Restaurant bus

A self-propelled bus-type vehicular structure for use as a mobile restaurant. The vehicle has separately defined portions for food preparation and food service and consumption. The vehicle provides a restaurant facility during ground transit to simultaneously combine the functions of eating with those of sight-seeing. The restaurant furniture relating to both food service and consumption is particularly configured for use in a vehicular structure and particularly adapted for use during transit of that structure.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
1. Related Applications 
There are no applications related hereto heretofore filed in this or any 
foreign country. 
2. Field of Invention 
My invention relates generally to bus-type vehicles for road transportation 
and more particularly to such a vehicle that provides full service 
restaurant facilities for use during transit. 
DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART 
Two popular elements of entertainment have been and generally are the 
consumption of food and sight-seeing. Each of these functions in the past 
usually has been carried out independently, particularly in the case of 
automotive-type vehicles. The instant invention provides a bus-type 
vehicle whereby the two functions may be combined to simultaneously 
provide the advantages of each. 
Wheeled road-type land vehicles heretofore have been used, undoubtedly 
substantially contemporaneously with their creation, for sight-seeing 
endeavors of various types and such vehicles often have been adapted to 
carry a plurality of persons. 
Land vehicles have also in some circumstances heretofore been associated 
with food and food service. The vehicular food stand which may be moved to 
various locations for service of food therefrom is well known, in smaller 
forms in the traditional street vendor's cart and in larger forms in quite 
sophisticated vehicles providing food service facilities at parks, fairs 
and the like. This type of vehicular food provider and server has, on 
occasion, provided full food service of substantially the same caliber as 
had in ordinary stationary restaurants devoted entirely to this purpose. 
The essence of this type of food service vehicle remains, however, the 
provision of food for consumption elsewhere than in or on the vehicle and 
its locomotive facilities are used to move the structure during periods of 
non-use as a food serving facility. This type of vehicle is 
distinguishable from the instant invention in that it generally provides 
no facility for patrons to eat food therein or thereon and it does not 
transport patrons during the course of their consumption of food provided 
therefrom. 
Another type of food service in vehicles arises in the passenger 
transportation industry generally where, by reason of convenience or 
necesssity, food must be provided for patrons during transportation 
because of the duration of the transport operation or the particular time 
period during which it is carried out, should this coincide with normal 
eating periods. This type of food service is epitomized by the airplane, 
railroad train and ocean-going vessel. 
The primary purpose of this type of food service has been to provide 
sustenance during travel, and the various facilities and operations 
therefore have been essentially related to this purpose. In general food 
preparation and service facilities on trains and ships, where area 
therefore is substantially unlimited, have been the same, both in their 
physical extent and their epicurean sophistication, as those common in the 
stationary restaurant trade generally. The appliances are of standard 
configuration and operation and the food to be prepared is commonly of the 
ordinary unprepared, primitive type. 
In the case of the airplane food service, facilities and appliances are 
extremely limited, if at all existent, because of space and weight 
limitations and the food served is substantially entirely pre-prepared in 
its final form externally of the airplane in which it is to be served. 
Such processed food is commonly prepackaged in serving portions and 
prepared very little immediately prior to service, such as by heating to 
make it more palatable and aesthetically desirable for patrons. The 
primary purpose of such facility has not been to provide an epicurean type 
of food and food service commonly associated with restaurants catering to 
human entertainment and it has not done so. 
Food service heretofore has not generally been provided on passenger 
carrying, over-the-road type vehicles because in their normal operation it 
is not necessary. Such vehicles may be scheduled to be present at existing 
stationary restaurant facilities at accustomed times for food consumption 
and use has been made of such secondary facilities in most such 
transportation operations. There are also physical and legal restrictions 
on the nature of such vehicles, especially as to size, configuration and 
health and safety standards, and these factors also have not been 
conducive to the providing of food facilities in such vehicles. 
Railway or boat food service facilities have heretofore provided 
substantially full restaurant service. Such facilities, however, have 
provided this type of service with traditional restaurant fixtures and 
furnishings and could do so only because of substantial spacial areas that 
could be devoted to such purposes. Traditional mobile home and travel 
trailers have provided reasonably full service food facilities, but only 
because this is allowed by their limited number of occupants in relation 
to their available area. Such is not the case, however, with an 
over-the-road bus-type vehicle carrying a plurality of passengers desiring 
epicurean food service. Because of the areal and other physical 
limitations involved, ordinary restaurant fixtures and furnishings cannot 
be adapted for such purpose in bus-type vehicles, at least with any 
economy and feasibility. 
Since the combination of an eating facility with a sight-seeing facility 
normally is an economic venture, this sets certain practical limitations 
upon both maximum areas that can be occupied for particular purposes and 
the minimum number of people that can and must be served in such facility. 
These limitations necessarily rule out the use of traditional restaurant 
arrangements, furniture and fixtures because of the space occupied thereby 
and the lack of area remaining for patrons' occupancy and service. If such 
facilities be used in a bus-type vehicle, the resultant combination is not 
economically feasible. 
My instant invention differs from the art described firstly by providing an 
epicurean food service in a bus-type vehicle during transit thereof for 
sight-seeing purposes, and secondly in providing facilities and furniture 
in such vehicle that have structures necessarily determined and limited by 
their functions to allow vehicle use by a maximum number of patrons. These 
features combine synergistically to provide economic feasibility for such 
a vehicle and its operation. 
SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
My invention provides generally a self-propelled bus having a smaller food 
preparation and service area and a substantially larger food consumption 
area. 
The vehicle provides a planar floor upon an ordinary bus chassis with a 
structurally interconnected vehicle body defining an enclosure with height 
sufficient to allow comfortable walking passage therein. The food service 
area comprises approximately one-fourth of the available floor area and 
the food consumption area substantially its remainder. The food 
consumption area provides cellularly defined and fixedly positioned 
booth-type table and seat arrangements with tables having indentations to 
positionally maintain utensils during the motions of ordinary transit. The 
food consumption area provides medial isle space for transit of service 
personnel and patron access. The food service area provides furniture and 
fixtures having normal functions available in stationary restaurants but 
does so with a particular efficient arrangement and appliances of smaller, 
more compact nature. The food service appliances are powered ultimately by 
the motor of the bus. Space is provided for lavatory facilities, storage 
and driver. The peripherally defined bus body provides window area 
substantially greater than a normal bus. 
In operation my bus institutes its tour from a central terminal and returns 
thereto after food service and sightseeing for appropriate access by 
patrons. 
In providing such a restaurant bus it is: 
A principal object of my invention to create a self propelled over-the-road 
bus-type vehicle that has configuration and facilities such that food may 
be prepared and consumed and sight-seeing may be done simultaneously 
therein during transit by a plurality of patrons. 
A further object of my invention to provide such a vehicle that has 
sufficient space and facilities to allow sophisticated epicurean operation 
while yet allowing use by a sufficient number of patrons to provide 
economic feasibility. 
A still further object of my invention to provide such a vehicle that has 
window walls of substantial area, unencumbered by furniture or fixtures, 
to provide a passenger with a clear and view of the environs surrounding 
the vehicle. 
A still further object of my invention to provide such a vehicle that has 
ordinary lavatory and driver facilities in addition to food service and 
consumption areas. 
A still further object of my invention to provide such a restaurant bus 
that is of new and novel design, of rugged and durable nature, of simple 
and economic manufacture and one otherwise well suited to the uses and 
purposes for which it is intended. 
Other and further objects of my invention will appear from the following 
specification and accompanying drawings which form a part hereof. 
In carrying out the objects of my invention, however, it is to be 
understood that its essential features are susceptible of change in design 
and structural arrangement with only one preferred and practical 
embodiment being illustrated in the accompanying drawings, as is required.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now in more detail to the illustrated specific embodiment of my 
invention, it will be seen that it generally comprises bus-type vehicle 10 
defining a first larger area for food service furniture 11 and a second 
smaller area for food preparation furniture and fixtures 12. 
Vehicle 10 provides elongate, rigid chassis 13 of the ordinary rigid beam, 
ladder-type construction supported for locomotion on an underlying road 
surface by plural wheel trucks 14. The chassis frame supports rigid 
parallel floor 15 which may be of the single level variety illustrated or, 
if desired, may embody various floor levels according to principals 
heretofore known. Peripherally defined storage bins 16 are provided 
depending beneath chassis 13 to provide storage area for any desired 
articles and also to improve the ascetic appearance of the exterior of the 
vehicle beneath the chassis. A normal driver compartment 28, embodying the 
various accounterments common to driver compartments of ordinary buses, is 
provided in the right forward portion of the vehicle and supplied with the 
necessary devices and mechanical linkages used by a driver to accomplish 
bus locomotion. 
Peripheral vehicle body 17 extends vertically from the lower portion of 
storage bin 16 upwardly above floor 15 a distance sufficient to define an 
enclosed passenger chamber 18 of height sufficient to allow normal walking 
of patrons of ordinary height within the enclosure when they are supported 
on the vehicle floor. The body defines principal forward entry door 19 
serviced by steps 20 to aid access and rearward emergency door 21 in the 
rear portion of the body. The upper portion of the front of the body 
defines ordinary upper glass window structure 22 with windshield 23 
therebelow. The body side walls define plural, enlarged picture-type 
windows 24 to provide substantial viewing area for bus patrons. The bus 
body defines appropriate orifices and supports for the ordinary 
accessories associated therewith such as venting structures 25, headlights 
26, wheel wells 27 and other similar structures common to bus-type 
vehicles or required for their operation. 
The configuration of the body is not particularly critical so long as it 
fulfills the essential requirements recited. Many commercial bus-type 
vehicles of commerce substantially fulfill these requirements and well may 
be used as a chassis and body for my bus. The body style should provide 
maximum enclosed space for any particular vehicle type. Its desirability 
is increased if the structure provide an external surface of some ascetic 
appeal, simple and easy passenger access and window structure that allows 
patrons a simple and easy view of the bus environs during use. Normally an 
ordinary bus body of 40 to 60 feet in length will be adequate for 
economical operation of my vehicle though, rather obviously, the larger 
the vehicle is, the more economical is its operation. Size, of course, is 
limited by physical restrictions for transport on the public roadways and, 
in some instances, possibly also by particular environmental restrictions, 
such as low overhead structures, sharp corners or the like, in the transit 
course of the bus. An articulated bus-type vehicle (not shown) is 
adaptable for the purposes of my invention, if such a structure may be 
used in the environment to which it is to operate. 
The forward portion of chamber 18 provides driver compartment 28 with its 
various accouterments on the left of the access door, access steps and 
vestibule structure 29 which are to the right. The immediately rearward 
medial forward portion 30 of the chamber provides the larger food service 
subdivision of the body structure with food service furniture 11 carried 
therein. Immediately rearwardly of the medial forward portion 30 is 
restroom structure 31 on the left with by-pass hallway 32 on the right. 
This by-pass hallway extends to rearwardmost food preparation area 33 
carrying the food preparation furniture and fixtures 12. 
Food service furniture 11 in medial forward portion 30 of the bus comprises 
a plurality of booth structures isolated in booth cells 34. These cells 
are defined on their lateral or outer side by the bus body structure, at 
the forward and rearward sides by cellular walls 35 and are open on their 
inner sides to allow food service and ingress and egress of patrons. Such 
structures provide a semi-private atmosphere in which meals may be eaten. 
If desired, cellular walls 35 may be of a removable nature (not shown) so 
that the entire interior of my bus, or a part of it, may be opened up into 
one or more larger open spaces for use by larger parties. 
Each booth cell contains similar paired opposed bench seats 36 having 
associated upstanding backs 37 and pedestals 38 supporting the seats at an 
appropriate distance above the floor for comfortable sitting. These seat 
structures normally will be of substantially the same length (lateral 
dimension) as that of the cellular walls immediately adjacent the backs 
thereof. The seats 36 of a booth cell are spaced apart from each other 
sufficiently to allow persons to be seated on each in a position facing 
each other, normally at a distance of about 30 inches. 
Elongate slab-like tables 39 are supported in a medial position in each 
booth cell between the opposed seat structures and at a comfortably spaced 
distance above the seats. The tables are supported in cantilever fashion, 
in the instance illustrated by mechanical interconnection with the bus 
body 17 laterally outwardly adjacent thereto. This mechanical fastening 
may be accomplished by means known in the prior art and is well within the 
skills of an ordinary mechanic. 
Normally the seat structures will not only be mechanically interconnected 
with each other at adjoining surfaces but will also be mechanically 
interconnected to the adjacent booth cell walls 35 and bus body structure 
17 to positively positionally maintain them during use and vehicle 
transit. The tables will normally be at a standard height for comfortable 
dining by an average sized patron, which is approximately 30 inches above 
the bus floor and 13 inches above the supportative position of the upper 
surface of seats 36. 
Both booths and the tables must be formed of some rigid durable material of 
reasonable strength to fulfill their purposes. The surfaces of the seats 
and backs are normally padded and covered with some ordinary furniture 
covering material, preferably fabric type upholstery of one sort or 
another. These materials are of the same type as used in similar 
structures in stationary restaurants of the present day. 
The arrangement of booth cells for maximum efficiency within the bus 
structure is shown in the plan view of FIG. 2, with a plurality of such 
structures on one side of the vehicle adapted for use by four people 
sitting in groups of two on each seat and another grouping of such 
structures on the opposite second side of the vehicle adapted for use by 
two people sitting with one on each seat. A medial corridor or aisle 
remains unoccupied to serve as ingress and egress means for patrons of the 
booth cells and also as an access facility for serving personnel. 
Preferably the booth cells are so arrayed, with some spaces left between 
some units, to accommodate storage cabinets 40 and serving tables 41 of 
such size and number as may be required for efficient food service, 
utensil containment and storage. Normally a space will be provided between 
booth cells for coat closet 42 to contain and store overcoats or other 
hand carried articles that might be brought into the bus by patrons and 
desired to be stored during dining. 
Each table top 39 is of some thickness and defines in its upper portion 
larger cylindrical indentations 43 and smaller cup indentations 44 to aid 
in maintaining plates and cups, respectively, therein during motion of the 
vehicle. These indentations in a particular case, obviously, must be 
appropriately shpaed and sized to accomplish their purpose. Side rails 
(not shown) might be added to the peripheral edges of the table to extend 
a spaced distance upwardly to aid in maintaining dishes thereon but, in 
general, this is not necessary as the forces that might be imposed upon 
such items are generally not great enough in ordinary bus transit to 
justify use of the structures. Various other indentations (not shown) 
might also be defined in the table top for other dishes but, in general, 
this again is not ordinarily necessary. 
Food preparation fixtures and appliances 12 are carried in rearwardmost 
food preparation area 33, especially as shown in the illustrations of 
FIGS. 2 and 3. These fixtures and appliances provide the ordinary 
functions that are provided by most stationary restaurant kitchens, but 
they are generally smaller in size and more efficient in function and 
arrangement. Work-height counter 45 is provided along the first lateral 
side of area 33, opposite the rear door, with storage cabinets 46 above 
and below the counter. Extending inwardly from counter 45 in its forward 
portion is sink counter 47, again having additional storage cabinets 48 
therebelow with sink 49 carried in the medial part thereof. Extending 
inwardly from the rearward portion of work counter 45 is refrigerator 
cabinet 50 providing ordinary refrigerator and freezer facilities. "L" 
shaped storage cabinets 51 extend, as illustrated, laterally outwardly 
from the inner surface of the refrigerator cabinet to the second side of 
the bus body rearwardly of the rear door. Counter height grill 52 and 
stove 53 are provided inwardly adjacent the bus body on the second or 
right side of the food preparation area, immediately forwardly of the rear 
door, and microwave and convection oven structures 54 are supported 
immediately thereabove on that same body wall. These structures are all 
configured and sized substantially as illustrated to leave aisle 55 for 
clear access to the food preparation furniture and appliances and also to 
allow access to the rear door from passageway 32. 
Water heating and supply systems 55 are preferably carried below the floor 
structure of the bus and are powered, ultimately, by the bus motor, 
generally by intermediate means of electricity generated by that motor. 
Similarly refrigeration structure 50 is preferably powered by electricity 
generated by the bus motor. Grill 52 and stove plates 53 are commonly 
heated by liquified natural gas carried in tank 56 located below the floor 
structure of the vehicle. An appropriate ventilating system (not shown) is 
provided to service the entire bus structure and particularly the food 
preparation area. This system is vented through vent structures 25 to the 
outside atmosphere. Various other accouterments common to present day 
commercial restaurants such as television facilities, seating area for 
service personnel and like structures may be included in my bus, if 
desired, but they are not necessary to its essential operation, are well 
known in the restaurant arts generally and therefore are not illustrated 
in detail. 
Having thusly described the structure of my invention, its use may be 
understood. 
Firstly, a bus structure is formed according to the foregoing specification 
and outfitted with food service furniture and food preparation furniture 
and fixtures as described. The bus is supplied with driver and appropriate 
food preparation and service personnel, usually one cook and one waiter, 
and it is then ready for operation. Normally, but not necessarily, 
financial arrangements for use of the vehicle by patrons are made in some 
central location from which the vehicle operates rather than from any 
facilities carried in or on the vehicle itself. 
After making appropriate financial arrangements, a patron or group of 
patrons enter the bus and are seated in one or more of the booth cells 
defined in the forward medial food service area. When the bus is loaded 
with all patrons for a particular trip and all patrons have been 
appropriately seated, it then begins its course of transit during which a 
meal will be served. For most efficient operation, this course of transit 
normally will begin at a terminal and end at the same terminal point. 
Though the period of transit may last for any desired time, it commonly 
will be for a period of from one to three hours as this time will allow 
the normal leisurely consumption of a meal. 
After the bus commences its transit, the food desired by patrons is 
appropriately prepared by the cook in the food preparation area and upon 
its preparation, it is served by food service personnel to the patrons in 
the booth cells. The food may generally be of any desired variety, but 
commonly for most efficient operation, it will include a prearranged menu 
of relatively few selections, at least some of which may be largely 
pre-prepared so that no excessive amount of preparation is required on the 
bus. Such foods commonly may be frozen and reheated or may be items 
requiring only grilling or short, relatively simple cooking procedures 
such as steaming, sauteing or the like. This type of food and food 
preparation is common in many stationary restaurants of the present day, 
especially those specializing in faster service. The food must, of course, 
meet appropriate epicurean standards. 
Bar functions may be provided and various beverages, either alcoholic or 
non-alcoholic, served from the food service area. Various types of 
entertainment such as television, music and the like might be provided 
during the meal if desired, but in general the principal entertainment 
most commonly will be the viewing of scenery in the environs of the course 
of bus travel during the meal period. 
Upon completion of the meal, the bus is returned to its original terminal 
and its patrons may go about their further activities from that point as 
in the case of any stationary restaurant. With a timing period for the 
meal of one to three hours, commonly, more than one meal service may be 
had in a single vehicle for a particular meal. Such multiple service 
obviously increases the economic efficiency and feasibility of the vehicle 
and may provide greater profit from its operation. 
The foregoing description of my invention is necessarily of a detailed 
nature so that a specific embodiment of it might be set forth as required, 
but it is to be understood that various modifications of detail, 
rearrangement and multiplication of parts might be resorted to without 
departing from its spirit, essence or scope. 
Having thusly described my invention, what I desire to protect by Letters 
Patent, and