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About
Shopping Carts
History Of The Shopping Cart
The shopping cart was
conceptualized by Sylvan Goldman in 1937. Goldman was a co-partner
in an Oklahoma City grocery chain who realized he could provide
better service and sell more groceries if he had a means to help
carry them. His initial prototype failed miserably. According to J.
Tevere Mac Fadden, author of “The Rise of the Supermarket, “they
folded up on themselves at the slightest provocation and capsized
entirely too easily.”
One year later Goldman
designed a two- tiered cart on wheels. To increase its popularity
some retailers hired people to ‘shop’ with grocery carts as to
influence the behavior desired for customers. The concept caught on
and the shopping cart was born.
In 1947 a child seat
was designed for young children to sit out of the way of purchases
in the basket proper. In 1952, a plastic piece was developed
to close off the leg holes for the childless shopper. This allowed
for the shopper to place small items in the child seat section
without merchandise falling to the floor.
Shopping Cart Design
The design of the
shopping cart has changed little since the 1950’s. Unlike the
automotive industry, which has witnessed many safety features (lap
belt, seat belt with shoulder harness, antilock breaks, air bags,
etc), shopping carts have had a minimal amount of safety related
improvements.
Though various designs
of shopping carts have been introduced through the years, it has
been found that the industry is resistant to a material departure
from the conventional design of cart and child carrier in use since
the 1950’s. Essentially, the shopping cart is constructed with a
lower frame which sits on casters, two of which swivel, to provide
mobility and maneuverability. A rectangular basket that is narrow at
one end and wider at the opposite end, usually the rear portion of
the cart, forms the basic configuration.
The basket has a central
chamber made up of basket walls and a gate pivotally mounted to
serve as a rear wall, such that carts of similar design may be
nested (stacked) together whereby a second cart is pushed into the
rear of the first cart. Child seats for this type of cart usually
have a secondary back wall structure that moves forward and rests in
a forward position forming a V-shaped rear wall configuration. A
seat platform is attached so that it may be deployed to thereby be
located between the diverging rear wall and the support member.
The above mentioned
type of cart and seat assembly design, however results in the child
seat positioned with a high center of gravity, due to the inherent
limitations of the design. The seat must be at a height in which the
V-shaped rear wall configuration has ample depth to hold the seat
platform between its diverging parts.
This location for the
child seat is believed to be potentially dangerous for children if
the user were to leave a child unattended. This is due to the fact
that the center of gravity for the child resides in the upper
portion of the cart, and the fact that the child is seated near the
open top edge of the cart basket.
With the current
popular design of shopping cart, the user must be in constant
attendance to prevent such occurrences. Depending on the
circumstances of the retail environment in which the device is used,
the need for constant attendance by the user may not be possible or
practical. Neither the user nor the retailer finds benefit from this
required level of care and attention.
Need for
Design Modification
There is a significant
need for an improved design to reduce these injuries. According to a
report from the Consumer Product Safety commission, between 1985 and
1996, an annual average of 21,600 children under five years of age
were treated in hospital emergency rooms due to falls when in a
shopping cart.. This report also indicated that 66 percent of the
fall victims were treated in hospitals for head injuries.
Therefore, there is a
need for a new design for a shopping cart that:
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Provides a nestable cart with a lowered positioned collapsible
child seat
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Is very similar in operation and appearance to existing popular
devices
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Retains the familiar structure of a swinging rear gate with child
seat mounted on the inside of the rear gate
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Allows the child seat be positioned deeper within the shopping
cart basket to reduce falls and provide a suitable location for a
user to place an infant carrier
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