SE-B-507 945 teaches an erectable shopping cart that includes four wall panels, which are foldably joined via parallel side edges to form a four-sided tubular structure, which can be raised from a flat state to a state of maximised cross-sectional area. Associated with the tubular structure is a plate which forms the bottom of the raised tubular structure and which can be folded away to permit the shopping cart to be brought to a flat state.

It is desirable to be able to provide a cart, which can stand upright on the floor and be easily moved along the floor, particularly when the cart is full of goods such as cans of beer, dog food, toilet paper and similar items. It is also desirable to be able to provide a cart that can be laid down with its rear wall facing against and extending parallel with the floor or corresponding underlying support surface and easily moved over said surface.

The object of the invention is to provide a cart that satisfies these desiderata. A particular object is to provide a construction in which an additional support wheel can be used to satisfy both desiderata.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description, either directly or indirectly.

The purpose of the invention can be achieved with a cart according to the accompanying Claim 1, either completely or partially.

Further embodiments of the cart will be apparent from the accompanying dependent Claims.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the cart includes a pair of wheels in the proximity of its bottom and adjacent its rear wall.

In addition, the cart includes adjacent its front wall, in the midway region of its width, an additional support wheel which assists the cart wheels in supporting the cart in an essentially vertical position. The support wheel can be placed in a position behind the rear end-wall of the cart, in an upper part of said end-wall, roughly midway of the width of said rear wall, so that the support wheel will be able to support the cart on said underlying support surface, or floor, together with the carriage wheels (which project out beyond the rear wall), with said rear wall facing towards and extending parallel with the underlying support surface.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a front view of an inventive shopping cart.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the shopping cart.

Fig. 3 is a view taken on the line III-III in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectioned view of the lower part of the cart, said section being taken on the line IV-IV in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectioned view taken on the line V-V in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a view corresponding to that of Fig. 3 and shows the cart in a collapsed state.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of part of the Fig. 6 embodiment.

Fig. 8 shows a wheel-axle transit opening in the side wall of the cart.

Fig. 9 illustrates a variant of the transit opening shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a side view of the lower part of a shopping cart variant.

Fig. 11, is a schematic view taken on the line XI-XI in Fig. 5.

The shopping cart includes a tubular part 1, which comprises a front panel 21 and a rear panel 22, which are mutually parallel and of mutually the same width, and two side walls 23 which include two wall panels 231, which are of mutually the same width and which are mutually hinged by means of a fold line 233. The sides 21, 22,23 of the tubular part l are foldably connected relative to each other by hinge devices. When the tubular part 1 is constructed of a sheet of cardboard or paperboard that is formed into a generally tubular configuration, the hinge devices may consist of mutually parallel fold lines in flic cardboard or paperboard.

The lower end-part of the rear wall 22 may include an extension 3 which can be folded-up against the inner surface of the wall 22 via a fold line, and which forms a bottom 3 for the erected tubular part 1. The lower end of respective side walls 23 includes an abutment 32 for supporting the side edges of the bottom plate 3. As will be evident from Fig. 5, the abutment 32 may be formed by the upper edge of a double-folded or multiple-folded paperboard material of the side wall 23. The abutment 32 may extend from the region of the rear wall 22 to a point beyond the fold line 233, although preferably not all the way to the front 21. The lower part of the front wall 21 may include an extension, of which a first part 31 is folded back against the front wall 21, up to the level of the abutment 32, and a second part 31 that is long enough to reach at least to said abutments. The second part 31 is folded up against the inner surface of the front wall 21, and the bottom part 3 is folded back against the inner surface of the rear wall 22 when the side walls 23 are folded about their respective fold lines 233 to the configuration shown in Fig. 6.

It will be seen that the shopping cart has a wheel axle 5 that extends through the double- folded bottom edge-parts of the side walls 23, in the vicinity of the rear wall 22, and that the axle 5 carries wheels 4 at its respective ends, immediately outwards of the walls 23 in the raised state of the cart. The plan view contour of the opening through the side walls 23 accommodating the axle 5 conveniently has the same size/diameter 50 as the axle 5, as shown in Fig. 8. However, as the side walls will have a given thickness the angular setting of the axle 5 in the opening 50 will be counteracted, therewith resulting in squeezing of the edges of the opening 50. When the material of the walls 231 can be compressed, the axle 5 will form elongated recesses 51, 51'in opposite sides of the wall 231, so that the axle is able to extend generally parallel with the plane of the adjacent wall panel or field 231.

However, the clamping effects and the recesses 51, 51'result in weakening of the edges of

the hole 50 in a forward and rearward direction. This deficiency can be avoided, by causing the axle-accommodating transit opening 50 to extend upwards instead, with an extension 52. In the collapsed state of the cart, the axle 5 may lie in the bottom part of the opening 50. In the raised or elevated state of the cart, the axle 5 can be moved in the upper part 52 of the opening 50, where the hole defining edge has a full width.

As will be evident from Fig. 1, the rear wall 22 may have a greater height than the remaining walls 21, 23. Moreover, the rear wall may include a handgrip opening 122 in its upper edge part. The front wall 21 may include a perforation 211 for enabling an aperture to be torn in the upper edge part of said wall, therewith facilitating manual access to the bottom of the container.

In the Fig. 5 embodiment, the lower edge part of the side walls has been given a Z-pleated configuration, via fold lines, wherewith the resultant lamellae are gummed together and to the side wall so as to be plane-parallel. However, these lamellae are not gummed in a preferred embodiment of the invention. The lamellae, which are defined by fold lines in a flat sheet that forms the side wall 23, tend to straighten out towards the plane of the sheet and are held in said Z-configuration by the axle 5 which extends through associated openings 50 through the lamellae and the bottom edge of the side wall. By allowing the Z- formation to spread in the plane of the bottom plate 3, there is gained the advantage that the abutment still has a high bearing capacity, while the abutment 33 lies well inwardly of the edge of the bottom plate 3, such as to prevent the plate 3 from readily slipping past the abutment.

As will be seen from Fig. 11, the Z-pleated portion 32 may include inclined slots 50 of the kind shown in Figs. 4 and 10, wherewith however, the lower oblique part 53 of respective slots may be open downwardly, and the inclined part 53 may have a generally vertical, upwardly directed extension 54 which receives the wheel axle 50. The Z-pleated part may therewith be held essentially compressed, so that its lamellae are generally parallel when they are pressed down over the axle 50. A locking effect is obtained, when this Z-pleated part is released and allowed to expand in towards the centre of the cart width.

As illustrated in Fig. 10, a rear end of a shaft 15 may collect with the longitudinal centre region of the axle 5 and extend forwards through the bottom edge of the front wall 21,

beneath the bottom plate 3, to a position in the proximity of the wall 21 where a caster 41 can be mounted on the shaft 15, so that the cart will stand upright on a horizontal underlying support surface while supported by wheels 4 and caster 41. The shaft 15 is received in a vertical channel or groove that extends up from the bottom edge of the wall 21, said shaft 15 being conveniently disposed immediately beneath the bottom plate 3 so as to support said plate in its longitudinal centre part. The shaft 15 and the caster 41 may be removable or subsequently fitted.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, the rear wall 22 may include an opening 99 in alignment with the opening 89 in the front wall 21. This enables the shaft 15 and the caster 41 to be inserted through the openings 99, 89 until an abutment 87 on the shaft 15 rests against the wall 22.

The cart can therewith be laid down with the wall 22 facing towards the underlying support surface, so that the cart will rest on said surface via the wheels 4 and the caster 41, which facilitates movement of the cart in this state of orientation.

Because the caster 41 in the placement shown in Fig. 10 is situated in the centre region of the cart width and in the region closest to the front wall 21, the front lower comers of the cart will provide a stabilising effect against tipping of the cart.

The axle 5 extends through the rear comer parts of the panels 231 and a guard 60 may be fitted to said rear comer parts so as to reinforce the inside and the outside of the wall 23, therewith enabling the forces exerted by the axle 5 to be taken-up more readily, and for protecting the wall panels 231 against the affect of moisture, for instance when said panels are comprised of corrugated cardboard or paperboard. The cart may be constructed of corrugated board or the like, with the flutes extending parallel with the comer edges of the tubular part, so that the walls 21,22,23 can be folded down relative to one another about fold lines that extend parallel with said flutes.

The guard or protector 60 may include slide bars 61 which preferably extend around the comer regions of the wall panel 233 that border on the wall 22. Such slide bars may replace the wheels 4. The shopping cart can be pulled along the underlying support surface on said slide bars 61.

As will be evident from Figs. 4 and 10, the openings 50 may be extended to form elongated holes that define a small angle, for instance an angle of 50°, with the plane of the bottom plate, such that said holes will slope slightly upwards from the end of the elongated hole lying nearest the rear wall 22, in relation to the operating plane of the bottom plate.

Because the elongated holes are only slightly inclined the axle 5 can be received in said holes when folding down the cart. However, the mutually opposing hole-edge regions corresponding to the regions 51, 51'may also be deformed in the same way as that described with reference to Figs. 8, 9, so as to enable the cart to be laid flat with the axle 5, with the minimum of interference.

As shown in Fig. 1, the upper part of the front wall 21 includes a hole 89 midway of its width. A further hole is provided through the rear wall 22, so that a shaft, for instance the shaft 15 in Fig. 5, can be fitted in said hole 89 in a stable position of orientation, for instance at right angles to the plane of the rear wall 22, for carrying a wheel, for example the wheel 4, on the rear side of the rear wheel 22. The wheels 4 are conveniently arranged so that their respective peripheries lie immediately behind the rear wall 22. This enables the cart to be rolled whilst lying with the rear side of the cart facing towards a horizontal underlying surface, for instance.

In one variant of the shopping cart, the cart can be produced and designed to enable it to be filled with goods, and may be equipped with or provided with a cover over the upper opening of the tubular part. This cover may be comprised of paperboard, for instance the paperboard from which the cart is constructed, and may be capable of being tom, for instance along a line of perforations extending along and bordering on the upper opening- defining edges 91-95 shown in Figs. 1 and 2. An erected shopping cart that includes such a cover ca be filled with goods through the bottom part of the cart, by temporarily moving away the bottom plate or at least one of its parts. After tearing away the cover and removing the goods, the cart can be laid flat for storage purposes and erected later for reuse.