FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to an item transportation cart. More specifically, the convertible cart relates to a manually-operated device which provides surfaces capable of supporting large quantities of various items. The present invention is also able to reconfigure those surfaces to optimally facilitate transportation of items of different sizes or quantities.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A variety of tools may be used in order to transport large amounts of goods manually through a store, while moving, or in a variety of other situations. Devices such as shopping carts and baskets make it relatively easy for a grocery store customer to move groceries throughout a store and from the store to an awaiting vehicle. Similarly, larger palettes may be used by stock workers in order to resupply shelves with items and inventory as needed by a given retailer. Such tools are sometimes found to be adequate for general use in common situations.

However, such tools have several drawbacks. Conventional shopping carts are often unwieldy, requiring an undue amount of effort to change velocity or direction while pushing. Hand baskets are too small to be effective at carrying large items and are also weight-limited, quickly becoming too heavy to be useful in moving large amounts of small items. Larger trolley carts are more effective at both transporting large items and heavy loads; however, even these carts have drawbacks. The one-size-fits-all model of a trolley cart is ineffective on a case-by-case basis at moving smaller items, items of different shapes, or fragile items that cannot be stacked atop each other. What is needed is a trolley cart capable of shifting into an appropriate shape for carrying large amounts of items of any size or shape. Further desirable is a cart that can flatten for ease of storage or transportation between uses.

The present invention addresses these issues. The convertible cart allows for carriage of many items of different shapes in a position that provides a base with front and back walls, along with structural rods preventing items from sliding out of either side. A two-level tiered configuration may be best suited for carriage of larger, fragile items which cannot be stacked atop each other, or simply for organization of different large items. For the largest loads, a flat base arrangement maximizes both vertical space and available base area while providing the handlebar at an appropriate position for pushing or pulling. When transportation of items is complete, a flat configuration minimizes necessary storage space for the present invention. These different arrangements are made possible through the employment of several rigid and telescoping members, which enable both custom handlebar arrangement and secure, intuitive adjustment between configurations.

