US2765497A

US2765497A - Foldable building structure

Info

Publication number: US2765497A
Application number: US222989A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ludowici Wilhelm
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1949-10-20
Filing date: 1951-04-26
Publication date: 1956-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 1973-10-09

Description

Oct. 9, 1956 w. LUDOWICI ,4

FOLDABLE BUILD ING STRUCTURE Filed April 26, 1951 Jn venfor: WI IhP/IM Laden-Ira,

) Mv 9M 2,765,497 FOLDABLE BUILDING STRUCTURE Wilhelm Ludowici, Jock'grim, Germany Application April 26, 1951, Serial No. 222,989 In Germany October 20, 1949 Public Law 619, August 23, 1954' Patent expires October 20, 1969 3 Claims. (Cl. 20-2) The invention relates to a foldable building or building frame of large structural parts which is usable in build ing construction, or to a form, comprising large form parts, which is employed for the construction of buildings.

Hitherto, in building construction, relatively large separate parts have been joined together only at the building site to form a building, a frame or a casing. In principle, however, the old system of building with bricks has not been abandoned in this connection. The elements corresponding in principle to bricks have only become larger and now comprise quite large building parts, especially to the extent that light building materials, such as wooden, metallic and plastic materials have been employed. However, the joints in such buildings involve not only problems, which have by now been substantially solved, with regard to the packing of the joints against the elements, but, in addition, the hitherto frequently difficult problem of an adequate and safe transmission of the normal forces and thrust forces occurring in the joint faces.

The known methods of casting a building in a frame are so troublesome and require such an expenditure for material and labor that they cannot be considered for economical building construction, especially in the case of separate buildings, such as dwellings.

The object of the invention is to obviate the aforesaid drawbacks in the production of buildings or building frames in building construction, or of forms for casting buildings in concrete or the like.

According to the invention, this object is attained by hingedly connecting all or certain individual structural or form parts in such a manner that they can, for the purpose of transport, be completely or partially folded to a profile permitting them to be transported to the building site and reset into the condition of use by being unfolded.

The folding may be carried out in various ways to suit the particular cases. Preferably, however, the hinges are positioned in such a manner that the individual structural or form elements are arranged so that they can be superposed on and/ or placed side by side with one another.

Since, moreover, in building construction, the type of construction to be used is determined not by the rough construction alone, but also largely by the internal construction and the internal arrangement of the parts in the building, regard must be had to these also. If the foldable structure is to fulfill these requirements also, then it must be possible to fold not only the elements such as the walls, the floors and the ceilings, but also to transport certain important interior fittings, such as plumbing and the like, in the assembled condition and to leave them in their place, although the building is folded together for transport. This requirement can be met by arranging the folding hinges on two parallel lines which cut the two transverse walls of the building, not at the corner points, out at some distance from the corners. If now the building is folded together the longitudinal sides approach each other, whereby installations which have previously been fixed to the walls, are not damaged because hollow spaces tates Patent 2,765,497 Patented Oct. 9,. 6

are formed by the special sort of construction in which the installations are located. This has the further advantage that the otherwise existing problem of packing the hinge joints at the corners, which is especially dif ficult, is avoided and the corners do not have to be stiffened after unfolding and erection of the structure. If the folding joints were exactly at the corners of the building, special difficulties would arise in creating a seal against the entry of rain and air at these corners. As, however, the joints are, according to the invention, not at the corners of the building this ditficult packing is obviated.

Further, according to the invention, the foldable building or the form or the space-enclosing parts thereof may be mounted on a carriage in such a manner that they can be transported without additional devices and erected at the place at which they are used. The carriage may also be attached in such a manner that it facilitates the folding and unfolding of the buildings or forms or their parts by being itself provided with wheels or rollers that can be set in the direction of travel.

In order that, after putting the concrete or the like into the wall form, no interruption in the building should occur, but that it should be possible to put the ceiling on immediately, supporting devices for the ceiling are also provided, according to the invention, in the form itself or independently thereof. These may consist of, for example, two props and a cross member resting thereon which secures the ceiling beams immediately in front of the support from below, so that the ceiling load is transmitted to the wall only after the setting of the concrete in the form. Naturally, the arrangement may be quite independent of the form in order to render it possible for the form to be removed during the setting and to be used again for the next building operation. The foldable form may also be arranged to be heatable for building work in the winter and to obtain quickly a great strength of the outer layers of the walls.

Further details, features and advantages of the inven tion will be seen from the following description in which an example of an embodiment of a foldable building part or form will be more fully explained with the aid of the accompanying drawings, of which:

Fig. 1 represents, in perspective, a part of a foldable building in the erected condition and Fig.' 2 represents it in the folded condition;

Fig. 3 shows, in perspective, a form in the erected condition and Fig. 4 shows it in the Fig. 5 is an end folded form.

In the form of the invention according to Fig. 1, the building consists of two outer walls 2 and 4, two end walls 1 and 3 and two intermediate Walls 5 and 6, all of the walls being formed of separate panels 7. Whereas the panels 7 of the two outer walls 2 and 4 are rigidly connected together and there are rigidly connected panels 7 forming a transversely disposed lateral wall at each end of the outer walls 2 and 4, each panel 7 forming a linking wall for the end walls 1 and 3, which end walls are parallel to each other, is connected to the transversely disposed lateral wall by

hinges

8 and 12 and 11 and 15. The intermediate walls 5 and 6 comprise a plurality of pairs of opposed transversely disposed walls rigidly connected to the parallel side walls 2 and 4. Middle linking walls for these transverse walls are hinged to the rigidly attached walls by

hinges

9 and 13 and 10 and 14. The lengths of the transverse walls and lateral walls rigidly attached to each of the parallel outer walls are different, and are such that the hinges connecting the transverse and lateral walls to the middle linking walls lie on two parallel folded condition. elevation of the carriage carrying a 3 lines which are oblique with respect to the outer walls 2and 4.

The folding about the hinge points 8-15 is effected, as shown in Fig. 2, in such a manner that the lateral and transverse wall, which are rigidly connected with the outer walls 2 and 4, maintain the spaces bounded by them, while the middle plates,'which are connected to the lateral and transverse walls by the hinges 815, reach a position in which they'are approximately parallel to the outer walls 2 and 4. After the folding, the whole length of

walls

1, 3, 5 and 6 therefore extend along a broken line. The form for casting the walls of a building consists, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, of the outer wall parts 1619, the

narrow end parts

16 and 18 of which are divided at the middle. All the parts of this outer wall for the form are connected together by hinges 28. There are connected withthese outer Wallparts, by

distance pieces

29 and 30, an inner wall of parts 20-27, the

parts

20, 23, 26 and 27 of which are likewise divided at the middle, and all of which are also connected together by hinges 28. The folding of the whole form takes place as follows: The outer

wall end parts

16 and 18 fold outwardly, the two

inner wall parts

20 and 27 fold in the same direction as the outer wall parts, and the

inner wall parts

23 and 26 also fold in the same direction as theouter wall parts.

The casing may be provided with carriages 31 on its rigid longitudinal sides in order to render it possible to transport it without a special vehicle. The wheels 32 are advantageously rotatable about vertical axes, so that they can automatically adjust themselves to the directions in which the shell is folded 'or unfolded or transported to its place of use. In the example represented, the form is transported in a direction that extends transversely of the direction of folding or opening.

The carriage can easily be fitted to the form and removed therefrom. It allows the casing to be deposited on the ground as well as an upward removal of the casing or a lifting of the casing through the height of the carriage by means of mechanical or hydraulic lifting devices.

A foldable building structure as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 may, like the casing, be transported by means of such acarriage.

Obviously, the invention is not limited to the details 4 described but variations of different kinds are possible within its scope.

What I claim is:

1. A building structure, foldable particularly for transportation purposes, comprising parallel outer walls, a plurality of walls of different lengths transversely disposed to and rigidly connected to said outer walls, middle linking walls hingedly connecting said transversely disposed walls, whereby in a collapsed condition, a space is left between said outer walls sutficient to accommodate fittings attached thereto and in said condition the middle linking walls are substantially parallel to said outer walls.

2. A foldable building structure comprising two parallel outer walls, pairs of opposed walls of different lengths transversely disposed to said outer walls and rigidly attached thereto, a middle wall linking each of said pairs of opposed Walls, hinges connecting said middle linking walls to said opposed walls, said hinges being located on two parallel lines oblique with respect to said outer walls.

3. A collapsible building structure which in a closed condition comprises two parallel outer walls spaced from each other, a lateral wall at each end of each of said parallel walls rigidly connected thereto, the lateral walls on opposite ends of each outer wall being of different lengths, and middle Walls hingedly linking together said lateral walls and disposed substantially parallel to said outer walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 606,459 Hubbard June 28, 1898 763,801 Schouten June 28, 1904 807,907 Boore Dec. 19, 1905 1,100,273 Wiard June 16, 191 r 1,124,212 Cromley Jan. 5, 1915 1,238,228 Weil Aug. 28, 1917 1,285,467 Thiessen et a1. Nov. 19, 1918 1,465,145 Park Aug. 14, 1923 1,823,940 Hoegermeyer Sept. 22, 1931 2,257,522 Bailey Sept. 30, 1941 2,496,778 Concklin Feb. 7, 1950 2,506,319 St. Paul May 2, 1950