US425250A - Island - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2Sheets-Sheet 1.

- I E. T. POTTER.

PORTABLE 0R SEOTIONAL BUILDING.

Patented Apr. 8, 1890.

2 t 8 .e h S v 1.. 9 Buy h S 2 R E T T O P T H (No Model.)

PORTABLE 0R SBGTIONAL BUILDING.

No. 425,250. Patented Apr. 8, 1890.

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EDWARD T. POTTER, on NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.

PORTABLE OR SECTIONAL BUILDING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,250, dated April 8, 1890.

Application filed April 29, 1889. Serial No. 309,018. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD T. POTTER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newport, in the county of Newport and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable or Seetional Buildings, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to what are known as portable or sectional houses-that is to say, structures composed of independent parts or sections which may be put together and taken apart at will and transported from place to place. Heretofore such structures have been constructed to be used independently, each one forming a complete building or structure, and without reference to its adaptability for use in conjunction with others to form a larger or taller structure with no loss of space.

My invention has for its object to provide a portable house or room which, while adapted for use independently and forming in itself a complete structure, is capable of being combined with one or more others to form without loss of space a dwelling or other structure of any required capacity and with rooms either all on one floor or one above the other in stories.

In carrying out my invention I have designed a building of a form and size which best adapt it for combination with others in making up a complexstructure, at the same time constructing it in such manner that it will be weather and water proof without preventing any obstruction to the assemblage with it of other and similar structures. In order to more perfectly accomplish this, I set in the upper portion of each structure the trusses or girders upon which the floor beams or boards of each structure or room rest. The depth of such trusses or girders should be about three feet, and the height of the set-in or smaller part of each room should be about the same, so that one may be fitted down over the other without loss of space and without interference with the weather-proof qualities of the room below; but in order to save material in the construction of these the upper.

rooms and not to make a single room or structure of any greater strength than is necessary I havedevised a means of support which may be increased in strength as required, and this without altering the exterior shape or dimensions of the structure, so as not to impair its adaptability for being grouped with others, either above it or on its sides. For this purpose I use supports, preferably in the corners only of the structures, consisting of one or more angle-plates .of iron or other material, the number of which is increased in proportion to the number of rooms or stories which the lower rooms have to sustain.

The details of this invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a side view of my improvement, illustrating a vertical grouping of the structures. Fig. 2 is a top plan View of one of the portable rooms. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the same. Fig. 4 is a perspective and Fig. 5 an end view of one of the supports. Fig. 6 is an. enlarged vertical section of a room with a portion of a superposed room. Fig. 7 is a horizontal section of a part of the structure on line as 0:, 6; and Fig. 8 is a similar view on line 3 y, Fig. 6. Fig. 9 is a view of a detail enlarged. I

If only a single room is required, I employ as supports for the floo1- beams, roof, and other parts of the structure single angle posts or plates A, which I prefer to place in the four corners only. If such room is to form a part of a more complex structurefor instance, composed of two rooms one above the other-I use two angle-posts A and B for the lower room and one angle-post A for So if the structure is to contain, say, seven tiers of rooms, I use seven posts or plates, such as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, for the first tier, six for the next, and so on.

These columns, it will be observed, may be built up or reduced from the inside, and only so many plates are used in any room as are necessary to sustain the weight of the room or rooms above. To secure the plates or posts together, I employ bolts 0, passing through them and screw-threaded to receive a nut D.

I have found that these bolts are most advantageously used and applied when passing through the several plates at their angle.

This requires less cutting of the column and secures the results desired more easily.

The girders or trusses E are secured to the corner-posts in any convenient manner, as by bolts a, Figs. 6 and 7, and the floor-beams F are secured to said girders. The sides and ends G of the room are adapted to be secured to the corner-posts in any convenient manner.

The posts are, say, ten feet in length. The girders or trusses E being three feet wide, the side walls G will consequently be seven feet high. Instead of covering a room with a flat roof, I use a roof which is nearly three feet high, and made in any desired shape that will not occupy more space than is afforded under the floor beams of a room and between the girders E, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6.

That this may be the case, it is necessary, of course, that there be an inset or ledge in the side of the structure at the level of the top of the posts or that at which the roof proper begins. \Vhen, therefore, one of these rooms is placed on the top of another, the lower ends of the posts-of the upper room will rest upon the tops of the posts of the lower room,'and the trusses E of the upper room will rest upon the said ledge or inset. hen two rooms are thus superposed, there will be a space of three feet from the top of the posts of the lower room to the floor of the room above, which space is inclosed by the trusses or girders E. lVithin this space are the floor-beams F of the upper room and the roof of the lower room, and the ceiling of the lower room, instead of being flat, is carried up into the space under the roof, as shown by H in Figs. 1 and 6. By this means the only lost space in a structure composed of two superposed rooms is between the ceiling of the lower room and the floor of the upper, which space is partly occupied by the floor-beams of the upper room and roof proper of the lower.

When a second room is to be placed over the first, the ends of the posts of the lower room, which just extend through the roof,- as, shown in Figs. 2 and 3, afford supports upon which the lower ends of the postsof the upper room rest.

The ends of the posts of each room may be covered or protected in any ordinary and convenient manner, as by laying thereon thin fiat plates of metal or other material I.

The roof I prefer to make of corrugated overlapping metal sheets J, secured in any convenient side pieces K, which contain perforations L when so desired. This form of roof provides an air-space over the top of the room and permits the beams of the room above to lie closer to the top of the room below. From this it will be seen that the height of any room is the distance from the floor laid on the beams F to the ceiling H above, so that when a second room is placed on the first the only lost space in the structure is that from the ceiling II to the flooring of the next room. Thus, while each room is a complete structure in itself, any number of them may be associated with the minimum waste of space.

Each room is or may be provided with suitable doors and windows, and when a number of rooms are associated access may be had from one floor to the next by stairs, either within or outside the building, as may be desired.

In the construction of my portable rooms I propose to make each part identical and interchangeable with the like part in every other room. The construction shown socures the maximum strength with the minimum of weight, and the construction is such that any intelligent person may Without trouble put together or take apart the structure.

The feature of the invention is that it providesa constant unit in building, designed and constructed with reference to being in definitely combined with like units, yet in itself embodying no more material or cost than is required for itself 'alone, and the only change that is made in any room is by the addition of angle-irons to the corner-posts from the inside, as set forth".

The invention is particularly useful for new settlements, camps, seaside, and other temporary villages, fairs, and the like. The interior arrangements, the means for gaining access to'the various rooms of abuilding containing a number of the unit structures, and the like I have not described: in detail, as they do not form an essential part of the invention.

hat I claim is- 1. Astructure or building composed of two or more superposed separable unit structures or sections, each forming a house structure in itself, and provided with a roof and floor, with a space under the latter sufficient to admit the roof portion of another section, as set forth.

2. A dwelling or house structure composed of an assemblage of superposed unit structures or sections, each having an inset or ledge in the side walls near the top, a roof above the said ledge, and a space beneath the floor to admit within the walls of one room the roof portion of the section upon which it rests, as set forth.

3. The combination of two or more superposed unit structures, each being a house structure complete in itself and each formed with an upper portion of reduced size, and a space under the flooring capable of accom modating the reduced portion of another unit structure, the top or roof of each structure being corrugated, whereby the floorbeams of a superposed section will lie in the channels of the roof of the under section, as set forth.

4. A supporting-column for portable sectional houses composed of angle-posts restsaid posts for binding them together, as set ing or fitting one into another, in oombinaforth. tion with bolts for binding them together.

5. A supporting-column for portable sec- EDWARD POTTER 5 tional houses, composed of angle-posts rest- Witnesses:

ing 01' fitting one into another, in combina- ROBT. F. GAYLORD', tion with bolts passing through the angles of ERNEST HOPKINSON.

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