US3330083A - Suspended platform multi-storey garage - Google Patents

Description

July 11, 1967 E. JAULMES 3,330,083

SUSPENDED PLATFORM MULTI-STOREY GARAGE Filed April 17, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Fwd Jam/5s A/A/PL [6477/ ATTORNEY July 11, 1967 Filed April 1 JAULMES SUSPENDED PLATFORM MULTI-STOREY GARAGE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR flf 1677- ATTORN EY July 11, 1967 E. JAU MEQ 3,330,083

SUSPENDED PLATFORM MULTI-STOREY GARAGE Filed April 17, 1964 5 Sheets-Shed 3 INVENTOR f/P/d Jkuauzs A4124 P474 ATTORNEY July 11, 1967 E. JAULMES 3,330,033

SUSPENDED PLATFORM MULTISTOREY GARAGE Filed April 17, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Z2 INVENTOR MFA P47 ATTOR N EY July 11, 1967 E. JAULMES 3,330,083

SUSPENDED PLATFORM MULTI-STOREY GARAGE Filed April 17, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR EF/c (/72044455 BY A IfiL 164T ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,330,083 SUSPENDED PLATFORM MULTI-STOREY GARAGE Eric Jaulmes, Paris, France, assignor to Ateliers de la Motobecane, Pantin, Seine, France, a corporation of France Filed Apr. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 360,664 Claims priority, application France, June 14, 1963, 938,080 9 Claims. (Cl. 52-174) The present invention relates to a multi-storey silo or high rise garage for automotive vehicles, the main object of the invention being the provision of an improved construction of a garage of this type, in such a way that the occupation of ground, the weight of the superstructure and foundations and, in consequence, the total price of the installation, including site plus building, related to a unit of vehicle housed, are reduced to a minimum.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision of means in connection with a garage of this type to reserve a maximum proportion of the interior space for vehicles to be housed and, for this purpose, to utilize supporting structures belonging substantially to the exterior walls of the garage building.

With these general objects in view, the garage according to the invention comprises essentially two identical first portal frames, hereinafter referred to as the central portals, disposed parallel and symmetrically, with respect to the longitudinal axis of the building, at a certain distance from one another, so as to constitute at the same time the cage and the guiding means of a loading elevator which occupies all the central part of the building and serves to provide the service to various storeys or levels of the garage, and two further portal frames, hereinafter referred to as facade portals, placed parallel and symmetrically on one side and the other of the central portals, outside the latter, the distance separating each of the facade portals from the corresponding central portal being a function of the length given to the storage spaces or cells of the garage, said length being, in turn, a function of the maximum length of the vehicles to be housed.

Still according to the invention, vertical suspension cables, arranged in four parallel sheets corresponding to the four portals in question, are fixed at their upper ends to the transverse members of each of the four portals, and anchored at their lower ends to the foundation of the building. The tensioning of each of these cables may be provided by a resilient device adapted to compensate for thermal expansion and connected between the lower termination of the cables and suitable stays fixed to the foundation.

Still according to the invention, each of the four sheets of suspension cables is completed by two metal vertical strips or rails located at the ends of and situated in the plane of the sheet, and fixed to the posts of the portal to which the sheet belongs. The floors of each storage cell, all identical and interchangeable, are suspended from said cables via vertical hangers which transfer the points of attachment of the floors substantially above their level.

The particular construction and geometry of the storage cells, adopted according to the invention, and based on the observation of the nature itself of the loads (the latter being always concentrated at the edge of the individual floors of the cells) aims at transforming the vertical forces transmitted by the four wheels of the vehicle into horizontal components of tension acting in the plane of the floor itself and relieving the latter of almost all the transverse bending forces, in such a manner as to permit of a considerable lightening of the structure of the floors.

3,330,083 Patented July 11, 1967 The practical consequences of such an arrangement are substantial. In the first place, the floors of the cells, being relieved of the transverse flexing forces, may be of the minimum thickness compatible with the tensile forces, whence optimum use of the internal volume of the garage, saving of Weight, and economy. In the second place, so far as concerns the vertical loads, each floor of a cell functions independently of the others, in that no force is transmitted from the floors of adjacent cells and the removal, from one side or the other of a cell, of the adjacent floors does not modify at all the distribution and the magnitude of the vertical loads applied to the floor. This facilitates the exchange, or repairing of any floor without affecting the characteristics of loading of the floors of both the same and the other storeys of the garage.

Still according to the invention, the horizontal forces acting on the level of the floors in the direction of the longitudinal axis of each cell of the garage and resulting particularly from the operations of loading and unloading of vehicles, are taken up by the anchoring of the two extreme or outer fiOOrs of the same storey in the fixed vertical rails or strips of the portals of the building. These mountings provided at the level of the floors without hangers produce in the horizontal plane a rigid encastering or anchoring of the two extremities of the storey considered, thus ensuring its stability.

Moreover, the invention permits all the storeys of the garage to be erected Step by step expeditiously and by consequence very economically, without requiring the use of heavy lifting devices (the loading elevator may serve for these purposes) and without intervention of specialist operations, after completed erection of the main frame and weather proofing of the building.

The invention also introduces two interesting possibilities. In the first place, with each storey of the garage being fastened to or suspended from the intermediate cables by means of mounting rings or the like, and in the end rails by means of brackets, the height of the storeys may be modified at will, even after completion of the main frame, that is to say that a building of given height may contain a variable number of storeys. With the construction of private cars evolving towards forms which are lower and lower, the overall height of these vehicles is in constant decline. A garage constructed according to the present invention permits this evolution to be followed with the storage capacity increasing as a consequence of the reduction of the height of its storeys, and without it being necessary to modify in any way the main frame or structure of the building. This capacity will be a maximum if the garage is designed to receive only private cars, and especially those which are collapible in the vertical direction as described in greater detail in my copending patent application Ser. No; 354,565, entitled Collapsible Vehicle and filed on Mar. 25, 1964, now US. Patent No. 3,278,221. It will be further understood in this respect that, since the service personnel do not have to enter the cells, the height of the cells may be reduced, without inconvenience to the full extent permitted by the overall dimension of the vehicles to be housed.

In the second place, the spectacular increase of parking of utility vehicles (light vans, vans with metal or canvas bodies) raises at present, and will raise still more in the future, a grave problem both for the architect and the operator of a silo or multi-storey garage. In fact, the overall height of the majority of utility vehicles is very notably greater than that of private cars. Under these conditions, either the architect must provide, from the beginning, a distance between storeys permitting him to receive utility vehicles in all of the storage cells, which leads to a poor 3. utilization of the internal volume of the garage with private cars remaining nevertheless in the majority or,

' by simple 'dismounting of individual floors, as many cells of height 2P which might be necessary for housing utility vehicles without having to make essential structural changes or to modify the programming of the loading elevator.

The invention, both as to the foregoing and auxiliary objects as well as novel aspects thereof, will be better understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification and in which:

FIG, 1 is a schematic perspective View of a multistorey garage constructed in accordance'with the principles of the invention; 7

FIG. 2 is a view of the garage of FIG. 1 in vertical transverse section;

FIG. 3 shows in vertical transverse section the floor of an intermediate storage cell of the garage;

FIG. 4 shows in perspective, one of the two extrem or terminal cells of a storey;

FIG. 4(a) shows an enlargement of the rail-mounting bracket joint construction.

I FIG. 5 shows in elevation the particular construction of the floor of a cell made of a material having a high coefficient of thermal expansion;

FIG. 6 is a section taken on line VII-VII in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the subject of FIG. 5; 7

FIGS. 8 and 9 are detailed views on a largerscale corresponding, respectively, to FIGS. 5 and 6;

FIG. 10 shows more particularly the means of collecting and disposing of the oil and of the water drips coming from the stored vehicles; and

FIG. 11 is a'diagram showing the device provided in the case of removal of one floor cell floor to create storage cells of double height.

Like reference characters denote like parts throughout the different views of the. drawings.

In considering first of all FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be seen that, according to the invention, and to leave free as far as possible the interior space of the garage, its load bearing structure is essentially constituted by the two central frames or portals 1, 2 and by the two facade frames .or portals 3, 4. For greater clarity, the details of the bracings and other auxiliary members of themetal frames are not shown, since they are well known and do not form any part of the invention. e

'The two central portals 1, 2 have between them a spacing 5 which corresponds to the width of the platform of the loading elevator 6. The machinery of the latter may be housed in a cabin carried by the top floor 7 which con-' nects together the two central portals 1, 2. If the loading elevator has a single, that is, vertical component of movement, its platform is of a length'equal to the width of the central portals. On the other hand, if the loading elevator has two components of movement that is, both vertical and horizontal, the floor 7 carries the guiding rails for its power and drive mechanism, the length of its platform or v platforms being in this case equal to the width of one cell of the garage, of which the width is indicated at 9,

the depth at 10 and the height at 1 1.

The lateral walls of the cage of the loading elevator are arranged to carry if r equired the guides of counter- 'if the height chosen corresponds to private cars, use of the garage will be forbiddento utility vehicles. The inweights, and may include windows providing natural light to the cage.

Two facade portals 3 and 4 are connected to the corresponding central portals 1 or 2 by the roofing framework 14, at their upper end, and aflixed to their uprights, as well as on those of the central portals 1 and 2, are fixed floor supporting or anchoring rails which are described later.

According to the invention, vertical suspension cables 18 are stretched in the plane of thecentral portals 1, 2 and in that of the facade portals 3, 4, these cables being fixed at their upper ends 19 to the cross members 23, 21 of the portals by any appropriate means (hoops, blocks, stays, etc.) and being conveniently anchored at their lower ends to the foundation of the building, via resilient devices compensating for expansion (not shown), to maintain their initial tensioning. The. number of cables constituting each of the four sheets thus formed is a function of the number of cells of the garage on each storey.

According to another characteristic of the invention, each of the four sheets of suspension cables 18 is completed by two metal vertical exterior strips or rails 22, placed in the plane of the sheet, and afiixed to the upright Apart from this, the floors of the intermediate cells and those of the end cells are identical, so as to be interchangeable with each other.

The general arrangement of the garage having thus been described, there will now be described, with reference to FIG. 3 and following, the construction of each of the cell floors serving to support the vehicles to be housed. More specifically, there are shown in FIG. 3 two consecutive cables 18 and two hangers 24 by means of which the floor 23 of the cell is suspended from the cables, the hangers including for example, for that purpose, gripping rings or collars 26.

As has been mentioned hereinbefore, the loads transmitted by the wheels of the stored vehicle are concentrated at the edge of the floor. Thanks to the presence of the hangers 24 of height L, the upright load of each wheel, indicated by P and applied at the distance I from each cable, produces a horizontal tension component T in the floor 23, acting in the plane of the floor itself and relieving it of almost the whole of the transverse flexing loads, with the advantages explained above.

To the hangers 24, preferably made in pressed or folded sheet steel, there are rigidly afiixed longitudinal beams.

28, preferably of triangular section, both for achieving an economy in weight and for conveniently constituting a guide for the wheels of the vehicle being displaced in the cell. Each beam 28, of length equal to the depth of the cell, forms a horizontal ledge 29 -to which is fixed, for

example by bolts 30, the floor 23 proper of thin pressed and ribbed metal, forming at the same time a channel or gutter for removing oil, water, and dirty liquid coming i from the vehicles stored. FIG. 4 shows clearly that each floor forms for this pur pose, an internal tray surrounded by a border 32 ensuring in addition the internal guiding of the wheels of the vehicle. This border is interrupted at 33 at the outer end of the floor, where the tray 31 forms a discharge chute or ramp for the oil. Two other lateral ramps 34, FIG. 10, provide for the removal of the water collected between the borders 32 and the beams 28, thewater and oil coming from the ramps 33 and 34 being collected by a gutter 36 belonging to each floor, and which itself discharges into a vertical collecting pipe 37 leading to the storey irnmediately below and thus, step by step, to a general discharging conduit. This discharge is facilitated'by the slight slope given to all the'floors, asshown inFIG. 2, to ensure the natural stability of the vehicles bearing'against the abutments 38.

In referring now to FIG. 4, which shows the floor of an end cell, fixed on one side to cables 18 via hangers 24, and on the other side to rails 22 by means of brackets 40 it will be seen that, in the garage constructed according to the invention, the horizontal forces being exerted at the level of the floors 23, along the longitudinal axis of each cell of the garage, and due particularly to the shock of the vehicle against the abutments 28 fixed to the floor, on its entry into the cell, are transmitted to the rails 22, by the bolts 41 of the brackets 43, and in consequence absorbed by the uprights of the portals. These brackets, placed at the level of the floor, provide a rigid anchoring in the horizontal plane of the two lateral extremities of the floor being considered to the extent that, with the forces being passed step by step from one floor to another and to the extremities of each storey, these floors have been correctly pressed and ribbed, so as to oppose local bending and yielding. It will be seen that the pressings, ridges or stiffening borders of the floors acting as gutters and located inside the tracks of the wheels of the vehicle, do not reduce the usable, height of the cell. They simply reduce slightly the ground clearance without inconvenience.

In the case in which the floors may be constructed of a material possessing a high coefficient of thermal expansion, for example a light alloy liable to give rise, in the construction, to inadmissable stresses, during large variations in temperature, if no means were provided to absorb the same, there is provided the particular device shown in FIGS. to 9. The fixing of at least one of the end floors of a storey in the rails 22 is not directly achieved by the brackets provided on the level of the floor as previously, but instead via special hangers or levers 40 of which the pivot axis 41, fixed in the rail 22 by a bracket, is substantially at the level of the gripping collars 26 of the corresponding normal hangers 24, at the other side of the floor '23. The levers 40 each form at their lower end a lip 42 guided between two parallel lugs 43 or prongs of a fork-like member likewise fixed by brackets on the rails 22. The corresponding beam28 of the floor 23 is fixed on a cantilever bracket 44 belonging to the hanger 40. Any transverse expansions of all the floors of the same storey, added to one another, and transmitted step by step, will thus be absorbed by the external hangers 40, which will take up a certain inclination, indicated in broken lines in FIG. 6. As to longitudinal horizontal expansions, these are absorbed by the play provided between the lip 42 and its guiding lugs 43 which transmit to the rails the longitudinal horizontal forces.

FIG. ll show finally the means by which, according to the invention, the spacing between successive storeys, determined from a consideration of the overall vertical dimension of private cars, may be doubled in certain cells, or in certain groups of cells to permit them to receive utility vehicles of greater height. After removal of the floor 23 and its beams 28, four bars 45, for example channel bars, extending through the whole height of the double cell thus produced, are bolted at their extremities to the beams 28 of the storey immediately above and of the storey immediately below. At the level of the omitted floor, the beams 28 are replaced by simple transverse members 46 connecting the two corresponding vertical bars 45. The cell of double height thus stiffened transmits the horizontal longitudinal stresses resulting from the effects of inertia, on the loading of vehicles, as far as the storeys immediately above and below, and through them, to the end rails, that is to say to the load-bearing structure.

Apart from the advantages of a constructional, technical, and economic nature which are presented by a garage constructed according to the invention, the absence from this construction of any internal vertical member of substantial cross section, as well as the absence of any intermediate partition, ensure to the operating staff the complete visibility of the whole of the cells of each storey,

and of the greater part of the cells belonging to adjacent storeys, facilitating in this way the operation, and permitting the easy and rapid choice of unoccupied cells, if a system of remote signals including a chart at the control point is not used.

While there has been described in the foregoing a garage construction according to the invention comprising a central elevator section and a pair of outer storage sections on either side of said elevator section, it will be understood that only one of the storage sections may be provided fitted with a multiplicity of car-supporting platforms as storage cells, with the remaining storage section being either omitted or replaced by a different utility, office or the like space.

In the foregoing, the invention has been described in reference to a specific illustrative construction. It will be understood, however, that variations and modifications, as well as the substitution of equivalent parts and elements for those shown for illustration, may be made without departing from the broader scope and spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative rather than in a restrictive sense.

I claim:

1. A multi-storey vehicle garage comprising in combination:

(1) a pair of interior vertical and parallel frames inclosing a space to serve as the cage for a loading elevator,

(2) a pair of exterior vertical frames similar to and arranged parallel and in spaced relation to the outer sides of said interior frames, to provide a pair of vehicle storage spaces on either side of said cage,

(3) the spacing distance between said interior and exterior frames corresponding substantially to the length of the vehicles to be stored,

(4) sets of spaced vertical suspension cables with the cables of each set disposed in a common plane and mounted in stretched condition in one of said frames,

(5) the cables of each of said sets being spaced from each' tbther by a distance substantially corresponding to the width of the vehicles to be stored,

(6) a multiplicity of horizontal rectangular supporting platforms substantially conforming to the size of the vehicles to be stored, and

(7) vertical suspension hangers having one end secured to and extending upwardly from the corners of said platforms and having their opposite ends secured to the adjoining cables of said frames,

(8) whereby to provide a multi-storage garage including a predetermined number of vehicle storage cells with each storey thereof being comprised of rows of discrete juxtaposed supporting platforms on the opposite sides of said cage.

2. In a multi-storey garage as claimed in claim 1, each of said frames comprising a pair of vertical posts joined at least at their upper ends by cross members, and the outer platforms of each of said rows being suspended on one side from the adjoining cables and being anchored on their opposite sides to the vertical posts of said frames.

3. In a multi-storey garage as claimed in claim 1, each of said frames comprising a pair of vertical posts joined at least at their upper ends by cross members, vertical supporting rails afiixed to said posts, the outer platforms of each of said rows being suspended at their inner corners from the adjoining cables, and means anchoring the opposite corners of said outer platforms to raid rails.

4. In a multi-storey garage as claimed in claim 3, wherein each platform is comprised of a panel of sheet metal and a pair of longitudinal beams supporting said panel with one of said beams being suspended from the adjoining cables and with the other beam being secured to the adjoining rails.

5. In a multi-storey garage as claimed in claim 3, said 7 anchoring means embodying means to allow for thermal expansion and contraction of said platforms in both longitudinal and transverse directions.

6. In a multi-storey garage as claimed in claim 5, said last means comprising a forlelike member having a pair of spaced prongs afiixed to'the adjoining rails, and a suspension lever pivoted tosaid rail at a point above said member and having its lower end embraced by said prongs and aflixed to the adjoining platform.

7. In a multi-storey garage as claimed in claim 3, the panels of said platforms forming trays surrounded by a border, to provide for guidance of the Wheels of the vehicles being stored. V V 1 8. In a multi-storey garage as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of said platforms is composed of sheet metal forming a tray, and a discharge gutter adjoining each row of platforms, to collect and convey oil and/ or water coming from the stored vehicles to said gutter.

9. In a multi-storey garage as claimed in claim 8, the platforms of each row being inclined towards the outside of the garage, to facilitatethe oil and/or water collection and discharge. v

Engineering News Record TA 20 22 relied on.

Canaday 214-1618 Fiorini 5273 Sagalovitch 52-745 Bijlevelt 52-745 Ausman 248-317 FOREIGN PATENTS France.

France. Great Britain. Great Britain. Italy.

Italy.

Italy.

OTHER REFERENCES 1, E61, Aug. 2, 1962, page FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

R. A. STENZEL, Assistant Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A MULTI-STOREY VEHICLE GARAGE COMPRISING IN COMBINATION: (1) A PAIR OF INTERIOR VERTICAL AND PARALLEL FRAMES INCLOSING A SPACE TO SERVE AS THE CAGE FOR A LOADING ELEVATOR, (2) A PAIR OF EXTERIOR VERTICAL FRAMES SIMILAR TO AND ARRANGED PARALLEL AND IN SPACED RELATION TO THE OUTER SIDES OF SAID INTERIOR FRAMES, TO PROVIDE A PAIR OF VEHICLE STORAGE SPACES ON EITHER SIDE OF SAID CAGE, (3) THE SPACING DISTANCE BETWEEN SAID INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR FRAMES CORRESPONDING SUBSTANTIALLY TO THE LENGTH OF THE VEHICLES TO BE STORED, (4) SETS OF SPACED VERTICAL SUSPENSION CABLES WITH THE CABLES OF EACH SET DISPOSED IN A COMMON PLANE AND MOUNTED IN STRETCHED CONDITION IN ONE OF SAID FRAMES, (5) THE CABLES OF EACH OF SAID SETS BEING SPACED FROM EACH OTHER BY A DISTANCE SUBSTANTIALLY CORRESPONDING TO THE WIDTH OF THE VEHICLES TO BE STORED, (6) A MULTIPLICITY OF HORIZONTAL RECTANGULAR SUPPORTING PLATFORMS SUBSTANTIALLY CONFORMING TO THE SIZE OF THE VEHICLES TO BE STORED, AND (7) VERTICAL SUSPENSION HANGERS HAVING ONE END SECURED TO AND EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM THE CORNERS OF SAID PLATFORMS AND HAVING THEIR OPPOSITE ENDS SECURED TO THE ADJOINING CABLES OF SAID FRAMES, (8) WHEREBY TO PROVIDE A MULTI-STORAGE GARAGE INCLUDING A PREDETERMINED NUMBER OF VEHICLE STORAGE CELLS WITH EACH STOREY THEREOF BEING COMPRISED OF ROWS OF DISCRETE JUXTAPOSED SUPPORTING PLATFORMS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID CAGE.

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