CONTAINER

Technical field

The present invention relates to a towing means suitable for towing suitcases, trolleys, market trolleys and similar wheeled containers.

Background art

Currently wheeled suitcases and market trolleys, all being hereinafter indicated as trolley, are available that are driven manually by means of a towing means. The towing means is formed by one or two telescopic rods or rigid rods that are connected at one of their ends to the trolley. The towing means formed by a single rod has at its free end a handle, and the towing means formed by two rods has a cross bar connecting their free ends with a gripping function for towing. For convenience, the general exposition that follows refers to a towing means having two rods, with the consciousness that the following shall apply also to a single-rod towing means.

When the trolley is moved forward, the towing means is gripped while its own main axis is arranged horizontally, at right angles to the forwarding direction of the trolley. Therefore, a person driving the trolley can grip the same being in front or behind it.

On the other hand, as usually, the hands of a walking person are naturally oriented with the palms facing towards his/her body. It can be easily understood that a hand gripping a trolley towing means being arranged as above mentioned, is instead forced to assume an unnatural position, with the wrist maintaining an annoying twist of about 90 degrees in the different trolley towing conditions.

Any instability given by the movement of the trolley due to curves, changes in slope of the ground, small steps, etc., stresses additionally the hand and the wrist in balancing said instability.

In the state of art a solution to these problems has been tried by some inventions that describe trolleys having a handle coupled to the trolley towing grip by a spherical or cylindrical joint. See for example U.S. 6,317,924, U.S. 6,948,601 , U.S. 7,168,537, U.S. 2003/0085089 and U.S. 2005/0087415.

However, these inventions, even if they allow a more correct posture than before, force a user to act on the trolley towing grip by means of a handle which is located in an offset position, that is an eccentric position with respect to the axis of connection between the rods. This causes an imprecise control in driving the trolley with respect to when the user directly grasps the towing grip, just for the fact that the user driving the trolley grasps not directly the towing grip but a handle that is connected to the towing grip by means of an articulated joint.

Summary of the invention

The technical task underlying the present invention is to propose a trolley towing means which minimises the drawbacks due to the handle of the trolleys currently in use.

In particular, an object of the present invention is to facilitate towing a trolley without forcing the user's hand in unnatural postures and subjecting the wrist to harmful stresses.

Another object of the invention is to allow a perfect control in driving a trolley, as if a user grasped its towing grip directly.

The technical task above mentioned and the aims specified are substantially achieved by a towing means suitable for towing suitcases, trolleys, market trolleys and similar wheeled containers, including at least a rod that is connected, at an end thereof, to a wheeled container to be towed by a person along a forwarding direction, and, at other end thereof, to a towing grip member. The towing grip member comprises a rotating handle having a horizontal grip axis at right angles to the forwarding direction. The rotating handle being symmetrically situated about the grip axis has a peripherally closed structure that is at least internally ring-shaped and has an inner face provided with a continuous groove in which a handgrip is rotatable about a rotation axis perpendicular to the grip axis. Brief description of the drawings

Further features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by the description of embodiments, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

- Figure 1 is a partial perspective view of a trolley provided with a towing means in a first embodiment thereof according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of a trolley provided with a towing means in a second embodiment thereof according to the present invention, being towed by a person shown only partially;

- Figure 3 is a partial perspective view of a trolley provided with a towing means in a third embodiment thereof according to the present invention;

Figure 4 is a cross-section view of the towing grip in Figure 1 taken along a horizontal plane of symmetry x-z;

Figure 5 is a cross-section view of the towing grip in Figure 1 taken along a vertical plane of symmetry y-z;

Figure 6 is a cross-section view of the towing grip in Figure 3 taken along a symmetry plane y-z; and

Figure 7 is a cross-section view of the towing grip in Figure 3 taken along a plane of symmetry extending through the axis x-z.

Description of the embodiments of the invention

Referring to the figures, in Figure 1 , which is a partial isometric view of a trolley provided with a towing means in a first embodiment according to the present invention, a towing means of a trolley T is denoted as 1. The generic reference to a trolley is only by way of example, because the same towing means may be suitable for suitcases, market trolleys and other similar containers.

The towing means conventionally includes a pair of rods 2, 2 that are connected to the trolley T, at one end thereof, generally in a telescopic manner. In their free end 20, 20, the rods 2, 2 are joined to one another by means of a towing grip member 3. By grasping the towing grip member 3 the trolley T is towed by a user according to a forwarding direction indicated by an arrow A in Figure 2. The towing grip member 3 is equipped with a rotating handle 4 having a horizontal grip axis x being orthogonal to the forwarding direction as shown in Figure 2, which is a schematic perspective view of a trolley T provided with a towing means 10 in a second embodiment according to the present invention. The trolley T is driven by a person P shown only partially.

Returning to Figure 1 , it can be observed that the rotating handle 4 is arranged symmetrically around the grip axis x. In particular, the rotating handle 4 has a structure peripherally closed that is at least internally ring-shaped. The rotating handle 4 has a plane of symmetry defined by the grip axis x and by an axis y perpendicular to the grip axis x. The ring-shaped structure of the rotating handle 4 is provided with a continuous groove 5 on its inner face. A handgrip 6 in the form of a diametrical element is constrained to rotate in this continuous groove 5 about an axis z of rotation perpendicular to the grip axis x, as well as to the plane x-y of symmetry of the rotating handle 4.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, which are cross-section views of the towing grip member in Figure 1 taken along a horizontal plane of symmetry x-z and according to a vertical plane of symmetry y-z respectively, the handgrip 6 is shown of a cylindrical shape, with ends 7, 8 being received in the continuous groove 5. It is clear that the handgrip, in its portion used for the gripping purpose, may have any shape, and its ends 7, 8 shall be suitable to slide in the groove 5. In its simplest form, the ends 7, 8 may be cylindrical like the rest of the handgrip 6. In this case, the handgrip 6 is able to rotate also around its axis of symmetry, which, as shown in Figure 1 , also coincides with the axis y. Alternatively, the ends 7, 8 may be prismatic and this would prevent the handgrip 6 to rotate around its own axis.

In order to allow the insertion of the handgrip 6 inside of the rotating handle 4, the rotating handle 4 can be formed in two equal parts, joined to one another as shown in the cross-section views of Figures 4, 5. However, other types of construction, which are not described in detail for brevity's sake, may be provided.

As previously mentioned, the outer peripheral shape of the rotating handle 4 may be different from the annular shape, which is rather critical for housing the ends 7, 8 of the handgrip 6 and for the rotation of the latter. The rotating handle 4 also has two diametrical arms 9, 9 coaxially protruding from the rotating handle 4 that perfect the towing grip member 3 and allow it to pivot in the ends 20, 20 of the rods 2, 2. The connection of the diametrical arms 9, 9 to the respective rods 2, 2 is schematically shown with bolts 1 1 , 1 1 which allow the rotating handle 4 to rotate with respect to the rods 2, 2 about the grip axis x. Obviously, any other type of connection equivalent means permitting such a rotation would be possible.

In fact, in a working position, the towing grip member 3 has a predominantly horizontal position, as shown in Figure 2, in which the second embodiment of the present invention is shown, and the same numeral reference to indicate parts identical to those in Figure 1 are used. The towing grip member 3 is pivotably mounted on rods 21 , 21, which are shorter than the rods 2, 2 in the first embodiment and merge into a single rod 22 that is telescopically inserted in the trolley T in a conventional manner.

In figure 2 the towing grip member 3 is clearly shown allowing the user to grasp the handgrip 6 while he/she keeps the palm of his/her hand facing towards his/her side. The hand is placed vertically so that the user avoids any twisting that could affect the wrist or the shoulder. Furthermore, since the rotating handle 4 and the handgrip 6 are arranged symmetrically coaxial to the grip axis, the trolley can be controlled effectively and directly, and this would not occur if the handgrip was connected by means of a spherical or cylindrical joint to the rotating handle 4.

Referring to Figure 3, which is a partial perspective view of a trolley provided with a towing means 100 in a third embodiment according to the present invention, parts identical or similar to those of the preceding figures are identified by numeral references being equal or changed by adding a zero. A rod 22 joined to the trolley T is connected with a single curved portion 23 at one end 20 on which a rotating handle 40 is pivotally attached, by means of one diametrical arm 9. It should be evident that also the towing means 100 in the third embodiment may be manufactured with two TF-shaped curved portions 23 that support in its opposite sides a rotating handle 40 provided with two diametrical arms 9, 9. This second curved portion 23 is added with dashed lines in Figure 3. Similarly to the other embodiments of the towing means of the present invention, the rotating handle 40 has a closed peripheral structure that is internally ring-shaped and is equipped with an internal groove. The rotating handle 40 has a plane of symmetry x-y, and the axis of the rod 22 is indicated as s. The rotating handle 40, pivoted on the curved portion 23, is able to rotate about the grip axis x according to the arrow F. In turn, a handgrip 60 is adapted to rotate according to the arrow G in the rotating handle 40 about the axis z perpendicular to the plane x-y. The handgrip 60 could be like the one indicated as 6 in the first and second embodiments. Alternatively the handgrip 60 is made as shown in Figures 6 and 7, which are a cross-section view of the towing grip member in Figure 3 taken along a plane of symmetry y-z and along a plane of symmetry passing through the axis x-z, respectively. The alternative form of handgrip 60 in Figures 6 and 7 contains a diametrical cylindrical element 61 inserted in the rotating handle 40. The ends of the cylindrical member 61 are joined to an annular element 62 having a rectangular cross-section and being housed within the inner groove of the rotating handle 40, that is made in two mirror parts coupled to one another.

The annular element 62 could also have a toroidal shape, possibly limited to a half circumference.

The increased friction in the coupling between the rotating handle 40 and the handgrip 60 changes the grip of the trolley, reducing a feeling of loss of control by the user.

It is understood that the predetermined purposes have been achieved. Towing the trolley is facilitated even when cornering because the handgrip rotates to take the same position of the user's hand, which avoids to assume unnatural postures and to undergo harmful stresses of the wrist or the shoulder.

Despite the presence of the handgrip that can rotate with respect to the rotating handle, the user reaches a perfect control of the trolley, as if he/she directly grasped the towing grip member which in the state of art corresponds to the connection between the free ends of the rods of the trolley or other wheeled container.

The user can then move the trolley holding it at his/her side, as if it were a normal wheeled suitcase, without being forced to a fixed and unnatural gripping.