Land vehicles: bodies and tops – Bodies – Lunch wagons
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-21
2001-02-20
Pedder, Dennis H. (Department: 3612)
Land vehicles: bodies and tops
Bodies
Lunch wagons
C296S024430
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189944
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a food service kiosk and, more particularly, to a food service kiosk which simulates a wheeled vehicle containing a water system within an engine compartment and food storage and preparation facilities within a body section thereof.
Background Art
Food kiosks and other mobile food service structures have been in use for many years. They provide a means of serving food at remote locations, such as parks, street corners, malls, fair grounds, parking lots and the like. Examples of such food service structures are described below.
Rice U.S. Pat. No. 1,263,805 discloses an old truck in which the body of the truck is used for cooking food. At the rear of the vehicle is a water tank which is connected to the radiator cooling system of the engine for providing auxiliary cooling of the engine. A hot water boiler is located just forward of water tank. The food is prepared on stock boilers located along the center of the body of the vehicle.
Buckley U.S. Pat. No. 489,893 discloses a lunch wagon having a kitchen area at the rear end of the wagon and a dining area at the front of the wagon. The kitchen area has a cooler with an ice water compartment and a hot water holder. Waste water is allowed to drain onto the ground or street.
Farlow, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,833,295 discloses a mobile kitchen designed for serving over 300 people within 2 hours using three cooks and contains enough fuel, water and supplies for at least one meal upon arrival at the site. A center section of the kitchen contains two sinks, a hot water heater and a 55 gallon cold water tank. There is no disclosure concerning the handling of gray water.
Spasojevic U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,319 discloses a mobile vending booth in which the cooks stand and work along a center aisle with the various food preparation stations located along the sides of the aisle. One of these stations is a washing up unit.
True U.S. Pat. No. 1,176,106 discloses a portable kitchen in the form of a wagon which includes a hot water heater.
Although each of these devices is suitable for its intended use, none are completely self-contained. In other words, each must be moved off-site to a commissary for required daily cleaning, sanitation and refreshing of water tanks. This is true because they contained inadequate water storage for cleanup and/or inadequate storage for gray water. One reason is that since space is limited, most of it must be used for food storage and preparation rather than for water storage.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a wheel mounted food service kiosk has the appearance of a vehicle with a body section containing food storage and preparation facilitates. The food storage and preparation facilities include one or more sinks. An engine compartment contains a water system for storage of fresh and gray water, a hot water heater and an electric pump for pumping hot and cold water to the sink. An inlet is provided in the engine compartment for filling the fresh water tank from a fresh water spigot. A power supply is connected to the electric pump and electrical appliances for supplying electricity from a suitable local power source. The front wheels of the kiosk, adjacent the engine compartment, have fenders, one of which extends over a valve connected to the gray water tank for discharge of gray water therefrom at an off-site location.
The engine compartment has a hood wherein an upper section of a door is hinged along the top of the hood and a lower section is hinged to the upper section to provide access to the engine compartment for servicing the water tanks, the heater, the pump and associated valves and pipes. A latch along the lower edge of the lower section secures the door in a closed/locked position.
Another feature of the invention is the provision of a mop sink under a drain pipe connected to at least one of the sinks for receiving gray water therefrom. The gray water in the mop sink then drains into the gray water tank for later disposal. If the kiosk has more than one sink, each sink will have a drain pipe extending from it into the mop sink.
With the structure just described, a food service kiosk is provided which can be used for an extended period of time on site while still meeting all of the governmental regulatory requirements for sanitation.
If the food service kiosk is to remain on location for an extremely long period of time and if additional fresh water capacity is required, a trailer can be attached to the rear of the kiosk which has a storage tank of fresh water for replenishing the fresh water in the fresh water tank. The kiosk has a fresh water supply line extending from the fresh water tank to the rear end of the body section. The trailer has a second water supply line running from the storage tank to the front end of the trailer and connected to the first water supply line by a coupler. An auxiliary pump in the trailer is connected between the storage tank and the second water supply line to pump water from the storage tank to the fresh water tank through the second and first water supply lines, respectively.
The auxiliary pump can be connected to a source of electricity located on the trailer or a first electric line can extend from a power supply in the kiosk to the rear end of the body thereof and a second electric line, connected to the first electric line by an electric coupler, can extend from the front end of trailer to the auxiliary pump for providing power thereto.
From the foregoing, the objects of this invention are readily apparent. A food service kiosk is provided in the shape of a vehicle wherein the engine compartment is used for storage of enough water for food preparation and subsequent cleanup without leaving the food service site. Food storage preparation facilities, which include one or more food preparation and/or cleanup sinks and a hand sink, as well as a mop sink therebelow, are located within the body section of the food service kiosk. Typically, the food preparation and/or cleanup sink is a conventional three-hole sink for washing, rinsing and sanitizing. Gray water from the three-hole sink and hand sink drains into the mop sink. The engine compartment provides storage space for a fresh water tank, a hot water heater and a gray water storage tank which is not available in sufficient quantity in a conventional food service kiosk. Water from the mop sink drains into the gray water storage tank. If additional fresh water capacity is required, a trailer can be attached to the rear end of the food service kiosk which contains a large fresh water storage tank for resupplying the fresh water tank in the engine compartment. An auxiliary pump is provided within the trailer for pumping the fresh water from the storage tank to the fresh water tank through suitable water pipes within the body of the food service kiosk and the trailer. Power is supplied to the auxiliary pump at the trailer or through electrical lines running from the kiosk to the trailer.
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Blankenship Greg
Classic Carts Corporation
Fields and Johnson, P.C.
Pedder Dennis H.
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