The present invention concerns a basket with arc shaped handle, more precisely it concerns a basket comprising an arc shaped or upturned U handle extending from one side to the other of the basket.

Baskets with arc shaped or upturned U handles, that we shall simply term "handle" herein, can be made of various materials, but especially and traditionally of wicker, straw, chestnut strips, plastic strips or strings; tliis feature makes them a specially suitable product for craft-ware in countries where tlie cosl of labour is low and from which these products are exported in considerable quantities.

The drawback of these baskets lies in the very high transport costs owing to the impossibility of piling the baskets in such a way as to form packagings with a convenient weight/volume ratio.

We shall conventionally term the part of the basket that holds objects - the tray - and the part of the basket that serves as a handle - the handle -.

The present invention obviates the above mentioned drawback and, as characterized in the claims, is a basket in which the tray bears at least a first engagement means on each opposite side, and the at each of its sides the handle bears at least a second engagement means, the first and second engagement means being suited to engage rigidly so that the tray and handle result as being solidly and permanently locked to one another so as to form a single object.

The main advantage of this basket lies in the fact that the manufacturer separately produces the trays and the handles for the transport of which any desirable number of trays will be piled onto one another into packages and an equal number of handles will be packaged one next to another, with an enormous reduction in the volumes required and, consequently, in the cost of transport. Each tray and each handle will be assembled in the importing country.

The first engagement means is a body provided with a hollow, which body being held, thanks to retaining means, within a lodging formed on one side of the tray and the second engagement means is a pin shaped body formed by a first part held, thanks to retaining means, in the end of the handle and by a second part to be forced into the hollow of the first engagement means.

Alternately, the first engagement means in the tray is the pin shaped body and the second engagement means in the handle is the body provided with a hollow into which the first means may be forced.

The lodging for the first engagement means is formed in the border of the tray.

Alternately, the lodging for the first engagement means is formed in the side of the tray.

The invention will be illustrated in fUrther detail below with an example of an embodiment and with the support of the drawings in which the baskets represented are made of wicker-work, though the material is not shown in detail owing to the complexity that the pattern of the wicker-work features; in the drawings, Fig. 1 is a first perspective view, Fig. 2 is a second perspective view, Fig.3 is a third perspective view, Figs 4 and 5 show details, Fig.s 6 and 7 are other perspective views and Fig. 8 shows a further detail.

Fig. I shows a tray 1 and handle 2 of a basket that, fastened to one another thanks to the engagement means foreseen, form a basket complying with the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows how the tray 1 of the basket, incorporated in two diametrically opposite points of its upper border, bears two hollow engagement means 3 into which each of the

pins 4b of engagement means 4 that has part 4a firmly incorporated in the thicknesses 5 of the ends of handle 2 may be forced. Both engagement means 3 and 4 are of appropriate plastic material, but it is understood that they may be of other suitable materials, such as metal, wood, bamboo.

Fig. 3 shows how each engagement means 3 in tray I is incorporated in a thickness 6 formed on the outside of the side wall.

Fig. 4 shows the detail of the two engagement means and their coupling; - Fig. 4/1 shows means 3 provided with cylindric hollow 30 prepared to he incorporated in the tray during the production of the same, as shown in Fig. 8; it is understood that the upper annular part 3a serves as a base for the end of the handle and the lower annular part 3b serves to lock the means within the tray; - Fig. 4/2 shows how an annular part 3i may also be foreseen in an intermediate position along the means 3; - Fig. 4/3 shows how means 4 features the upper part 4a prepared to be incorporated in the end of the handle during production and the cylindric pin shaped lower part 4b to be sunk into the hollow 30 of means 3 and hence be locked therein by the plastic point 4c with an annular relief 4d; - Fig. 4/4 shows the two parts 3 and 4 as coupled.

Fig. 5 shows an alternative solution to the one illustrated in Fig. 4: - Fig. 5/1 shows a means 3 that bears an elastic point 3c in its lower part with an annular relief 3d; while towards the lower end of the internal hollow 30 a triangular groove 3e is formed into which the annular relief 4d of the elastic point 4c of part 4b will engage; - Fig. 5/2 shows a means 4 that bears in its upper part an elastic point 4f with annular relief 4g.This enbodiment allows to incorporate the means 3 and the means 4 into a

corresponding hollow appropriately formed during the manufacturing stage, respectively in the tray and in the ends of the handle, or viceversa, so that the two means become unmovable in their seats as if they had been incorporated during the manufacturing.

Fig.s 6 and 7 show a handle 2 with four ends, 2a and 2b for each side, each one incorporating a engagement means 4 that engages in a corresponding engagement means 3 oftray 1.

Fig. 8, as stated with reference to Fig. 4, shows an engagement means 3 in detail, with its parts 3a and 3b, that has been incorporated in a wicker-work tray during the production.

The way to make more easy the retaining in the basket and the coupling of first and second engagement means is the one represented in the figures: means 3 is a cylindric body with cylindric hollow 30 and means 4 is a body with cylindrical part 4a and pin part 4b cylindrical too which may be forced into the hollow 30. It is understood, however, the the shaped of said parts may also be not cylindrical, provided they allow the retaining into the basket and the necessary coupling.