GB2277944A - Building system - Google Patents

Abstract

The basic unit of a lightweight building needing no foundations is an archway made of two freestanding components (2, 4), are being in the form of a two-legged roof support, one leg (24) of which is cantilevered towards the other component, which is a column (4) having a panel support arm (42) extending laterally from it towards the cantilever arm (24). The two arms overlap and are joined together by a coupling (50) which allows some relative angular movement between the two arms while at the same time transmitting any tensile or compressive forces. The roof support (2) and the column (4) have basically triangular floor plates (8). A building comprises spaced archways, with the spaces between the archways being left open to provide doorways, or filled with opaque or light-transmitting panels to act as walls, roof panels or roof lights. <IMAGE>

Description

BUILDING SYSTEM Thins invention relates to a building system, particularly for a building requiring no foundations.

There is a need for lightweight buildings of which the component parts can be delivered to a prepared level site, indoors or outdoors, and erected there. The buildings can be used as sales outlets of various kinds, information or reception centres, and short-term business and workshop spaces.

The present inventions aims at providing systems for single storey buildings in the form of self-supporting archways which can be positioned alongside each other to form supports for infill panels, glazing panels and roofing panels intended to form the exterior surfaces of the building.

Accordingly the present invention provides a building unit in the form of an archway, comprising in combination a two-legged roof support intended in operation to have one upright leg extending upwardly from a floor plate, and its other leg cantilevered at an angle above the horizontal, and a column extending upwardly from a second floor plate and having at its upper end a laterallyprojecting support arm for a glazing or like panel, in which combination the roof support and post lie in substantially the same vertical plane, with the outer end of the support are being coupled to the outer end of the cantilever leg in a manner permitting relative movement of the arm and leg through a small range of angles while allowing tension or compression to be transmitted through the coupling.

The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of an archway of the present invention; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the archway shown in Figure 1, with the lateral parts thereof extending at different angles to the horizontal; Figure 3 is a plan view of a rectangular building showing several archways as shown in Figure 1 positioned in parallel with each other and having panels of different sorts secured to them; Figure 4 is a plan view of a roughly-circular building made from four archways as shown in Figure 1, with each subtending a right angle with its neighbours;; Figure 5 is a plan view of an arcuate building using several archways as shown in Figure 1 lying on an arc and extending along radii thereto, and Figure 6 is a plan view of a square building using four archways as shown in Figure 1 spaced around a square service column and spaced angularly apart by 900.

In the accompanying drawings, those components which are the same in the different drawings retain the same references.

The basic archway unit of this invention is made up of two components, a two-legged roof support 2 and a column 4. The upright leg 6 of support 2 is welded or otherwise secured at its base to a floor plate 8 having feet 10 positioned between it and a level floor 12. As can be seen, leg 6 diverges upwardly from floor plate 8, with its inside surface being substantially vertical and able to have an infill panel 14 secured to it by couplings 16.

Although this is not shown in Figure 1, the leg 6 is Cshaped in horizontal cross-section so that the part 6 shown in Figure 1 is the web integral with a flange 18 to which the panel 14 is coupled. The floor plate 8 is substantially in the shape of a trapezoid in plan, with the narrower of the two parallel edges being integral with the lower end of web 6 and flange 18. In this way, the feet 10 at the outer apexes of the floor plate 8 give a measure of lateral stability to support 2.

At its upper end, the web 6 has in it a hole for the reception of a large circular clamp 20. Sandwiching the upper end of web 6 between them is a pair of parallel members 22 forming a cantilever leg 24. The function of the clamp 20 is to secure the inner ends of the arms 22 to each other and to web 6 in a manner preventing relative angular movement after clamp 20 has been fully tightened. In their basic position shown in Figure 1, the two legs of support 2 define an angle of about 1050 between them.

It will be seen that the cantilever leg 24 also tapers along its length, with preferably the outer surfaces of both sides of the leg being in the form of gentle arcs, for aesthetic reasons.

The column 4 includes a web 26 having integral flanges 28 so that the column 4 is substantially T-shaped in horizontal cross-section. At its lower and wider end, the web 26 is secured to a second foot plate 30 by means of a pivot pin 32. The foot plate 30 has feet 34 similar to feet 10 on the other foot plate. The purpose of the pivotal connection provided by pin 32 is to enable the foot plate 30 to take up any irregularities there might be in the surface 12. In practice, the column 4 is pivoted about pin 32 until flange 28 is substantially vertical. The flange is intended to have glazing or other infill panels 36 secured to it at intervals by means of fastenings 38.

Towards its upper end, the web 26 may have one end of a lintel or sign 40 secured to it in a manner which does not form part of the subject-matter of this invention, and which will therefore not be described herein in any further detail. Above the location of the lintel 40 a lateral support arm 42 extends from a pivot pin 44. As can be seen in Figure 1, the support arm preferably tapers outwardly. As not shown in Figure 1, the support arm has an integral flange along its upper or lower edge.

As indicated diagrammatically in Figure 1, the flange 46 is along the lower edge of arm 42, and has a glazing panel 48 secured to it by suitable means. In some embodiments, it may be desired for the glazing or other panel to rest on top of the arm 42, in which case the flange 46 is along its upper edge.

As can be seen in Figure 1, the outer ends of arm 42 and leg 24 overlap in a vertical plane. These overlapping portions are secured together by means of a coupling 50.

As indicated diagrammatically in Figure 2, this coupling 50 holds the respective members together even when they change their angular dispositions relatively to each other.

Although in some embodiments of the present invention the column 4 would be self-supporting, in other embodiments the weight of the arm 46 and the panel secured thereto provide a turning moment which could be sufficient to cau.9e the column 4 to topple clockwise as viewed.

Because of the construction of support 2, there is no position in which it is self-supporting, in that there always is a tendency for it to move in an anti-clockwise direction as viewed. The main purpose of coupling 50 is therefore to transmit the compressive forces applied to it by the members to which it is connected, in order to stop the two basic components of the archway from falling inwards towards each other. Thus the archway is stable in the plane of the drawing as viewed. As can be seen in Figures 3 to 6, the floor plate 30 of column 4 is triangular or trapezoidal in plan view, with one apex being below the location of pivot 32, and with the other two apexes being positioned on opposite sides of the vertical median plane of the archway.The respective laterally spaced-apart feet 10 and 34 thus provide the archway with a measure of lateral stability perpendicular to the plane of the drawing.

Figure 2 is largely identical with Figure 1, but shows that the cantilever leg 24 can extend at angles additional to one of 50 to leg 2. The clamp 20 may be arranged to allow the leg 24 to extend at any of a few preset angular positions, or it may be infinitely adjustable over a limited range of angular movement. As shown in Figure 2, the present positions are spaced apart from each other by about 140. As will be appreciated, in order to provide an archway of constant width despite any changes in the angle of leg 24 to the horizontal, it is necessary for the support arm 46 to have different effective lengths. While this may be achieved by fitting to column 4 a support arm of fixed length and intended to extend at a known angle to the plain containing flange 28, it is preferable to make the arms 46 of adjustable length, as by making them of telescopic construction.

When the arm 46 is of adjustable length, it is important that the adjustment means may be locked after the arm 46 has been secured to leg 24 and they have been moved to a chosen position, in order that the compressive forces already mentioned can be safely transmitted through both coupling 15 and the means (not shown) keeping the length of arm 46 fixed. The stability of the structure is enhanced by making the pivot 44 for arm 42 of the lockable type, so that it too may be clamped tight when arm 42 is in its desired final position.

In practice, as will be discussed below in connection with the other drawings, the archways described in connection with Figures 1 and 2 are intended to cooperate with one or more like archways, with or without the use of auxiliary intermediate members.

In the building of rectangular plan shown in Figure 3, the archways 1 are indicated schematically, with three parallel archways being positioned back-to-back with another set of three archways. In between each pair of archways is a roof support 2, but which has no opposite column 4 with which it can form an archway. Instead, the inherent tendency of support 2 to pivot about its floor plate 8 is resisted by bolting or otherwise securing it to the other support 2 with which it is paired, so that the combination becomes self-supporting. Extending between the cantilever legs 24 are opaque roof panels 54 of any suitable material, while secured to the arms 42 of columns are glazing panels 56, which may be made of glass, polymethylmethacrylate or like transparent or translucent materials.Although all the surface area of the building shown in Figure 3 is covered by a roofing panel of one material or another, the respective vertical surfaces of the building may be closed by walls, infill panels or glazing panels, or left unobstructed to provide access.

In that building shown in Figure 4, the archways 1 are connected together at a central point 58, by means which do not form part of the subject-matter of this invention, and therefore which will not be described herein in any further detail. The archways extend at 900 to their neighbouring archways, to provide a basic cruciform structure. The roofing panels 54 extending between each pair of archways 1 have the general shape of a quadrant of a circle. Positioned on the outer borders of the building shown in Figure 4 are columns 4 at locations which bisect the angles between two adjacent archways.

The support arms 42 of these intermediate columns 4 are secured at their pivots 44 (Figure 1) so as to extend at the same angle to the horizontal as do the arms 42 of the columns 4 making up each archway 1. In this way, the arms 42 subtending an angle of 45 between them are able to support the 'radial' edges of glazing panels 56.

In the more-sophisticated building shown in Figure 5, the archways 1 extend along radii to the centre of the arc on which the building is based. Although the archways lie on radii, they are not necessarily spaced angularly to the same extent from their neighbouring archways. The floor-mounted units of the building shown in Figure 5 are shown only to indicate how they might be positioned within the building, in order to form a snack bar or other food outlet, and so they will not be described herein in any greater detail. It is envisaged that in use, the panels 54 between the cantilever arms 24 would be of opaque material, while the panels 56 would be of glazing material, but the choice of material is flexible.

As shown for purposes of illustration, two of the pairs of adjacent archways 1 have glazing panels 28 secured to their respective columns 4, in the manner of shop windows, whereas these glazing panels are omitted from between the intermediate pairs of columns 4, so as to provide doorways.

In that embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 6, the building is centred on a column 60 which is square in plan. Incorporated within the column, or secured to its outer surfaces, are conventional building supply services, such as electricity cables, water supply pipes, waste ducts, telecommunication cables, gas conduits and the like. Extending from the corners of column 60 are four archways 1 of the present invention, with each archway subtending a right angle with respect to its neighbours. Extending between the legs 6 of the roof supports 2 are service panels 62. These are spaced outwardly of the outer surfaces of column 60 so as to provide service spaces for the services exemplified above, and the service panels themselves can have secured to them outlets for the various services.

In this embodiment of the invention, the inner roofing panels 54 are trapezoidal in plan, and are made of material which is sufficiently strong as to be selfsupporting, so that the panels do not bow unacceptably along their longer edges 64.

Each pair of archways 1 has positioned between its respective columns 4 a pair of self-supporting columns 4 of which the support arms 42 (shown only schematically) are shorter than those of the archways 1, and extend at an angle to the horizontal which is necessary to ensure that each irregular glazing panel 56 is supported evenly along its respective edges. The self-standing columns 4 are intended to have vertical infill panels or glazing panels 28 secured to them to act as walls, with such a panel being omitted in order to form a doorway 66 between two of the intermediate columns 4.

Accordingly it will be seen that the present invention provides a modular archway for a building made up from two or more archways located in predetermined relatively to each other and having extending between them various optional infill panels of opaque or light-transmitting materials to act as walls, roof panels or roof lights.

The archways of the present invention can be scaled up to form buildings over a wide range of shapes and areas.

The buildings themselves are not intended to have any foundations, being intended to be held in place by gravity although bolts or other projections from the floor may be used to anchor a building in place.

Claims (3)

1. A building unit in the form of an archway, comprising in combination a two-legged roof support intended in operation to have one upright leg extending upwardly from a floor plate, and its other leg cantilevered at an angle above the horizontal, and a column extending upwardly from a second floor plate and having at its upper end a laterally projecting support arm for a glazing or like panel, in which combination the roof support and post lie in substantially the same vertical plane, with the outer end of the support arm being coupled to the outer end of the cantilever leg in a manner permitting relative movement of the arm and leg through a small range of angles while allowing tension or compression to be transmitted through the coupling.

2. A - building unit as claimed in Claim 1, in which the upright leg of the roof support, and the column, are made of sheet material which is T-sectioned in horizontal cross-section, so that the support leg and the column have upright flanges to which panels may be secured.

3. A building unit as claimed in Claim 2, in which the web of the roof support is sandwiched at its upper end between a pair of like arms of sheet material which extend in parallel with each other, with the sandwich being engaged by a clamp able to stop relative angular movement of the upright and cantilever legs when they extend at their desired final angles relatively to each other.