Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – Barrier or major section mounted for in situ repositioning;... – Barrier of hingedly connected sections
Patent
1995-10-20
1998-06-30
Wood, Wynn E.
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
Barrier or major section mounted for in situ repositioning;...
Barrier of hingedly connected sections
52 64, 52 811, 525821, 52DIG10, 135130, E04B 1344, E04H 900
Patent
active
057716390
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to modular housing, and is particularly concerned with the provision of a lightweight, readily transportable and easily erectable shelter. The shelters are intended for use in providing long term or temporary shelter for displaced persons, refugees, etc., and to improve housing in undeveloped areas.
The currently conventional method of providing temporary shelter for refugees is to provide tented accommodation. This type of accommodation has several disadvantages, in that conditions are often insanitary, and the protection given from the elements is severely limited, particularly in colder climates. Further disadvantages of tent accommodation are the multiplicity of separate parts required to form the tent structure, giving rise to the loss or misplacement of parts and thus rendering the structure inoperable in some cases, and the degree of skill needed to erect the tent.
The present invention seeks to provide a readily transportable, lightweight and weatherproof shelter, which is easily erected using a minimum of unskilled labour, and which when erected can provide effective and sanitary shelter in a wide variety of climatic conditions.
A further advantage of the shelters of the present invention is that they are able to be placed one atop another or otherwise linked and configured, thus effectively increasing the housing density achievable.
According to the present invention, a shelter comprises an array of substantially rigid panels hingedly joined together, the arrangement of panels in the array being such that a central polygonal roof panel is surrounded by a number of wall panels equal in number to the sides of the polygon, each wall panel having an edge hingedly attached to an edge of the roof panel, and a tension element being arranged to extend along the edges of the wall panels remote from the roof panel in such a way that by applying tension to the tension element, adjacent edges of respective wall panels can be brought together to form a three-dimensional structure.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a shelter comprises polygonal roof and base panels of similar shape, and a number of wall panels each having a pair of parallel sides, a first one of the parallel sides of each wall panel being joined to a respective edge of the base or roof panel, and each wall panel being joined to another wall panel by a joint extending along the second of its parallel sides, at least one tension element being arranged to encircle the array of panels by passing along or adjacent the joints formed by the second parallel sides of each wall panel, the arrangement being such that when tension is applied to the tension elements, the joints between respective pairs of wall panels are drawn radially inwardly of the structure and the base and roof panels are urged apart.
A shelter according to the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shelter in the erected position;
FIG. 2 is a side elevation of a stage in the erection process;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the erection process shown in FIG. 2;
FIGS. 4a and 4b are schematic plan views showing alternative arrangements for the tension elements; and
FIG. 5 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view through a shelter illustrating the principles of the invention.
Referring now to the drawings, there is seen a shelter 1 comprising a roof panel 2 of generally hexagonal shape, six upper wall panels 3, each of which is trapezoidal in shape, and six lower wall panels 4 similar in shape to the upper wall panels 3. A hexagonal base completes the structure.
Each of the trapezoidal lower wall panels 4 is joined to a respective side of the base by a hinged joint extending along the shorter of its parallel sides. Likewise, each of the upper wall panels 3 is joined to a respective edge of the roof panel 2 by a hinged joint extending along the shorter of its parallel sides 6. It is further noted that the shorter side of each panel 3 makes an obtu
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Wood Marcus Bennett
Wood Wendy Margaret
Wilkens Kevin D.
Wood Wynn E.
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