WO1992017350A1

WO1992017350A1 - Mobile stall and a method for the production of the body of a mobile stall

Info

Publication number: WO1992017350A1
Application number: PCT/DK1992/000106
Authority: WO
Inventors: John Pedersen
Original assignee: Eurowagon Aps
Priority date: 1991-04-05
Filing date: 1992-04-06
Publication date: 1992-10-15
Also published as: AU1643192A; DK60391A; DK60391D0

Abstract

The body of the mobile stall is essentially formed as a unit being a self-supporting sandwiched product of at least two glass-fibre reinforced plastic sheets having at least one intermediate cellular plastic core. A substantial reduction in the amount of components and work operations is achieved when compared with traditional frame constructions. This body construction has far less joints or seams than a frame construction. The body can comparatively easily be constructed with easy-to-clean soft curves instead of angular corners. The sandwiched product offers excellent thermal insulation. At the production of the body a scaffolding structure gets covered in cellular plastic plates onto which an outer layer of glass-fibre reinforced plastic is teemed. Upon removal of the structure an inner layer of glass-fibre reinforced plastic is teemed at the cellular plastic plates.

Description

Mobile stall and a method for the production of the body of a mobile stall.

The invention relates to a mobile stall, and more precisely to the body of such a mobile stall.

Mobile stalls are used when selling a multitude of goods. In this country mobile stalls probably find their widest use in selling hot sausages, hot dogs, ice creams, hamburgers and other kinds of fast-food pro¬ ducts. However, fish, fruit and vegetables, textiles, bijouterie, wares sold at fairs etc. are also seen sold from mobile stalls, especially at market squares and fairs.

A mobile stall normally consists of a body being constructed on a wheeled frame. The wheeled frame might be motorized, and models exist that can be steered from inside the body. Generally, however, the mobile stall can be attached to a pulling vehicle or be provided with a pole. The wheeled frame renders the stall mobile such that it can be driven from a garage to the place of sale in the morning, e.g. a pedestrian's precinct or a square. In the evening the stand is driven back to the garage, where it is made ready for next day's sale. At night the stall is kept in its garage protected from burglary and destruction.

Ordinary mobile stalls have a number of service hatches where customers are served by the staff in the body. Serving takes place across a desk in the form of a table top that is mounted directly below the sales win¬ dow. Quite often the desk_is extended on the outside of the body in the form of an outside cornice as for in¬ stance on hot dog stands. The cornice serves as a table for the customers.

Inside the body space should be available for the staff, the goods and the machines, apparatus and appli¬ ances that are required to prepare the goods, at the same time allowing the staff to offer quick service. A fast service can be of the utmost importance due to the specific nature of the sale. The body must be designed in an optimum manner such that the normally very narrow space may be utilized at a maximum. It is important, too, to have good hygienic conditions especially where mobile stalls for selling food are concerned. The staff entrance to the body is via an access door.

The types of mobile stalls that are known to the applicant and that are used in this country are plate-covered skeleton structures. The production is carried out roughly as follows: A bottom of the body is mounted on a precedingly manufactured wheeled frame. On to this bottom a supporting skeleton of wooden or metal profiles for the walls and the roof is built up. Pos¬ sible concealed installations and heat insulating mate¬ rial are mounted to the skeleton and the skeleton be¬ comes lined with panels on the inner and outer faces. Windows and doors are mounted and all panel joints and other joints and seams on the body are sealed/finished. Upon this the interior and the decoration of the body are mounted and finished.

Seen on this background the object of the invention is to provide an improved method and construction for the manufacture of a mobile stall.

This object is achieved as described_in claim 1 by the body essentially being integrally formed as a unit being a self-supporting sandwiched product of at least two glass-fibre reinforced plastic layers having at least one intermediate cellular plastic core.

The invention hereby diverges fundamentally from traditions within this very special field. Atr any rate it is not known to the applicant that a body essentially being integrally formed as a unit being a self-support¬ ing sandwiched product of this type should have been used as body for a mobile stall even though sandwiched products having cellular plastic plates between glass- fibre reinforced plastic layers per se have been known for some time and also to some extent are used in e.g. yacht-building.

The absent use within the field of mobile stalls might be due to tradition within the trade or the fact that mobile stalls traditionally are constructed to move at exceedingly low speeds. Consequently they need not be up to such extensive power effects, wind loads etc. as other vehicles or boats. Based on load considerations there is no need for a sandwiched product; sandwiched products are usually considered especially designed and suited for heavily loaded custom-made constructions and such a specialized load situation is not the issue.

Compared with the traditional skeleton construction the present invention offers a significant reduction in the number of components that are part of the construc¬ tion and in work operations required for mounting these components. The finished body presents itself without seams and joints where the traditional skeleton con¬ structions comprises innumerable joints, that might become leaking or perhaps detach themselves. The absence ..of joints is a great advantage seen from a hygienic point of view. Fewer cracks, gaps, flashes and edges are present, where dirt might stick. The construction ac¬ cording to the invention renders it comparatively easy to avoid angular corners in preference to soft, easy-to- clean curves. This is in sharp contrast to a plate- covered skeleton construction where angular corners are

^.- the— ule and may only be avoided at substantially in¬ creased costs.

The sandwiched product offers excellent heat in¬ sulating qualities, typically 50% above those of a mine¬ ral wool insulation of identical thickness, and is easi¬ ly repaired.

Preferred designs of the body according to the invention are stated in claims 2-6 as follows:- It is advantageous to form the openings for windows and doors immediately at production (claims 2 and 4) . Alternatively a completely closed body might be formed and then openings could be cut, but this would mean a waste of material.

Embedding the window and door frames immediately at the manufacture (claims 3 and 5) entails the advantage of avoiding extra mounting and safeguards against poten¬ tially leaking joints at the walls.

It proves a major advantage to manufacture the body with a built-in table top (claim 6) that eventually serves as a counter. This renders it totally optional at the manufacture to design the table top with rounded edges, corners and adaptions where it meets the walls, openings for the staff to stand, mounting details for furniture etc. and all without any joints whatsoever. The design can be made with maximum consideration for hygiene and ergonomics without incurring any significant increase in costs and can be adapted to the required use. The increase in costs would be substantial for such adaptability where traditional plate working is con¬ cerned. ^" -^{Λ ~~~}

The invention also comprises the method of produc¬ ing the body as stated in claim 7. The essential advan¬ tage of this method is that the inherent stability of the cellular plastic plates are utilized when building up the body. Thereby it is rendered superfluous to build a traditional mould for the manufacture. The cellular plastic plates can be attached to the scaffolding core, e.g. by clips or be mutually bonded around the core to constitute a coherent shell.

When the outer layer of glass-fibre reinforced plastic subsequently is laid up on the cellular plastic plates they serve the purpose of a mould. Upon the lay¬ ing up of the outer layer of glass-fibre reinforced plastic the scaffolding core is removed. Depending on the actual production planning, this may result in the core- being separated into individual components that are removed one by one, or the core may be made up of link components that can be slid somewhat together and the core then be pulled out of the body downwardly. In this respect the construction is optional.

When the core has been removed from the body the inner layer of glass-fibre reinforced plastic can be laid up on the cellular plastic plates whereby these once again serve as moulds. Obviously, the lay-up of the inner layer of glass-fibre reinforced plastic may con¬ veniently be combined with a forming of the body to a bottom of fundamentally the same construction as the walls and. the roof.

The invention is described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawing:-

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an essentially integrally formed body for a mobile stall according to the invention.

. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the body immediately above the table top.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the body.

Fig. 4 illustrates a detail of an embedded window sill in the body.

Fig. 5 illustrates the method of the lay-up of the body on a scaffolding core.

The body 1 according to Fig. 1 is an essentially rectangular shell integrally formed as a unit laid up in a sandwiched construction consisting of an outer and an inner layer of glass-fibre reinforced layer of plastic having an intermediate layer of cellular plastic. Sand¬ wiched constructions of this type are known for instance in boat building where they are used because of their excellent sturdiness. Each of the glass-fibre reinforced plastic layers will usually be laid out in a conventional casting pro¬ cess where glass-fibre fabric and fluid plastic material are applied alternately until the required layer thick¬ ness has been achieved as the plastic hardens through. The glass-fibre reinforced plastic layers can thus per se be laid up having several layers of glass fibres.

The body 1 comprises a table top 2 that is inte¬ grally formed with the walls 3. Along the front with the windows 4 and the sides with the windows 5 the table top 2 is extended such that it serves as a counter 6 for customers that are served through the windows 4 and 5 by the staff in_._the body. The table top almost encircles the body on the inside, leaving only an access opening 7, the relating door to be installed into the doorway 8 at the rear of the body (not shown in Fig. 1, cf. Fig. 2).

The table top 2 is produced of the same material as the walls of the body and internally designed having special openings 9 at the corners making it more con¬ venient for the staff to attend to their customers.

The vertical section, Fig. 3 illustrates that the bottom plate of the body for reasons of stability is dimensioned somewhat thicker than the sides and roof. Typically an approx. 25 mm thick PVC cellular plastic having laid on to it glass-fibre reinforced plastic layers of approx. 2,5 mm is used for the sides and roof, while the cellular plastic layer for the bottom typical¬ ly has a thickness of 40 mm.

In Fig. 3 a dashed line indicates how the body can be mounted to wheels on a fixed axle, the wheels pro¬ truding through the bottom plate. Above the wheels suit¬ able wheel casings must obviously be placed. These de¬ tails are normally allowed for already when forming the body and a variety of constructions is possible.

Fig. 5A shows the. first step of the method of pro- ducing the body. You start off by building a scaffolding core that defines the outer shape of the body. In actual practice this means that a space grid or other type of scaffolding of e.g. laths, lists or profiles 10 of wood is constructed. The scaffolding is designed such that it can be lined with plates 11 of cellular plastic. These plates 11 hereby constitute the shell-type body illu¬ strated in Fig. 1. The plates 11 can for instance be secured to the scaffolding 10 by clips that are attached through the window openings 4 and 5, or the plates can be mutually bonded together such that they gradually make up a coherent shell that sticks to the scaffolding core without any outside assistance.

The rounded corners that add to the stability are integrated already at this initial laying up of the body, also integrating other details such as the en¬ circling dado 12 above the windows 4, 5, said dado later to carry shutters for respectively shutting the windows and to make up a porch above the windows, when selling from the mobile stall.

When all required details have been mounted on to the scaffolding core 10 in the form^"o ^—cellular plastic plates 11 and/or possibly wooden lists or profiles etc. (cf. Fig. 4 which is described later) a glass-fibre reinforced plastic layer 13 is laid up at the outer face of the cellular plastic 11 (Fig. 5B) . This outer laying- up can be performed quite traditionally by rolling out a layer of liquid plastic, cover this in glass fibre fabric, saturate this with liquid plastic, lay up the next layer of glass fibre fabric etc. and eventually perhaps finish up applying a layer of top coating or paint to achieve a handsome outer surface. The laying-up is hence performed quite traditionally and to a layer thickness of the outer glass-fibre reinforced plastic layer 13 of 2-3 mm.

The outer laying-up will normally take place in a number of different stages where the extensive surfaces and the details are completed in such a manner that an inherently stable shell of the cellular plastic 11 and the outer glass-fibre reinforced plastic layer 13 is constructed.

Upon the laying-up of the outer layer 13 the scaf¬ folding core 10 can be removed from the interior of the body, for instance by separating it into its individual components and take them out through the window and door openings. In series production, where slightly higher costs in the construction of the core can be retrieved by a reduced production time, the core 10 can for in¬ stance be provided with link components that can be slid somewhat together and the core thus be pulled out of the body downwardly.

When the scaffolding.core 10 has been removed from the interior of the body, an inner layer of glass-fibre reinforced plastic 14 can be laid up on to the cellular plastic in the same manner as the laying-up of the outer layer 13. Simultaneously the table top 2 can be mounted and formed integrally with the walls of the body. Now the bottom 15 can also be laid up applying a similar method as for the walls and the roof. The laying up of the bottom, however, can be initiated at an earlier stage of the production process. It is possible, for instance, to place the scaffolding core on legs that protrude through the bottom plate and then simply cover the holes for the legs in the bottom at the final stage.

The finished body consequently presents itself as an essentially monolithic unit being a sandwiched con¬ struction having very few joints, if any whatsoever.

Fig. 4 illustrates in a horizontal section how a wooden window sill 20 can be embedded in the walls at production. The window sill 20 is bonded to the cellular plastic 11 prior to the laying-up of the glass-fibre reinforced plastic layers 13 and 14 and have thus become an integral component of the walls. To the window sill 20 a profile 21, e.g. of aluminium, has been attached to a stationary upper window pane 22 and a slidable lower pane 23 such that the window may be opened. A door frame can be embedded in the walls in an identical manner. The encircling dado 12 is made in this way, too, by bonding a suitable wooden profile to the cellular plastic and subsequently cast it into glass-fibre reinforced plastic.

Claims

C L A I M S :

1. A body essentially being integrally formed as a unit for a mobile stall being a self-supporting sand¬ wiched product of at least two glass-fibre reinforced plastic layers having at least one intermediate cellular plastic core.

2. A body according to claim 1 having one or more prefabricated window openings.

3. A body according to claim 2 having one or more embedded window sills for window glazing to be used as service hatches.

4. A body according to claim 1 having one or more prefabricated doorways.

5. A body according to claim 4 having one or more embedded door frames for installing access' doors.

6. A body according to claim 1 having one or more integrally cast table tops to serve as (a) counter(s) .

7. A method for manufacturing a body for a mobile stall where the following stages are carried out in the order mentioned: 1) a scaffolding core is covered on ___T^" outside by plates of cellular plastic to constitute at least the walls and roof of the body, and 2) the cel¬ lular plastic is coated by an outer layer of glass-fibre reinforced plastic^" to constitute an inherently stable body upon which the following stages may be carried out at random, however stage a) always preceding stage b) : a) the scaffolding core be removed from the body, b) the cellular plastic be coated by an inner layer of glass- fibre reinforced plastic and c) the body be integrally formed with a bottom consisting of at least two glass- fibre reinforced plastic layers having at least one intermediate cellular plastic layer.