US 7,673,410 B1Granted

Portable shopping aid

AssigneeCM Concepts, LLC

InventorsMichael J. Buerchner, Christopher N. Pericles, Michael J. Strasser, William G. Tammen

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Abstract

This disclosure provides a portable shopping aid used to mount a shopping list, coupons, or other documents. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the aid is configured to sacrifice a writing surface in favor of portability, by providing a small body that may be easily inserted into a pocket or handbag. The body includes a clamp for mounting the aid onto a push bar of a shopping cart, for hands free viewing during shopping, as well as a document clip mechanism that clips documents by their ends closest to the push bar. In order to provide structural rigidity to retained documents, and notwithstanding the absence of a writing surface or clipboard, the clip mechanism is configured to crease documents. The shopping aid also includes feet for standing the aid upright, on a flat surface, and means for mounting the aid magnetically on a refrigerator wall, in all cases such that retained documents are presented in a convenient reading orientation. The aid is further designed so that it can be made in a single mold, thereby lowering design costs.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A portable shopping aid, comprising:

a clamp, sized to selectively engage the push bar of a shopping cart to mount said shopping aid with respect thereto;
and a document clip mechanism, including a document support structure and a clipping member to resiliently urge a document inserted into said document clip mechanism against the document support structure, the document clip mechanism formed to receive and retain an end of the document at a document end closest to the push bar, the document support structure further having two spaced-apart members that define a gap therebetween, the spaced-apart members to provide backing to at least a portion of the document, the document clip mechanism to urge the document toward a reading plane substantially parallel to the push bar of the shopping cart;
wherein said aid is formed as an integral component in a single mold, with the clamp and document clip mechanism being generally fixed in relation to one another and with mold half separation along a direction substantially perpendicular to the push bar of the shopping cart;
and the clipping member and the document support structure are to bend the document about an axis perpendicular to the push bar of the shopping cart, to thereby enhance rigidity of the document when inserted into the document clip mechanism, wherein:
the document support structure and the clipping member are formed so as to be non-overlapping in the direction, to thereby permit mold halves to be separated along the direction, the clipping member to urge the document rearward against the spaced-apart supports substantially at the position of the gap, the document thereby urged to bend to imparts relative rigidity notwithstanding influence of gravity upon the document and notwithstanding absence of any substantial inherent writing support;
and the two spaced-apart supports each have a rear surface mounting thereon a magnet positioned to magnetically engage a vertical surface and hold the shopping aid with respect thereto to retain the document in a substantially vertical orientation.

3 more elements

A portable shopping aid, comprising:

a clamp sized to selectively engage and clamp a shopping cart and to support said shopping aid with respect thereto;
and a document clip mechanism to retain a document, the document clip mechanism being integrally-formed with the clamp and having a clipping member and two spaced-apart members that define a gap there between;
wherein the clamp and the document clip mechanism are each formed so as to have non-overlapping elements in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the push bar of the shopping cart, to thereby permit mold halves to be separated for said aid along the direction, and the clipping member and the document support structure bend the document when inserted into the document clip mechanism about an axis that is also substantially perpendicular to each of the push bar of the shopping cart, to thereby enhance rigidity to the document when engaged with the document clip mechanism, wherein:
the clamp is configured as a c-clamp, including a forward jaw and a rearward jaw that do not overlap in the direction, each of the forward jaw and the rear jaw culminating in a foot, the feet to collectively support said aid on a horizontal surface, substantially perpendicular to the fiat back, said aid also being weight balanced to stand upright, when supported by the end of the forward jaw and the end of the rear jaw on a horizontal surface;
the fiat back has magnetic mounting means for selectively mounting said aid to a vertical surface;
and said aid is to inherently hold the document in a substantially vertical orientation, irrespective of whether said aid is magnetically mounted to a vertical surface or standing upright.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.