US2363259A - House of prefabricated room units - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 2l, 1944.A E. w. PENTQN PREFABRICATED ROOM UNITS Filed Dec.- i6, 1941 2 Sheets-Shut 1 im E'. Wfenimz w/mM-/,/

Nov. 21, 1944. E. w. PENTON HOUSE OF PREFABRICATED ROOM UNITS Filed Dec. 16, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ...,WNNHHHW@ .Mw i l l H l,

' zi Wfmzan Patented Nov. 21, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT` OFFICE 2,363,259 y HOUSE 0F PREFABRICATED ROOM UNITS Edgar W. Penton, Miilllnburg, Pa.

Application Decemberl, 1941, Serial No. 423,209

2 Claims.

This invention relates to houses built from substantially identical prefabricated room units.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide in a house of the type described,plefabri cated room units with vertical side walls adapted to be brought together with a side wall of each in juxtaposition, and in which one or both of the side walls of each unit are internally framed to define a plurality of potential rectangular door openings, any one of which, in each unit may be made accessible as a door opening by the omission or removal of wall panelling from the selected area, and the door openings of the juxtaposed side walls, so selected and formed, brought into registry to give the units the rela-` tionship of communicating rooms, the selectivity in the location of the door openings giving a wide range of relative longitudinal positions of the units so that with respect tc a group of houses assembled from identical room units, a number of architectural variations are possible both inside and out, relieving the group from the objection of monotonous identity, urged against prefabricated houses generally.

Another object of the invention is to provide a house of. prefabricated room units of the type described, in which the juxtaposed room units are united by a boxing embracing the contigucus edges of the registering doorways.

A further object of the invention is to provide in combination with cooperating juxtaposed room units of the type described, a weather canopy adapted to overlie more or less of the line of juncture between the contiguous side wallsof adjacent units, and particularly the registering doorways, said canopy being maintained in position by a web which seats in the crack between the substantially contiguous side walls.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a prefabricated room unit of the type described, of relatively elongated and narrow dimensions, characterized by the avoidance'of a parallelepipedal shape, which shape would require diagonal bracing both at the sides and ends to secure rigidity, particularly in a light weight construction, and which diagonal bracing at least in the side walls, would obstruct some of the potential doorway forming spaces. 'Ihis object is accomplished by providing a roof and end assembly substantially in the form of an arch, rigid in a transverse direction, the sloping ends of which rigidify the shape of the room unit enclosure, both longitudinally as well as in a transverse direction.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a prefabricated room unit of light weight, but gaining its rigidity through the employment of monocoque construction, by which is meant that the inner or outer wall skins, themselves rigid in the planes of their surfaces, are both or either of them integrated with the framing throughout their contacting interfaces as by gluing, whereby the framing and the wall skin mutually reinforce and impart rigidity one to the other.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings which accompany and form a part of the following specification, and throughout the several figures of which the same characters of reference have been employed to designate identical parts:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a house assembled from three of the prefabricated room units embodying the principles of the invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through one of the prefabricated room units, an adjacent unit being indicated in broken lines;

Figure 3 is a horizontal section taken along the line 3--3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4' is a cross-section taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view showing in perspective three of what may be termedbasic arrangements of theprefabricated room units.

Figure 6 is a cross-section showing a modified form of wall structure in which monocoque constructionis obtained by integrally molding the wall skin and the framing;

Figure 7 is a similar view through a further modified form of vwall structure, in which the ribs are integrally pressed in the wall skin.

Referring now in detail to the several gures, the numeral I represents a prefabricated room unit comprising the floor frame assembly 2, `on which is mounted the opposite vertical side walls 3 and 4, and a continuous roof and end wall assembly 5, joining the side walls at their top and ends. The flooring 8 is supported upon the lioor .frame assembly 2.-

gluing. The skin thus made integral with the framing, may be of plywood or other sheet material inherently rigid in the` plane of its surface. Thus, a monocoque construction is produced in which the skin and framing mutually reinforce `one another.

The framing or ribs within the side walls comprise vertical studding members II which are so relatively spaced as to form a plurality of areas I2 of equal width, such width being that of the desired doorway. The studding members II cooperate with horizontal struts I3 and Il at the top and bottom, said struts deiining the top and bottom of the doorway areas.

Any one of the spaces I2 may be regarded as a potential door opening, although concealed between the inner and outer wall skins 9 and III, and any one of said areas may be selectively formed into a doorway by cutting away the inner and outer wall skins 9 and I0 in areas congruent with the selected area, or by omitting the wall skins from the selected area if the selection be made before the prefabricated unit leaves the factory.

In Figures 2 and 3, five potential doorway areas I2 on each side are indicated, one of which has been opened to form the doorway I5.

Figure 2 shows that the framing includes the V horizontal members I6 and I1 arranged between adjacent studding members II, and forming therewith potential window areas, any of which may be opened by cutting away or omitting the wall skins 9 and III congruent with the selected one of said potential window openings. In the selected doorway areas the horizontal members I6 and Il are taken out.

It is contemplated that a plurality of the units I shall be arranged in juxtaposition with portions at least of their adjacent sides in substantial contiguity, as shown in Figure 3, to bring the selected doorways into registry as shown. The fact that any of the spaces I2 in the adjacent sides of each of the contiguous units may be made into a doorway, aords a large number of relative positions of longitudinal displacement. This enables a number of variations in the architecture of the assembled house to be made, both inside and outside, so that in a group of houses made from the same number of assembled room units, no two need be exactly alike, thus avoiding the objectionably monotonous identity which usually characterizes a group of prefabricated houses.

Any number of the prefabricated room units may be employed in the assembling of the house.

Figure 1 shows three such units, two being arranged symmetrically with respect to one side 4wall of a third. Figure 5 shows three other basic arrangements.

It is to be understood that variations in the relative positioning of the units in these illustrative arrangements or in any others which may be employed, utilizing a smaller or greater number of units than are here shown, may be made by selecting different potential doorway areas, as has been explained, and thus shifting the units longitudinally relative to one another.

Inasmuch as it is contemplated that the prefabricated room units, in the interest of trans- `portability, shall be made of light weight material, especially with respect to the framing and the wall skins, the problem arises as to obtaining the requisite shape maintaining rigidly of the unit. A parallelepipedal shape is to be avoided, since the parallelogrammatic sides and ends o f a unit of such shape would have to be stlffened by diagonal bracing, and such bracing could not be used, at least in the side walls, without necessarily intersecting some of the potential doorway areas, and would be objectionable for this reason.

The problem is solved by making the roof and end wall assembly 5 substantially in the form of an arch, as shown, of uniform width inasmuch as the side walls 3 and 4 must be vertical, and transversely rigid. The downwardly oppositedly sloping ends 1 of the assembly 5 which constitute the end walls of the room unit, in themselves form inclined bracing, preventing distortion of the shape of the unit in a longitudinal direction. They also prevent distortion in a transverse direction, as will readily be understood from Figure 2, in which the lines a, b and c, d represent the end elements of spaced parallel vertical parallelogrammatic cross-sections intersecting the sloping ends I of the roof and end wall assembly 5. These parallelograms being of dilerent height, the end elements, a, b and c, d would have to swing through arcs of different length, which ls impossible since said cross-sections are bridged by the transversely rigid assembly 5 which cannot warp or twist, particularly if it is of monocoque construction.

The iioor frame assembly 2, as shown, comprises the longitudinal metal channel bars I8 and I9 secured to the transverse channel bars 20. The side and end walls of the unit are supported in the outwardly facing peripherally disposed angle irons 2|. The longitudinal wooden stringers I4 alternate with the channel bars I8 and I9 in supporting the flooring 8.

In assembling the house, the units are set upon a suitable foundation 22, and accessory structures such as the windows 23, steps 24, and shed roof 25 may be added.

The adjacent side and top edges of the registering doorways I5 are preferably boxed in by the jamb members 26 and style 21 with the trim 28 forming flanges which embrace the edges of the doorways.

A weather canopy l2li is provided, overlying more or less of the juncture between juxtapositioned units and particularly over the registering doorways as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4. This canopy, as shown, comprises an integral member of ,sheet metal consisting of the roof portion having oppositely sloping walls 30 and 3| and bent to form a downwardly extending web 32 beneath said roof portion, which web extends in the crack between the juxtapositioned units and supports the canopy in xed position,

Figures 6 and '7 show alternate construction which may be common to both the side walls and the roof and end wall assembly.

In Figure 6 the wall skin 33 is of plastic or other moldable material, and is cast integrally with the framing 34, the latter constituting ribs on the inner side of the wall skin.

In Figure 'l the wall skin 35 is of deformable material, such as sheet metal with the framing ribs integrally embossed on one side thereof. In both of these constructions the framing or ribs and the wall skin mutually reinforce one another against distortion in all directions and are examples ofmonocoque construction which may be readily substituted for the integrally glued side Wall and roof and end wall assembly construction illustrated in the first described form of the bodiment of the invention, it will be understood to those skilled in the art that the specic details of construction and the arrangement of parts as shownand described are by way of example and not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention which is expressed inthe appended claims.Y

What I claim as my invention is:

1. House of similar prefabricated communicating room units, each unit having vertical side walls including framing consisting of a plurality of vertical studs uniformly spaced, common horizontal head and foot strips secured respectively adjacent the upper and lower ends to said studs, common horizontal spaced window strips secured to said studs intermediately, a rigid skin covering said framing and secured in surface adhesion to the adjacent surfaces of said studs and strips, any of the panels defined by adjacent of said studs and the bridging parts of said head and foot strips being convertible into doorways, and any of the panels defined by adjacent of said studs and the bridging portions of said window strips being selectively convertible into window openings, by cutting out the skin covering the selected panel, said units being placed together and secured, said side wall being characterized by the absence of diagonal bracing in said convertible panels with adjacent side walls substantially in a common plane and with a selected doorway of one in registry with a selected doorway of another.

2. Prefabricated room unit having vertical side walls including framing consisting of a plurality of vertical studs uniformly spaced, common horizontal head and foot strips respectively adjacent the upper and lower ends of said studs and secured thereto, common horizontal spaced window strips secured to said studs intermediately, a. rigid skin covering said frame and secured in surface adhesion to the adjacent surfaces of said studs and strips, any of the panels defined by adjacent of said studs and the bridging portions of said head and foot strips being convertible

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