Ballasted Cart Storage Station for Stability and Relocation

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional shopping cart storage stations, especially those in snowy areas, face issues with permanence and stability, as they may not be secured to the ground, leading to movement due to weather or collisions, and existing solutions can cause damage to vehicles and carts.

Innovation Solution

A freestanding shopping cart storage station design featuring vertical supports, cross bars, and hollow ballast members that provide stability and are removable, allowing for easy relocation and filled with materials like sand or soil, which also serve as planting boxes for aesthetic purposes.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Stability of the object's composition

If the storage station is made permanently installed and secured to the ground, then stability and resistance to movement are improved, but the ability to relocate the station is lost and maintenance becomes difficult in snowy areas

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovestabilityVSAvoidrelocatability

Core Design Contradiction:

Stability of the object's compositionVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The storage station is divided into separable components: a freestanding frame structure and removable ballast members. This segmentation allows the station to be stable when assembled while enabling easy relocation by removing the ballast members, thus resolving the contradiction between stability and relocatability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The ballast members are designed to be dynamically adjustable - removable and replaceable - allowing the station to transition between a stable installed state and a mobile relocatable state. This dynamic design resolves the fixed contradiction between permanence and relocatability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

2Adaptability or versatility

If the storage station is made freestanding and not secured to the ground, then ease of relocation is improved, but stability and resistance to movement deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproverelocatabilityVSAvoidstability

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

Ballast members are added to the freestanding station to provide counterweight that resists movement from weather patterns and collisions. The ballast members weigh down the station structure, providing the necessary stability while maintaining the ability to relocate by removing the ballast.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #8Anti-weight (Counterweight)

3Stability of the object's composition

If permanently installed storage stations are used in snowy areas, then stability is improved, but they may go unplowed and become inaccessible

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovestabilityVSAvoidaccessibility

Core Design Contradiction:

Stability of the object's compositionVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

By segmenting the station into a freestanding frame with removable ballast members, the station can be easily relocated or accessed by removing the ballast, preventing the accessibility problems that occur with permanently installed stations in snowy areas.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

4Adaptability or versatility

If conventional storage stations are used without proper securing, then ease of relocation is maintained, but movement due to weather or collisions occurs causing damage

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproverelocatabilityVSAvoiddamage from movement

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The ballast members provide counterweight that prevents unwanted movement of the freestanding station caused by weather patterns or collisions, thereby preventing damage while maintaining the ability to relocate when needed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #8Anti-weight (Counterweight)

Solution Approach 2:

The ballast members act as a form of prior cushioning by providing preemptive stability against potential movement from weather or collisions, protecting the station and surrounding objects from damage before harmful movement can occur.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #11Beforehand cushioning (Prior cushioning)

Data Source

PatentUS8998003B2Ballasted cart storage station

Publication Date: 2015.04.07 MCCUE CORP

AI summary

A freestanding storage station includes a pair of spaced-apart, generally parallel side members and a roof that is supported by the side members. Each side member includes a cross bar, and at least one saddle-shaped, hollow ballast-receiving member that straddles the cross bar and rests on the ground. When filled with ballast, the ballast-receiving members serve to stabilize the storage station relative to the ground and enable the storage station to resist movement due to environmental winds or collision. The ballast-receiving members include a first ballast-receiving portion and a second ballast-receiving portion, and the ballast member straddles the cross bar such that the first ballast-receiving portion resides on an interior-facing side of the cross bar and the second ballast-receiving portion resides on an exterior-facing side of the cross bar.