Food tray for passenger seat

A seat back tray assembly adapted to be mounted onto the back of a passenger seat for a passenger aircraft and movable between a first storage position and a second deployed position, said seat back tray assembly comprising:

• (a) a tray having a first and second attachment arm mounted onto said tray for installing said tray onto the back of a seat system;
• (b) a sliding mechanism installed on said first and second attachment arms adapted for providing movement between a first forward position and a second aft position to a seated passenger parallel to said first and second attachment arms, wherein the sliding mechanism comprises a rail and guide assembly having a first pin attached to one side of said tray and a second pin attached to an opposing side of said tray, and a first slot and a second slot adjacent to each side of said tray with each pin inserted within each slot, whereby said tray slides by sliding said pins along said slots;
• and
• (c) an alignment mechanism attached to said sliding mechanism for maintaining said tray in a horizontally aligned relationship during said movement, and wherein said alignment mechanism comprises a pulley assembly having:
• (a) a first cable and a second cable;
• (b) a first pair of pulleys with one pulley mounted adjacent to the front end and another pulley mounted adjacent to the rear end of said first slot of said rail and guide assembly, and a second pair of pulleys with one pulley mounted adjacent to the front end and another pulley mounted adjacent to the rear end of said second slot of said rail and guide assembly;
• (c) a first end of said first cable connected to said first pin and said first cable extending rearwardly therefrom over the pulley at the rear end of said first slot, laterally across and over the pulley at the front end of said second slot and connected to said second pin at an opposing end of said first cable;
• (d) a first end of said second cable connected to said first pin and said second cable extending forwardly therefrom over the pulley at the front end of said first slot, laterally across and rearwardly over the pulley at the rear end of said second slot and connected to said second pin at an opposing end of said second cable;
• whereby said first and second cables are movable with said first and second pins during sliding movement in the forward-and-aft directions and maintain said horizontal alignment of said first and second pins regardless of a leftward or rightward force exerted on said tray.

A seat system for a passenger aircraft, said seat system comprising:

• (a) at least one passenger seat;
• (b) a seat back tray assembly mounted onto the back of said passenger seat and movable between a first storage position and a second deployed position, said tray assembly including (i) a tray having a first and second attachment arm mounted onto said tray for installing said tray onto the back of a seat system;
• (ii) a sliding mechanism installed on said first and second attachment arms and comprising a rail and guide assembly adapted for providing movement between a first forward position and a second aft position to a seated passenger parallel to said first and second attachment arms, and wherein said rail and guide assembly comprise a first pin attached to one side of said tray and a second pin attached to an opposing side of said tray, and a first slot and a second slot adjacent to each side of said tray with each pin inserted within each slot, whereby said tray slides by sliding said pins along said slots;
• and (iii) an alignment mechanism attached to said sliding mechanism and comprising a pulley assembly for maintaining said tray in a horizontally aligned relationship during said movement;
• and
• (c) a PED holder adapted to hold a personal electronic device.