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This paper attempts to reconstruct the history of the shopping cart and, in so doing, to understand how the dynamics of innovation and mass consumption support each other reciprocally. The history of the shopping cart contains three identifiable periods. The first corresponds to the original cart (1936) - a ‘basket carrier’ derived from a folding chair, designed by the grocer Sylvan N. Goldman. The second period is that of the ‘telescoping carts’ - a cart with a hinge and a swinging gate, as developed by the engineer Orla E. Watson in order to allow the lateral interlocking of carts when not in use (1946). The third period is that of today’s cart, as it emerged from the paternity suit that opposed Goldman to Watson around the patent of telescoping shopping carts (1947-1949). The article shows that just like the object they deal with, these three periods are interlocked, and that this interlocked structure has contributed to stabilizing the shape of the device, finally turning it into the most robust, permanent and emblematic tool of mass consumption.