On-board freight loading device for aircrafts

Claim 1

In an on-board freight loading device for aircraft, particularly for large aircraft, which transport large containers for containerized freight, said aircraft having mutually perpendicular x and y axes, said x-axis being parallel to the longitudinal axis of said aircraft and said y-axis being perpendicular to said x-axis in the direction of the wings of said aircraft, said aircraft also having a lifting platform for receiving said freight, said lifting platform being lifted approximately from the ground level to the level of the freight room floor of said aircraft, said platform being moved between a pair of beams which are swingable between a storage position within the aircraft fuselage and an operating position inclined to the vertical outside of said aircraft, the improvement comprising wherein said pair of beams are parallel to one another when in said operating position and are hingedly secured in their upper zone to said aircraft, each of said pair of beams having further hinged joint means intermediate the ends thereof for permitting a movement of the lower zone of said beams from the operating position first into a position parallel to the x-axis against one another prior to their being swung into said storage position, the axes of said further hinged joint means each being parallel and contained in a vertical plane parallel to said y-axis of said aircraft.