Manufacturing facility for production of standard size...

Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – With transporting feature

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C052S745200

Reexamination Certificate

active

06253504

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a movable manufacturing facility that can be erected near a large housing development to efficiently manufacture standard size dwellings, substantially in their entirety, in a factory environment prior to transporting and placing these completed dwellings on pre-constructed permanent foundations. These standard size dwellings, as defined herein, have an abundance of architectural and floor plan flexibility, high volume rooms and, typically, living areas of 1,600 square feet or more on one or two levels, not including basements.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The Housing Industry Today
The present residential construction industry can be divided into segments based on the three basic methods which are utilized to produce dwellings: manufactured or modular (manufactured), panelized or component (panelized)—with elements fabricated both on and off site, and individually built (stick-built)—with dwelling construction in-place at a specific building site. Each of these three methods have distinct advantages and disadvantages. In addition, each method is suited to produce a particular type of dwelling. A common goal of the residential construction industry is to produce quality dwellings that have broad market appeal in a cost efficient manner.
The manufactured home is built in a factory which is geographically remote from a housing development or a particular building site. The factory produced modules must be transported over public highways and roadways to a dealership or predetermined building site. The earliest of this class of homes were called mobile homes. They were, and still are, equipped with axles attached to an undercarriage framework. The typical manufactured home is built in a factory which serves a broad geographic region, ranging in size from tens or hundreds of miles in radius to several states. Because of the cost efficiencies inherent in factory production, the manufactured (and some panelized) method is successful in producing lower cost new housing typically for small size homes. A manufactured home is produced for direct sale to a customer and installation at a particular building site or it may be sold to a dealer and held in inventory for a subsequent sale and installation.
The present day manufactured home offers significant improvements over the former mobile home. A plurality of manufactured modular segments may comprise the finished home and the modules are transported from a remote factory to a dealership or destination building site. Once delivered to the final building location, the modules are joined together to form a resultant dwelling that is significantly larger than a typical 12′′×70′ single module manufactured home.
The major advantage of manufactured homes is the use of a factory environment. Within a factory setting, a controlled environment exists where complete, roadable dwellings are built. Factories represent a significant advantage in mass production efficiency. The advantages of a factory environment are:
Dwellings can be produced very quickly from order to finished product.
Foul weather has negligible impact on production.
Construction tolerances are more precise and more controllable.
Increased production through multiple shifts is readily achievable because the critical conditions of lighting, ventilation and air temperatures are controlled 24 hours a day.
Non-sequential construction techniques are possible.
A Federal (HUD) Building Code can be utilized which offers a streamlined regulatory environment since it is focused on performance standards rather than implementation standards. In addition, homes built to the HUD Building Code are less expensive to produce than stick-built homes which are built to the Uniform Building Code (UBC) or other local building codes.
Major cost efficiencies are realized in both the quantity of labor hours necessary to build homes, and the unit cost for labor because of the use of repetitive production tasks and the ability to bulk purchase and handle materials at a fixed manufacturing location.
A method of dwelling construction which has similarities to the manufactured dwelling technology is the panelized method of construction. Panelized construction consists of a system for prefabricating walls, floors and roof components into units or sections. This method of construction is most efficient where there is a repetition of the panel types and dimensions. Panels are manufactured using a jig, into which the framing members are placed and then interconnected via nails, screws or welds. The interior and exterior sheathing, or even the complete interior or exterior finish, may be applied to the wall panel prior to the finished panel being hoisted onto the structure. Shop panelization offers numerous advantages. The panel shop provides a controlled environment where work proceeds regardless of weather conditions. The application of sheathing and finish work is easier and faster with the panels placed in a horizontal position instead of a vertical position.
With panelized construction, major components of homes are either prefabricated in a remote factory environment or at the site where, unfortunately, panel fabrication is exposed to local weather conditions. If components or panels are built in a factory, they are subsequently transported over public highways and roadways to the building site where they are hoisted into place and interconnected to form the basic dwelling structure using conventional building techniques. The panelized construction technique requires the use of hoisting equipment at the building site to handle the preassembled components and also requires that significant amounts of finish work be performed at the site to assemble components and finish construction joints between panels.
The major advantages of panelized construction are the following:
Cost and production efficiencies of off-site factory panel fabrication.
Efficiencies of mass producing panels at a project location can also be realized.
Assembly of panels or components into finished homes is reasonably fast.
Pre-fabricated panels for production of homes in “remote” regions can be accomplished.
The remaining category of residential housing is the stick-built house that is either custom built according to an owner's individual specifications, or as a builder's spec home, or constructed as one of a plurality of pre-existing models in a housing development. These dwellings are built in the traditional manner of using framing members (typically dimensional lumber) to fabricate the dwelling on a foundation at the building site according to a set of architectural plans. Stick-built home design differs greatly from manufactured home design. There are no architectural, structural or dimensional limitations with stick-built housing like those imposed on manufactured design by virtue of the roadway transportation limitations. Transportation over public roads involves height, width, length and weight restrictions. In stick-built construction, height, width, depth, roof pitch, roof overhang, gabled, dormered, etc. are all completely open to individual tastes limited only by the governing building code restrictions. The ability to produce standard size homes with substantial design flexibility is the reason that the majority of homes built today are stick-built homes.
Stick-built construction requires a sequenced building format, where item A must be completed before item B can begin, and in turn, item B must then be completed before item C can begin and so on. For example, the ground level walls must be completed before the second level floor can begin, and the second level walls must be completed before the second level ceiling can begin. While this method of residential home construction has worked for many years, there are inherent inefficiencies in this method that result in significant cost penalties to the home buyer.
Stick built dwellings can be built to any size or layout that is desired within the limitations of the structural capabilities of the fr

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