Loading system for drawers The present invention relates to a loading system for drawers to be used in trolleys, such as airline trolleys, comprising a number of components, such as devices for being supplied with and for storing items to be loaded into the drawers, tables for individual drawer packing as well as carriers for drawers.

Such systems are used for example in so-called flight kitchens, where drawers have to be filled with numerous different items to be finally placed in airline trolleys. When packing drawers some of them have to be loaded with only a few but heavy big items (up to 1 kg, e. g. bottles), while on the other hand very small items in a great number have to be packed in other draw- ers. Each airline company has its own specific prescribed lay- out for the drawer packing, asking for great flexibility at the loading stations and the supply areas. In actually known sys- tems items have to be transported from stationary supplies to dispensers on tables where drawers are to be packed. The draw- ers have to be placed at the correct place. It is, however, un- avoidable to displace special transport means for the items to be placed in the dispensers, necessitating often to travel back and forth between supply areas and dispensers. The whole system is relatively rigid, needs space and is time consuming.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new con- cept of a loading and unloading system avoiding most of the aforementioned drawbacks. The solution in accordance with the present invention is very simple: All components of the system, such as devices for being supplied with and for temporarily storing items to be loaded into drawers, i. e. in principle dis- pensers, working tables, carriers for the drawers used before

placing the drawings in trolleys etc., are directly equipped with wheels or rollers enabling easy displacement of all compo- nents to any desired position or location or said components are removably placed on undercarriages equipped with wheels or rollers.

A special embodiment provides for coupling means permitting coupling of a plurality of components for displacement as a unit.

The loading and unloading system in accordance with the present invention will be described in some more detail in the follow- ing description.

The most important components of the drawer loading system of the invention are: Small items dispensers, carriers for draw- ers, tables for drawer packing, pallet handlers, small flow racks. a) Small items dispenser: Bins of different size full of items are arranged in hori- zontal rows in a bin store of the dispenser. Depending on the operation, the same items can be arranged in more than one bin, side by side or one above the other for a bigger supply, or for another way of operation one can have a sup- ply of items for one flight or one airline in one row of bins. The drawers to be filled are positioned in front of the operator and so he can take items from the bins and put them in the drawer.

If the operator wants to work from another row of bins, he simply lowers or raises the bin store up and down with a

hand crank, provided of course that the dispenser is equipped with a lifting mechanism.

The whole system sits on wheels, so the operator can move his dispenser to the main supply area from time to time and restock his dispenser. This way no additional bins have to travel back and forth between supply area and dispenser.

The filled drawers are stored in this carrier and can be moved and stored in parking areas till the next step is ready (normally putting drawers from their storing carrier into trolleys). b) Carrier for drawers: A similar system as used for storing and transporting items in bins is used. The carriers are bigger and stronger for the bigger size and weight. The drawers are loaded on this system manually from the above mentioned small items dis- penser or from small flow racks.

The carriers, which could directly by trolleys, can be stored, loaded or unloaded in any suitable parking area along walls or isles or in a so-called trolley shuttle. They can very easily be moved from one work area to another work area. c) Table for drawer packing For quality control reasons it has been found that only drawers pulled out of the trolley completely can be checked and filled to specification. The table allows arranging all the drawers of one trolley on the ideal height for the op- erator to fill and check the drawers. The table is equipped

with wheels. The trolley can e. g. be coupled to the table with a simple looped ketch. So the table equipped with wheels and the trolley can be pushed together to and through the supply alley for filling the drawers. On this system the drawers are moved along the supplies, since the supplies can be heavy and big (bottles and cans). d) Pallet handler (optional) Pallets full of supplies like cans or bottles are positioned along supply alleys. The pallets are equipped with wheels or are placed on an undercarriage with wheels, permitting bringing the pallets to the right layout position and/or for turning the partially emitted pallets, so that the other side of the pallets can be worked off. e) Small flow racks A small flow rack on wheels is used to refill drawers. The flow rack is full with items in bins or boxes. Drawers are sitting on a small shelve in front of the flow rack.

For more different items per drawer more than one flow rack is positioned side by side. The drawers, once filled to specification, are stored in carriers for drawers or in air- line trolleys.

The whole system sits on wheels, so the operator can move his flow rack to the main supply area from time to time and restock his flow rack. This way no additional bins have to travel back and forth between supply area and flow rack.

Thus, in accordance with the present invention, all components of the loading (unloading) system sit on wheels (or rollers), providing a quite universal flexibility, needing little space and providing optimal working conditions for the operators (time saving).