US3799604A

US3799604A - Wheeled stall for itinerant sale

Info

Publication number: US3799604A
Application number: US00258909A
Authority: US
Inventors: Y Letourneux
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: EUROPEENNE DE GLACES ET SURGELES A Co OF FRANCE Ste
Priority date: 1971-06-02
Filing date: 1972-06-01
Publication date: 1974-03-26
Anticipated expiration: 1991-03-26
Also published as: FR2141511A1; CH555462A; NL7207520A; FR2141511B1; IT958957B; BE784179A

Abstract

The invention is a stall mounted on wheels for an itinerant merchant. It has a hollow spherical body made up of an upper and a lower shell, the upper one acting as a roof and the lower one as a store and sales counter. The upper shell is movable between two positions, a closed position wherein it is sealed against the lower shell along merging edges and a service position wherein it stands away and above the lower shell to act as a roof.

Description

United States Patent [1 1 Letourneux WHEELED STALL FOR ITINERANT SALE [76] Inventor: Yvon Letourneux, 1 rue du Chene Lasse 44, Saint Herblain, France [22] Filed: June 1, 1972 [21] Appl. No: 258,909

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data June 2, I971 France 7121160 [52] US. Cl. 296/21, 296/26 [51 Int. Cl 1360p 3/02 [58] Field of Search u 296/23, 22, 21, 23 C, 26, 296/27 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,767,013 10/1956 Spears 296/21 [111 3,799,604 [451 Mar. 26, 1974 Medford 296/23 C McGinnis 296/26 X Primary Examiner-Philip Goodman Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Raymond A. Robic; Arthur Schwartz [57] ABSTRACT The invention is a stall mounted on wheels for an itinerant merchant. It has a hollow spherical body made up of an upper and a lower shell, the upper one acting as a roof and the lower one as a store and sales counter. The upper shell is movable between two positions, a closed position wherein it is sealed against the lower shell along merging edges and a service position wherein it stands away and above the lower shell to act as a roof.

12 Claims, 4 Drawing, Figures Pmmmmzs 1974 3.7951604 sum 2 BF 2 1 WHEELED STALL FOR ITINERANT SALE The present invention generally relates to devices or installations that make it possible for a merchant to sell his ware on public ways or in places where crowds gather such as fairs, exhibitions, market places,

beaches or others; such devices necessarily having to be easily movable or dismountable,

In known devices of this general type, stalls exist in all sizes generally having a parallelepipedic shape, provided with a single-slope roof and made up of wood panels, capable of being mounted and dismounted rapidly. Such devices comprise either a sales wicket or complete removal of one of its wide faces. In the latter case, the part that opens may be a canvas which, in raised position, acts as an awning. In other cases, the opening may be obtained by two panels of different sizes, the smaller one located in the lower portion of the opening. being movable to horizontal position to act as a shelf for display or sale, the other panel being mov able upward to act as an awning. Other installations consist in the use of trailers having a top that can be raised and extensible panels or boxes, the person responsible for the sales protecting himself of the sun or rain by means of an independent sunshade.

Such various types of stalls have numerous disadvantages, namely:

the access of clients to the sales booth is limited;

the whole display is not completely visible by prospective buyers;

the constituting elements do not interconnect or close with a proper seal and are not tamperproof.

zontal sealing plane;

The stall of the invention makes it possible to avoid these drawbacks. Indeed, in the use of the stall of the invention, the complete display is visible by eventual buyers who have complete access to it. The stall is, on the other hand, constructed in such a way that in closed position taking up a reduced space, the equipment inside is sheltered against any infiltration while opening of the access door is impossible in that position thus making it-possible to leave the stall outside in any season for any extendedperiod of time.

More specifically, the stall of the invention broadly comprises a hollow body made up of an upper shell to act as a roof and a lower shell to act as a store and sales counter. The upper shell is movable between two positions, a closed position wherein it is sealed against the lower shell along merging edges of the shells and a service position wherein it stands away and above the lower shell to act as a roof, means being provided to displace the upper shell between these two positions.

Preferably, the body closes with the shells abutting one another with their merging edges lying in a horizontal plane at about mid height of the body. In a yet preferred embodiment, the body is a hollow sphere in closed position so that each shell is hemispherical.

Preferably also, the displacing means comprises a pair of elongated vertical members mounted at the center of the shells and having one end fixed to one of the shells respectively while their other ends are movable into one another. In one alternative, one member is a threaded rod while the other is a tube having a threaded bore inwhich the rod can be screwed. In another alternative, one member is a cylinder ,while the other is a rod sealingly and telescopically received in the cylinder, the cylinder and rod being parts of a lifting jack.

In order to prevent unwarranted access to the inside of the stall when the latter is closed, the lower shell is formed with a cutout terminating substantially in the above-mentioned horizontal plane and a groove along the cutout. A door fits in the said groove along its edges facing the groove so that the door may only be opened when the stall is in service position.

It-is believed that a better understanding of the invention will be afforded and other features and advantages will become apparent by a reading of the following description having reference to the appended drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of a stall made according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the stall shown in service position;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the stall taken along the hori- FIG. 4 is an elevation view of the stall mounted on a wheeled chassis.

In the embodiment shown, the stall comprises a hollow body made up of two hemispherical shells, an upper one 1 and a lower one 2, closing one over the other along a horizontal diametral plane. In order to make the stall proof against wind and rain, the upper shell 1 is bent outwardly to define a flange 3 which is received in a rabbet 4 formed along the upper contour of the lower shell 2.

The upper shell comprises a, metal frame 5 made up of a base ring and bows converging toward a central ferrule 6 in which a central screw 7 is secured. The latter, formed with circular groove threads for instance, screws into a nut 8 located at the top of a central post 9 of which the lower end is fixed at the junction of the arms of a cross frame 10 made from shapes or square cross-section tubes, for instance. A cylindrical hoop 1 l is secured over this cross frame 1*!) to act as a bed for the lower hemisphericalshell 2. An openingis provided for the tubular post 9 through the lower portion of the shell 2 and is sufficiently large so that the small oscillations of the post, either when the upper shell is lifted or under the action of the wind; will not injure the shell 2. This allowance for oscillation of the tubular post 9 makes it possible, on the other hand, properly to register the two hemispherical shells in closed position.

The lower shell may comprise an interior arrangement to suit the intended use of the stall. In the selected example shown in the drawings, the stall is intended for the sale of iced food, ice creams, sorbets or other frot zen food products. It is thus that in the instant case, half of the inner volume of the lower shell 2 may be used to house the cooling apparatus and to store the products to be sold. In the selected example, this housing comprises a thermal insulation 12, the upper part of the shell being provided with a door 13 giving access to the cooling apparatus and two lateral doors 14 giving access to the storedproducts.

Incorporated in the handle of the door 13 may be mounted a posting device having simple grooves in which a card giving the various prices may be slid. Spherical cavities 15 may also be provided for picking up money.

A floor 16, a pivoting seat 17 as well as two or more shelves 18 may be provided in the remaining space of the lower shell 2. A door 19, being a portion of the lower hemispherical shell, gives access to the sales booth. It fits in a corresponding cutout made in the lower shell 2 by vertical sliding motion in grooves provided in the edges along the cutout. The door can open only by upward translation after the upper shell 1 has been raised, thus making the stall tamperproof in closed position; this safety feature being increased by the provision of a bolt locking the two hemispherical shells.

The above-described stall body may be moved on a wheeled chassis such as is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 wherein the cross frame 10 is inserted inside the channels that make up the side members 21 of the chassis 20. Stabilization of the stall may be achieved in the following manner: each branch of the cross frame 10 may have a screw-jack 22 allowing stabilization of the stall over the ground whatever be the flatness of the latter. By operating these screw-jacks until they bear against the ground, it is thereafter possible to withdraw the wheeled chassis. Several stalls may be transported according to the same mounting assembly on a trailer having predetermined dimensions and one or several levels.

Similarly, the stall assembly may be secured in a permanent manner on its wheeled chassis. In such a case, the screw-jacks 22 are on the chassis itself. The wheels may either be removed, retracted or folded and the towing drawbar is removable in order not to hinder the access to the sales booth.

It goes without saying and as it results from the preceding description, the invention is in noway to be limited to the embodiment described but,to the contrary, it encompasses any possible variations in the component parts particularly as to the shape, the dimensions, the arrangement of certain elements involved in the embodiments provided these modifications are not in contradiction with the object and scope of the appended claims.

For instance, the vertical translation of the upper hemispherical shell may be obtained by a jack incorporated in the central tubular post 9 and actuated by a foot control, the sliding rod of the jack replacing the central screw 7 initially provided.

Similarly, the abutting edges of the two shells may be polygonal, each of the constituting parts then being like orange slices. Also, the stall body may be in the form of a cylinder, of a truncated cone or of any volume of revolution. The inner arrangement may differ in accordance with the use intended for the stall.

The stall vof the invention may be used in all cases where sales or distribution booths are required on public ways and places, beaches, kermesses or others wherein the sales booth must be easily moved in accordance with an assembly which is compact, closes tightly and is tamperproof without the inner arrangement having to be modified and wherein it must be placed into service rapidly.

Particularly interesting applications are those of the sale of iced products, food preserves, newspapers for example. Stalls of this type may also serve as stations of publicity demonstrations as well as for the distribution of tickets.

I claim:

1. A stall for itinerant sale comprising:

a. a hollow body made up of an upper shell to act as a roof and a lower shell to act as a store and sales counter; said upper shell being movable between two positions, a closed position wherein it is sealed against the lower shell along merging edges of said shells and a service'position wherein it stands away and above said lower shell to act as a roof, and

b. means for displacing said upper shell between said positions, said displacing means including a single pair of elongated vertical members mounted at the center of the shells, one of said vertical members connected to each shell and being relatively telescopically movable, one of said vertical members having male threaded means thereon and the other vertical member having female threaded means thereon whereby rotation of one of said threaded means relative to the other threaded means causes the displacement.

2. A stall as claimed in claim 1 wherein said body closes with said shells abutting one another with said merging edges lying in a horizontal plane.

3. A stall as claimed in claim 2 wherein said plane is at about mid-height of said body.

4. A stall as claimed in claim 1 wherein one of said members is a threaded rod while the other member is a tube having a bore threaded along at least a portion thereof for the screwing therein of said rod whereby said upper shell may be moved from one of said positions to the other and vice versa.

5. A stall as claimed in claim 1 wherein the upper shell is rotatable relative to the lower shell.

6. A stall as defined in claim 1 wherein said shells are substantially hemispherical.

7. A stall for itinerant sale comprising:

a. a hollow body made up of an upper shell to act as a roof and a lower shell to act as a store and sales counter; said upper shell being movable between two positions, a closed position wherein it is sealed against the lower shell along merging edges of said shells abutting one another with said merging edges lying in a horizontal plane, and a service position wherein it stands away and above said lower shell to act as a roof, and

means to displace said upper shell between said positions,

c. said lower shell being formed with a cutout terminating substantially in said horizontal plane and with a groove running along said cutout, and including a door fitting in said groove along its edges facing said groove, means on said upper shell cooperating with said door whereby said door may only be opened in said service position.

8. A stall as claimed in claim 7 wherein one of said members is a cylinder while the other is a rod sealingly and telescopically received in said cylinder, said cylinder and rod to be parts of a lifting-jack.

9. A stall as claimed in claim 7 wherein said upper shell has an outwardly turned flange along the edge thereof sealing it against said lower shell, and said lower shell is formed with a rabbet along the edge thereof sealing it against said upper shell; said rabbet being of a size to receive said flange in sealing relationship.

10. A stall as claimed in claim 7, wherein said shells are hemispherical in shape and including a trailer on which said lower shell is mounted, said trailer comprisa cylindrical hoop over which said lower shell is secured;

a horizontal frame over which said hoop is fixed, and

by upturned channel shapes turned inwardly toward one another slidably to receive said horizontal frame.

12. A stall as claimed in claim l0 wherein said horizon-tal frame comprises a wheeled chassis.

* IF =l

Claims

1. A stall for itinerant sale comprising: a. a hollow body made up of an upper shell to act as a roof and a lower shell to act as a store and sales counter; said upper shell being movable between two positions, a closed position wherein it is sealed against the lower shell along merging edges of said shells and a service position wherein it stands away and above said lower shell to act as a roof, and b. means for displacing said upper shell between said positions, said displacing means including a single pair of elongated vertical members mounted at the center of the shells, one of said vertical members connected to each shell and being relatively telescopically movable, one of said vertical members having male threaded means thereon and the other vertical member having female threaded means thereon whereby rotation of one of said threaded means relative to the other threaded means causes the displacement.

7. A stall for itinerant sale comprising: a. a hollow body made up of an upper shell to act as a roof and a lower shell to act as a store and sales counter; said upper shell being movable between two positions, a closed position wherein it is sealed against the lower shell along merging edges of said shells abutting one another with said merging edges lying in a horizontal plane, and a service position wherein it stands away and above said lower shell to act as a roof, and b. means to displace said upper shell between said positions, c. said lower shell being formed with a cutout terminating substantially in said horizontal plane and with a groove running along said cutout, and including a door fitting in said groove along its edges facing said groove, means on said upper shell cooperating with said door whereby said door may only be opened in said service position.

10. A stall as claimed in claim 7, wherein said shells are hemispherical in shape and including a trailer on which said lower shell is mounted, said trailer comprising: a cylindrical hoop over which said lower shell is secured; a horizontal frame over which said hoop is fixed, and jacks operatively mounted beneath said frame to contact, when extended, the ground in order to stabilize said stall.

11. A stall as claimed in claim 10 further including a wheeled chassis having a pair of side members formed by upturned channel shapes turned inwardly toward one another slidably to receive said horizontal frame.

12. A stall as claimed in claim 10 wherein said horizon-tal frame comprises a wheeled chassis.