Extendible shed

Details Extendible shed Extendible shed

1998-08-10

2001-06-26

Callo, Laura A. (Department: 3635)

Static structures (e.g., buildings)

Preassembled subenclosure or substructure section of unit or...

Collapsible for ease of transport

C052S079500, C052S262000, C052S266000, C052S271000, C052S585100, C312S100000, C312S108000, C312S263000, C312S265500

Reexamination Certificate

active

06250022

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to extendible plastic sheds and more particularly to frontwardly extendible sheds and roofs.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Garden and utility sheds are a useful medium for storing garden implements and as greenhouses when their sides and roofs are made up of transparent panels. They are also useful for general leisure use and are cheap and easy to erect from pre-assembled parts. They must be strong, burglar proof and weatherproof. Aesthetic qualities are also advantageous.
At present, one drawback of such sheds is that they are difficult to extend when more space is required and indeed difficult to manufacture economically for the purpose of extendibility. The difficulties stem from the fact that fully interchangeable unitary components have thus far not been manufactured which enable a shed to be extended frontwardly (i.e by removal of the front doors and addition of extra side panels) whilst maintaining standards of weatherproofing, structural integrity and security.
Frontward extendibility requires removing the front doors and adding more side-panels and roof panels frontwards without dismantling the shed. It should be noted here that a shed which provides for only rearward extension is often inconvenient for a user as the shed has usually been positioned with its rear wall against or in front of a physical boundary. If a floor is desired it too must be fully interchangeable and conform to the same connectability, weather and security requirements.
One important feature of a shed in terms of extendibility and weatherproofing is the roof structure. In order to produce an economically worthwhile roof which lends itself to forward extendibility whilst maintaining standards of weatherproofing, structural-integrity, theft-proofing and non-extendible roof quality, it must be manufactured to interlock with existing roof panels and wall panels in a fully interchangeable fashion. Thus, a roof panel should equally be able to cover the section above the front doors, the section above the rear wall and a middle section, whilst maintaining standards of weatherproofing, structural integrity, theftproofing and non-interchangeable roof quality. Non interchangeable roof quality usually consists of a single blow-moulded roof structure which is closed on three sides, having closed surfaces in three dimensions thus leaving no gap between the sides and the roof. This gives aesthetic and weatherproofing qualities, amongst other things, with no gap between the sides and the roof.
Further, ensuring the surface of an extendible roof is weatherproof is a difficult task as the requirement of dismantlability may affect the weatherproofing.
Further, the roof must contain protrusions at right angles to the roof surface in order to connect with the walls of the shed. The dual requirements of interlockability with adjacent roof panels which stems from the extendibility requirement and ability to lock to a wall panel coupled with the non-interchangeable roof quality requirement require a structure which is “closed on three sides” (as blow moulded non-interchangeable roof) as in a blow-moulded non-extendible roof structure. Being closed on three sides means the structure may fulfil all the above requirements whilst being manufactured as a unitary item. Hitherto, such a component has not been manufactured in a unitary fashion.
Reference is now made to
FIG. 1
which shows an example of a prior art modular wooden shed, generally referenced
10
, sold by the marketing chain: Castorama Diffusion S. A., Rue Du Chemin Vert, Lesquin, Cedex 120481, France. There does not currently exist a forwardly extendible shed currently manufactured, the “Castorama” shed reaching nearest to this goal.
The shed consists of side walls
12
, roof sections
14
and a front wall
16
, containing a door
18
. It is purchased with as many extra side and roof panels
12
A and
14
A required for a chosen size. The “Castorama” is the modular in a limited way as not all the parts are interchangeable. It is certainly not extendible as dismantling would be required even if extension were feasible. Further, the shed would only be rearwardly extendible if extension were at all possible after it was built.
It is no surprise that the shed is manufactured from wood and this illustrates the difficulties associated with manufacturing the required roof and wall components in a unitary fashion from plastic.
Referring now to
FIGS. 2A-2B
there is shown an illustration of a prior art non-extendible shed with a roof displaying the qualities, referred to hereinabove, of a hitherto non-extendible roof (FIG.
2
A). It can be seen that the roof
19
is of a “hat-like” construction (
FIG. 2A
) closed on three sides or dimensions A, B and C illustrated in FIG.
2
B. Such a construction is obtained by blow-molding the plastic roof as is known in the art, so that roof
19
has the appearance of a wood panel.
There are many similar (non-extendible) sheds sold, not all having a blow molded roof, none of which are extendible. Examples of manufacturers of these include: Rubbermaid Incorporated, 1147 Akron Road, Wooster, Ohio, U.S.A; Royal Outdoor Vinyl Products and Royal Outdoor Products Inc. both members of Royal Group Technologies Ltd, 200 Hanlan Road, Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada.
Blow molding is ineffective for similar quality extendible roofs as weatherproofing and interconnectability are hard to achieve in a unitary blow-molded process-produced roof whilst maintaining weatherproofing, connectability and economic advantage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an extendible shed which overcomes the limitations and disadvantages of prior extendible sheds.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an extendible shed roof which overcomes the limitations and disadvantages of prior extendible shed roofs.
a further object of the present invention is to provide an extendible shed which may be extended from the end which contains the doors.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide an extendible roof, closed on three sides of equal quality to that of non-extendible roofs.
In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a shed made of side panels, doors, back and floor panels interconnected by universal connectors, connectable to the side panels, doors and back panel.
In a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a shed whose extendible roof portions are closed on three sides to combine non-extendible roof quality with interconnectability and extendibility.
There is thus provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an extendible shed which includes a first base panel having a back panel attached thereto, a first plurality of side panels attached to the back panel, a first roof panel connected to the first plurality of side panels and a front panel connected to the first plurality of side panels. The shed is extendible by removing the front panel and connecting a second plurality of side panels to the first plurality of side panels, reconnecting the front panel to the second plurality of side panels, connecting a second roof panel to the second plurality of side panels and the first roof panel and connecting a second base panel to the first base panel.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the shed further includes side connectors for connecting the second plurality of side panels to the first plurality of side panels.
The shed further includes back connectors for extendably connecting the back panels to one another vertically. The shed further includes hinged connectors for hingeably connecting the front panel to the side panels.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the front panels function as doors and the hinged connectors function as handles on the front panels. The first and the second plurality of the panels are interchangeable.
Furthermore, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present i

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