US3845595A

US3845595A - Portable buildings

Info

Publication number: US3845595A
Application number: US00342645A
Authority: US
Inventors: E Abrams; V Abrams
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1973-03-19
Filing date: 1973-03-19
Publication date: 1974-11-05
Anticipated expiration: 1991-11-05

Abstract

The invention relates to a portable building that may have its individual building elements prefabricated at a suitable facility. The completed building elements are capable of being transported to a desired location for erection there. The building elements are suitable manufactured to meet the required building codes and accepted building practices.

Description

Nov. 5, 1974 l nited States Patent [1 1 Abrams, deceased Edgar.......... Wade 970 Dickinson.............,.......,.........

5 m m a e CD1. a dew n m 0" mw m Ary m ub P O w 0 J S r m m mm .mmmb VhCA PORTABLE BUILDINGS [76] Inventor:

[22] Filed: Mar. 19, 1973 Primary ExaminerHcnry C. Sutherland Assistant Exa'mint'rLcslie A. Braun Appl. No.: 342,645

Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Grover A. Frater a mm 0 e a n w .m & mm DD- m Tw Cnm Aok Pe T. wm B m A e b l 3 a mm mm i VS nu 6 7 V a Th suitable facility. The completed building elements are capable of being transported to a desired location for References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Ill 1874 erection there. The building elements are suitable manufactured to meet the required building codes and accepted building practices.

Brock 52/756 52/90 3 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures I57 238 Spofford 638,494 12/1879 2,765,500 l0/l956 PORTABLE BUILDINGS BACKGROUND It is well recognized that there is a great need for buildings whose elements may be economically prefabricated at a mass production type of facility and then transported at minimum cost to an erection site where the prefabricated building elements may be combined to form a building. Moreover, there are also times when the building should be demountable in the sense that it is adapted for disassembly without its parts being seriously altered whereby it can be transported to and reassembled at, still another location.

It is, of course, essential that all such building elements, and the completed building, be constructed in accordance with the building codes in effect at the erection location and that it be constructed to withstand the wind loads, snow loads, sand loads and the like to which the building may be subjected.

There have been other attempts. to prefabricate building elements for erection kit-like elsewhere and those efforts have had some success. This invention extends that work to produce a large building that can be taken apart after erection with relative ease and without destroying its parts so that it can be reassembled elsewhere practically and economically. That result is obtained by the use of several special constructional features including: a special ridge beam which combines with side members fixed to the roof sections to form a composite beam; a special clamping system for clamping end wall halves to one another and to the ridge beam; a special roof construction at the cave; and other features.

OBJECT AND DRAWINGS It is one of the principal objectives of the present invention to provide an improved portable building.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide an improved building that may have its elements economically prefabricated at a suitable mass production facility.

It is a further objective of the present invention to provide an improved'portable demountable building that conforms to the building codes.

A still further objective is to provide a building whose features make it physically and economically feasible to assemble and dissassemble a building several times notwithstanding the passage long periods of use and weathering between assembly and disassembly.

That attainment of these objectives and others has been realized in the invention will be apparent from a study of the following specification, taken in conjunction with the drawings of which:

FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of the building;

FIG. 2 shows a pictorial view of the assembled build- 8;

FIG. 3 shows an internal partial view of a portion of the front section;

FIG. 4 shows a bolting arrangement for tensioning the from section;

FIG. 5 shows a view of a portion of the side section as assembled to the roof section and to the foundation;

FIG. 6 shows an internal view of the tensioning of the roof sections;

FIG. 7 shows a view of the blocking of a roof seam;

FIG. 8 shows a view of the blocking of a stud. FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of abuilding comprised of a plurality prefabricated building elements that have been transported to a desired location, which has been suitably prepared for the building as by construction of a foundation, piping, electrical wiring and drains. While the invention is applicable to other building styles and sizes the embodiment selected for illustration has the form of a two-car garage having a gable-type roof.

In the preferred arrangement the building is prefabricated into four main assemblies which are transported complete to the site. These assemblies are the ridge beam and the right and left halves of the building and, when there is one, the large door. A major advantage of the construction is that assemblies of half buildings complete with roof and siding can be transported. The tributary weight of each half-roof is temporarily supported by a beam which, after assembly, is combined with beam elements excessively heavy to be carried by either roof half alone. The temporary beam elements are joined on assembly' with the separately transported beam to form a composite ridge beam.

Providing a construction that will permit such prefabrication and construction in halves is an important object of the invention. However, any degree of fabrication is possible prior to transportation to the buildings resting site. The drawings show one arrangement of partially prefabricated sections not to imply that the arrangement shown is better than others but only because that arrangement would facilitate understanding of what parts are involved and how they are related after assembly.

In FIG. 1 the building elements are shown to include a ridge beam core 11, a right side section 12, a rear wall '13, a left side wall 14, a front wall 15, and a right roof section 16. The left roof section 16a has beem omitted from FIG. 1 in the interest of simplification of the drawing and to provide greater visibility of the remaining parts.

THE RIDGE BEAM The basic construction is the same whether the roof is flat or is of the gable type. The gable type is used more often because it sheds water, snow and ice. and because it tends to be stronger. In general, the flat roof is used only where it is necessary to mount something that requires a flat surface.

The use of a wooden main beam is not mandatory but is more advantageous and the preferred embodiment employs wood. The ridge beam is special. It consists of a central core 11, to which side members are added in the finished assembly to form a composite in which the core beam is flanked on either side by stringers that form a part of the roof sections. A cross-section of the composite central beam and the means by which its parts are held together is shown in FIG. 6 where the composite beam is designated 25. The core in this case is made of two 2 inch X 12 inch planks 17 joined sideto-side by an adhesive.

THE RIGHT SIDE SECTION Wall 12 is the wall at the right side of the building in FIG. 1. In this building it is 22 feet long and it is made in one piece with outside sheathing attached. It is formed, according to conventional frame construction practice, with a bottom plate 19 that rests atop a mud sill 20 which in turn rests upon the outer edge of the foundation 18. The lower plate is formed with through holes at spaced points along its length to receive anchor bolts that are imbedded in the foundation and protrude upwardly through the mud sill. Those anchor bolts are placed at the time that the foundation is poured and they are positioned so that they will fit into the plate holes when the building is erected.

Consistent with conventional frame construction, the wall is formed by a series of studs 22 that extend vertically from connection to the lower plate 19. In this embodiment, the side wall studs are spaced 24 inches on center. They are connected at their upper ends by a plate 23 whose ends are flush with the outside surface of the two end studs. While the building shown does not employ them, the side wall frame will include braces and fire stops and blocking according to the requirements of local codes. In this embodiment a sheathing 24 has been included. That may be omitted but if it is included the sheathing should extend above the upper plate 23 to cover the eave end stringer of the roof section so the sheathing extends up to and abuts, or almost abuts, the roof covering 49 as shown in FIG. 5. In this embodiment the sheathing 24 extends forwardly and rearwardly of the stud frame sufficiently far to overlap the ends of the rear wall 13 and the front wall 15. This feature can be understood by examination of the right end of the rear wall 13 in FIG. 1 in relation to the rear end of the side wall 12 of FIG. 1.

THE REAR SECTION Although the width of the building is only twenty feet, the front and rear sections are each divided into two halves on a plane midway across their width. There are two reasons for that. The total height of the center sections in this embodiment is ten feet and in larger buildings may be higher. Because of that height it may not be possible, in view of highway regulations, to transport the front and rear sections lying flat upon a truck bed in the fashion that the side walls can be carried. It may be necessary instead to transport them uprightly whereby division in half will greatly facilitate handling.

Like the side wall, the rear wall 13 employs a frame construction. The two half sections 13a and 13b are mirror images of one another. Both employ a base plate 19a which is provided with holes to match anchor bolts that project up from the rear foundation through the rear mud sill 20a. A series of studs 22a extend from the lower plate upwardly to an upper plate 230 in the case of member 13a and 23b in the case of member 13b. The studs 22a and 22b of the set gets longer closer to the center of the rear wall to form the end gable. Otherwise the construction so far described is like that of the side wall. The end studs at the outer edges of the rear wall, are heavier and serve as columns. The two inner studs or uprights 27 are also heavier and together they serve as a column to support the composite ridge beam and its load. These uprights 27 are cut away at their inner upper ends. The upper plates 23a and 23b terminate at the cut out. Together uprights 27 and plates 23a form a notch 26 into which the composite ridge beam 25 will fit. The cutout is formed so that the ridge beam will be tightly grasped between the uprights when the two uprights 27 are clamped together by bolts 27a.

THE LEFT SIDE SECTION The left side section 14 is just like the right side section 12 with the exception that a portion of it has been cut away to form a door opening. That door opening is.

framed out according to conventional building construction and building code practice. Otherwise it is like the side section 12. It has a lower plate which fits on the mud sill and is held there by being bolted to anchor bolts that are imbedded in the foundation slab. It is formed with studs that correspond to studs 22 of the right wall 12 and it is fitted with an upper plate corresponding to plate 23 of wall 12. In this case, the mud plate is cut away at the door opening but the foundation is not lowered at that point. That is a matter of choice.

THE F RONT' SECTION The front section is also prefabricated. It is formed with a large double doorway opening to accommodate a truck which is closed by a garage door 32. The door and the manner in which it is hung are conventional. The remainder of the front section is not conventional. Like the rear section 13, the front section 15 is divided into two portions, a left front half section 15a and a right front half section 15b. As in the case of the rear wall division is made to facilitate transportation and handling. In addition, division into two sections facilitates clamping the front section against the sides of the ridge beam 11.

The construction of the front section is shown in FIG. 3. Again, the two halves of the front section are mirror images of one another. At the outer portion of each half section the lower member is a plate corresponding to the plates of the other sections. In this case the plate is designated [90. The studs rise from that. In this case the first two studs or uprights serve as columns and are made of heavier material. The outer column 60 extends the full height of the side and abuts the under side of the tie beam 38. The other upright the one that forms the side of the door opening 31 in FIG. 3, is designated 33. It is a heavy member constructed, in this case, of two uprights which may be secured together by any convenient means. At its lower end upright 33 rests on the plate 19c and its upper end underlies and supports a header 34. The header extends from the inside edge of upright 60 at the right to the center line of the front section 15 which marks the center edge of the half section shown in FIG. 3. The eave end of the upper plate 23c rests atop the tie beam 38 but the connection is hidden from view by a gusset plate 62 which is used to tie them together. At its other end the upper plate 230 rests atop the upper end of a column 36 whose lower end abuts the upper side of the header 34. These elements are fastened together and the whole assembly is strengthened by a sheathing 64 which is applied to the exterior of the end by short stud sections 66 which separate the header 34 and tie beam 38 and by stud sections 68 which rest at their bottom ends against the tie plate 38 and at their upper ends on the bottom side of the upper plate 230. Stud 67 differs from the stud 66 and stud 69 differs from the stud sections 68 in that they abut against clamping members that are bolted to the upper and lower sides of the cross beam 38. In the case of the front half section 15a, those upper and lower clamping members are designated 70 and 72, respectively. As best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, these two clamping members are bolted by a series of bolts 76 to opposite sides of the tie beam 38 which ends at a point between the stud sections 67 and 69on one hand and a member 36 at the other side. The ends of

members

70 and 72 abut against the side of member 36. Those

members

72 and 70 are held tight against the central member 36 by a bolt set 45. The bolt extends through member 36 of front half section a and through section 36a of the other front half section. The bolt is connected at each side of the center column formed by members 36 and 36ato a metal strap which is generally V-shaped in the region between each of the tie beams 38 and 38a and the

center members

36 and 36a. The lower end of the strap is sandwiched between member 72 on the lower side of tie beam and the upper end of the strap is sandwiched between the tie beam 38 and the upper member 70. The bolt set 45 includes a head 45a which is lodged in the apex of the strap 440 at the left in FIG. 4, and the nut 45b at the other end of the bolt set 45 bears against a spacer 46 which in turn bears against the apex of the V-shaped portion of metal strap 44. Tightening of the bolt 45 to pull the straps 44 and 44a toward one another, pulls on the tie beam 38 and the

members

70 and 72 forcing the

members

70 and 72 against the face of member 36 forcing it toward contact and connection with the member 36a. This arrangement provides a very strong construction, no part of which is damaged either in assembling or disassembling the building. And it provides a connection which will not deteriorate with time. If the bolt set is kept from corroding, a simple task, the passage of time will have no effect upon the ability to disassemble and reassemble the connection. In this case member 36 and its counterpart in the other front wall half are notched at 36b and 36c toprovide clearance for the apex of the straps.

ROOF SECTION Although the under side of the roof section is not shown in plan view in any of the drawings, the construction of the roof section can be understood from an examination of the several figures. The sections employ regular frame construction. A series of spaced rafters are arranged in parallel from one end of the section to the other. One of those rafters 80 is visible in FIG. 5 and two

others

81 and 82 are visible in FIG. 6. Another rafter 83 can be seen in FIG. 7. The rafters are made of wood and they are conventional. Their size and spacing is dictated by conventional engineering considerations and the codes. A stringer 50 connects all of the rafters of roof half 16 at the cave end. A stringer 84 connects all of the rafters at their roof peak end. The stringer 84 will be assembled so that it lies side by side with the ridge beam 11 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6 and in assembled condition it forms part of the ridge beam. A similar stringer 84a is connected to the ridge end of the roof section 16a and it lies against the opposite face of ridge beam 11. The stringers 84 and 84a, and therefore the roof sections, are tied to the ridge beam 11 by a bolt 56. One end of the bolt is welded to a plate 54 which is bolted to a rafter of roof section 16a. The bolt itself extends through a hole in the stringers 84 and 84a and the beam 11 and through an opening in an arm of an L-shaped bracket 55 which is bolted to a rafter on the roof side 16. The roof sections and the ridge beam are connected together at each rafter set.

OTHER FEATURES The ridge beam 11 in this embodiment is made of a pair of two-by-fours. The two stringers 84 and 84a have their top edges tapered to conform to the pitch of the rafters but essentially are two-by-tens. In assembled condition the bottom edge of all of these members is made flush so that the center ridge extends above the two stringers sufficiently far so that it will also extend above the roof boards or roof sheathing. The roofing is ordinarilyapplied as part of roof section fabrication. For the sake of clarity, no fire blocking has been shown in the walls spanning the studs. However, some building codes require that such blocking be employed and when it is employed it is innerfitted with the studs in the manner illustrated in FIG. 8 where in an exploded view the stud .22 is shown to have a notch which innerfits with a'notch formed in the block 58. The two notches are arranged so that corresponding sides of the stud and the block are flush with one another.

FIG. 7 illustrates that a batten 57 is used at the juncture of sections of the sheathing material that are used to complete the roof sections.

THE ASSEMBLED BUILDING The manner in which the building is assembled will be apparent from a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2 and an examination of FIGS. 5 and 6. The order of part erection can be altered and would be changed somewhat depending upon what equipment was available for lifting the component parts of the building from the delivering vehicle and for lifting the roof sections 16 and 16a. In one procedure the four walls of the building are erected first. They are interconnected at their adjacent corners by means not shown in the drawing and which will vary somewhat as the sheathing material is changed. In any event the use of removable fasteners is envisioned. The two roof sections are then placed in position atop the walls so that the center stringer, 84 in the case of roof section 16, rests in the notch 26 of the rear wall and the notch 52 of the front wall. Thereafter the core beam 17 is placed between the stringers 84 and 84a so that the ends of stringer 11 fit between them in the notches 26 at the rear and 52 at the front of the building. The bolt 45 at the front wall and the bolts 27a at the rear wall will have been tightened as part of the wall erection procedure. It remains only to insert the bolts 56 through the ridge beam 25 at each rafter and to complete the assembly with the brackets 54 and 55. As the bolt 56 is turned up tight the inner ends of the rafters, 81 and 82 in the case of FIG. 6, abut against the stringers 84 and 84a and clamp them to the sides of the ridge core 11.

What is claimed is:

I. A multi-element portable building comprising:

a ridge beam core;

a prefabricated front wall;

a prefabricated rear wall;

a prefabricated right wall;

a prefabricated left wall;

a right roof section;

a left roof section; and

fastening means for joining adjacent sections,

whereby said elements of said building may be transported to, and assembled at, a desired location;

said right roof section-and said left roof section each comprising a stringer capable of being assembled flush with a respectively associated side of said ridge beam; and means for clamping said stringers and ridge beam core together; said front wall and said end wall being notched at opposed points on their upper edges to receive said ridge beam core and said stringers; at least one of said front wall and said end wall being divided into separable sections each ending in an upright which abuts against the back of the other when said sections are assembled; said fastening means comprising a bolt set one end of which is fixed to one of said sections and the other of which is fixed to the other of said sections; eachof said sections comprising a tie beam secured to said section and extending in a direction toward said upright, said fastening means further comprising a metal strap of generally V" shape having its apex extending toward said upright and its arms bolted to said tie beam, the head of said bolts being secured in the apex of the clamp of one of said sections and the nut of said bolt sets being disposed at the apex of the V" shaped strap of the other of said sections.

2. In a prefabricated building having a wall which is divided into two sections each of which is formed with an upright along the line of its connection with the upright of the other section:

means for clamping said sections together comprising a pair of tie beams each secured to a respectively associated wall section and extending towards the upright of its wall section and ending at a point spaced from said upright whereby a space between them remains;

two pairs of clamping members each member of a pair being fixed to opposite sides of a respectively associated one of said tie beams and extending from connection to said tie beams into abutment with the upright associated with said one of said tie beams, whereby a cavity is formed bounded by said upright, said clamping members and said tie beam; and

fastening means including a fastening element extending from through uprights from the cavity of one wall section to the cavity of the other and a pair of holding means fixed to said tie beam and said clamping sections for maintaining said fastening element in said cavities.

3. Invention defined in claim 2 in which each holding means comprises a V shaped metal strap having its apex disposed in one of said cavities and having each of its arms clamped between the tie beam of said section and a respectively associated one of said clamping members.

Claims

1. A multi-element portable building comprising: a ridge beam core; a prefabricated front wall; a prefabricated rear wall; a prefabricated right wall; a prefabricated left wall; a right roof section; a left roof section; and fastening means for joining adjacent sections, whereby said elements of said building may be transported to, and assembled at, a desired location; said right roof section and said left roof section each comprising a stringer capable of being assembled flush with a respectively associated side of said ridge beam; and means for clamping said stringers and ridge beam core together; said front wall and said end wall being notched at opposed points on their upper edges to receive said ridge beam core and said stringers; at least one of said front wall and said end wall being divided into separable sections each ending in an upright which abuts against the back of the other when said sections are assembled; said fastening means comprising a bolt set one end of which is fixed to one of said sections and the other of which is fixed to the other of said sections; each of said sections comprising a tie beam secured to said section and extending in a direction toward said upright, said fastening means further comprising a metal strap of generally ''''V'''' shape having its apex extending toward said upright and its arms bolted to said tie beam, the head of said bolts being secured in the apex of the clamp of one of said sections and the nut of said bolt sets being disposed at the apex of the ''''V'''' shaped strap of the other of said sections.

2. In a prefabricated building having a wall which is divided into two sections each of which is formed with an upright along the line of its connection with the upright of the other section: means for clamping said sections together comprising a pair of tie beams each secured to a respectively associated wall section and extending towards the upright of its wall section and ending at a point spaced from said upright whereby a space between them remains; two pairs of clamping members each member of a pair being fixed to opposite sides of a respectively associated one of said tie beams and extending from connection to said tie beams into abutment with the upright associated with said one of said tie beams, whereby a cavity is formed bounded by said upright, said clamping members and said tie beam; and fastening means including a fastening element extending from through uprights from the cavity of one wall section to the cavity of the other and a pair of holding means fixed to said tie beam and said clamping sections for maintaining said fastening element in said cavities.

3. Invention defined in claim 2 in which each holding means comprises a ''''V'''' shaped metal strap having its apex disposed in one of said cavities and having each of its arms clamped between the tie beam of said section and a respectively associated one of said clamping members.