Food serving equipment

Claim 2

Food serving equipment comprising a conveyor belt, a plurality of trays equipped with food receptacles associated with said conveyor belt, a plurality of food serving trolleys past which said conveyor belt runs and from which food can be served into said food receptacles of said trays, a plurality of containers for menu components to be served and positioned in each said food serving trolleys, storage means for storing information regarding menu components to be served to associated ones of said trays, reading means for reading said information stored in said storage means, signal producing means responsive to said reading means for providing first signals at said food serving trolleys relating to the menu component to be supplied from said food serving trolley to a passing tray and second signals at said food serving trolleys relating to the menu component to be supplied from said food serving trolley to a subsequent tray, and visual indication means on said food serving trolleys responsive to said first and second signals of said signal producing means for providing visual indication to operators of said food serving trolleys of the menu components to be supplied.

Claim 3

Food serving equipment as defined in claim 1, and comprising means responsive to said reading means for varying the spacing between adjacent trays where different menu components are to be served for providing a visual warning of a change of menu components.

Claim 4

Food serving equipment as defined in claim 1 and comprising means responsive to said reading means for increasing the distance between adjacent trays where different menu components are to be served for providing a visual warning of a change of menu components.

Claim 5

Food serving equipment as defined in claim 1, wherein said signal producing means comprise means for providing said first and second signals simultaneously and said visual indication means comprising means for displaying visual indications corresponding to said first and second signals simultaneously.

Claim 6

Food serving equipment comprising a conveyor belt, a plurality of trays, a tray dispenser adjacent said conveyor belt for dispensing said plurality of trays one at a time on to said conveyor belt, food receptacle dispensing means adjacent said conveyor belt for dispensing food receptacles onto said trays on said conveyor belt, a plurality of storage elements for storing information regarding menu components to be supplied to said food receptacles on said trays, reading means for reading said information stored by said storage elements, storage element dispensing means for dispensing said storage elements after reading on to an associated tray, a plurality of food serving trolleys past which said conveyor belts run and from which food can be served into said food receptacles on said trays, a plurality of containers for menu components to be served and positioned in each of said food serving trolleys, sensing means adjacent said conveyor belt and in advance of each said trolley for sensing approach of said trays to said trolley, a control device to which said information read by said reading means is fed, means for connecting said control device to each said trolley and to stores each associated with one said trolley, means for connecting each said store to its associated trolleys, means for connecting said sensing means to said control device to cause, on actuation of said sensing means, information relating to a tray sensed to be fed directly to said associated trolley and information stored in said associated store relating to an immediately preceding tray now adjacent said trolley to be fed to said trolley, and visual indication means on said trolley for indicating visually in different visual forms both the information relating to the adjacent said tray and that relating to the tray actuating said sensor.

Claim 7

Food serving equipment comprising a conveyor belt, a plurality of trays, a tray dispenser adjacent said conveyor belt for dispensing said plurality of trays one at a time on to said conveyor belt, food receptacle dispensing means adjacent said conveyor belt for dispensing food receptacles onto said trays on said conveyor belt, a plurality of storage elements for storing information regarding menu components to be supplied to said food receptacles on said trays, reading means for reading said information stored by said storage elements, storage element dispensing means for dispensing said storage elements after reading on to an associated tray, a plurality of food serving trolleys past which said conveyor belts run and from which food can be served into said food receptacles on said trays, a plurality of containers for menu components to be served and positioned in each of said food serving trolleys, sensing means adjacent said conveyor belt and in advance of each said trolley for sensing approach of said trays to said trolley, a control device to which said information read by said reading means is fed, means for connecting said control device to each said trolley and to stores each associated with one said trolley, means for connecting each said store to its associated trolleys, means for connecting said sensing means to said control device to cause, on actuation of said sensing means, information relating to a tray sensed to be fed directly to said associated trolley and information stored in said associated store relating to an immediately preceding tray now adjacent said trolley to be fed to said trolley, and visual indication means on said trolley for indicating visually in different visual forms both the information relating to the adjacent said tray and that relating to the tray actuating said sensor.

Claim 8

Food serving equipment as defined in claim 5 and further comprising retaining means for selectively holding up trays prior to said food serving trolleys, a store device connected to said control device for storing information fed to said control device from said reading means, a comparator connected to said control device for comparing information received by said control device relating to a first tray and information from said store device relating to a second but preceding tray, a first timer actuable if said comparator compares the same information to release said retaining means after a first time period and a second timer actuable if said comparator compares different information to release said retaining means after a second time period longer than said first time period.