Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a lifter for shopping baskets, carts, trolleys and the like adapted to aid the user in discharging the goods once he/she reaches a supermarket checkout.

Background of the Invention

In supermarkets a large multiplicity of goods can be found and purchased that the users can put inside carts, baskets, trolleys and the like provided by the supermarket.

Once the user has selected and put into the basket all the goods to purchase, he/she will have to go to the checkout for proceeding with the payment. Supermarket checkouts are usually provided with a conveyor belt on which the user transfers all the previously selected goods.

Most of the supermarkets provide baskets, often wheeled (carts), which can be stacked one above another obtaining a reduced bulk with respect to the conventional trolleys. Such a kind of baskets has the disadvantage of having the bottom at a height close to the floor, therefore during the goods discharge the user will have to repeatedly bend over in order to take all the goods inside the basket and place them on the conveyor belt which is at a higher height (typically about 90 cm).

In order to ease such an operation lifters for shopping baskets have been devised by which the basket can be raised from the ground and brought to such a height that the user should not bend over to take the goods in the basket bottom. Such lifters are usually positioned facing the mouth of the conveyor belt, or laterally to the checkout, thus taking away space for the shelves intended for the last purchases which are usually positioned next to the checkouts.

In order to reduce such a bulk, lifters for baskets have been devised as adapted to be recessed under the checkout conveyor belt. It is known in fact that most of the checkouts in the supermarkets are provided with a space under the conveyor belt wherein shelves can be installed containing, for example, plastic bags or, where the space allows it, the empty baskets previously used by the users can be crammed.

For example, EP2499941 in the name of Aragon Repiso Monica, shows a lifter adapted to be positioned under the conveyor belt of a supermarket checkout. The device shown in such a document is provided with a bearing ramp integral to a chain drive system which, through three pinions, proceeds under the action of a gearmotor assembly whose rotation speed is driven by a frequency converter. The handling of the bearing ramp is guided through a system of bearings and slide guides along a vertical direction. However, such a lifter is not free from disadvantages, in fact depending on the type of checkout and the available space under the conveyor belt, the vertical slide guides will have to be dimensioned so that the entire device can be recessed under the conveyor belt and the bearing ramp can reach an ergonomic height for the goods discharge. Such specifications can not always be met both.

A further disadvantage is that the maximum height the bearing ramp can reach is lower that the height of the vertical slide guides. In other words, the vertical slide guides have to cover the entire height of the space under the conveyor belt for allowing the ramp to reach the maximum height starting from the ground. Therefore the slide guides will have to be dimensioned based on the available space under the conveyor belt of a particular supermarket checkout and as a function of the basket size.

Again, a further disadvantage, still disregarding the mentioned ones, is that known art devices are little safe for the user since sometimes it can occur that the shopping trolleys, if unevenly loaded, can even rollover during the lifting of the bearing ramp. Ultimately, besides having the disadvantage of occupying the overall height of the space available under the conveyor belt, the lifters known in the art are little adaptable to different types of checkouts, and are little safe too.

Summary of the invention

Object of the present invention is to realize a lifter which avoids the known art drawbacks.

Further object of the present invention is to provide a little-bulky lifter, easy to implement and which can be easily installed inside the available space under the conveyor belt of a generic supermarket checkout.

Finally, object of the present invention is to provide a lifter that is also extremely safe for the user and simplifies the step of discharging goods present in the shopping trolley. These and other objects are solved by the present invention by means of a lifter according to claim 1, and the respective dependent claims.

In particular, according to the present invention, the lifter for shopping trolley comprises a supporting frame, at least one bearing ramp for the trolley and displacement means for displacing the bearing ramp with respect to the supporting frame between a lowered position, for positioning or removing the trolley onto or from the bearing ramp, and a raised position for emptying the trolley.

The lifter is characterized in that between the lowered position and the raised position, or vice versa, said at least one ramp describes a path having, at least in two points, respective tangents with distinct directions. It has to be noted preliminarily that, herein and in the following, by path the locus of points occupied in space will be meant, and in time, by the center of mass of the bearing ramp.

In practice, the displacement means are able to displace said at least one bearing ramp along a path that is not only simply straight anymore, along which all the points have a tangent parallel to the path, as on the other hand described in the above mentioned known art documents and with all the above described limits and disadvantages, but also along paths obtained by combining broken lines, for example "L"-shaped, or along circular, or curved, paths. In practice, the ramp displacement is obtained with at least one change of direction and, thus, does not occur along only one direction in the space anymore. Such a peculiar characteristic thus allows recessing the lifter under the checkout conveyor belt more internally with respect to the lifters described in the known art, even completely hiding them under the conveyor belt, however still allowing the bearing ramp to easily reach the upper surface of the conveyor belt, since enabled to follow suitable paths, or trajectories, by the displacement means. Thus such a solution allows minimizing the bulk of the device that, due to the reduced size, can be easily installed under the conveyor belt of any supermarket checkout, regardless from the height from ground thereof. It will be evident hereinafter that the provided solution allows realizing lifters with a very simple and reliable structure by which manufacturing costs can be reduced and the failure possibility and maintenance costs can be both minimized. Furthermore it will be evident that, because the ramp can cover not completely straight paths being thus different from those implemented in the known art lifters, the safety of use of the lifters can be increased even more. In accordance with a first embodiment of the invention, said displacement means comprise at least one first lifting arm rotatably constrained to said supporting frame. In this case, said at least one bearing ramp is directly and integrally constrained to said at least one first lifting arm next to at least one first zone of said at least one bearing ramp. Therefore, the ramp covers a path along a circle portion, between said lowered position and said raised position. It has to be noted that considering any two distinct points of the ramp path, it is evident that respective tangents have different directions. In this case, furthermore, all the path points have tangent with different direction. In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, said displacement means comprise at least one second lifting arm rotatably constrained to said supporting frame. In this case, said at least one bearing ramp is hinged to said at least one first lifting arm next to said at least one first zone of said at least one bearing ramp and it is hinged to said at least one second lifting arm next to at least one second zone of said at least one bearing ramp. In such a situation, the system constituted by bearing ramp, supporting frame, first lifting arm and second lifting arm, forms a articulated linkage, or better a four-bar linkage. Therefore the path of the bearing ramp is curved and, then, also in this case, there are at least two points of the path with a tangent having different direction.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the bearing ramp is parallel to the ground, at least when it is in the lowered position, and tilted towards the conveyor belt at least when it is in a raised position. In this way the discharging of goods from the trolley to the conveyor belt is even more simplified with respect to the afore mentioned known lifters. Furthermore, this also allows avoiding possible shopping trolley rollovers, at least when in a raised position, in case the load distribution inside the trolley is uneven or varies inside the trolley during the ramp displacement.

It has to be noted that an embodiment in which the displacement means are able to displace the ramp along a vertical straight path, such as for example described in the mentioned documents of the known art, and in which the bearing ramp can furthermore rotate with respect to the displacement means, still falls within the protection scope of the present invention. In fact, in this case the ramp path, which can be seen as an upside-down "L" in which the horizontal length is replaced by a circular length, still has two points having tangent with distinct directions.

The above mentioned objects are also reached by a method for lifting a shopping trolley according to one or more of claims 1 to 9, comprising the step of a) placing said shopping trolley onto said at least one bearing ramp, b) displacing said at least one bearing ramp between said at least one lowered position and said at least one raised position, characterized in that during said step b), between said at least one lowered position and said at least one raised position, said at least one ramp describes a path having, in at least two points, respective tangents with distinct directions.

Still according to the method object of the invention, during the said step b) said at least one bearing ramp is parallel to the ground, at least when said at least one ramp is in said lowered position, and it is tilted with respect to the ground, at least when said at least one bearing ramp is in said at least one raised position.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will be more evident from the following description, made for illustration purposes only and without limitation referring to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which:

- figure 1 is a side view of an embodiment of the lifter according to the present invention, positioned under the conveyor belt of a supermarket checkout;

- figures 2A and 2B are side views of an embodiment of the lifter according to the present invention when the bearing ramp is in a lowered and raised position, respectively;

- figure 3 is an axonometric view of an embodiment of the lifter according to the present invention when the bearing ramp is in a raised position;

- figure 4 is an axonometric view of an embodiment of the lifter according to the present invention when the bearing ramp is in a lowered position;

- figure 5 is a side view of a further embodiment of the lifter according to the present invention when the bearing ramp is in a lowered (dashed line), raised (dashed line) and tilted (solid line) position.

Modes for implementing the invention

Referring to figure 1, the lifter 1 for shopping trolley 2 comprises a supporting frame 3 , a bearing ramp 4 for the shopping trolley 2 and displacement means 5 for displacing the ramp 4 with respect to the frame 3. In figure 1 the lifter 1 is shown as recessed under the conveyor belt 9 of a supermarket checkout 10. The bearing ramp 4 is displaced with respect to the supporting frame 3 between a lowered position PI (see also figure 2A) and at least one raised position P2 (figure 1 and figure 2B), or vice versa.

The lowered position PI allows the user positioning or removing the shopping trolley onto or from the ramp 4, whereas the raised position P2 allows the user emptying the shopping trolley 2, thus rapidly and comfortably discharging the goods on the conveyor belt 9.

The displacement means 5 displace the ramp 4 between said lowered position PI and said raised position P2, or vice versa, so that the ramp 4 (or better its center of mass G) describes a path T (dashed line) having respective tangents tl, t2 with distinct directions in at least two points Tl, T2.

Referring to figures 2A and 2B, the displacement means comprise at least one first lifting arm 6. In the particular embodiment shown in the figures, the displacement means 5 comprise a pair of lifting arms 6. The lifting arms 6 are rotatably constrained to the supporting frame 3 and are integral to the bearing ramp 4 next to a first zone 11 of the ramp 4. Further embodiments are however provided in which the displacement means 5 comprise only one lifting arm 6 or several lifting arms 6, in general at least one first lifting arm 6, still remaining in the protection scope of the present invention. During the displacement between the lowered position PI (shown in figure 2 A) and the raised position P2 (shown in figure 2B), the ramp 4 is moved away from the supporting frame 3 thereby moving in the vertical and horizontal directions with respect to the supporting frame 3.

As explained above, the bearing ramp 4 is not raised vertically by means of vertical slide guides, rather it is hinged to the two lifting arms 6 next to the first zone 11 of the ramp 4. The lifting arms 6 are rotatably constrained to the supporting frame 3 by means of pins 16, thus during the displacement between the lowered position PI and the raised position P2 the ramp covers a path at least partially curved, thus having at least two points with different tangent direction. One of the advantages obtainable by the provided solution is that the ramp can be, for example, raised over the supporting frame (i.e. it is displaced away in vertical and/or horizontal direction with respect to the frame), thus providing the lifter with a more compact structure that can be easily recessed under the conveyor belt of a generic supermarket checkout.

The displacement means 5 further comprise at least one second lifting arm 7. In the particular embodiment shown in figures 1 to 4, the displacement means 5 comprise a pair of second lifting arms 7.

The second lifting arms 7 are rotatably constrained to the supporting frame 3, by means of pins 17, and hinged to the bearing ramp 4 next to a second zone 12 of the ramp 4. Further embodiments are however provided in which the displacement means 5 comprise only one lifting arm 7 or several lifting arms 7, in general at least one second lifting arm 7, still remaining in the protection scope of the present invention.

The displacement means 5 further comprise actuating means 8 for rotating the first lifting arms 6 and/or the second lifting arms 7 between the lowered position P 1 and the raised position P2, and vice versa. The actuating means 8 of the lifter shown in the figures are adapted for rotating the lifting arms 6 only. Further embodiments can however provide actuating means 8 for rotating the lifting arms 7 only or lifting means for rotating the lifting arms 6 and the lifting arms 7, in general the actuating means 8 are adapted for rotating at least one first lifting arm 6 and/or at least one second lifting arm 7 between the lowered position PI and at least one raised position P2, and vice versa.

Referring to figure 3, the lifting means 8 comprise an hydraulic cylinder 13 integral with the supporting frame 3 and a piston 14 integrally constrained to the lifting arms 6. In particular, the lifting arms 6 are integrally constrained together by means of a crossbeam 15, the piston 14 is integrally constrained to the crossbeam 15. The piston 14 sliding inside the cylinder 13 displaces the crossbeam 15 vertically and/or horizontally, causing the rotation of the lifting arms 6 around the pins 16.

Further embodiments are however provided in which the actuating means 8 can comprise several hydraulic cylinders and/or at least one pneumatic cylinder and/or at least one electric motor so that at least one lifting arm 6 and/or at least one lifting arm 7 can be rotated, still remaining within the protection scope of the present invention. Referring to figures 2A and 2B, the bearing ramp 4 can be rotated with respect to the displacement means 5 for displacing the ramp 4 between the lowered position PI and at least one raised position P2. In particular, the bearing ramp 4 is parallel to the ground when it is in the lowered position PI, whereas it is tilted with respect to the ground when it is in a raised position P2.

In the particular embodiment shown, the displacement means 5 form a four-bar linkage in which the lifting arms 6 and 7 are rotatably constrained to the supporting frame 3 by means of pins 16 and 17 and hinged to the bearing ramp 4 next to the portions 11 and 12 of the ramp 4 by means of pins 26 and 27.

By suitably dimensioning the displacement means 5, i.e. dimensioning and/or adapting the lifting arms 6, 7 and/or positioning the pins 16, 17 with respect to the supporting frame 3 and/or the pins 26, 27 with respect to the bearing platform 4, a particular tilt of the bearing ramp 4 with respect to the ground can be obtained when it is in the raised position P2 and a second tilt with respect to the ground when it is in the lowered position PI.

In the particular embodiment shown, the displacement means 5 are dimensioned so that when the ramp 4 is at least in one raised position P2, the ramp 4 is tilted with respect to the ground by an angle a of 13°, so that when the ramp 4 is in the lowered position PI, it is preferably parallel to the ground (α=0 ^ο ).

Further embodiments are however provided in which the ramp tilt can be smaller or greater than 0°, for example when it is in the lowered position PI, still remaining in the protection scope of the present invention. The parallel tilt with respect to the ground (a=0°) of the ramp 4, when it is in the lowered position PI, has been selected to allow the user comfortably and easily positioning the trolley onto the bearing platform 4 and to firmly hold the trolley onto the platform at least when it is in the lowered position P 1.

When the platform is displaced from the lowered position PI to the raised position P2, the ramp 4 is rotated with respect to the lifting means 5 with such a tilt that the trolley bottom is tilted towards the conveyor belt 9 of the supermarket checkout 10. In this way, the discharging of goods from the trolley 2 to the conveyor belt 9 is even more simplified with respect to known lifters. It has to be noted that in the herein described embodiment, the ramp 4 continuously rotates since when it leaves the lowered position PI till when it reaches the raised position P2. In practice, in each point of the path T the ramp 4 covers, the latter has a tilt with respect to the ground such to prevent the shopping trolley from rolling over, thus increasing the safety of the user of the lifter 1 since it prevents immediately the lifted shopping trolley from rolling over during the lifting.

Referring to figure 4, the bearing ramp 4 comprises a lower portion 21 and an upper portion 22. The lower portion 21 comprises a base 23 adapted to accommodate the shopping trolley bottom and/or the wheels if present within the same. The lower portion 21 is hinged to the first lifting arms 6 next to the first zone 11 of the ramp 4. The upper portion 22 is hinged to the second lifting arms 7 next to the second zone 12 of the ramp 4. The lower portion 21 is rotatable with respect to the portion 22 at least when the bearing ramp 4 is in the lowered position PI.

The lower portion 21 is rotatable with respect to the upper portion 22 by means of the pins 26. Further embodiments are however provided in which the lower portion 21 is rotatable with respect to the upper portion 22 in another point, which is for example intermediate between the pins 26 and the pins 27, or else in which the first lifting arms 6 and the second lifting arms 7 are both hinged to the upper portion 21 next to the first zone 11 and the second zone 12, respectively, of the ramp 4, still remaining within the protection scope of the present invention. In this last case the lower portion 21 is hinged to the upper portion 22 by means of further pins. In general, the bearing ramp 4 comprises at least one lower portion 21 and at least one upper portion 22 both rotatably constrained so that the lower portion can rotate with respect to the upper portion at least when the ramp 4 is in the lowered position PI .

In this way the ramp is prevented from crushing an object or a user's foot during the displacement from the raised position P2 to the lowered position P 1 thus impairing the user and/or the lifter itself.

In fact, in case an obstruction over or under the ramp 4 is present during the displacement from its own raised position P2 to the lowered position PI, as soon as the lower portion 21 comes into abutment against an obstruction positioned under the same, the lower portion 21 rotates with respect to the upper portion 22 without transferring pressure to the obstruction. In this way the lifter 1 , during its operation, is safe for the users positioned nearby without the aid of pressure sensors or loading cells for determining possible crushes.

The lifter 1 further comprises two anti-rollover feet 18, 19 arranged under the bearing ramp 4. The anti-rollover feet 18, 19 are integral with the frame 3 and extend substantially parallel to the ground at the sides of the bearing ramp 4. Further embodiments are however provided in which the lifter 1 comprises only one anti- rollover foot 18 or 19, or several anti-rollover feet, in general at least one anti-rollover foot, still remaining in the protection scope of the present invention. Due to the anti- rollover feet 18, 19, the lifter 1 can be arranged under the conveyor belt 9 of a generic supermarket checkout 10 without the need of being fixed to the floor and/or to the checkout 10 by means of screws, bolts and the like, thus obtaining an easy and rapid installation.

According to the invention and always as shown in the embodiment shown in figures 1, 2 A and 2B, the displacement means 5 displace the ramp 4 between said lowered position PI and said raised position P2, or vice versa, so that the ramp 4 (or better its center of mass G) describes a path T (dashed line) having respective tangents tl, t2 with distinct directions in at least two points Tl, T2.

It has to be noted that, although herein not depicted, an embodiment of the lifter 1 in which the displacement means comprise the only one first lifting arm 6 rotatably constrained to the supporting frame 3 and in which the ramp is integral to such a first lifting arm 6, still falls within the protection scope of the present invention. In this case, the bearing ramp 4 can be fixed with respect to the first lifting arm 6 or else rotatable with respect to the same. During the displacement between the lowered position PI and the raised position P2, the ramp 4 will follow a substantially circular path T.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, referring to figure 5, the lifter for shopping trolley 2 always comprises a supporting frame 3', a bearing ramp 4' for the shopping trolley 2 and displacement means 5' for displacing the ramp 4' with respect to the frame 3'. Such displacement means 5' comprise a first arm 6'.

Still referring to figure 5, the bearing ramp 4' is displaced with respect to the supporting frame 3' between a lowered position Pi (shown by dashed line) and at least one raised position P2 (still shown in figure 5 by solid line), or vice versa. In the lowered position the ramp 4' is parallel to the ground (a=0°).

During the displacement the first lifting arm 6' moves along a straight path. When the ramp 4' is thus displaced from the lowered position PI to the raised position P2, also the ramp 4' follows a straight path, as well as described in the documents of the known art.

Once the straight length has been covered, the lifting arm 6' rotates with respect to the frame moving with it the ramp 4' (shown in figure 5 by solid line), which reaches this way the raised position P2. At the end of the rotation of the lifting arm 6', the ramp 4' will be tilted with respect to the ground by an angle a comprised between 1° and 25°. In this way the path T of the ramp 4', or better its center of mass G, describes an arc of a circle. The path T' drawn by the ramp 4' can be therefore depicted by an upside- down "L" whose horizontal length is a portion of a circle. Along such an arc of a circle of the path T', in any one of the path points, the tangent has a different direction from the direction owned by any one of the points along the vertical straight length of the path.

Further embodiments are however provided in which the tilt of the ramp 4' can be smaller or greater than 0°, for example when it is in the lowered position PI, still remaining in the protection scope of the present invention, or else the tilt with respect to the ground is reached before the ramp 4 reaches the raised position P2. In addition, in further embodiments of the invention, the tilt of the ramp 4' could also be obtained by the simple rotation of the ramp 4' with respect to the lifting arm 6', that is more in general with respect to the displacement means 5', without thereby departing from the protection scope of the invention.

The lowered position PI allows the user positioning or removing the shopping trolley onto or from the ramp 4', whereas the raised position P2, with the ramp 4' tilted, allows the user emptying the shopping trolley 2, thus rapidly and comfortably discharging the goods onto the conveyor belt 9 as shown in figure 5.

The steps of the method for lifting a shopping trolley 2 by the lifter 1, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, will be now described.

At first, a user places a shopping trolley on the bearing ramp 4 (arranged in lowered position PI and parallel to the ground), then automatically (by means for example of a sensor and/or a button placed on the ramp) or upon a user command (for example by pushing a button and/or a pedal, or else inserting one or more coins or tokens), the ramp 4 is displaced from the lowered position PI to the raised position P2.

Characteristically, during said step b), between the lowered position PI and the raised position P2, the ramp describes a path T having in at least in two points Tl, T2 respective tangents tl, t2 having distinct directions.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, during the displacement of the ramp 4 from the lowered position PI to the raised position P2, the ramp 4 rotates with respect to the displacement means 5 so that it is tilted with respect to the ground at least when it is in at least one raised position P2, starting from a position parallel to the ground, when in the lowered position PI .

In particular, it has to be pointed out that the tilt between the ramp 4 and the ground prevents the trolley from rolling over and, therefore, significantly increases the safety of use of the lifter 1 , not only when the raised position P2 has been reached, but in the switching from the lowered position PI to the raised position P2.

When the ramp is in the raised position P2, the trolley 2 is at a height and with an ergonomic tilt such that the user can comfortably empty the trolley 2 by transferring the goods onto the conveyor belt 9. Once the goods have been drawn from the trolley, the above steps are reverse repeated, so that the ramp 4 is displaced from the raised position P2 to the lowered position PI in order to start a new operating cycle.