The present disclosure relates generally to a safety and maintenance device for a shopping cart. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a maintenance signal flag operable by a shopping cart user which visually notifies maintenance personnel that the shopping cart is faulty and requires maintenance.
Shopping carts supplied by retail stores for transporting shopping goods are indispensable for shoppers who would otherwise be unable to carry the volume and weight of goods typically purchased during a typical shopping trip. However, shopping carts are often poorly maintained because the carts are constantly in use, leading to rapid wear and tear on the components of the shopping cart. Furthermore, shopping carts are constantly in demand, and maintenance personnel responsible for their repair and upkeep are unable to perform inspections to identify which shopping carts must be taken out of service and set aside for repairs or maintenance. Poorly maintained or faulty shopping carts are frequently un-usable and may even be unsafe. Faulty wheels and casters prevent the shopping cart from moving or turning properly, but defective seatbelts or broken metal basket bars constitute safety hazards which may lead to serious injury.
Presently, current practice requires the shopper to bring the faulty shopping cart to the attention of the store staff. However, most shoppers would rather set aside faulty shopping carts and attempt to find a functional shopping cart than go through the delay and inconvenience of reporting the faulty cart. As a result, faulty shopping carts remain intermingled with the pool of functional carts, and often go undetected by the store's maintenance personnel until they are totally nonfunctional and have open and obvious defects.
Examples of flags and pennants for emergency signaling or for improving visibility abound within the prior art. However, these devices are intended for use with motorized vehicles or are intended for other applications which make them ill-suited for installation onto a shopping cart. The prior art further contains electronic diagnostic devices for detecting shopping cart defects. However, these references do not address the particular problem of efficiently discovering and marking faulty shopping carts with minimal disruptions in a busy shopping environment. A need exists for a device which is inexpensive, is non-intrusive and can be retrofitted to existing shopping carts, is simple enough for any user to operate, and which provides a visual alert to shoppers as well as maintenance personnel which identifies particular faults or defects with great specificity.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.
An aspect of an example embodiment in the present disclosure is to provide a device which a user of a shopping cart may employ to visually notify other users and maintenance personnel that the shopping cart is faulty and in need of maintenance. Accordingly, the present disclosure provides a maintenance signal flag which is attached to the shopping cart and has a flag member and signal panel adapted to be raised and lowered by the user. When raised, the signal panel is elevated above the shopping cart by the flag member, and displays a maintenance message which warns other users to avoid using the shopping cart and alerts the maintenance personnel that the shopping cart is faulty and in need of maintenance.
It is another aspect of an example embodiment in the present disclosure to provide a device which visually informs maintenance personnel of the nature of the maintenance issue to reduce inspection times and increase efficiency. Accordingly, the maintenance message identifies the component of the shopping cart in need of maintenance, and the maintenance signal flag has one or more detachable signal panels displaying alternate maintenance messages which attach to the signal panel to replace the original maintenance message. The maintenance signal flag may also have a second flag member to display additional maintenance messages when multiple maintenance issues are present.
It is yet another aspect of an example embodiment in the present disclosure to provide a device which is positioned within the user's reach and does not interfere with the placement of shopping goods within the shopping cart or the ability of the shopping cart to be stacked with other shopping carts. Accordingly, the maintenance signal flag is externally secured to the side of the shopping cart basket towards the basket opening and the basket rear.
It is a further aspect of an example embodiment in the present disclosure to provide a device which can be used to upgrade shopping carts already in service. Accordingly, the present disclosure provides a maintenance signal flag having a mounting assembly which is selectively attachable and is adapted to be secured to any type of shopping cart.
The present disclosure addresses at least one of the foregoing disadvantages. However, it is contemplated that the present disclosure may prove useful in addressing other problems and deficiencies in a number of technical areas. Therefore, the claims should not necessarily be construed as limited to addressing any of the particular problems or deficiencies discussed hereinabove. To the accomplishment of the above, this disclosure may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Attention is called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only. Variations are contemplated as being part of the disclosure.
In the drawings, like elements are depicted by like reference numerals. The drawings are briefly described as follows.
The present disclosure now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show various example embodiments. However, the present disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the example embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these example embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure is thorough, complete and fully conveys the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art.
Continuing to refer to
Turning now to
Note that the disposition of the cylinder 18 and the hinge opening 42, along with the first and second notches 44A, 44B and the locking projection 20, may be reversed so that the cylinder 18 projects from the second hinge component 40 of the mounting assembly 30, and the hinge opening 42 is positioned within the first hinge component 16 of the flag member 14. In certain embodiments, the hinge 15 may further have a spring mechanism which compresses and locks when the flag member 14 is placed in the lowered position, but is also adapted to automatically push the flag member 14 to the raised position once the spring is released. A person of ordinary skill in the art in the field of the invention will appreciate that the hinge 15 may alternatively be implemented using any alternative structure or means commonly employed to provide hinged or pivoting motion.
Continuing to refer to
The signal panel 12 has a signal panel face 12F which is adapted to display a maintenance message 12M which alerts the maintenance personnel that the shopping cart requires maintenance. The maintenance message 12M may be a general statement such as “Please Fix”, or a more specific statement which indicates which component of the shopping cart requires maintenance, such as “Broken Wheel”. The signal panel 12 may also have a reverse signal panel face 12FA disposed opposite the signal panel face 12F, which allows the maintenance message 12M to be visible from two separate directions and fulfills the same purpose as the signal panel face 12F. In certain embodiments, the maintenance signal flag 10 may have a movable or detachable signal panel 13 displaying an alternate maintenance message 12MB, which is adapted to be selectively attached and detached to the signal panel face 12F and/or the reverse signal panel face 12FA via magnets, clips, adhesive, or other fastening means. The alternate maintenance message 12MB may be used to indicate that a different component of the shopping cart 60, other than the component described in the maintenance message 12M, is in need of maintenance. Furthermore, in certain embodiments, the flag member 14, the signal panel face 12F, and/or the detachable message panel 13 may be covered in a reflective layer to increase the visibility of the maintenance signal flag when exposed to light. The maintenance message 12M may be printed or otherwise overlaid directly on top of the reflective layer.
Referring to
Turning now to
Referring now to
The maintenance signal flag 10 may be adapted to display as many unique maintenance messages 12M or alternate maintenance messages 12MB as required to address the maintenance needs of the particular shopping cart 60. In a preferred embodiment, the quantity of maintenance messages 12M and alternative maintenance messages 12MB which can be attached or otherwise displayed from the signal panel face 12F and the second signal panel face 28F, are sufficient to allow the user to notify the maintenance personnel regarding the occurrence of any maintenance issue in a list of common maintenance issues. Accurate notification via the maintenance signal flag 10 reduces the time required for an inspection of the shopping cart and allows the maintenance personnel to more efficiently identify and remedy the relevant maintenance issues. For example, the list of common maintenance issues may comprise faulty wheels 63 or casters 63B, faulty seats 74 or seatbelts 78, faulty basket 64, or the presence of garbage or filth. The list of common maintenance issues may be expanded or reduced as necessary in accordance with the number of components of the shopping cart. For example, some shopping carts do not include baby seats, while others may have additional components such as a coin operated lock.
Referring now to
The maintenance signal flag 10 may alternatively be installed to another position upon the shopping cart 60. For example, referring to
It is understood that when an element is referred hereinabove as being “on” another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may be present therebetween. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on” another element, there are no intervening elements present.
Moreover, any components or materials can be formed from a same, structurally continuous piece or separately fabricated and connected.
It is further understood that, although ordinal terms, such as, “first,” “second,” “third,” are used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another element, component, region, layer or section. Thus, “a first element,” “component,” “region,” “layer” or “section” discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings herein.
Spatially relative terms, such as “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper” and the like, are used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It is understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the example term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device can be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.
Example embodiments are described herein with reference to cross section illustrations that are schematic illustrations of idealized embodiments. As such, variations from the shapes of the illustrations as a result, for example, of manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances, are to be expected. Thus, example embodiments described herein should not be construed as limited to the particular shapes of regions as illustrated herein, but are to include deviations in shapes that result, for example, from manufacturing. For example, a region illustrated or described as flat may, typically, have rough and/or nonlinear features. Moreover, sharp angles that are illustrated may be rounded. Thus, the regions illustrated in the figures are schematic in nature and their shapes are not intended to illustrate the precise shape of a region and are not intended to limit the scope of the present claims.
In conclusion, herein is presented a shopping cart maintenance signal flag. The disclosure is illustrated by example in the drawing figures, and throughout the written description. It should be understood that numerous variations are possible, while adhering to the inventive concept. Such variations are contemplated as being a part of the present disclosure.
This application is a nonprovisional utility application of provisional patent application, Ser. No. 62/756,193 filed in the United States Patent Office on Nov. 6, 2018, claims priority therefrom, and is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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62756193 | Nov 2018 | US |