Posted on 09/21/2006 11:13:47 AM PDT by Grig
The general guideline of the competition is to design a cart that can provide shelter and storage emphasizing that it will still be affordable for production. Therefore, the team decided to concentrate its efforts in improving today’s shopping cart rather than coming up with a totally new form.
We believe that this approach will keep the cost to a minimum. This way, we are aiming at a cart model that could be produced in the same facilities and with the same methods as with the common shopping cart. We have concentrated on improving the hygiene of the homeless by separating them and their belongings from possibly contaminated recyclable materials.
Finally, we resolved some safety issues regarding the control and movement of a heavily loaded cart in an urban environment. The cart itself is a wireframe made from metallic tubing formed and welded in place using traditional welding methods, like TIG, MIG and others, according to the metals selected. The main body could be divided into 3 main areas, the lover part, which is the platform for mounting the wheels, the recyclable materials storage area, which is located in the front of the cart and the clothing storage area, at the back of the cart.
The rear wheels are commonly found in a shopping cart and can be steered 360o. The front wheels are larger in diameter and they are usually found in heavy-duty carts. This type of wheels was selected as they are more durable, and they can withstand the weight of the recyclable materials carried. Secondly, they absorb vibrations and therefore do not produce noise and finally, their large diameter allows them to overlap obstacles like stones, trash and pavement anomalies more easily.
The recyclable materials storage area is essentially a parallelogram cage. It consists of fixed sides and moveable left and right panels. These panels can be removed completely or folded to allow easy unloading of the materials or transportation of big items that would not fit otherwise. There is also a third panel inside this cage, which is positioned parallel to the rear side in a variable distance. This panel divides the storage area into two different compartments, so that the homeless can either fill it with one or two types of recyclable materials.
The clothing and personal belonging storage area, is protected by a polymer closet. The closet protects valuable or sensitive items against the elements and possible contaminated recyclable materials. The closet closure is itself a foldable bed in the closed position. It consists of an aluminum frame and a polymer waterproof mattress. The bed is connected to a tent made from waterproof cloth and once retracted if forms a complete tent keeping the homeless safe from weather conditions.
The tent can be removed during the summer. Above the closet there is a mounting position for a rechargeable flashlight that lights the interior of the tent. The flashlight can also be mounted in any of the panels by a clip. Inside the closet, there is a waterproof sleeve for safe keeping documents such as identity card and medical records.
Regarding road safety, the cart is equipped with three reflective surfaces attached at positions that indicate the overall volume of the object and a brake system, that uses bicycle parts. The brake’s handle is equipped with a handbrake lever that keeps the cart immobilized once pressed.
This might be great for the homeless as a shelter (hope it is easily hosed down), but as a shopping cart is blows bigtime. I'm supposed to expect my 5'2" wife to get something out of the bottom of that? Only with the help of a ladder and a safety harness. I can really see her folding the sides down at the check out counter to get that last can of Bush's Boston Baked Beans off the bottom. She's pregnant and has a hard enough time with a regular cart right now.
Where do I put the kids? How am I gonna put 100 of them together for easy storage and parking lot collection?
Unless it is "purpose built" for the homeless, nobody will buy it. Only grocery stores that are trying to promote their image to the touchy-feely San Franciscans and Vancouverites will buy it. The others (especially Wal Mart and discount chains) will stay away in droves.
If the stores don't want it, then this is just more crap spent on a problem that really can't be solved by giving them things to make their life better. If you can figure out how to get them to try some personal hygiene, you will do the world a favor. Now about getting them to use toilets...
Free wireless internet included.
If you have 100 kids, storing them is the least of your worries.
[P.S. The sides do fold down. The cart is a dumb idea, intelligently executed. :P ]
Get a job? The church where my wife works was approached by a couple claiming they needed money to buy car parts to fix their car so they could take a job in another county. The preacher commenced to get the exact items "supposedly" needed to fix the car from a relative of the couple who was their "mechanic". After getting the list, the preacher went to the auto parts store, bought the parts after the "mechanic" told the parts house owner what he needed, but left the parts there for the couple to pick up. The next day, the couple went to the parts store to claim and pick up the parts, but then stated they didn't need them and wanted the cash for the parts. The parts store owner called the "mechanic", then called the preacher and the police. The couple fled without getting anything, but it took two days and a lot of effort invested to devise a con such as their's that eventually failed. All that time they invested to steal something they could have spent picking peanuts at $6.25/hr for three hours each day for the two of them and made as much as the $75 they'd have gotten from those parts.
Well, my ambiguous syntax aside, modern shopping carts fold so that they can be joined together. That is for storage and so the stock boys (is that PC?) can gather up a bunch at once in the parking lot.
Your conclusion is correct, however.
PS. I would have put things away long before double digits, much less the full 100. The two I have and the third on the way are plenty.
Have spent some time on the site now. Some very clever designs. Take a look, they may have something for storm survivors that happen to become homeless.
Understood re modern shopping carts; I think these are intended to be given directly to the homeless.
Re procreation: Wise idea. Just think of the wait for the bathroom!
I asked "When's payday?"
He said "I don't know, you're the one who is working!" ...
Duh - That's what I get for leaving my computer for a half hour - forgetting I already posted this joke once!
Looks like an Industrial Designer has a lot of time on their hands.
But it is a good one, so we don't mind.
While not disagreeing with your tagline, isn't "illicit sin" redundant? Kind of like "dead corpse" or "stupid DUmmy?" [Capitalization intentional.]
Makes sense to me.
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