Foldable cart system and method
AssigneeC5 Enterprises
InventorsKENNETH CAMARCO, JONATHAN ALBERT, SUDHIR KUMAR, JASON ZERWECK, SETH GALEWYRICK
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A foldable or collapsible cart can be oriented in several different configurations to accommodate different loads and transport requirements. In one configuration, the cart may be folded for direct load the back of a vehicle. In another configuration, the cart can operate in lowboy or dolly mode. In another configuration the cart may be used as a hand truck.
Claims20
A folding cart comprising:
- a deck supported by a plurality of front legs and a plurality of rear legs when in an open position;
- said rear legs each having a one of a plurality of link mechanisms coupled to at least one of a plurality of lower hinges which are attached to each of the plurality of front legs and coupled to at least one of a plurality of upper hinges which are attached to the deck;
- and
- said plurality of link mechanisms capable of bending the plurality of upper hinges and the plurality of lower hinges to cause the plurality of front legs and plurality of rear legs to fold to a compact position.
A cart comprising a horizontal deck, two or more vertical support legs for supporting the deck and connected to hinged members each having pivot points, and two or more wheels wherein the cart can be oriented in different configurations to accommodate different loads and transport requirements, the configurations comprising:
- a first configuration wherein the vertical support members are vertically extended with the horizontal deck on top of the vertical support members, wherein the wheels are on the bottom of the vertical support members and the hinged members are fully extended at the pivot points allowing the vertical support members to sweep toward the back of the cart to form a second configuration;
- and
- a second configuration wherein the hinged members are folded about the pivot points so that the support legs are substantially parallel to and under the horizontal surface.
A method of folding a cart comprising:
- activate a first control lever to extend a plurality of guide wheels to allow stabilization of the cart on a vehicle platform surface in response to a squeezing of a first control lever to eject;
- activate a second control lever to apply a force through a cable to a linkage mechanism to pull rear leg lower tray linkages that cause the lower hinge pair to start bending and a rear leg to unlock allowing a rear leg lower tray link pivot pin and rear leg stabilizer brace link pivot pin to slide axially within the linkage mechanism;
- and
- push the cart into a vehicle to cause a front leg to be pushed back to be braced against the rear leg causing the lower hinge pair to bend further and the upper hinge pair to start folding and continue until the front legs and rear legs are fully folded.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.