US3719016A

US3719016A - Building panels and channels

Info

Publication number: US3719016A
Application number: US00069193A
Authority: US
Inventors: R Randolph
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1970-09-03
Filing date: 1970-09-03
Publication date: 1973-03-06
Anticipated expiration: 1990-03-06

Abstract

Prefabricated panels are erected with channels for constructing a building. Each panel has two fiber glass walls spaced apart by insulating material with offset flanges for interlocking with the adjacent panel. U-shaped channels mounted to the floor concealingly extend into the bottom of the panels. Cap channels cover the top of each panel, forming a raceway, and also serving as a mounting for the second-story panels. Corner panels and channels are provided, as well as T-shaped panels and channels. Rafters having fiber glass walls separated by insulating material fit over the channels to support the second floor.

Description

United States Patent 1 Randolph BUILDING PANELS AND CHANNELS Filed:

Inventor: Russell 11. Randolph, 4622 Devon Drive, Indianapolis, Ind.

Sept. 3, 1970 App1.No.: 69,193

52/271, 52/593, 52/300, 52/622 [51 Int. Cl. ..E04b 2/08 [58] Field of Search ..52/309, 425, 372, 370, 593,

[4 1 March 6, 1973 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Primary Examiner-Frank L. Abbott Assistant Examinerl-lenry E. Raduazo Attorney-Woodard, Weikart, Ernhardt & Naughton 57] ABSTRACT Prefabricated panels are erected with channels for constructing a building. Each panel has two fiber glass walls spaced apart by insulating material with offset flanges for interlocking with the adjacent panel. U- shaped channels mounted to the floor concealingly extend into the bottom of the panels. Cap channels cover the top of each panel, forming a raceway, and also serving as a mounting for the second-story panels. Corner panels and channels are provided, as well as T- shaped panels and channels. Rafters having fiber glass walls separated by insulating material fit over the channels to support the second floor.

6 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAR 61113 3,719,016

SHEET 20F 2 IN VENTOR Russe/l H. Randa4a/z az a5 83 By Mania/m, MM, F157. 5 MM! Attorneys BACKGROUND 'OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention is in the field of prefabricated building construction. I

2. Description of the Prior Art Prefabricated panels have been devised to reduce the cost of constructing a building. Some of these panels are disclosed in the following U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,174,590 issued to Halter; 3,299,270 issued to DAvella; 3,313,073 issued to Mathews; 3,328,933 issued to Lutze; and 3,357,146 issued to Gartrell.

Many of the prior art panels require special fastening devices to lock adjacent panels together. The use of fastening devices add to the time and cost of erection, and are, therefore, not desirable. Another disadvantage of the prior art panels is that they are not water tight and allow heat transfer. The heat transfer typically occurs by conduction of heat via the various metal fastening devices and flanges. In addition, the prior art panels do not readily mount to floors, nor are the panels readily mounted atop one another.

From the above background, it can be seen that there is a need for a water tight building construction having panels fastened together in such a way so as to minimize heat transfer. The building construction should be rigid, strong and erectable quickly and easily, without requiring special fastening devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention is prefabricated panels and channels for use in building construction. Each. panel has two fiber glass walls separated by polyurethane foam insulating material. Adjacent panels are locked together by offset flanges provided at the backs of the panel walls. U-shaped channels sealingly mounted to the bottom grade are concealed within the panel sidewallsand extend into slots formedalong the bottom of the insulating material. The insulating material is recessed at the top of each panel forming a raceway. A cap channel covers each panel top and will support second-story panels. Corner panels and channels are provided, as well as T-shaped panels and channels. Rafters having fiber glass members separated by polyurethane foam insulating material fit over the cap channels to support the second floor or roof.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a water-tight building construction having panels fastened together in such a way so as to minimize heat transfer through the panels.

It is a further object of the present inventionto provide the previously described building construction which is erectable quickly and'easily without requiring special fastening devices.

Another object of this invention is to provide a modular structure that is fireproof, vermin proof, moisture proofand dust proof.

Yet another object of this inventionis to provide a modular building panel which incorporates a textured exterior surface simulating stone, wood, brick or other surfaces in various weatherproofcolors anda textured interior surface ofa variety of designs.

Also an object of this invention is to provide a complete system of modularbuilding construction incorporating improved methods of interlocking, insulation and erection.

Related objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of building construction incorporating the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the panels of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the panel of FIG. 2 viewed in the direction of arrows 3--3.

FIGS. 4A through 4H illustrate perspective views of the various channels utilized in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one of the rafters utilized in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a top view of a T-shaped panel shown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawing and specific language will be used] to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated herein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

Referring now more particularly to FIG. 1, there is illustrated building construction 10 mounted on top of a floor or grade .11. Construction 10 has a first story 13 and a second story 14, each having panels joined together in such a manner so as to form rooms. A perspective view of panel is shown in FIG. 2. Panel 20 has a'flrst side wall 21 spaced from a second side wall 22 by insulating material 23. A variety of materials may be used as insulation; however, best results have been obtained by producing insulating material 23 from polyurethane foam.

Walls

21 and 22 are made from fiber glass and have

offset flanges

29 and 30 integrally attached to

walls

22 and 21 at the back 31 of panel 20. The insulating material of the adjacent panel is formed to receive flanges 29 and30. That is, slots and 26 are formed in material 23 at the front 32 of panel 20 to receive the offset flanges of the adjacent panel. Material23 does not extend beyond the integral junction of flanges 29 and to

walls

22 and 21 in order that the adjacent tongue 33 formed between

slots

25 and 26 may fit between

flanges

29 and 30.

Panels

19 and 35 in FIG. 1 are cut away at 36 to more clearly illustrate the fitting relationshipbetween the two panels. Material 23 of panel 35 has

slots

25 and 26 to receive the offset flanges of panel 19. Tongue 33 of panel 19 extends between the offset flanges and abuts against the insulating material of panel 35. It has been determined that slots 25. and 26 should be under-sized with respect to offset

flanges

29 and 30 to insure a tight fit. Insulating material 23 does not extend completely to the top of walls 21 and 22 (FIG. 2) so as to form raceway 27 for receiving and concealing electrical conduits and mechanical plumbing within the panel. Holes may be readily drilled through insulating material 23 to facilitate the routing of the electrical conduits and mechanical plumbing. The bottom 24 of each panel is mounted on top of a channel having upwardly extending flanges. Channel 50 (FIG. 1) has two

upstanding flanges

47 and 49 integrally joined to a base 48. The insulating material on the bottom of panel 20 is slotted along the entire bottom edge of said

walls

21 and 22 to receive

flanges

47 and 49. In addition, the insulating material does not extend down to the bottom edge of

walls

21 and 22 in order that base 48 will not interfere with the insulating material, and so that

walls

21 and 22 will extend down sufficiently so as to conceal

flanges

47 and 49.

FIG. 3 is a side view of panel 20 viewed in the direction of arrows 33 of FIG. 2. The bottom 28 of offset flange 29 is notched so as to not interfere with the upstanding flange of channel 50. Flange 29 is offset sufficiently so as to be exactly over and parallel with the upstanding flange of channel 50. Therefore, it is necessary to remove the bottom portion from offset flange 29. The bottom portion of offset flange 30 of side wall 21 (FIG. 2) is notched in a manner identical to that of flange 29.

It can be appreciated that the construction shown in FIG. 1 can be varied greatly depending on the exact needs of the building. Of course, the panels and channels must also be varied depending on the exact needs.

Panels

12, 19, 20, 34 and 35 are identical. Corner panels and 18 are identical, and are very similar to the panels already described. In fact, corner panels 15 and 18 are identical with respect to the previously described panels except that panels 15 and 18 are L- shaped thereby forming a corner. The walls of the corner panel 15 are configured from two separate pieces of fiber glass, each wall being of one piece and L-shaped, thereby forming a corner with each wall having an offset flange at its opposite end. The inside corner wall and the outside corner wall of this panel are separated by foam as in the other panels, but when complete, the corner panel is an integral L-shaped panel which lends basic rigidity to the entire structure.

A variety of channels are required with the present invention and are illustrated in FIG. 4. Base channel 50 has

upstanding flanges

47 and 49 integrally joined to base 48 with grooves 46 formed on its bottom. Mastic is placed within grooves 46 across the bottom of base 48 to seal the base channel to grade 11. In many cases, grade 11 is concrete and thus anchor bolts 50 may be embedded into the concrete with shanks extending through suitably sized holes in base 48. Nuts are then threaded onto the shanks, thereby securing the base channel to the grade. The tops of

flanges

47 and 49 are bevelled inward so as to facilitate ease of entry into the bottom slots of the panel. Corner base channel 51 is identical to channel 50 except that it is configured at a right angle to receive the bottom of a corner panel, such as panel 18 of FIG. 1. Dual cap channel 52 (FIG. 4) is used to mount a second story panel on top of a first story panel. Channel 52 has a base 43 integrally joined to two downward extending

flanges

44 and 45 and to two upwardly extending

flanges

41 and 42.

Flanges

44 and 45 are spaced apart, fitting on the outside surfaces of the first story side panel walls, while

flanges

41 and 42 fit within the inside surface of the second story side panel walls. Referring to FIG. 1, the upwardly extending

flanges

41 and 42 of channel 52 fit within panel 16, whereas the downwardly extending flanges of channel 52 fit on the outside of the side walls of panel 20. Channel 58 of FIG. 4 is identical to channel 52 except that it is configured to receive a corner panel. Channel 58 is mounted on top of corner panel 15 of FIG. I, and supports corner panel 18.

In the event the top of the panels is not jointed to a top floor or roof, then cap channels 53 and 54 (FIG. 4) are used to cover the panel top.

Channels

53 and 54 have downwardly extending flanges which are spaced apart for fitting on the outside of the panel side walls. Typically,

channels

53 and 54 are placed on top of panels forming room partitions or officettes. Cap channel 54 is configured to cover the top of a corner panel. T-shaped channel 55 has a single cap channel 56 identical to cap channel 53 as is bonded to the side of a dual cap channel 57, identical to channel 52. Channel 55 is used to cover the top of T-shaped channel (FIGS. 1 and 6). A top view of panel 70 is shown in FIG. 6 with channel 55 removed. Two L-shaped

side walls

73 and 74 are spaced apart and from wall by insulating material 76. Panel 70 is identical with respect to the previous panels described except for the T configuration. The insulating material is recessed and slotted on the bottom of panel 70 for receiving channel 50 and is also recessed at the top of panel 70 for concealing electrical conduits and mechanical plumbing.

Slots

77 and 78 are formed in the insulating material at end 84 and

slots

82 and 83 are formed in the insulating material at end 85 for receiving offset flange ends of adjacent panels. The insulating material is recessed at end 81 with offset flanges 79 and integrally attached to

walls

75 and 74. The T-shaped channel 55 is installed on the top of panel 70 with channel 56 fitting over side panel 71 and channel 57 fitting over back panel 72 and supporting

panels

19 and 35 of FIG. 1.

Rafters

59 and 60 fit over channel 56 for supporting a second floor. A perspective view of rafter 60 is illustrated in FIG. 5 having

fiber glass walls

61 and 62 spaced apart by insulating material 63. The ends of rafter 60 have

slots

65 and 66 extending through material 63 and

walls

61 and 62 for engaging the innermost flanges of dual cap channel 52.

Panels

16 and 17 are cut away at 67 in FIG. 1 showing slot 65 engaging the innermost flange 41 of channel 52. End portion 68 (FIG. 5) of rafter 60 freely fits between

flanges

41 and 42 resting atop of base 43 (FIG. 1) of channel 52. The innermost wall of the panels is cut out in order that rafter 60 may pass therein. Thus,

panels

17 and 36 are cut out at 69 receiving rafter 59. In the event, rafters 60 are required to support a roof, then

slots

65 and 66 are made sufficiently wide so as to fit over the cap channels 53 of FIG. 4. The rafter 60 in the latter case overhangs on the exterior of the building.

As previously described, a variety of insulating materials may be used between the side walls. Polyurethane foam is particularly advantageous since the exothermic reaction occuring during the expansion of the foam produces sufficient heat to chemically bond the insulating material to the side walls, thereby providing a very strong panel with excellent insulation characteristics. The polyurethane foam and the fiber glass walls are fireproof thereby enhancing the desirability of the construction.

It will be obvious that the present invention provides a water tight building construction having panels fastened together at their tops and bottoms by channels thereby minimizing heat transfer through the panels. lt will also be obvious that the building construction provides a very rigid structure erectable quickly and easily, without requiring special fastening devices. Also, it will be obvious that the panels of the described building construction are prefabricated away from the construction site, and may be textured in such a manner so as to simulate various wall designs and surfaces.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims are also desired to be protected.

The invention claimed is:

l. A building structure comprising:

. first story interlocking rigid panels having first and second non-metallic walls parallel and spaced apart, said panels having rigid insulating material between and connecting said first and second walls, said material being chemically bonded to said first and second walls;

base channels fixedly mounted to a floor and having said panels mounted thereon, said base channels each having a pair of first spaced apart mounting members extending up between said material and said walls with said material extending down between said members of each pair;

cap channels mounted to the top of said panels having retaining flanges extending down adjacent and outboard of said walls;

second story interlocking panels identical to said first story interlocking panels and mounted atop said cap channels; and wherein: said cap channels each have a second pair of spaced apart mounting members extending up between the material and the side walls of said second story panels with the material of the second story panels extending down between the members of each said pair;

said walls of said first story panels and said second story panels have back ends with offset parallel flanges disposed inward of said walls and connected to said back ends, said walls of said first story panels and second story panels have from ends;

said insulating material has slots positioned adjacent said walls at said front ends, said slots sealingly and concealingly receive said offset parallel flanges;

said walls have top ends and bottom ends with said insulating material recessed at said top ends forming a raceway, said material is recessed and slotted at said bottom end sealingly and concealingly receiving said base channels.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein:

said offset parallel flanges are aligned with and positioned over said first members of said base channel.

3. The structure of claim 1 additionally comprising:

rafters having a pair of parallel walls spaced apart, said parallel walls are slotted fittingly engaging said second pair of members of said cap channels.

4. The structure ofclaim 1 wherein: some of said first story panels and said second story

Claims

1. A building structure comprising: first story interlocking rigid panels having first and second non-metallic walls parallel and spaced apart, said panels having rigid insulating material between and connecting said first and second walls, said material being chemically bonded to said first and second walls; base channels fixedly mounted to a floor and having said panels mounted thereon, said base channels each having a pair of first spaced apart mounting members extending up between said material and said walls with said material extending down between said members of each pair; cap channels mounted to the top of said panels having retaining flanges extending down adjacent and outboard of said walls; second story interlocking panels identical to said first story interlocking panels and mounted atop said cap channels; and wherein: said cap channels each have a second pair of spaced apart mounting members extending up between the material and the side walls of said second story panels with the material of the second story panels extending down between the members of each said pair; said walls of said first story panels and said second story panels have back ends with offset parallel flanges disposed inward of said walls and connected to said back ends, said walls of said first story panels and second story panels have front ends; said insulating material has slots positioned adjacent said walls at said front ends, said slots sealingly and concealingly receive said offset parallel flanges; said walls have top ends and bottom ends with said insulating material recessed at said top ends forming a raceway, said material is recessed and slotted at said bottom end sealingly and concealingly receiving said base channels.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein: said offset parallel flanges are aligned with and positioned over said first members of said base channel.

3. The structure of claim 1 additionally comprising: rafters having a pair of parallel walls spaced apart, said parallel walls are slotted fittingly engaging said second pair of members of said cap channels.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein: some of said first story panels and said second story panels are corner shaped; and, some of said first story panels and said second story panels are T-shaped.

5. The structure of claim 4 additionally comprising: anchor bolts embedded in said floor having shanks lockingly engaged with said base channels.