US2585051A - Building - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 12, 1952 E. P. SIMON 2,585,051

BUILDING Filed Oct. 26, 1946 i s Sheets-Sheet 1 HGL Z- 7 &% %i% WITNESSES 2 I INVENTQR:

Eda/420 281172012,

Z/Mwh a Feb. 12, 1952 E. P. SIMON 2,535,051

, BUILDING Filed Oct. 26, 1946 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESSES Z1 22 Z Z! INVENTOR:

M BY Arm Feb. 12, 1952 p, slMON 2,585,051

BUILDING Filed 001. 25, 1946 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 WITNESSES I N V EN TOR m W Edward 81722012 A TTORNEYS.

E. P. SIMON Feb. 12, 1952 BUILDING 8 Shee ts-Sheet 4 Filed Oct. 26, 1946 m h w I 1 70i Ei A INVENTOR: EdwurdESi/w/L.

I ATTORNEYS.

Feb. f2, 1952 E. P. SIMON 2,585,051

BUILDING.

Filed Oct. 26, 1946 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 W1 TNESSES INVENTOI Q Elia/01 0 252122912 E. P. SIMON Feb. 12, 1952 BUILDING 8 Sheets-Sheet '7 Filed Oct. 26, 1946 I N VENT 0R-' EdwaziESI/fim,

A TTORNEYS.

WITNESSES Z/M 7 Q W E. P. SIMON Feb. 12, 1952 BUILDING 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed Oct. 26, 1946 JZa WITNESSES Patented Feb. 12, 1952 Simon,=executrix of said Edward 1P. :Simondeceased, assignor to Lyle Boulware, -Philadel 1phia, Pa.

Application Octoberf26, 1946, Serial Nof-705,958 15'Ulaims. (01. 202) This invention relates "to *buildings, and has reference more particularly to individual buildingsintended for use-as dwellings.

Heretofore in "building construction, each component member or element was "designed for capacity to itself-withstand the total stresses "or strains due to "weight load, =wind pressure or other causes which it 'might be called upon to bear at any point thereof, and to my knowledge no attempt was ever made -to utilize the'latent resistence or other components of *the buildings ;to share such stresses or strains. Under these conditions, the 'various structural components of the buildings had to "be made "relatively'heavy and 'entailed the use of correspondingly large amounts of material in their individualconstruction. One of the aims of my invention isto-overcome the above drawbacks of the prior-art practice, which objective "is realized -'as hereinafter more fully disclosed, through provision of a system of interlocking joints by which the "floor, wall, roof and interior partition wall components of the buildings are eiiectively united in such a manner that the stresses 101' "strains *to which .any one or more of "them may be directly subjected atany onetime are communicated to and proportionately shared by all of the others the building, to "the advantage *that the different components can be constructed ,much lighter than ordinarily without sacrifice in the strength and stability of the completed buildings,and at a great saving in the amount of material "used "in their jfabrication.

.A further aim v of my invention is to enable buildings to be constructed in quality more g quic ly than heretofore, as well as more economically from the standpoint of "labor costs. This latter objective is also attained as hereinafter more fully disclosed, through provision of preiabricated floor, wall, :roof and interior :par- ;tition components 3or-units which are so "dimensioned as to allow of their being readily handled incident to transportation 'from the factory as well as during erection of the bu'ildings, and in which are incorporated means bywhich'they are connected and interlocked one with'anotherinc'ident to assembling in the manner and for the purpose herein before pointed out, the joints being of such character that seepage of water or ,air cannot take place through them.

Other objects and attendant advantages will appear from the following detailed description of the attached drawings, wherein Fig. 1 "is a broken out more orless diagrammatic view of a 'for certain details as --presen'tly noted.

section for the "better illustration [of important details.

Fig. it shows "the :ground tflcoristructure ,of the building in top plan, :likewise with ca rportion broken out and parts ithereoit in horizontal isec etion.

Fig. 75 is a fragmentary detail aviewadrawnto a ?larger scale taken as indicated by the angled arrows V--V in1 "ig; 4.

"Fig. :6 is a plan :view looking as iin'dicated by thesangledarrows VI- VI-in'Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 "is a fragmentary view in elevation looking as indic avlted by the angled -arrows in =6.

v Fig. '8 is a horizontal sectional view taken as indica'ted "by' the angled arrows "in Figs. 9 and 10 are fragmentary detail sections taken as indicated respectively "by the angled ar- =-rows TX-IX and X- X inFigs. 2 and 3.

Fig.'-11 is a perspectiveview'of aprefabr'icated section designed for use in the formation-of the upper floor of the building; and

"Fig. 12 is a view in transverse section similar to-Fig. '2 butmore diagrammatically represented, of somewhat modified embodiment 01 my "in- "vention.

As herein illustrated, my improved building has a ground floor structure '(Fig. "4) made up of prefabricated straight si'ded sections or units in which are preferably of the same dimensions throughout and 'of similar "construction except The ground floorsections 10 arelaids'ide by side and in the illustrated instance arranged in rows lengthwise of the building, withtheir outer ends resting on the longitudinal walls H of a prelaid masonry foundation, and with their inner mutually-abutting ends resting :on an intermediate longitudinal 12 of the inundation, the respectively remote end sections 10 of the two series being s pported along their outer edges upon the end walls 13 of said foundation. .LEach ground floor section 10 comprises a .number of spaced joist members :to which the floorboards 1'5 are secured and which are connected at their bottoms "by sub-boards 16. The sections I0 .01

gable ended "build n conveniently embo ying the two series are locked together by a double dove tail key I! which extends longitudinally of the building through complementally-arranged undercut key ways I8 formed in their abutting inner ends as shown in Fig. 2. The abutting side edges of adjacent sections It] in each row are similarly. locked together by'transverse keys H! (see Fig. which may extend inward to the longitudinal key I! ('Fig. 4) as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The floor boards l5, it will be noted from Fig. 5, extend somewhat beyond the outer ends of the sections 10; and to the projecting portions are secured, at the top, convex ridge strips 20, and at the bottom concaved strips 2|. Similar ridge strips 22 and 23 are secured along projecting portions of the flooring l 5 at the outer edges of the sections as shown in Fig. 2. The function of the strips 20, 2| and 22, '23 will be pointed out later.

The outer side and end walls of the building are similarly composed of pre-formed standardized hollow sections 24, 25 respectively which, in turn, are identical except for certain details presently noted. As shown, each side wall section 24, 25 has a foundation frame consisting of horizontal top and bottom members 26, 21 and vertical'side edge members 28, 29 respectively to which the outer and inner wall boards 30 and 3| are secured. The hollows of the wall sections may be filled with rock wool or other suitable thermal insulation as conventionally indicated at 32. The outer boards 30 of the side wall sections 24 extend below the level of the floor boards 15, and their bottomuframe members 21 are cut away on a curve as 'at 33 to fit over the strips 22 of the ground floor structure, as shown in Fig. 2, and to the extended portions of said side boards are secured convex strips 34 to fit over the concaved strips;23 -on saidground floor structure. From Fig. 1 it will be observed thatthe same construction is resorted to in the end wall sections where the outer boards are extended below the floor levelgand the bottom frame members 21 concavely rounded at 35 to fit the strips 20 andthe convex strips 36 secured to the extensions of said boards to fit under the concaved strips 2|. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the wall sections 24 and 25 are provided at the top and bottom with interior finishing strips 31 and 38 respectively. In consequence of the construction just described, the side and end wall sections 24, 25-can beswung upward from horizontal position in the manner indicated in broken lines in Fig. 1 to the full line vertical position, with attendant interlocking of their bottom edges with thecorresponding edges of the fioor, the strips 20, 34-and ;22,.36 thereafter preventing lateral and upward displacement of such sections. The endmost sections of adjacent side and end walls are complementally beveled along contiguous vertical edges asat 4!) in Fig. 8 to meet in miter joints "and are lockedtogether by double dove tail keys 4| engaging complemental key Ways 42 saidedges as shown in Fig. 8. The intermediate sections of the side and end walls are similarly interlocked along their mutually abutting side edges by vertical keys 43. Certain of the side or end wall sections may be provided with doors as instanced at 44 in Fig. 8, and others of said sections with windows as instanced at 45. In addition to the various features already described in connection with them, the component sections 24, 25 of the side and end walls are provided at their top edges with upwardly extending tongues 46 and 47, see Figs. 6 and '7, for a purpose hereinafter set forth. The endmost components 25 of the side walls are moreover provided on their outer faces and along their top edges with concaved strips 48.

The upper or attic floor of the building comprises a plurality of prefabricated hollow trusslike sections 56 which --are relatively deep and which in the illustrated instance, are of a length to span the building from one side wall to the other, one of these sections being shown in perspective in Fig. 11. Each section 50 has its ends complementarily sloped as at 5| and is interiorly braced by suitably-spaced joist-like members 52 to which the floor boards 52 are secured at the top, and which are connected at the bottom by sub-boards 54 to serve as a ceiling for the lower story f the building. Adjacent sections 50 are locked together by keys 55, like those previously described, run endwise through complemental key ways 56 in their mutually abutting side edges, see Fig. 1. At opposite ends, the sections 50 are grooved at the bottom as at 5'! to engage over the upstanding tongue projections 46 at the tops of the side wallsections 24 as shown in Fig. 2. Adjacent their outer sides at the bottom, the endmost sections are provided with similar grooves 58 (Fig. 1) to fit over the upstanding tongues 41 at the tops of the end wall sections 25. By reason of this last described construction, it will be seen.

that the.-top floor structure effectively ties together the four walls of the building. The floor boards 53, see Fig. 1, are extended beyond the outer side edges of the endmost sections 50, and to the projecting portions are secured, top and bottom, convex and concaved strips 59 and 60 respectively.

, The attic of the building is closed in at the ends by preformed gable sections 6|, which, like all the other'wall sections, are constructed hollow and maybe filled with insulation. They are made triangular in shape with sloping edges to coincide with the sloping ends 5| of the upper floor sections '50 as shown in Fig. 3. The bottom cross member 62 of each gable section BI is convexly cut as at 63 to, fit onto the convex strip 59 on the corresponding endmost section 50 of the attic floor structure as shown in Fig. 1, and their outer boards 64 are extended below said cross member and have secured to them a convex strip 65 to snugly engage beneath the concaved strip Gil on said attic floor section. This arrangement makes possible the upward swinging of the'gable sections 6| to vertical position from the horizontal about the hinge juncture constituted by the .parts' 59, 60, 62 and 65, with incidental locking of said sections against either up or down displacement after they have been assembled.

The sloping roof sides are in turn composed of suitably internally braced hollow prefabricated sections 10 of standardized dimensions which, in turn, maybefilledwith insulating material, and adjacent sections interlocked along their mutually abutting side edges by double dove tail keys H as shown in Fig. 9. At their lower ends,

the roof sectionslfl are provided with pendent after assembling, said roof sections are securely locked against displacement with respect to both andom the side wall sections "24 and said attic floor sections asclearly shown in Fig.2. The gable :sections -64 and the endmos't roof .sections 11) :are locked together along the regions .of mutual abutment by double dove tail key :indicated at 1B in Figsr3and 8.

The ridge of the roof is formed by a key '11 which, as seen in Fig. 3, has cemplementallyincli-necl longitudinal-grooves 1 8 -to engage the .upper edges of the sections l0 composing theoppositely sloped sides of the roof, and which, in assembling, its run in endwise and which preferably extends the full lengthof the building. In the present instance, the upper ends of the roof sections ".14! are marginally reduced in thickness as at 1-9 so that the outer faces {of the :ridge bar 1;! may be flush with the outer faces of said sections, asshown.

For the purpose of subdividing the interior of the building "into room's, "I'have provided hollow partition sections, such as the one shown at 80 in Fig. 2, having longitudinal grooves BI and 82 in their bottom and top edges. The bottom edge of each partition section is engaged over a locating strip 83 fastened to the floor, and the upper edge engaged with the pendent longitudinal tongue 84 of a grooved key 85 which is in turn engaged with a locating strip 86 on the ceiling boards 54 of the upper floor sections 50, the key being of course run into place endwise subsequent to erection of the partition over the strip 83.

The various components of the building are assembled in the order in which they have been described, and a separate explanation of the procedure is therefore deemed to be unnecessary.

In the modified embodiment illustrated in Fig. 12, the attic is provided with side wall partitions 9|] and a ceiling 9| which, it is to be understood, are constituted by multiple prefabricated sec tions sinally arranged lengthwise of the building and keyed together along mutually abutting edges. As shown, the partitions 3!] are interlocked top and bottom with the roof sections 10a and with the upper fioor sections 50 by means of keys 92, 93, and the ceiling 9l' with said roof sections by means of keys 94, said keys being all similar to those described in connection with the first described embodiment. By reason of this construction, the partition and ceiling sections in effect become truss or bracing members capable of acting either in tension or compression as may be necessary to assist in the proportional distribution of stresses or strains occasioned locally in any part of the building through wind pressure, floor loading, or from any other cause. In order to preclude the necessity for repetitive description, all other elements of the modified construction not specifically referred to but having their counterparts in the first described form of my invention, are identified by the same reference numerals previously used with addition in each instance of the letter a for convenience of better distinction.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the various component sections of the building in both illustrated embodiments are so interlocked that the stresses and strains to which any one of them may be directly subjected are effectively transmitted to and proportionately shared by the other parts throughout the completed structure. Due to the double dove-tail cross sectional configuration of the various keys and keyways, the joints formed by them are resistive to the passage of either air or water through them. It will be further apparent that the improved system'of interlocking oints which I have-devised is -highly :a'd- "vantageous in tha'tiit does away with the necessity for the use of nails or screws; in that it'malkes possible the more rapid assembling and erection of the-various component sections; and in thatit favors lighter construction "of the sections with corresponding saving in the amount of material required in their fabrication. The various component parts need not necessarily be 'pieced' together from lumber. as herein conventionally :shownibyway of example, but, if desired, may be fashioned from metal by casting, rolling or 'extrusion, or even molded from concrete or plastic materials as integral .units, with incidental incorporation of'my novel interlocking features as suggested in Fig. 12. p By suitable modifications within the scope of the appended claims, it isof course feasible to construct buildings different in-design from the one herein shown by way of example having other than rectangular floor plans as well as additional upper stories.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A building comprising a ground floor; prefabricated side and end walls with looking hinge means along their bottom edges connected with corresponding edges of the ground floor, the vertical edges of said side and end walls being beveled and meeting in miter joints at the corners of the building and being provided with longitudinally-extending complemental undercut grooves; and continuous cross sectionally-conformative locking keys engaging the complemental grooves in the meeting edges of the side and end Walls at corners.

2. A building according to claim 1, in which the side walls are hollow and filled with thermal insulation.

3. A building according to claim 1, wherein the side walls are composed of aligned multiple upright sections with complemental undercut grooves in their mutually abutting vertical edges; and further including continuous cross sectionally conformative supplemental locking keys engaged in the latter grooves.

4. A gable ended building comprising a ground floor; side and end walls connected at their bottom edges to corresponding edges of the floor and having upstanding tongue projections along their top edges; a prefabricated rectangular upper fioor having grooves in its bottom adjacent its edges in engagement with the upstanding tongue projections at the tops of the side and end walls, opposite ends of said upper floor being complementally sloped to conform with the gable angle; prefabricated roof sides connected by hinge means along their bottom edges with the upper edges of opposite side walls and with the corresponding ends of the upper floor; and a. locking ridge member in the form of a continuous key having oppositely inclined grooves engaged with the top edges of the roof sides.

5. A building comprising a ground floor; side and end walls connected at their bottom edges to corresponding edges of the floor and having upstanding tongue projections along their top edges; a prefabricated rectangular upper floor having grooves in its bottom adjacent its edges to engagement with the upstanding tongue projections at the tops of the side and end walls, 0pposite ends of said upper fioor being complementally sloped to conform with the gable angle; prefabricated roof sides with locking hinge means along their bottom edges connecting the upper edges of opposite side walls and with the corresponding ends of the upper floor; a ridge member in the form of a. continuous locking key having oppositely inclined grooves in engagement with the upper edges of the roof sides; triangular gable end sections connected by hinge means along their bottom edges to the corresponding edges of the upper floor and having complemental undercut grooves respectively along their sloping edges; and continuous cross sectionally conformative locln'ng keys engaging the grooves along the meeting edges of the roof sides and the gable sections.

EDWARD P. SIMON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Name Date Curtis et a1 Dec. 3, 1935 Onsrud Jan. 7, 1936 Marston Dec. 6, 1938 Grunert June 18, 1940 Hulslander Aug. 12, 1941 Wilson June 15, 1943 Fuehrer Feb. 22, 1944 Teague et a1 Mar. 28, 1944 Sheldon Nov. 7, 1944 Dalton, 2d Nov. 21, 1944 Eichelberger Nov. 21, 1944 Kaufman Mar. 13, 1945 Brunton et al Oct. 9, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Sweden 1921

Images