friction which would obviate the necessity of providing any stop means..

Figure 7 shows an arrangement in which the wheeled base 3 of the trolley la is lifted by means of a lifting bar or roller 61 on the trolley 1 which engages under the forward extending legs 63a of the trolley la. Here again, stop r:eans in the form of a projection 65 65a can be used to retain the trolleys 1, la together.

Figure 8 provides an embodiment of the invention using the principLe bf figure S as applied to the type of trolley commonly used as luggage trolleys in airports. These trolleys 77 have a generally flat wheel carrying base 73, the upper surface 75 of which. formed by the upper surfaces of the bars 77 forming the base frame 73, is used to carry the luggage. Here the outside bars 77 carry on the outer sides 79a wheel, roller or sliding member 81 which cooperates with a ramp member 83 carried on the insides of the sarne bars 77. This; embodiment operates in the same wa" as that of figure 4.

Figures 9 to 12 show a first embodiment or the second aspect of the invention. In this aspect of the ir.-ention. the problem of having an easily steerable 'trolley which permits manoeuvrability when stacked is solved be selectively preventing one of the wheels from castoring.

Figure 9 shows a relatively standard form of trolley 1, such es that shown in figure 4, and comprises a wheel carrying base frame 3 carrying a front pair of wheels 9 and a rear pair of wheels II. As previously, the trolley 1 has a basket arrangement 5, carried by the base frame 3.

In order to enable one pair of wheels to be effectively fixed. one of the oair needs to be locked. In the present embodiment, it is the left hand wheel 9 which is cap[able of being fixied. This wheel 9 is provided with. a locking device 81 which can be seen in greater detail in figures 10 and 11.

As can be seen, the wheel 9 is mounted in a a framework S3 which is carried by a castor shaft 85 extending into a socket S7 in the base frame 3. The locking device 81 acts on the castor shaft 85 and the socket 87. To this end, the locking device 81 comprises an arm 91 pivotally mounted between its ends on the base frame 3 by means of a vertical pivot 93. One end 95 of the arm 9i is free and carries towards this end an upstanding projection or rod 97 which actuates the iockjng device 81.

The other end of the arm 91 carries a portion bent horizontally at right angles and has a flat surface 99 which can be brought into engagement with a flat 101 formed on the castor shaft S5.

The arm 91 is movable been the position shown in full lines in figure 11 in which the fiat surface 99 is in engagement with the flat 101 and the position shown in broken lines in which the surfaces 99 and 101 are disengaged, allowing the wheel 9 to castor. The locking arm 91 is biassed towards the fall line position by a spring (not shown). Thus when the trolley is not in a stack and the wheel 9 is pointino in a forward direction, it is locked and its castoring action is prevented1 making rhe trolley easier to steer.

Figure 12 shows diagrammatically the operation of the locking devipe when two trolleys a and la are stacked together. The front trolley la maintain its lockable wheel 9a in the locked position.As the rear trolley 1 is pushed into the front trolley @a for stacking, the projection or rod 97 is engaged by the base frame 3a of the trolley la arXd pushes the arm 91 clockwise, against the action of the spring, so as to unlock the wheel 9 and allow it to C2StOL It will be understood that when the trolleys are unstacked, the arm 91 will be released and will be free to move anticlockwise into its castor locking position.

However locking twill not take place until the wheel 9 has moved to a straight position so that the flat surfaces 99 and 101 come into engagement. This 'tll of course happen automatically when the trolley is initially pushed forward by virtue of the normal castor acuon.

A manual override lever 110 is provided on the trolley handle. The lever 110 has two positions, and its movement is connected via a linkage 111, in this case a Bowden cable (but an alternative linkage could be used), to the arm 91.

In a first position of the lever 110, the arm 91 can move as described previously with reference to figures 10 and 11 but in a second position of the lever 110, the arm 91 is prevented from engaging the castor shaft 85, thereby providing four fully castoring wheels. The override lever 110 is not spring biased; it can rest in either the first or the second position.

Alternative manual control overrides could be used.

Figures 13 to 15 show a second form of the second aspect of the invention, this title applicable to trolleys which stack sideways as opposed to in-line.

As can be seen from figure 13, the trolley must of necessity have a somewhat different shape as it is required to taper in different directions in order that a stack can be formed. The basket arrangement S is supported on what amounts to a sideways base frame 3 carrying the twvo pairs of wheels 9 and 1.

As will be seen from figures 14 and 15, the locking device S1 is the sarr.e as that in the previous embodiment but is aligned at right angles to the normal direction of movement of the trolley 1 but parallel to the line of movement of the trolley 1 during stacking.

When the trolley 1 is not stacked. the spring urged arm will pivot anticlockwise to bring the flat surfaces 99 and 101 into engagement. locking the wheel 9 in its normal travel direction.However, as figure 16 shows, when the trolleys 1 and la are to be stacked, the corner cf the base frame 3 carrying the lockable wheel 9 must be pushed at an angle against the base frame 3a of the trolley @a to cause. unlocking of the castor before eftective stacking can commence since it is necessary for the wheel 9 to be rotated through a right angle if stacking is to be easily achieved., It will be appreciated that the above described embodiments are examples of only a few of the possible trolley constructions falling within the ambit of the present invention. Many modifications are possible.For example, in the embodiments of the first aspect, the ramps and inclined surfaces and the rollers etc. with which they cooperate could be reversed so that the ramps and inclined surfaces could be positioned where the rollers etc. are located and vice versa While these embodiments have only been described in relation to trolleys having fixed front wheels, it is possible to have trolleys which have castored front wheels and fixed rear wheels. In this case, it is the rear wheels which would: need to be raised using similar devices to those shown for raising the front wheels.

It is further to be understood that. ih general, balls, rollers, wheel and sliding members are interchangeable and, in certain circumstances, combinations of a number of these may be used.

Tne invention could be applied to any form of trolley and not joist to those used in supermarkets. This has been envisaged in the case of airport trolleys in figure 8 but could be applied to the many other forms of trolley in existence today.

In the case of the second aspect of the invention, it will be appreciated that while only one wheel needs to be locked, both wheels of the pair could be locked if required. furthermore, any one of the four wheels could be locked to achieve generally the same effect although, in some cases, particularly in the enibodiment of figures 13 to 15. a different stacking procedure would be required where the locked wheel was 2 rear wheel in 1'-. the stacking sense.

It will also be underdtood that while one particularly advantageous way of castor locking has been described there are a number of different ways in which locking could be achieved.

Claims

1. A shopping or like stackable trolley comprising a frame, carrying means on the frame for carrying goods or the like, two pairs of castored wheels carried by the frame and locking means associated with one pair of castored wheels for automatically locking at least one of the castored wheels of the said one pair in a specific direction when not stacked and for automatically unlocking the castored wheel or wheels of the said one pair for swivelling when two or more trolleys are stacked together.

2. A trolley as claimed in claim 1 wherein the locking means are biassed towards their locking position and are unlocked by pressure from another trolley acting thereon.

3. A trolley as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the locking means comprise an arm pivotally mounted on the frame of the trolley one end of the arm cooperating with the associated lockable wheel and the other end of the arm being biassed generally outwardly from the frame of the trolley into a first position in which the associated lockable wheel is locked when in said specific direction, stacking of the trolley with another trolley causing movement of the arm to a second position in which the associated lockable wheel is unlocked.

4. A trolley as claimed in claim 3 wherein the arm pivots about a generally vertical axis, and cooperates with a castor shaft of the associated lockable wheel.

5. A trolley as claimed in any preceding claim in which the trolley includes a manually operable override control switchable between a first state in which the locking means can lock the or each lockable wheel when the trolley is unstacked and a second state in which the lockable wheels are not lockable.

6. A trolley as claimed in claim 5 wherein the override control comprises a lever connected to the locking means to prevent engagement of the locking means with the or each lockable wheel.

7. A trolley as claimed in claim 6 wherein the lever is connected to the locking means by a mechanical linkage.

8. A trolley as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the locking means comprise an arm pivoted to the base of the trolley by a generally vertical pivot, one end of the arm carrying a locking element for locking the castor shaft of the lockable one of said one pair of castored wheels and the other end of the arm being biassed generally horizontally outwardly from the base frame of the trolley into the path of the base frame of another trolley with which it is to be stacked.

9. A shopping or like stackable trolley comprising a base member, carrying means on the base member for carrying goods or the like, a first pair of wheels carried ty the base member, a second pair of castored wheels carried by the. base member and means associated with the first pair of wheels for ensuring that the first pair of wheels is fixed when the trolley is not stacked while preventing the engagement of fixed wheels with the ground when two or more trolleys are stacked together.

10. A shopping or like stackable trolley comprising a base member, carrying means on the base member for carrying goods or the like, a first pair of fixed wheels carried by the base member, a second pair of castored wheels carried by the base member and raising means cooperable with raising means on other like trolleys for raising the fixed wheels from contact with the ground when two or more trolleys are stacked together.

ii. A trolley as claimed in claim 9 or claim 10 wherein the raising means comprise two parts, a first part cooperating with a second part on an adjacent trolley in front and a second part cooperating with a first part on an adjacent trolley behind.

12. A trolley as claimed in claim 11 wherein one part comprises a ball, roller, wheel or sliding member while the second part comprises a ramp element or inclined surface on which the ball, roller, wheel or sliding member (or another trolley) rolls or slides.

13. A stack of trolleys comprising a plurality of trolleys as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 12 in which one trolley has all four wheels on the ground while the remaining trolley(s) contact the ground with only two wheels.

14. A trolley substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in figure 1, or figure 2, or figure 3, or figure 4, or figure 5, or figure 6, or figure 7, or figure 8, or figures 13 to 16 of the accompanying drawings.

15. A trolley substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in figures 9 to 12 of the accompanying drawings.