Land vehicles – Wheeled – Body with bracketed-type or nonsuspended axles
Patent
1998-03-17
1999-09-07
Camby, Richard M.
Land vehicles
Wheeled
Body with bracketed-type or nonsuspended axles
280 4735, B62B 302
Patent
active
059474947
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a service cart or trolley and then particularly to a catering cart or trolley for use in confined spaces such as in the aisles of passenger aircraft and railway diners. The cart is supported on four wheels, at least two of which are castor wheels, and has an access opening on one side thereof. Two such carts can be mutually coupled with the sides opposite the access openings facing towards one another, with the aid of mutually identical coupling means on each respective cart.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The catering carts of the kind intended here can be attended to from two opposite directions and are normally designed to carry food trays placed from the bottom of the trolley and upwards, although the carts may alternatively be designed for other purposes. The known catering carts, however, are encumbered with certain drawbacks. For instance, because they shall be attended from both ends of the cart they have a length which corresponds to twice the length of a food tray. Another drawback is that the personnel in attendance are forced to bend or squat in order to reach trays located at the bottom of the trolley. This is an uncomfortable task and is liable to result in bodily wear and tear in the passage of time. Even when the cart is loaded from only one side, i.e. does not require the presence of two attendants, it is still necessary to attend to the cart as a whole, for instance in an aircraft.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to avoid handling of catering carts in a manner that involves unnecessary strenuous work on the part of catering personnel. This object is achieved with a catering cart or trolley that has the characterizing features set forth in the following claims, therewith facilitating the work of the catering personnel in connection with such catering carts and with only one person in attendance .
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to an exemplifying embodiment thereof and also with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an inventive catering cart; FIG. 2 illustrates schematically two mutually connectable inventive catering carts; and FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a coupling by means of which said carts can be mutually coupled.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 illustrates schematically an inventive catering cart that comprises two sides 1, a front 2, a back 3 and a top 4. The cart is supported on four wheels, of which the rear wheels 5 are castors. The cart interior can be reached typically from the front 2 of the cart, through an opening in the upper half of the cart, this opening being closeable by means of a shutter or flap (not shown). The cart also includes an insert 7 which occupies, in principle, the bottom half of the cart space and which is constructed to provide a serving facility in the top half of the cart. The insert can be raised and lowered in the cart to this end, so as to enable trays located in the bottom part of the cart to be raised to the upper part thereof.
FIG. 2 illustrates schematically two inventive mutually coupled catering carts. The catering carts are coupled back-to-back, such as to provide a cart that is accessible from both of its front sides 2, for instance for serving passengers in the cabin of an aircraft. The easily manoeuvered, single catering cart shown in FIG. 1 is herewith converted to a double-capacity catering cart combination to which access can be had from both ends of the cart. FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate the means for coupling the carts together. The illustrated coupling means comprises a tubular sleeve 23 which is fastened to the bottom part of the cart, said bottom part being indicated at 24. The sleeve 23 encloses a tubular maneuvering sleeve 25 which is movable axially against the action of a pressure spring 26, one end of which supports against an inwardly facing flange of the fixed sle
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patent: 5829767 (1998-11-01), Grossman
Thogersen Lars Hojgaard
Toft Nils
Camby Richard M.
Scandinavian Airlines Systems
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