GB2306639A - Mobile load carrier with insulated compartment - Google Patents

Abstract

A mobile load carrier comprises a set of wheels (12, 14 figure 1) and receptacle (16 figure 1) for a load, within which receptacle there is a container 34 defining a thermally insulated compartment. The load carrier may be a shopping trolley and the receptacle an upwardly open wire basket. The container may be open-topped or fitted with a lid, may have insulating walls and may fit in the front part of the receptacle, possibly within one of a plurality of compartments formed within the receptacle by one or more transverse dividing walls 36. The container may be secured within the receptacle by means engaging the rods 46 of the wire basket and may have transparent, double skinned walls separated by an air gap or vacuum.

Description

MOBILE LOAD CARRIER This invention relates to mobile load carriers primarily for use in carrying merchandise around within food stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets etc.

The invention relates particularly, but not exclusively, to shopping trolleys to be used by customers in the food stores etc to collect selected items of merchandise, and to then transport the load to a checkout for packaging and payment and often subsequently to the purchasor's motor vehicle.

A supermarket shopping trolley commonly comprises a base chassis including front and rear pairs of castors by which the trolley is steerably movable around the shop floor, an upwardly open wire mesh basket fixedly attached to the base chassis, and a transverse push handle fixed immediately behind the basket, by which the trolley may be propelled by the user. The rear wall of the basket is normally pivotably upwardly and inwardly, and the basket is of a generally forwardly tapering configuration, these two features facilitating trolley stacking by allowing the forward end of the basket to enter the basket of another similar trolley through the rear opening formed when the rear wall pivots inwardly and upwardly.Such shopping trolleys commonly incorporate one or more further refinements, such as a panel made from metal wire hingedly attached to the basket rear wall so that it can pivot forwardly for the formation of a child seat; and one or more transverse divider walls provided inside the basket so as to divide the space within the basket into a plurality of separate compartments.

Most food supermarkets offer a wide range of refrigerated (chilled or frozen) foods and drinks for purchase, and the customer will normally place the chosen items of such refrigerated merchandise taken from chiller/freezer cabinets into the trolley basket along with other non-refrigerated items. The conventional form of shopping trolley presents a problem in relation to the handling of such refrigerated merchandise.

More particularly, due to the open form of the basket walls, refrigerated food in the trolley basket is exposed to ambient air, which tends to have a warming effect. A refrigerated item selected and placed in the trolley basket will be subjected to this warming effect of the ambient air whilst the trolley is being moved around the supermarket and often subsequently in a car park associated with the supermarket. This exposure to ambient air may occur for a sufficiently long period of time to cause the temperature of the refrigerated item to be raised to an undesirable and unsatisfactory level. This problem is particularly acute in connection with frozen foods which cannot or should not be re-frozen after thawing.

For example, ice cream, sorbets etc may be permanently spoiled if the customer does not take due care and ensure that they are amongst the last items selected during shopping.

A similar problem arises during loading of the chiller/freezer shelves, cabinets or compartments by employees of the store when a trolley of the kind described, or some other form of load carrier with open wire work walls (eg a roll pallet) is employed for transporting the goods from a refrigerated store to the refrigerated display units in the shop.

The present invention aims to alleviate these problems, and to that end provides a mobile load carrier including a set of ground contacting wheel elements enabling the carrier to be steerably moved around on a floor surface, and a receptacle for the load to be carried, said receptacle including means defining a thermally insulated storage compartment.

Where the carrier is in the form of a shopping trolley, the receptacle comprises an upwardly open basket carried on a chassis to which said set of wheel elements is mounted, said compartment defining means comprising an open-topped container having thermally insulating walls and disposed within said basket to define said compartment. The basket may include a transverse wall dividing the space within the basket into separate compartments, said container being disposed within a given one of said compartments.

Preferably, the divider wall extends transverse to the main axis of the trolley, and the container is disposed within a relatively forward one of said divided compartments.

In a described embodiment, the container is secured within the basket. Also, at least part of the container walls are transparent so as to ensure full visibility of the container interior by the checkout operator.

In the described embodiment, the insulated container has rigid, thermally insulating walls. The walls may be of a double-skin construction, with either an air gap or a vacuum between the two skins.

Preferably, the base of the rigid-walled thermally insulating container is formed with a fixing device enabling the container to be fitted downwardly into the trolley basket through the open top thereof, the fixing device being adapted to engage elongate wire rods of a wire rod mesh forming the floor of the basket.

A moveable lid, also preferably of transparent material may be provided to selectively close the top of the container and thus enhance the insulating effect.

The invention also includes, in or for use in a supermarket trolley, a thermally insulating container means adapted to be fitted to or within a basket means of such a trolley.

The container means may comprise fixing means adapted to engage wire rods of a wire rod mesh which at least partially defines such basket means.

The container means may be adapted to fit closely within a compartment defined by said basket means.

Preferably, at least a portion of said container means is transparent or semi-transparent.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is side elevational view of a shopping trolley constituting an embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the shopping trolley in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view from above showing an insulating container included in the shopping trolley of Figs. 1 and 2.

The illustrated shopping trolley 1 comprises a support chassis 2, in this case formed from oval section steel tubing 3, and including a base chassis portion 4, and a generally upright, rear chassis portion 5. The base chassis portion 4 includes a pair of forwardly projecting legs 6 and a pair or shorter, rearwardly projecting legs 7. The upright, rear chassis portion 5 comprises two upright pillars 10, each respectively integral with the corresponding forwardly projecting legs 6.

A pair of front swivel castors 12 is provided, each being mounted on the front end of a respective one of the forward legs 6. Likewise, a rear pair of swivel castors 14 is provided, each mounted at the end of a respective one of the rear legs 7.

An upwardly open basket 16 is fixedly mounted on the chassis 2, and is of a generally forwardly tapering configuration to permit trolley stacking with the baskets of adjacent trolleys nesting within one another. The basket 16 is of wire mesh construction, being formed from a multiplicity of wire rods 20 welded together at their crossing points to form the front, side and rear walls of the basket, and the basket base. The rear upper corners of the basket are fixed to the upper ends of the rear upright pillars 10, and the welded interconnections are covered by respective handle support members 22 attached to these uprights 10. An elongate, transverse rear push handle 24 extends between, and is mounted at opposite ends to the handle support members 22. The push handle 24 is spaced rearwardly from the rear upper edge of the basket 16.

The rear wall 26 of the basket, which is pivotedly mounted on a transverse support bar 28 so as to pivot upwardly and inwardly of the basket when pushed forwardly by the front end of the basket 16 of a similar trolley, during nesting, is provided with a forwardly pivotable panel 30 of wire rod construction to form, with a flat plastic seat member 32 a collapsible child seat.

A thermally insulating, open-topped container 34 fits into the front of the basket 16, as best seen in Fig. 2. In the illustrated embodiment, the container is especially adapted to fit snugly within a front compartment of the basket, separated from a rear compartment of the basket by way of a transverse vertical divider wall 36 extending across the inside of the basket. The front compartment thus lies in front of the forwardmost position reached by the front end of the basket of a similar trolley when being nested from behind. Accordingly, the fitting of the container does not interfere with optimum trolley stacking.

The container 34 is, in the illustrated embodiment, a rigid walled box-like structure, the walls being thermally insulating. The walls may, for example, be of a double-skin construction, with an air gap or a vacuum space provided between the two skins.

The container may be provided with a selectively openable (eg hinged) lid (not shown), which is preferably also thermally insulating.

This construction thus converts the front compartment of the trolley into a thermally insulated receptacle, primarily for refrigerated merchandise, in order to reduce the risk of deterioration thereof through excessive heating by the surrounding air.

To reduce the risk of damage to the trolley by vandalism or theft, the container 34 is preferably provided with some form of external attachment element (not shown) projecting downwardly from the base wall, the element being adapted to engage, for example, by a non-releasable snap-fit, with the wire rods 46 forming the floor of the basket front compartment.

In order to reduce the risk of merchandise being conveyed through the checkout unnoticed by the checkout operator, the container 34 (and lid, if provided) is preferably made of transparent material, such as a transparent acrylic plastic material.

It will be appreciated that the container is not necessarily adapted to fit in the front part of the basket, though as mentioned previously this arrangement is particularly convenient with regard to trolley stacking. It will also be appreciated that the concept of the present invention is applicable to other forms of mobile load carrier, particularly those intended for carrying refrigerated foodstuffs around in a food store, eg from a refrigerated food storage facility to refrigerated display cabinets or chests, or from one such refrigerated food cabinet or chest to another. In all such applications, the provision of the thermally insulating container reduces the risk that refrigerated food will be spoiled during transport through being kept for too long out of a refrigerated environment.

Claims (17)

1. A mobile load carrier including a set of ground contacting wheel elements enabling the carrier to be steerably moved around on a floor surface, and a receptacle for the load to be carried, said receptacle including means defining a thermally insulated storage compartment.

2. A mobile load carrier according to claim 1 wherein said receptacle comprises an upwardly open basket carried on a chassis to which said set of wheel element is mounted, said compartment defining means comprising an open-topped container having thermally insulating walls and disposed within said basket to define said compartment.

3. A mobile load carrier according to claim 2 wherein said basket includes at least one transverse wall dividing the space within the basket into a plurality of separate compartments, said container being disposed within a given one of said compartments.

4. A mobile load carrier according to claim 3, wherein the or each divider wall extends transverse to the main axis of the trolley, and the container is disposed within the forwardmost one of said divided compartments.

5. A mobile load carrier according to any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the container is secured within the basket.

6. A mobile load carrier according to any of claims 2 to 5 wherein at least part of the container walls are transparent.

7. A mobile load carrier according to any of claims 2 to 6, wherein the container comprises rigid, thermally insulating walls.

8. A mobile load carrier according to claim 7, wherein the walls are of a double-skin construction, with either an air gap or a vacuum between the two skins.

9. A mobile load carrier according to claim 7, when dependent on claim 5, wherein the base of the rigidwalled thermally insulating container is formed with a fixing device enabling the container to be fitted downwardly into the basket through the open top thereof, the fixing device being adapted to engage elongate wire rods of a wire rod mesh forming the floor of the basket.

10. A mobile load carrier according to any of claims 2 to 9, wherein a moveable lid is provided to selectively close the top of the container.

11. A mobile load carrier according to any preceding claim, in the form of a stackable shopping trolley.

12. A shopping trolley according to claim 11 when dependent on any of claims 2 to 10, wherein to facilitate trolley stacking said basket is adapted to have the basket of another similar trolley nested therein, and wherein said container is disposed within a front portion of the space within the basket lying forwardly of the front end of said basket of said similar trolley in the fully nested state.

13. In or for use in a supermarket trolley, a thermally insulating container means adapted to be fitted to or within a basket means of such a trolley.

14. Container means as claimed in claim 13, comprising fixing means adapted to engage wire rods of a wire rod mesh which at least partially defines such basket means.

15. Container means as claimed in claim 13 or 14, adapted to fit closely within a compartment defined by said basket means.

16. Container means as claimed in claim 13, 14 or 15, wherein at least a portion of said container means is transparent or semi-transparent.

17. A shopping trolley, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.