AU655247B2

AU655247B2 - Trolley with coin-operated lock

Info

Publication number: AU655247B2
Application number: AU14064/92A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Horst Sonnendorfer; Franz Wieth
Original assignee: Systec Ausbausysteme GmbH
Current assignee: Systec Ausbausysteme GmbH
Priority date: 1991-04-06
Filing date: 1992-04-06
Publication date: 1994-12-08
Anticipated expiration: 2012-04-06
Also published as: FI921450A0; NO177928C; CA2065066A1; NO177928B; DE59200396D1; EP0508193A1; ATE110330T1; FI921450L; AU1406492A; ES2060429T3; NO921298D0; EP0508193B1; CA2065066C; FI921450A7; IE921041A1; DE4111178A1; NO921298L; ZA922350B

Abstract

The invention relates to a shopping trolley (1) with coin-operated lock (10) in order to permit the trolley to be uncoupled on payment of a deposit. Here, the coin-operated lock (10) is no longer seated on the grip (5) of the trolley (1) but rather, with the aid of a cap component (9), is arranged at a distance from the grip (5) above one support arm (4). <IMAGE>

Description

t r:;l 6524 7

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

S F Ref: 206423 eq..

a o le 0*00 090 o 4 oo brqf *0 ft I t t t

I

Name and Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: Systec Ausbausysteme GmbH Ringstrasse 17 8031 Eichenau

GERMANY

Horst Sonnendorfer and Franz Nieth Spruson Ferguson, Patent Attorneys Level 33 St Martins Tower, 31 Market Street Sydney, New South Wales, 2000, Australia Trollby with Coin-Operated Lock The following statement is a full description best method of performing it known to me/us:of this invention, including the 5845/3 b-i It I III I 2 -2- Descrliption The invention relates to a trolley, in particular a shopping trolley, which can slideably engage in a similar trolley and is equipped with a device, generally in the form of a basket, for holding purchases, and with a handle for driving the trolley mounted on lateral carrying arms via terminal handle caps, wherein the trolley has In the vicinity of the handle a coin-operated lock and a key for coupling together trolleys standing in a parking rank and for releasing the trolley perferably standing at the end of the parking rank on insertion of a coin, and the coin-operated lock retains the deposit coin on release of the trolley and releases the coin when the trolley Is recoupled.

Trolleys with this type of deposit coin system are known in principle from DE-A 25 54 916 and various embodiments and modifications have in the meantime appeared on the market. Since the release of a 15 trolley is possible only on insertion of a deposit coin in the coin slot and t1he user recovers the coin only when he recouples the trolley at one of the various collection points, the trolleys no longer uselessly stand around. Staff do not waste time in searching and recovering the trolleys, and also fewer trolleys are required since unused ones are always concentrated where they are needed.

With most trolleys the coin-operated lock Is mounted on the handle tube used to drive and guide the trolley, see for example DE-A 2900 367 and US-A 4 683 609. This arrangement has the disadvantage however that accessibility to the basket is impaired.

Furthermore, with shopping trolleys provided with a children's seat, the coin-operated lock projects in an interfering manner into the seat area. Finally, with this positioning there is also the danger that the coin-operated lock can twist around the handle axis.

In addition it Is also known from DE-A 33 24 962 to secure the 30 coin-operated lock externally on a side wall of the basket. With this arrangement however there is the danger of the laterally projecting slot housing becoming snagged, particularly with trolleys travelling in opposite direction, since the coin-operated lock devices project in each case from oppositely facing basket sides. The customer is normally unaware of the need to maintain an extra safety distance, with the result that collisions frequently occur in the sometimes narrow aisles in supermarkets.

1

III.

Li MAM/0644P icri 3 In order to obviate these problems it is proposed in EP 199 274 to arrange the coinoperated lock in the transition region between the handle and carrying arm, in which connection it should be braced on the handle as well as the arm in order to prevent it being deliberately twisted.

However, the installation of the coin-operated lock in this region requires an accurate dimensional matching of the coin-operated lock housing to the geometrical details of various parts, Since, depending on the trolley manufacture, various shapes exist on the market for the handle carrying arm, handle cap, as well as for the position of the handle relative to the carrying arms, the known coin-operated lock has to be matched, by means o of differently shaped housings, to the trolleys available on the market.

Summary of the Invention It is the object of the present invention to overcome or substantially ameliorate the above disadvantages.

There is disclosed herein a transport trolley, optionally a shopping trolley, adapted o 15 to be pushed into a like trolley comprising: means to accommodate goods, generally in the form of a basket; a handle mounted on lateral support arms by way of end caps for displacing the trolley; and a coin-operated lock near the handle and a key for interlinking trolleys standing in a parked row and for releasing, on insertion of a deposit coin, with the coin-operated lock locking away the deposit coin upon releasing the trolley and releasing the coin upon relinking the trolley; wherein the cap at one of the support arms is divided into an end member serving to mount the handle, on the one hand, and a spaced cap member arranged farther ahead on the support arm and bearing the coin-operated lock, on the other hand.

The positioning of the coin-operated lock according to a preferred embodiment of the invention furthermore has the advantage that the length of the handle is not shortened, in contrast to the last-described prior art. The user can thus take hold of the trolley from the outside and thereby manoeuvre it with a larger degree of leverage. This is an advantage particularly with fully-laden shopping trolleys or when negotiating tight curves,

I'

[n:\libtt]00270:BGC 1 -iii i i- i

E

ia :s

L

0.9 Q Oa ao 0 00 0 0000 0 000 4 0 04 a a 0404 ii; 4 The distance between the coin-operated lock and handle Is cZv''4etl4YA chosen so that the user can comfortably clasp the handle without contacting the coin-operated lock device.

The coin-operated lock iscjrnntly e:ntially- arranged above the carrying arm so that the Insertion of the coin to release the trolley or the insertion of the key to recouple the trolley Is totally within the field of vision.

TheApscrbed division of the handle cap furthermore provides the advantage that the key no longer need be secured, as hitherto, to the coin-operated lock, but may be secured outside the latter, particularly on the end piece of the handle cap, which sits on the rear end of the carrying arm. This provides a certain spacing between the coin-operated lock and key, which is desirable for the following reason: coin-operated locks have become increasingly more compact in recent years, which means 15 that there is the danger that the key, which normally hangs on a chain that has to span the distance between shoppping trolleys slidably inserted into one another, can be inserted into its own coin-operated lock device. The user could then recover his coin without coupling the trolley at the collection point. This danger can be eliminated without any difficulty thanks to the separate positioning of the chain together with the key on the one hand, and coin-operated lock on the other hand.

Each carrying arm is normally formed from two roughly parallel, more or less horizontally arranged rods that join together at their ends in the form of a U. The cap part together with the coin-operated lock then only needs to have a corresponding groove on its lower side by means of which it accommodates both rods and can be clamped to the latter. It is particularly advantageous If the cap part provided for accommodating the coin-operated lock is an Integral component of the coin-operated lock housing, and is thus directly formed on said housing.

Further features and advantages of the Invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof with the aid of the drawings, In which: Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of a shopping trolley with a coin-operated lock; Fig. 2 is a side view of an enlarged section of the carrying arm and coin-operated lock, and Fig. 3 Is a view from above of the enlarged section of Fig. 2.

Fig. 1 shows diagrammatically a shopping trolley 1 with a forwardly tapering basket 2 bounded at Its rear side by a top-mounted flap 3 that can swing Into the interior of the basket. A handle carrying arm 4 runs backwardly on both sides on the upper rear end of the basket 2. Each handle carrying arm Is covered by a handle cap 7 by means of which a handle 5 is secured to the two carrying arms.

It Is necessary for only one handle carrying arm to carry a coin-operated lock 10, as will be described in more detail with the aid of Figs. 2 and 3.

According to Fig. 2 the handle carrying arm 4 consists of a roughly mm thick round tube having a U-shaped bend at Its rear end. Whereas the front carrying arm shown in Fig. 1 is enclosed roughly In the whole "og" region of the U-shaped bend by a handle cap 7, the other carrying arm o a illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 has a relatively short end piece 8 which 15 serves in a manner known per se for mounting the handle 5, and a cap part ooo-o° 9 spaced apart from the handle but still in the region of the U-shaped oIi, bend, which cap part carries on its upper side the coin-operated lock The cap part 9 is provided in Its lower region with a groove so that It encloses on both sides the two tubes of the carrying arm 4 and can be secured to the carrying arm by means of an eccentric 11 that can be twisted between these tubes. Dimensional differences In the carrying arm can easily be compensated by using such an eccentric, which is preferably a double-sided eccentric.

St As Figs. 2 and 3 also show, the key 13 hanging on a chain 12 is 25 secured at a distance from the coin-operated lock 10, namely on the end piece 8. Thanks to this spaced-apart arrangement the key 13 cannot be inserted into the coupling opening lOa of Its own coin-operated lock device o iV MAM/0644P

Claims

2. The transport troiley according to claim 1, wherein the coin-operated lock is 15 arranged substantially above the support arm.
3. The transport trolley according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the key is secured on the trolley externally of the cap member which supports the coin-operated lock.
4. The transport trolley according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the key is attached to the trolley with the aid of the end member.
5. The transport trolley according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: at least one of said support arms is formed of two approximately parallel rods; and the cap member, together with the coin-operated lock, embraces the two rods and is clamped to the rods.
6. The transport trolley according to claim 5, wherein the cap member is 25 fastened by means of a rotatable cam which is lockable between the rods.
7. The transport trolley according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the cap member is an integral component of the housing of the coin-operated lock.
8. A transport trolley substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated 26 September, 1994 Systec Ausbausysteme GmbH Patent Attorneys for the Applicant/Nominated Person SPRUSON FERGUSON Nb U [n:\libtt]00270:BGC 7' 0 t: i. I s ABSTRACT Trolley with Coin-Operated Lock A shopping trolley is provided with a coin-operated lock (10) in order to permit the trolley to be released on payment of a deposit. In this connection the coin operated-lock (10) is no longer located on the handle of the trolley but is arranged, with the help of a cap part above one carrying arm at a distance from said handle 4 '4 '~t Id Figure 1 *4F 4 4 41 BrL ALB:8998M r LI :i 1