DE2413422A1 - PROCEDURES FOR DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD ON BOARD VEHICLES AND SERVING PLATES USED FOR THIS PROCEDURE - Google Patents

Description

DR. FRIEDRICH E. MAYER

DIPL.-ING. A. PANTENBURG _{KAIiEL: TRIPA} tent

PATENT LAWYERS? ^{LEFON <0 72 31> '24 60}

Georges MAURY, 155? 3? Ue de Crenelle, Paris, Seine, France

Method of distributing food to Bora -von. i'aiir produce and serving tellar used for this procedure

The present invention relates to a method of distribution of meals on board vehicles with a large number of passengers: as well as a single plate for serving food in these vehicles, the design of which enables the implementation of the above To facilitate the procedure.

Although the invention is quite general in vehicles of all types., however, whether it could be used on land, water or in the air, it is intended to serve food to streamline and facilitate on board aircraft.

With this type of transport in particular, the problems of distributing food to the passengers are extremely difficult.

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rig, mainly because of the increasingly faster speed of the aircraft and the ever-shorter flight times, especially on short or short-haul flights, during which meals may need to be served.

At present, on short and medium-haul flights, so / ie in the case of group transport in the form of charter flights the meals are allocated to the passengers on individual plates during the flight and also these after taking the meal cleared again during the flight.

These dishes will be prepared on land before: Departure brought into the aircraft and temporarily parked there in shelves or compartment boxes, with the transport of the serving plates done with the help of carts.

After the start and if the lighting conditions required for safety allow it, the cellars will be den Assigned to passengers. To do this, the on-board staff uses scissors and bulky serving trolleys that are loaded with the plates and that travel the entire length of the aircraft. Those in charge of distribution hand over to the passenger a plate, which he places on a foldable plate attached to the back of the front seat. Are When the passengers finish eating, the flight crew has to collect the empty plates, which is done with the help of the same Carriage happens, which in some cases has to be driven back and forth several times, as some passengers with the food finish later than others.

This type of distribution is very troublesome because of the weight of the trolleys and makes distribution and collection difficult

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the plate, as this work is done at the start and end of the flight when the aircraft is off is ascending or landing.

For a one or two hour flight with an airplane carrying more than a hundred passengers it is usually three or four cars and two Distributors per cart used to distribute and collect the plates after the meal to shorten the time required.

This process has obvious flaws, especially those that during the flight and-under inconvenient Too large a number of staff may be employed and given more useful and profitable tasks could.

In addition, the car when the plane leaves the Equilibrium or any other incident, pose a danger by being downright in projectiles transform and injure passengers or staff.

Another inconvenience to be aware of is the need to:

- In the dining room of the aircraft a considerable space for the temporary storage of the plates and having to permanently occupy the car;

-; to use several heavy distribution trucks.

It will be readily admitted that these devices reduce the usable space of the aircraft and that they are not profitable Increase charge.

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All of this runs counter to good use of space, there the weight of the distribution staff and equipment, if they were left on land, several additional ones would be taken along Passengers or other cargo were allowed.

The present invention now proposes a method of distributing food and a device which provides these various Fix the deficiency and enable the storage facilities for the plates in the dining room of the aircraft as well to switch off the wagons required for distribution.

It also permits only what is absolutely necessary for the safety and proper operation of the aircraft Deploy staff; In addition, by vacating the space occupied by the wagons and storage facilities, the capacity of the aircraft to take passengers and cargo can be increased.

The food distribution system according to the invention is based on that the serving plates on the aircraft are placed in the vicinity of each seat intended for the passenger before leaving get the passengers on board. Likewise, the plates are only collected again when the plane is ashore is located.

In the method according to the invention, the passenger takes over the operation itself by reaching for the plate near his seat and afterwards Postpones meal.

Of course, the serving plate has to be housed in one place that the passenger can easily reach, and

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Although the plate is preferably, but not limiting, in front of the passenger's seat on the backrest of the Attached to the front seat, advantageously in a receiving device attached to the fold-down tray, how such storage trays are generally attached to the rear of the seat.

The process of dividing and collecting the plates can be carried out at the same time as the rest of the normal work for maintenance of the aircraft interior are carried out by inserting trolleys loaded with serving plates into the aircraft then be disembarked again before departure.

To observe the safety regulations and to avoid that the serving plate when full, i.e. in the position when a meal has not been consumed, is an impermissible Form an obstruction, the plate is expediently arranged vertically in the folding space provided for it. If the serving plate is carried by the tilt tray on the back of the front seat, the plate will be turned into a Quiver or inserted in a sliding system of the tray.

However, it must be ensured that the plate placed on it must not obstruct the plug guest, the tray if necessary to use for reading or writing. This means that the serving plate is sufficiently liquid-tight must be, both in an exact vertical position and in horizontal position.

With this type of plate, the question arises of how liquid parts contained in the food can be prevented from leaking can. This question is due to a special structure

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-θάβε plate, which basically consists of three nested and detachable parts, namely:

- the actual body that is used to hold the to be ingested Serving dishes,

- A cover that can be pivoted about an axis on the body and

- A collecting housing which cooperates in a sealing manner with the body and the cover so that no liquid from the Plate can escape.

The plate according to the invention can be used again and again and is constructed in such a way that it can be cleaned on land and stacked in the smallest of spaces. ·

A particular embodiment of the invention is described below with reference to the drawings as a non-restrictive example.
Show it:

1 shows the schematic floor plan of an aircraft part with the passenger cabin, specifying the way in which the inventive method is carried out;

2 shows the perspective partial view of an inventive Serving plate, with the collecting housing attached to the body and cut open to the part to illustrate the body it surrounds, while the lid for the sake of clarity of the drawing shown at a slight distance from its mounting position on the body;

3 shows the plate of FIG. 2 in longitudinal section; Fig. 4- a section along line IY-IV of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a partial plan view of the plate of Fig. 2, 3 and 4;

6 shows an elevation of the plate according to arrow 6 in FIG. 3;

7 and 8 details of the plate on an enlarged scale ;

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9, 10 and 11 are diagrams showing the manner in which the inventive (direction finder of the Plug guests are used, and

• Fig. 12 shows a section on an enlarged scale through the Plate in the position it assumes in FIG.

In FIG. 1, under 1, the passenger compartment of an aircraft equipped with armchairs 2, which is separated by a central aisle 3 are shown. The access door to the aircraft is indicated under 4.

It is assumed that there are no dinner plates on the plane are put in their place. In this case, with the aircraft on the ground, it is left in a van 5 from the airport kitchens with filled dinner plates Drive up loaded serving trolleys.

These loaded wagons are shown in Fig. 1 under P '(only two are shown, but one of the capacity number of wagons corresponding to the aircraft).

The distribution staff pushes the trolleys P into the center aisle 3 and in each of the transverse aisles 6 places the dinner plates at all the places occupied by the passengers are marked accordingly, e.g. by marking the seat at 7 with a colored rosette, a label or any other suitable labeling system.

As soon as all seats have been provided with dinner plates, the cars P, which move in the direction of arrow 8, through the same entrance 4 to which you came in, driven out again, possibly also through a different one Exit.

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In the case of a landed aircraft in which the passengers have already eaten their meal and that If dinner plates have to be filled again, the process is carried out in the following way: From that of the kitchens Coming delivery vans 5 are shown one after the other according to arrow 9 empty wagons V and full wagons P extended, with the direction of travel of the wagons and the direction of clearing are indicated by arrow 10.

The staff operating the empty trolleys V goes into each of the cross aisles 6, takes away the empty plates and loads them so that the car V. Then the staff puts the car P full plates in the marked places 7. When finished In this operation, the cars V are loaded with empty plates, whereas the cars P are empty, and all of them Cars are now driven into delivery van 5, which takes them back to the kitchens.

It is advisable to carry out this gathering process and the distribution of the plates immediately after the passage of the personnel responsible for cleaning the aircraft through which a very quick processing of the process is guaranteed.

Of course, you can also provide different combinations in order to accelerate the spreading and clearing process, For example, if you want to distribute three hundred plates, you will use six trolleys that point in the direction of clearance 10 drive forward.

The first two cars will be empty and will hold 150 plates (The load capacity of each trolley is 75 plates), the two following trolleys, which are full, distribute 150 plates and take 150 empty plates according to the distribution the full plate. Finally the last two finish

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2413A22

full car the distribution.

With reference to Figs. 2-8, a serving plate according to the Invention will now be described in detail: The plate is made of molded plastic, for example, and consists of three units, namely a vessel body 11, a lid 12 and a collecting housing 1 $, which can also be used to accommodate a coolant such as a Dry ice plate, can serve.

The shell 11 has a bottom 14, which is preferably with Web 15 is provided to hold the in the plate filled dishes are intended.

The base is advantageously also provided with an indentation 16 which serves as a handle which makes it easier to grip.

The end wall 17 has a protruding part 17 ', which is used to lock the lid 12, as described later. The back wall 18 of the body, which (as in Fig. clearly visible) with respect to the bottom 14 and the side walls 19 of the body receding, is pierced by holes 20, the purpose of which will be explained later. The side walls of the body end in a protruding upper edge 21 parallel to the floor and form outwardly directed flanges that fit into rails on the tray of the front seat intervene, as described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 12. Near the rear wall 18 of the Shell, the side walls 19 are pierced by two holes 22, in which the axle journals 23 engage, with which the lid 12 is provided and which allow the lid to swing.

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As is particularly evident from FIG. 2, there are Axle journals 23 are below the level of the cover 12 and are on on part of their length from a cylindrical part 24 enclosed, which by an inclined plane 25 with the lower surface of the lid is connected. This cylindrical part and this inclined plane 25 come when closed Lid in contact with a cylindrical part 26 and a corresponding inclined plane 27 on the side walls 19 of the shell are arranged (see Fig. 7)

Otherwise, the edge 28 of the cover 12 rests on a shoulder 29 as an extension of the inclined plane 27.

Thanks to this arrangement, with the lid closed, maximum sealing of the plate at the connection of Lid and vessel.

The containment case I3, which has the general shape of a parallelepiped has, one side of which is open, is intended to be on the receding rear wall 18 of the Slide shell 11. This overlapping is through realized two inclined planes JO and 31, each on upper part of the rear wall 18 and in a recessed bearing 32 (see FIG. 7) that is arranged at the base of the wall 18 is to click into place.

The housing 13 is preferably made of an elastically deformable material in order to achieve the best possible seal to achieve with the shell 11.

Furthermore, the end 33 of the upper housing wall, which extends slightly beyond the inclined plane 30, is also included intended to cooperate with an end tongue 34- of the lid, which presses itself firmly against the end 33 when the lid is closed by being pushed through the closure of the lid

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exerts a certain pressure on the end 33. This lock is obtained by engaging the tooth 17 'of the End wall of the body into a recess 35 on the front edge of the cover 36.

The cover 12 has a gripping indentation 37, which the Indentation 16 of the shell bottom is opposite, whereby both depressions form a handle.

Care is taken that the lower row of holes 20 in the rear wall 18 of the shell is on the same level as possible lies with the common inner edge -38 of wall 18 and floor 14- of the body. This arrangement largely prevents liquids from remaining in the collecting housing 13 » when the plate is level.

Finally, the plates according to the invention can with very little Space required when not in use. For this purpose, as can be seen from the drawing, the vertical surfaces of the plate body have a slight.Verjüngung, which after removing the cover 12 and the collecting housing 13 enables them to be stacked one inside the other. The latter can also be plugged into one another thanks to the fact that its walls also have a slight bevel.

To accommodate the plate described above, xvie particularly apparent from FIGS. 9-12, a system for Bracket provided on the lower surface of a tilting tray 4-0, which is located on the back of the front of the guest Seat is pivoted at 4-1. This recording system can both from an open quiver at its upper Part exist in which the dinner plate can be inserted, as well as simply in the arrangement of two. Slide rails 42 on the tray and a lower transverse

4 098.41 / 0 26 9

Stroke 43, which limits the thrust of the plate. The plate is pushed into the slide rails by sliding the side edges put in its place. It goes without saying that when using a quiver, the plate does not have any lateral Strips 21 may have.

FIG. 9 shows the dinner plate in the position in which the passenger finds it when boarding the aircraft. In this position the lower floor surface is presented 14 of the plate the view of the passenger, and you could, if desired, on this area instructions, such as safety regulations or attach various advertising labels or the like.

If the passenger wishes to eat, he pulls the tray 40 down into the position of FIG. 10, then pulls the plate Y. out of the slide rails 42 in the direction of the arrow F ^ and places it on the tray by a movement shown schematically by arrow Fo in FIG. Of the The passenger then only needs to raise the lid 12 to the position shown in FIG. 11 in order to access the food.

The lid was thrown back for the entire duration of the meal remains, one could benefit from this circumstance use advertising inscriptions, daily news as an on-board newspaper on the surface of the lid facing the guest and the like to be printed on.

After a meal, the guest folds the lid 12 down again and pushes the plate into its slide rails 42 and can either bring the tablet into the position of FIG. Or leave it down for reading or writing to use.

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Fig. 12 shows exactly that when the tray is folded up is, the inventive plate any leakage of Prevents liquid from flowing through the holes 20 in the rear wall of the dish to get into the collecting housing 13> which is also waterproof.

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Claims (18)

Claims 1. Method of distribution of packaged in single plates Meals on board vehicles, for example aircraft that carry numerous passengers, characterized in that that the plates intended for the passengers are outside the vehicle before the passengers in Take a seat, prepare the vehicle and place the filled plates on at least one mobile rack (P) in the Vehicle are retracted, v / whether ei one or the mobile, loaded with plates (P) racks through the between the central aisle (3) arranged for the seats (2) and can be taken by a passenger for each Seat (7) accommodates a plate in a space provided for this purpose, after which the mobile one or more emptied Racks are moved out of the vehicle so that only those prepared with the food are in the vehicle Plates remain near each of the occupied seats. 2. Procedure for clearing plates after a meal, characterized in that during a layover of the means of transport, after the passengers have disembarked, one or more wheeled ones empty racks (V) driven into the vehicle and pushed through the aisle (3) arranged between the seats (2) taking the empty plates from theirs near the previously occupied seats Collects places, places them in the mobile racks (V) and the mobile ones loaded with the plates Racks out of the vehicle. 3 · Procedure for clearing used plates and at the same time distributing prepared food plates 409841/0269 in means of transport, characterized in that in the event of a stopover and after disembarking the previous passengers, but before the new passengers get on, on the one hand one or more empty mobile racks (V) and on the other hand, one or more mobile racks (P) loaded with dinner plates are driven into the vehicle, where you go through the empty mobile racks one after the other pushes the aisle (3) and the used plates collected from the seats occupied on the previous trip then loads the mobile racks (P) loaded with prepared plates and pushes the plates on a space provided near each seat to be occupied by the passengers, after which the empty ones Racks (P) that were previously loaded with the prepared plates and the racks loaded with the plates that were used be pushed out of the vehicle. 4-y plate for food to be consumed in a means of transport, characterized in that it consists of three nested and dismountable parts, viz from the actual vessel body (11), a lid pivotable about an axis (23) mounted in the vessel wall (19) (12) and a collecting housing (13), on the one hand with the Body (11) and on the other hand with the lid (12) cooperates to ensure the sealing of the plate. 5. Plate according to claim 4, characterized in that the Collecting housing (13) is elastically connected to the body (11). 6. Plate according to claims 4- and 5, characterized in that that the body wall adjoining the collecting housing (13) (18) is provided with openings (20) which connect the interior of the body (11) with the interior of the collecting housing (13) connect. - Ib- 7. Plate according to claim 4, characterized in that the Body (11) consists of a single molded part, which has a base (14), which can be placed on a horizontal Area for the purpose of eating a meal and an end wall (17) which faces the guest when eating and a device (17 ') for locking the lid having with the plate body, one of the end wall opposite Rear wall (18), which is perforated and has two side walls (19), which in the vicinity of the rear wall (18_ are provided with guide holes (22) for receiving a pivot axis (23) of the cover (12). 8. Plate according to claims 4 and 7 »characterized in that that the rear wall (18) by locking (30, 31)? the for Connecting the collecting housing (13) are intended with the side walls is connected. 9. Plate according to claim 8, characterized in that the bottom (14) of the body (11) in the vicinity of the rear wall (18) has a seat (32) for engaging the catcher housing. 10. Plate according to claim 7 »characterized in that the side walls (19) on their upper edge shoulders (29) for Have seated the lid (12). 11. Plate according to claims 4 and 7 »characterized in that the cover (12) consists of a plate with a front rim (36) is provided which has a locking facility (35) which is connected to the locking means (17 ') of the end wall (17) of the body cooperates. 12. Plate according to claims 4, 7 and 11, characterized in that that the cover has two lateral axle journals (23) at its end opposite the front rim (36). / 0269 which engage in the openings (22) of the side walls (19 '). 13. Plate according to claims 4-, 7, .11 and 12, characterized in that that the cover has a sealing strip (34) in the course of the aforementioned pivot axes (23), which interacts with the collecting housing (I3). 14 _O plate according to claims 4, 7? 11 »12 and 13, characterized in that these pivot axes (23) are mounted below the lower level of the cover and are connected to this by an inclined plane (25) which ends with a cylindrical part (24), this inclined plane and this cylindrical part cooperates with a corresponding profile (26, 27) formed by the shoulders of the side walls (19) of the body (11) and used to support the cover. 15. Plate according to claims 4 and 7 »characterized in that that the collecting housing (13) is made from a single piece and has approximately the shape of a parallelepiped, which is open on one side. 16. Plate according to claim 15, characterized in that the Housing (13) has on its lower wall a protruding part (13) which is intended to be inserted into the bottom of the Body provided receptacle (32) in the vicinity of the rear wall (18). 17. Plate according to claims I5 and 16, characterized net that the housing edge (33) opposite the protruding part to interact with the sealing strip of the lid is determined. 409841/026 18. Plate according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the side walls (19) of the body (11) have edge strips (21) which are laterally outward and are intended to be inserted into the Slide rails (4-2) that align with the one installed in the vehicle Device, namely a seat tray (4-0, 41), are positively connected to intervene. 409841/0769