This invention relates generally to a locking mechanism for a galley cart for moving objects. The present invention relates more precisely to a multi-capacity support for a galley cart for use in an airplane, or another vehicle.
Galley carts are generally used in the transportation industry for moving goods and other articles. Galley carts can be used in critical environments like in the aeronautical industry and are subject to standardization and safety requirements.
Galley cart are used to transport merchandise, food, beverage and other items. These goods are packaged in containers that are coming in a plurality of shapes and sizes. It is hence desirable that the galley cart be designed to receive containers of more than one shape and size.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved trolley cart over the existing art. It is also desirable to provide an improved container-receiving portion that would receive containers of more than one shape and size. It is equally desirable to provide a trolley cart that is not jeopardizing the stability of containers supported thereon.
Other deficiencies will become apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains in view of the following summary and detailed description with its appended figures.
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description of exemplary embodiments that is presented later.
Therefore, one aspect of the present invention improves at least some of the deficiencies associated with the drawbacks identified above.
It is one aspect of our work to provide, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, a galley cart with an improved container-supporting portion.
It is one aspect of our work to provide, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, a galley cart with a top portion configured for receiving containers of a plurality of sizes.
It is one aspect of our work to provide, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, a galley cart with a top portion including a plurality of container-supporting levels.
It is an aspect of our work to provide, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, a galley cart including a top portion including a contour wall that has an uneven peripheral height.
It is an aspect of our work to provide, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, a galley cart including a container-supporting portion made of polymer.
It is an aspect of our work to provide, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, a galley cart including an extruded container-supporting portion.
It is an aspect of our work to provide, in accordance with at least one embodiment thereof, a drawer portion for receiving a cold medium therein to cool the galley cart interior.
These and other advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the attached drawings.
The present invention is now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It may be evident, however, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in schematic form in order to facilitate describing the present invention.
A galley cart 10 adapted to carry goods in accordance with an embodiment of the invention is illustrated in
The upper portion 18, the right longitudinal portion 22, the left longitudinal portion 26 and the bottom portion 30 of the body 14 are connected together to obtain a strong unified structure in accordance with an embodiment. Alternatively, the upper portion 18, the right longitudinal portion 22, the left longitudinal portion 26 and the bottom portion 30 of the body 14 are connected together with intervening junction members 38. Illustrative embodiments described herein are using a variety of junction members 38 to interconnect adjacent portions 18, 22, 26, 30. The body 14 of the illustrated embodiment is forming a cavity having four planar side portions 18, 22, 26, 30. The cart 10 can be embodied in a single door 50 configuration and consequently includes a rear transversal portion 48, in contrast, the cart 10 can also be embodied in a double doors 50 configuration (not illustrated) without departing from the scope of the present specification. A door 50 is pivotally secured with the hinge 54 to the body 14 and is moveable between opened position and a closed position closing a corresponding door opening 46. The door 50 is configured to be secured to the door opening 46 with a locking mechanism 58 that can be selectively actuated by user to secure the door 50 to the door opening 46 and to open the door 50 to get access to content therein. It can be appreciated that the wall thickness of the different portions 18, 22, 26, 30 can have different thicknesses adapted to sustain the specific mechanical loads applied thereto. In other words, the construction of the galley cart 10 can be optimized to only use the required material at the right place and therefore reduces the weight while providing the appropriate mechanical resistance. For example, the panel of the upper portion 18 can have a thinner wall section than the panel of the bottom portion 30 because the upper portion 18 does not bear the weight of the entire galley cart 10. Additional details about the construction of the body 14 will be provided below.
Still referring to
The bottom portion 30 rests on a wheelbase 80 adapted to pivotally secure thereto a set of four (4) of caster wheels 84. Two pedals 88 are also pivotally secured to the wheelbase 80 to selectively lock or unlock the caster wheels 84 to immobilize the galley cart 10 when required.
An optional tablet 100 is optionally secured inside the body 14, adjacent to the upper portion 18. The tablet 100 is moveable between a closed position 104 and an opened position (not illustrated). The tablet 100, in the closed position 104, is housed in the body 14 and does not extend outside the body 14 to fit in a corresponding galley (not illustrated). A locking mechanism 112 prevents the tablet 100 to extend when undesired. A handle (not visible in the Figures) is affixed to, or built in the extendable tablet 100 and is more accessible when the extendable tablet 100 is slightly extended.
It can be appreciated from
In reference now to
In one configuration, a single side 146 of the high contour portion 142 is removed and the contour is leveled 176 to the height of the high support portion 138. In the illustrated embodiment, the rear high contour portion 142 at the rear of the body 14 has been reduced/removed. This way, the second size container 160, longer than the longitudinal length 42 of the work area 66, can extend beyond the peripheral frame 70 while be housed along and horizontally secured on three sides 146.1, 146.2 and 146.3 of the cart 10. Generally, second size containers 160 include second size supports 164 thereon disposed on its low lateral edges 168. The supports 164 are sized and designed to contact the high support portion 138 to secure the second size container 160 on the cart 10.
One can appreciate in the illustrated embodiments that the low support portion 130 is substantially levelled with an upper surface of the work area 66, the low contour portion 134 is substantially perpendicular to the upper surface of the work area 66, the high support portion 138 is substantially perpendicular to low contour portion 134 and generally aligned with a virtual vertical projection of the panel 34 and the high contour portion 142 is substantially perpendicular to high support portion 138 and substantially aligned with a virtual vertical projection of the panel 34. Connections between adjacent supports and contour portions preferably include an intervening radius.
The first size container 150 is laterally bordered and held by the low contour portion 134 over its four sides, while the second size container 160 is laterally bordered and held by the high contour portion 142 over three of the four sides. In the latter situation, the second size container 138 can be slidably mounted on the high support portion 138 and be pushed and slide rearward to allow access to the volume under the second size container 160 to the work area 66. Alternatively, the second size container 160 can be equipped with a locking mechanism holding it in a desired position on its container-supporting portion 74. Referring more precisely to
The illustrated cart 10, in reference with
It can be seen in
Finally, in reference with
The description and the drawings that are presented above are meant to be illustrative of the present invention. They are not meant to be limiting of the scope of the present invention. Modifications to the embodiments described may be made without departing from the present invention, the scope of which is defined by the following claims:
The present invention relates to and claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.: 62/141,570, filed Apr. 1, 2015, entitled TROLLEY DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM AND METHOD OF USE THEREOF, which is incorporated herein by reference.
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