TITLE :

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates in general to a catering trolley or serving trolley for use in airplanes. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Such catering trolleys are generally known; an example of such trolley is disclosed in WO-2009/008707. They comprise a cabinet-shaped body, at least one door, an upper panel, wheels, etc. The trolleys are used for presenting for instance meals and drinks, or other articles, to airplane passengers, the trolleys riding through the aisle of the airplane, pushed or pulled by the serving cabin personnel.

As far as dimensions are concerned, there is a high degree of standardization. The outside dimensions are

restricted by the fact that they must fit in an aisle and in a storage cabinet. The inside dimensions are set by the fact that they must be able to accommodate standard trays and drawers. Basically, there are two major variations: there are half -size trolleys and full-size trolleys. A half -size trolley has a depth in the order of 60 cm for accommodating one tray or drawer per level. Such trolley has a front side with a door and a back side with a fixed panel. A full size trolley is twice as deep so that it can, at each level, accommodate two trays or drawers behind each other. Such trolley has two doors at the opposite ends.

At the top, the trolley has a top surface surrounded by an upstanding rim of a few centimeters high. In use, one of the drawers will be taken out and placed on top of the

trolley. Such drawer will be indicated as service drawer. In the case of a full size trolley, there are two service

drawers, each in one of the opposite trolley compartments, and normally two service attendants will be at work at the

opposite sides of the trolley so that the two service drawers will be placed on the top at the same time. Since the

footprint of a trolley corresponds to the trolley size and hence to the top surface, the service drawer occupies the entire top surface, and there is no surface room left for, for instance, writing something down. In practice, there is a desire to have some working surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention aims to fulfil this desire.

According to the present invention, at least one working plate is associated with the service drawer. In a very simple embodiment, such working plate is a separate plate, provided with attachment means for attaching the working plate to the service drawer, but then the working plate would be a loose element and that is not preferred. Therefore, in a more preferred embodiment, the working plate is attached to the service drawer, capable of being in a storage position with respect to the service drawer and of being in an operative position with respect to the service drawer. In the storage position, the working plate is withdrawn within the outer contour of the service drawer and the service drawer can be placed in the trolley. In the operative position, the working plate provides a substantially horizontal working surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be further explained by the following description with reference to the drawings, in which same reference numerals indicate same or similar parts, and in which:

figures 1A and IB schematically illustrate a first embodiment of a service drawer according to the present invention;

figures 2A and 2B schematically illustrate a first embodiment of a service drawer according to the present invention;

figure 3A is a schematic front view of a drawer;

figure 3B illustrates some details of an embodiment of a drawer; figure 4A is a schematic perspective top view of a trolley; figure 4B is a schematic top view of an embodiment of a working plate;

figure 4C is a schematic top view of another embodiment of a working plate;

figure 4D is a schematic top view of another embodiment of a working plate;

figure 4E is a schematic top view of another embodiment of a working plate .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Figures 1A and IB schematically illustrate a first embodiment of a service drawer according to the present invention, generally indicated by reference numeral 10. The service drawer 10 comprises a drawer body 11 with a bottom 12, longitudinal side walls 13 and transverse side walls 14. On top of the drawer body 11, a working plate 15 is attached. The working plate 15 is rotatable about a vertical axis 16. The working plate 15 has a contour and size corresponding to the contour and size of the drawer body 11, although it is

possible that the working plate is smaller than the drawer body. Figure 1A shows the working plate 15 in its storage position; in this position, the working plate 15 covers the drawer body 11. Figure IB shows the working plate 15 in its operative position, rotated over 180° with respect to the storage position; in this operative position, the working plate 15 projects from the service drawer towards a service attendant and provides a substantially horizontal working surface for the service attendant .

It is noted that two such working plates may be arranged at opposite sides of the drawer body 11, such as to provide two separate working surface for two service attendants standing at opposite sides of the trolley. In the embodiment described above, the working plate is located above the drawer body; in an alternative embodiment, the working plate is located below the drawer body. In the embodiment described above, the working plate is rotatable about a vertical axis. Figure 2A is an perspective view schematically illustrating an embodiment, generally indicated by reference numeral 20, where a working plate 25 is rotatable about a horizontal axis 26. Figure 2B is a schematic cross-sectional view, showing the drawer body 21 placed on the top surface 2 of the trolley 1, and showing that the working plate 25, when in the operative position, is resting on the trolley's rim 3.

Instead of being rotatable or hinged with respect to the drawer body, the working plate may also be slidable with respect to the drawer body.

Figure 3A is a schematic front view of a drawer body 31, carrying two support rails 32a, 32b at opposite sides of a plate accomodation space 33 below the bottom of the drawer body. A working plate 35 can slide on these support rails; in the storage position, the working plate is located entirely within the plate accomodation space; in the operative

position, the working plate projects out of the plate

accomodation space and extends forward from the drawer body.

When comparing with figure 2B, it can be seen that the upstanding rim 3 of the trolley 1 might pose a problem. One possible way of avoiding the rim 3 is to place the drawer body 31 on top of the rim 3. The length of the drawer body 31 may be more than the longitudinal distance between the transverse rims, and the lower side of the drawer body 31 may be provided with a recess 34 such that the trolley's transverse rims 3 fit in these recesses 34 and the central portion of the drawer body's bottom is fitted within the surrounding rim for lateral and transverse support. This solution is illustrated in figure 3B.

However, the transverse rim 3 is typically provided with two elongate openings 4 next to each other, separated by a support upright 5, or just one longer opening with the support upright omitted, so that the uppor portion of the rim has the function of handle bar that can easily be gripped by a service attendant. This is illustrated in the schematic perspective view of figure 4A. Therefore, in an alternative approach, it is possible to have the working plate, in its operative position, extend through such rim opening 4, as will be discussed i nthe following. Figure 4B is a schematic top view of a working plate 50 having an elongate recess 51 extending from one short side edge 52. The plate segments on opposite sides of the recess 51 are indicated by reference numerals 53 and 54. In the

operative position, the plate segments 53, 54 extend through the elongate openings 4 below the handle bar of the rim, on opposite sides of the upright 5. This embodiment has the charm of simplicity, but the gap 51 in the working surface provided by the two plate segments 53, 54 may be considered to be a disadvantage .

Figure 4C is a schematic top view of a working plate 60 where this disadvantage is absent. The working plate 60 has an L-shaped recess 61 extending from one long side edge 62, comprising a leg section 63 perpendicular to the side edge 62 and a foot section 64 directed towards a front edge 65. A folding line 66 extends between the foot section 64 and the front edge 65. A section 67 of the working plate 60, bordering to the recess 61, can be folded about this folding line 66. In the storage position, this section 67 is folded back on its neighboring section 68. For bringing the working plate 60 from its storage position to its operative position, the working plate 60 is slid out of the drawer body, with both the

sections 67, 68 extending through one rim opening 4. When slid out of the drawer body to the maximum, i.e. when the side edge of the leg section 63 abuts the central upright 5 of the rim, the folding section 67 is folded out so that the two sections 67, 68 lie next to each other in one plane, as shown in figure 4C. Then, the working plate 60 is pushed back into the drawer body, so that a portion 69 of the folding section 67 extends into the second rim opening 4 for support .

It is noted that the folding line 66 can be implemented as a hinge, for instance a film hinge. Figure 4D is a schematic top view of a working plate 70 having a hole 71 of which the size corresponds to the cross- sectional size of the supporting upright of the trolley rim. The working plate 70 has a cut 72 extending between this hole 71 and the front short side edge 73. The plate segments on opposite sides of the cut 72 are indicated by reference numerals 74 and 75. Adjacent the cut 72, each such plate segment 74, 75 has a plate portion 76, 77 that is hinged to the respective plate segment 74, 75 via a longitudinal hinge 78, 79. In the operative position, the plate segments 74, 75 extend through the elongate openings 4 below the handle bar of the rim, on opposite sides of the upright 5, with the plate portions 76, 77 hinged down to lie in the same horizontal plane. For bringing the working plate 70 from its storage position to its operative position, or vice versa, the plate portions 76, 77 are hinged upwards to allow the upright 5 to pass between the plate segments 74, 75 towards or from the hole 71. Figure 4E is a schematic top view of a working plate 80 consisting of two plate halves 81, 82 hinged to each other with respect to a vertical hinge axis. Each plate half 81, 82 has a longitudinal edge 81a, 82a directed to the other plate half. In each such longitudinal edge 81a, 82a, a recess 81b, 82b is formed. In the operative position, the plate halves 81, 82 extend through the elongate openings 4 below the handle bar of the rim and are hinged towards each other so that the two longitudinal edges 81a, 82a touch each other. The two recesses 81b, 82b together accommodate the support upright 5 of the trolley rim. For bringing the working plate 80 from its storage position to its operative position, or vice versa, the plate halves 81, 82 are slightly hinged apart so as to allow the support upright to pass between the plate halves 81, 82. It is noted that in each of the above embodiments, the working plate is prevented from inadvertedly being pulled out of the service drawer because of being blocked by the support upright 5. This applies to the operative position, when the service drawer is arranged on the trolley top. When the service drawer is not arranged on the trolley top, it could be possible to pull out the working plate, but it is preferred that the service drawer is provided with a blocking mechanism for blocking the working plate. Such blocking mechanism is not shown.

It should be clear to a person skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the exemplary

embodiments discussed above, but that several variations and modifications are possible within the protective scope of the invention as defined in the appending claims. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope .