GB2325618A - Carrying device - Google Patents

Abstract

A carrying device 11 comprises a longitudinal body 12, handle 21 and at least one integral extension 17 designed to demountably retain a hand carrier eg. shopping bag. The carrying device body may include an integral longitudinal inverted U shaped channel enabling the device to be attached to the upper edge of a wheeled shopping trolley. One or more handles of the hand carrier may then be attached to the carrying device via the extension(s). This allows the hand carrier to remain open within the trolley whilst being retained to the trolley frame via the carrying device. The device may then be 'unclipped' from the trolley frame with the hand carrier hanging from the extension(s), thus allowing easy porterage of the hand carrier.

Description

CARRYING DEVICE This invention relates to a carrying device. It is particularly concerned with a carrying device for use by hand to facilitate the handling of individual goods.

When purchasing goods in a large store such as a supermarket a shopper undertakes a process involving a number of goods handling steps. Items, some of which may be heavy and/or bulky, are selected from sites which may be widely spaced in the store and placed in a trolley. Once selection is complete the loaded trolley is wheeled to a check-out where a store operative causes information on each item from the trolley, typically stored in a bar code on the item, to be entered into a data processing system. Once information on all the items has been entered into the system a total bill for the items is printed out for the purchaser to pay. The purchased items are then removed from an outlet station of the checkout. This usually involves packing the purchased goods into carrier bags or a box and loading them into another trolley.

The loaded trolley is then wheeled into the store car park to enable the goods to be loaded in the shoppers car for removal from the supermarket site.

The described process involves several goods handling steps: 1 the shopper takes them down from the display and places it in the trolley in an increasingly chaotic mixture of items; 2 the shopper or check-out operative removes each item from the trolley and presents it to a scanning device such as a bar code scanner; 3 the scanned goods, with an additional packing operation for frozen and some other goods, are put down in an outlet region of the check-out; 4 the loose goods in the outlet region are picked up and placed in a carrier bag, box or loose in a trolley; 5 the recovered goods, however contained, are then transferred to a vehicle for the shopper to take the purchased goods away.

This process includes a number of bottlenecks most of which are associated with the passage of goods through the check-out or from its outlet station.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a carrying device for use as an intermediate carrying means the device comprising: a body; at least one extension from the body adapted to receive and demountably retain a part of a temporary carrying device so that the temporary carrying device is disposed to facilitate the placing of articles into the temporary carrying device; at least one mounting on the body whereby the body, with or without at least one temporary carrying device retained on an extension, can be located in a stable manner on a load carrying means; and a handle on the body whereby the body can be carried when supporting a temporary carrying device on the, or an, extension.

According to a first preferred version of the first aspect of the present invention the body is a longitudinal member having a longitudinal axis; and the device, on its own, has a centrally disposed centre of gravity lying on or closely adjacent to the longitudinal axis; the body has the, or each, extension located axially symmetrically on the body relative to the centre of gravity; the mounting being in the form of, or defined by the body or extensions thereof as, an axially extending channel extending through, or passing closely adjacent to, the centre of gravity; and the handle is disposed symmetrically relative to the centre of gravity.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a goods trolley comprising a wheeled structure having at least one load carrying means bearing a carrying device as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the carrying means supports the carrying device by way of the mounting of the carrying device.

The present invention enables one or more carrier bags to be located in a trolley in a partially opened condition to receive goods items handled by the trolley user. It is particularly intended that the user should have a portable scanning device, typically a bar code scanner, with a memory. The shopper having selected an article, uses the scanner in a single pass over the goods to enter details of the item into the scanner memory and then places the scanned item into the carrier suspended by means of the device. Once the shopper has completed their collection of goods the trolley with its suspended and loaded carrier bags is then presented at the check-out . The portable scanner is then interrogated to enable the check out operator to feed details of the purchases into the store processing system and to prepare a bill for, or otherwise debit the credit of, the shopper. The goods do not need to be individually handled or scanned at the check-out and are already contained in bags born by the trolley. Once the check-out operation is completed the shopper wheels the loaded trolley away to their car for unloading.

Effectively this process when compared with the one described earlier dispenses with the need for the middle three steps of the five in the handling process described.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings of which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a carrying device; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the device of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan view (from above) of the device of Figure 1; and Figure 4 is an end view of the device of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is of a shopping trolley supporting a number of carrier bags by way of a carrying device described in connection with Figures 1 to 4; FIGURES 1 TO 4 Carrying device 11 is an integral fabrication of PVC having a body 12 with a longitudinal axis 13. In its unloaded condition, as shown, the device has a centre of gravity 14 located on axis 13 midway between the ends 15, 16 of the body 12.

Extensions 17, 18 are provided integral with body 12 and spaced symmetrically on either side of centre of gravity 14. As will be seen from Figure 4 extension 17 (extension 18 corresponds) is in the form of a hook with a constricted entry 17A.

Mounting 19 takes the form (Figure 4) of a channel 20 of inverted U-section with (Figure 4) a constriction 19A.

The device 11 includes a handle 21 integral with body 11 and symmetrically disposed relative to the centre of gravity 14.

In use the device 11 has its main handle 21 above the centre of gravity and the extensions 17, 18 are located symmetrically relative to the centre of gravity 14 so that even when supporting a carrier bag by way of the extension 17, 18 as will be described hereafter the handle is not subject to excessive off set loading so can be used to handle a load suspended from the extension without undue twisting in the hand.

FIGURE 5 Shopping trolley 51 is of conventional type with a top rail 52, 53, 54 extending around both sides and the front of the trolley 51. In addition a further rail 55 extend across upper side of an internal spacer 56 in the trolley. The top rails 52, 53, 54 and 55 all provide holding locations for devices I to V which are each identical in form and function to the device 11 described in connection with Figures 1 to 4.

On entering the store with an empty trolley 51 the shopper collects a set of the devices I to V along with a collection of carrier bags. The devices I to V are then located as shown in Figure 5 by way of a channel corresponding to channel 20 of device 11. A carrier bag is then hung from the projections of each device I to V. The action of locating the carrier bag on the projections of the device tends to result in the bag being partially opened which facilitates subsequent deposition of selected goods into the bag.

In Figure 5 all the devices I to V are shown serving to suspend their associated bags on the inside of the trolley. This serves to protect the bags and their contents in the event the trolley contacts another object such as a trolley or cabinet. However one or more devices can be located so that their associated bag lies outside the trolley.

By hanging a number of carrier bags from the trolley prior to starting to select goods the bags can be filled in an orderly manner during the selection process around the store. Typically full advantage can be taken of the capacity of each bag without inserting an excessive weight. Goods of a similar type, such as frozen or chilled goods can be usefully packed in close proximity in a common bag to reduce heat gain by the goods. By inserting the selected goods immediately into carrier bags rather than stacking them up loosely in the trolley tidier storage can be readily achieved and in the trolley.

Once the shopper finished collecting goods the loaded trolley is wheeled to a checkout. The check-out operator then scans the individual items in each bag to produce an itemised bill for payment by the customer. The carrier bags are then repacked and the goods removed for home taking by the shopper.

It is envisaged that this process of early bagging of the selected items can be used to reduce delays at the check-out even further. To this end on entering the store the shopper is not only provided with trolley, a selection of carrying devices and carrier bags but also with a portable bar code scanner. As before the shopper loads the carrying devices onto the trolley and suspends a carrier bag from each of them as described above in connection with Figure 5.

The shopper then goes round selecting an item, scanning its bar coding with the portable scanner so as to store in the scanner a list of the selected goods, and depositing the goods item in a carrier bag suspended as described. Large items once scanned can be carried in the trolley directly without insertion into a carrier bag.

On completion of the selection phase the shopper pushes the loaded trolley with its packed bags to a check-out and passes the portable scanner with its memory holding accumulated information on the items carried by the trolley to the check-out operator. The contents of the scanner memory are readily downloaded and the total bill printed out for payment by the customer. The carrier bags do not need to be disturbed as the contents have already been scanned. The still loaded trolley is then wheeled out of the store for off-loading into the shoppers car. It will be apparent that this use of a portable scanner and one-time packing of the carrier bags does away with virtually all bottle necks at a check out in addition eliminating the need to rehandle goods in the store once they have been placed in a carrier bag.

Claims (5)

1. Claims

   1A carrying device for use as an intermediate carrying means the device comprising: a body; at least one extension from the body being adapted to receive and demountably retain a part of a temporary carrying device so that the temporary carrying device is disposed to facilitate the placing of articles into the temporary carrying device; at least one mounting on the body whereby the body, with or without at least one temporary carrying device retained on an extension, can be located in a stable manner on a load carrying means; and a handle on the body whereby the body can be carried when supporting a temporary carrying device on the, or an, extension.
2. 2 A carrying device as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the body is a longitudinal member having a longitudinal axis; and the device, on its own, has a centrally disposed centre of gravity lying on or closely adjacent to the longitudinal axis; the body has the, or each, extension located axially symmetrically on the body relative to the centre of gravity; the mounting is in the form of, or is defined by the body or an extension thereof as, an axially extending channel extending through, or passing closely adjacent to, the centre of gravity; and the handle is disposed symmetrically relative to the centre of gravity.
3. 3 A goods trolley comprising a wheeled structure having at least one load carrying means bearing a carrying device as claimed in any preceding Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the carrying means supports the carrying device by way of the mounting of the carrying device.
4. 4 A carrying devices as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.
5. 5 A goods trolley as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 5.