The present invention relates to a collapsible trolley and in particular to a

collapsible trolley for carrying luggage or the like

International Patent Application No. PCT/GB92/01670 ( Publication No WO

93/05993 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . discloses a

collapsible trolley for luggage, which trolley comprises an elongate body ha\ _ng a

lower end and an upper end including a handle, a pair of pivotable legs adjacent

the lower end of the body, the legs being movable relative to the body between a

position in which they lie substantially alongside the body and a position in which

the free ends of the legs fan out from the body, and a pair of arms each being

pivotably mounted to the end of a respective leg and movable between a stored

position where the arm lies substantially alongside the respective leg and an

operable position substantially at right angles to a plane co-incident with the legs

and the elongate body, in which position the arms are able to support luggage

when the trolley is tilted during use. Each arm is further provided with a wheel

which protrudes from the end thereof adjacent to the leg such that when the arms

are in their operable position and the trolley is tilted, the arms are also tilted and

luggage carried thereon is supported by the legs

With such a known kind of trolley, it is found that when the luggage carried on the

trolley is very heavy, the arms may be caused to move relative to each other, e g

the free ends of the respective arms may be caused to come closer to each other

This may strain one or more or the pivot points and thus shorten the life of the

luggage trolley. It has been proposed to overcome this problem by providing a

separate foldable support device having an engaging means at its either end for

engagement with a respective arm While such an arrangement could substantially

overcome the problem of possible relative movement of the arms when the load

carried by the luggage trolley is heavy, the arms could only be moved to their

stored position after the support device is first detached. It is also necessary to

store both the trolley and the support device and it is possible that the support

device may be mislaid or lost

Another disadvantage is that the trolley and the support device have to be

assembled together prior to use, which can be an inconvenience to the user

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved

collapsible trolley wherein the aforesaid shortcomings are obviated

According to the invention, there is provided a collapsible trolley comprising an

elongate body having a lower end and an upper end including a handle, a pair of

pivotable legs adjacent the lower end of the body, the legs being movable relative

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to the body between a position in which they lie substantially alongside the bodv

and a position in which the free ends of the legs fan out from the body, and a pair

of arms each being pivotably mounted to the end of a respective leg and movable

between a stored position wherein the arm lies substantially alongside the

respective leg and an operable position substantially at right angles to a plane

co-incident with the legs and the elongate body, in which position the arms are

able to support luggage when the trolley is tilted during use, each arm being

further provided with a wheel at or near the end thereof adjacent to the

leg such that when the arms are in their operable position and the trolley is tilted.

the arms are also tilted and luggage carried thereon is supported by the wheels,

characterized in that the arms are each jointed to a respective end of a foldable

support member such that when the arms are in their stored position the support

member lies substantially alongside the arms, and when the arms are in their

operable position, the support member is substantially straight and in such a

position prevents or inhibits the arms from moving relative to each other when a

load is being carried by the trolley.

Each arm of the collapsible trolley is preferably jointed to a respective end of the

support member via a universal joint.

The support member may conveniently be foldable by a hinge and the area

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adjacent the hinge may be substantially circular to provide reinforcement thereof

The hinge is preferably provided with a locking mechanism to prevent the support

member from collapsing in on itself when a load is being carried. The foldable

support member may be further provided with a plurality of gripping ridges for

gripping luggage carried by the trolley.

The invention will now be described in more detail by way of example only with

reference to the accompanying drawings wherein -

Fig 1 is a perspective view of a luggage trolley incorporating the

present invention;

Fig 2 is a pan perspective view showing the foldable support member and the

arms in their operable position;

Fig. 3 is a part perspective view showing the foldable support member and the

arms when the legs lie substantially alongside the elongate body, and

Fig 4 is a part sectional view of a locking mechanism for the support member

Referring to Fig 1 , there is shown a collapsible trolley 1 in its fully extended

position The trolley 1 comprises a telescopable rectangular section hollow body 3

having a lower end 5 and an upper end 7 provided with a handle 9 A pair of

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pivotable legs 1 1 are provided adjacent the lower end 5 of the trolley 1 In a

manner described in more detail in International Publication No WO 93 '05993.

the legs 1 1 may move between a position wherein they lie substantially alongside

the body 3 on either side of the lower end 5 and a position wherein the free ends of

the legs 1 1 fan out from the body 3, as shown in Fig 1 Each leg 1 1 is pivotably

connected to a respective arm 3, on each of which is provided a wheel 15 at

the rear end thereof

A foldable support member in the form of a two-part hinged bar 17 is jointed at

its ends to the arms 13 via a pair of coupling joints 19. The support bar 17 is

foldable about a hinge 21 which is disposed halfway between the two coupling

joints 19 To strengthen the bar 17, the area adjacent the hinge 21 is wider than the

rest of the bar 17 and the horizontal cross section thereof about the plane of swivel

has a substantially circular shape.

Fig 2 shows in more detail the folding movement of the support bar 17 in

operation While the solid lines show the position of the arms 13 and the

bar 17 when the arms 13 are in their operable position, the dotted lines sho the

support bar 17 in a part-folded position. It can be seen that while the support bar

17 is foldable in on itself about hinge 21 , the ends 23 of the bar 17 each pivot

about an axis 25 provided by a respective coupling joint 19 Each coupling joint

19 is also swivellable on a respective pivot pin ( not shown ) by a relatively small

angle, e.g. about 10 degrees above and below the horizontal plane, about an axis

passing through each arm 13 and substantially parallel to the major axis thereof

The coupling joints 19 therefore function as universal joints by means of which the

support bar 17 is jointed to each arm 13.

Fig 3 shows a part perspective view when the support bar 17 is fully folded in on

itself and the legs 1 1 lie alongside the lower end 5 of the elongate bod> 3 A

number of gripping ridges 27 are provided on the upper surface of the bar 17 for

gripping luggage carried on the trolley 1

Turning now to Figure 4 there is shown a part-sectional view of a locking

mechanism shown generally at 29 which incorporates as part thereof the hinge 21

In this embodiment of the invention the two halves of the support member 17

are interlinked and foldable in on themselves via the hinge 21 which can be locked

to provide that when the support member 17 is in its fully extended and hence

straight position the arms 13 are prevented from moving angularly with respect to

each other. This is made possible by the provision of a spring loaded lock

comprised of a finger or thumb operable member 31 which is connected via a

screw 33 to a central bore in the hinge 21. A helical spring 35 is disposed

therebetween so that member 31 is ordinarily biased away from the hinge 21 On

the lower part of the hinge 21 is a generally annular chamber 37 which includes a

part cuboid recess 39 constituting a locking formation The locking formation 39 is

cooperable with a correspondingly shaped part cuboid locking protrusion 1 so

that in the position shown each half of the support member 17 is prevented

from swiveling movement about the major axis of the hinge 21.

It will be apparent that upon depression of member 31 the recess 39 will disengage

itself from protrusion 41 and thus permit support member 17 to be folded in on

itself when the trolley is to be collapsed and stored

It can therefore be seen that the present invention provides a neat arrangement by

providing a collapsible trolley and complementary support device for the arms

thereof in a single unit. By this arrangement, the problems associated with the prior

art trolley can be overcome.

It should be understood that the above only illustrates an embodiment bv which

the present invention can be realized and that further modifications may be made

to the above embodiment without departing from the spirit or scope of the

invention.