Patent ID: 8647039

Claim:
A system for loading and unloading loose cargo in a cargo hold of a plane, comprising: transport means covering the area of the floor of the cargo hold for intermittently conveying the loose cargo towards the inner end of the cargo hold during loading, or away from it during unloading, wherein the front end of said transport means reaches into the range of the cargo hold opening inside the fuselage of the plane, and a separate tarmac based external conveyor organ connecting to the outside of the plane at the cargo hold opening for transporting the loose cargo between the level of the tarmac and the cargo hold opening, wherein between the plane-side end of said external conveyor organ and the front end of said transport means in the cargo hold at least one separate intermediate conveyor means is arranged, said intermediate conveyor means includes a first conveyor organ in the form of a conveyor belt, wherein, at one end thereof, said first conveyor organ is followed by a second conveyor organ in the form of a conveyor belt, for bridging the distance from one end of the external conveyor organ into the inside of the cargo hold, whereby the loose cargo is during loading initially conveyed deeper into the fuselage substantially transversely to the longitudinal axis of the plane by the first and second conveyor organs, and wherein an end of the second conveyor organ is followed by a third conveyor organ formed as a roller panel, whereupon the loose cargo can be rotated manually in the cargo hold and transported further substantially in the longitudinal direction of the plane and deposited on the front end of said transport means in the cargo hold, and whereby during unloading, loose cargo conveyed beyond the front end of said transport means out into the plane of the cargo hold opening may be transported off substantially transversely to the longitudinal axis of the plane through the cargo hold opening.