Metal fusion bonding – With means to handle work or product
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-12
2004-01-27
Dunn, Tom (Department: 1725)
Metal fusion bonding
With means to handle work or product
C228S049100, C029S407100, C052S643000, C052S646000, C052S652100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06681981
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the art of constructing buildings, especially relatively small and low cost residential, institutional and commercial buildings, utilizing modular prefabricated structural members therefor. More specifically, this application pertains to a novel apparatus and method for prefabricating the structural members.
B. Background of the Invention
Small buildings today are constructed using methods developed before the Industrial Revolution. These types of buildings, as opposed to steel frame building types, are constructed either by cutting up trees into boards of different sizes and nailing the boards together or by erecting stacks of stone or masonry held together with mortar. Historically, such raw materials have been delivered to the construction sites where they are then made into buildings by the process of assembling the cut-up parts of the trees and/or the blocks of stone or masonry into simple “post and beam” type structures the parts of which work independently of one another.
Heretofore, it has been attempted, with a good deal of progress having been made in the more recent past, to achieve factory production of buildings in various forms of modular, panelized and mobile home unit construction, but these never were and still do not represent and embody new technologies; they are simply examples of the same historical “post and beam” technology executed indoors-off-site instead of outdoors-on-site. However, although some cost savings may have been achieved through the use of modern techniques such as bulk raw material purchasing and through the utilization of newer and faster tools, the final products have not only remained basically the same but, because labor and materials are still being used inefficiently, are vulnerable to damage and destruction by fire, hurricanes, earthquakes, moisture and insects.
Building codes, which in the United States serve as minimum standards of construction quality, actually tend to exacerbate these inefficiencies by trying to mandate better quality and greater safety of buildings while anticipating the mediocre labor skills currently found on construction sites. Architects and engineers tend to design buildings in light of the government-specified parameters and then follow up by specifying the use of the already available construction materials and methods. This not only reinforces the use of existing methods but also inhibits innovation in building construction. The construction industry tolerates these disadvantages because a better way has not yet been found and perfected.
The availability and price of lumber have changed drastically over the past decade or so, with availability decreasing and price increasing. The deleterious results of indiscriminate tree cutting are giving rise to alarm over the ecological consequences of global deforestation and have led to great pressure, primarily from environmental groups around the world, on forest products companies and governments to control and slow down such activity. As a consequence, lumber has become increasingly more expensive as distances from source to destination increase transportation costs. Furthermore, skilled craftsmen such as carpenters and masons currently command very high salaries and, even worse, are neither as abundant nor as skilled as they once were. In sum, therefore, small buildings being currently constructed make inefficient use of raw materials, cost more to build, operate and maintain than is necessary, are highly combustible, and are expensive to reinforce to mitigate the threats of fire, earthquakes, hurricanes and floods.
OBJECTIVES AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An objective of the present invention is to provide a fixture that can be used to assemble a modular type structural member quickly and effectively.
A further objective is to provide a fixture which may be easily adapted to assemble or prefabricate modular structural members of various sizes and shades.
A further objectives and advantages is to provide a fixture which can assemble a structural member automatically.
In the above-mentioned co-pending application Ser. No. 09/223,666 a class of novel prefabricated hollow shell-type modular structural members is described, each of which members includes a triangulated wire core disposed between and secured to a pair of spaced shell panels defining the faces of the structural member, and which members are adapted, in appropriate forms and strengths, for serving as foundations, walls, floors, roofs and partitions of low cost, relatively small buildings. The modular structural members which, in their manufactured form, are adapted to be easily assembled and interconnected at the construction site so as to define both the structural configuration of the building (including its doors, windows and surface finishes) as well as the infrastructure for its life support systems (including its plumbing systems, electrical systems, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, fire protection systems, etc.) as the building is being erected.
A plurality of such modular structural members can be used per se either to form a complete self-contained building or to form a part of or an adjunct to an existing building for purposes of renovation and/or expansion, and which can also be used in conjunction with conventional building materials (steel, concrete and wood) to form composite building structures.
Generally speaking, the fundamental concept of the modular structure which is incorporated in the modular structural members disclosed herein and which may be briefly described as follows.
The strength of any structure results from a combination of the materials of which it is made and the shape or geometry of those materials. Stated in other words, strength is a function not only of the physical properties of the materials which are used but also of the manner in which they are used, i.e., of their geometric configurations.
A force applied to the top apex of a triangular structure will channel down the two sides of the triangle to the two points or apexes at the bottom. The two points at the bottom of the triangular structure will tend to be pushed outward by that force, i.e., away from each other, unless they are restrained and held in place. It is the bottom member of the triangular structure, of course, which holds those two points in place. This is an efficient system because (1) each member is in either simple tension or simple compression as the force imposed at the top of the triangular structure is resisted by the three members and as the load is transferred to the associated supports, and (2) the connections of the three members can be simple because they do not have to be strong enough to resist turning or bending.
It will also be understood that if several triangular structures are grouped together, the force applied thereto will be distributed throughout an appropriately larger number of members. For example, if a four-sided pyramidal arrangement of triangular structures is used instead of a single triangular structure, the applied force is distributed between eight members instead of three. Such an arrangement obviously increases the efficiency of the system.
It will further be understood that multiple pyramidal arrangements of triangular structures can be interconnected with each other horizontally and vertically as well. In such a system, as the number of connected pyramidal arrangements of triangular structures increases, the forces applied thereto in one area are distributed over a large network of members. Moreover, the individual members need not be very strong, since they work together. Thus, a large number of small members can coact to carry large loads, and by using the same size member repeatedly, a very large structure can be constructed.
In practical applications, the tops and bottoms of such triangular structures either per se or in pyramidal arrangements thereof can be individual members or they can be extensive flat plates. If they are plates, then they can form the s
Gottlieb Rackman & Reisman P.C.
IBI, Inc.
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