Collapsible Cart With Cable-Actuated Hinge Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing collapsible shopping carts are either too bulky for transportation, too small to carry multiple items, or both, posing challenges in reducing retailer cleaning demands and ensuring customer safety from infectious diseases.
Innovation Solution
A portable, collapsible shopping cart design featuring a base panel with caster wheels, a basket support frame with hinge mounts and a latch system that allows for easy assembly and disassembly, enabling users to securely carry and detach baskets, and collapse the cart for compact storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If existing collapsible shopping carts are designed to be compact for transportation, then they become too small and capable of carrying only a limited number of goods
Solution Approach 1:
The shopping cart is divided into a base unit and detachable basket components. The base panel with caster wheels remains compact for transportation, while multiple baskets can be attached or removed as needed. This segmentation allows the cart to maintain small storage volume while providing expandable carrying capacity through modular basket attachments.
Solution Approach 2:
The baskets are designed to nest within each other or attach to the base frame in a nested configuration. When not in use, baskets can be stored within the base unit or stacked compactly, allowing the entire system to occupy minimal space during transportation while providing ample carrying capacity when assembled.
2Quantity of substance
If existing collapsible shopping carts are designed to carry multiple items, then they become too bulky to transport in most user's vehicles
Solution Approach 1:
The shopping cart employs dynamic reconfigurability where the basket support frame can be collapsed flat against the base panel, and baskets can be detached or repositioned. This dynamic transformation allows the cart to switch between a compact transportation state and an expanded carrying state, optimizing both volume efficiency and carrying capacity as needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The cart system separates the permanent base unit from the removable basket components. The base panel with frame and caster wheels maintains a compact footprint for transportation, while carrying capacity is adjusted by attaching only the necessary number of baskets, preventing the need to transport unnecessary bulk.
3Adaptability or versatility
If retailers provide shopping carts to customers, then they must expend additional resources to clean the shopping carts between users
Solution Approach 1:
The shopping cart system is designed for personal ownership and individual use, where each customer uses their own cart. This self-service model eliminates the need for retailers to collect, transport, and clean shared carts between users, significantly reducing the energy and resources required for cart maintenance while maintaining service quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The cart management responsibility is extracted from the retailer system and transferred to the individual customer. By removing carts from the retailer's fleet management cycle, the cleaning and maintenance burden is eliminated for the retailer, as each customer independently manages their own cart hygiene and returns it to their personal storage.
4Ease of operation
If existing collapsible shopping carts are designed for easy assembly and disassembly, then they may compromise structural stability and reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The cart uses segmented connection points at the hinge mounts where baskets attach to the support frame. These segmented interfaces employ robust mechanical connections with latch mechanisms that provide both ease of attachment/detachment and reliable structural stability when assembled, preventing compromise between assembly convenience and structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The hinge mounts utilize rounded or curved geometric features that facilitate smooth insertion and engagement of basket components. These curved connection geometries enable easy assembly through simple snapping or latching actions while maintaining strong mechanical bonds that ensure structural reliability during use.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention discloses a collapsible cart with a base panel and basket support frame. Two hinge mounts extend from the base frame and a hinge pin extends from each hinge mount. The basket support frame has two support beams that are slidably and rotatable mounted on the hinge pins. Each hinge mount forms a receiving space that can receive and block rotation of each support beam. A cable made of flexible material mounts between the two support beams. When a downward or upward force is exerted on the cable, each end of the cable pulls the support beams towards each other along the longitudinal axis of the hinge pin causing the support beams to move into a position which is clear of the receiving space and allows rotation around the hinge pins towards the base panel and into a collapsed position.