GB2054689A - Improvements in or relating to transportable cabins - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a cabin, primarily a portable or semi-portable cabin, defined by six major assemblies including a floor assembly (11), front and rear wall assemblies (12, 13), two end wall assemblies (14, 15) and a roof assembly (16), at least some of which comprise vacuum bonded laminated sandwich panels with a rigid foam inner material (30) and an outer face of metal sheet material. An extensible leg (24) is attached to each corner of the cabin to allow the cabin to be adjusted to a level floor condition. The invention also envisages a cabin as defined in combination with a trailer, the trailer including a jack leg (39), spaced from the wheeled axle for the trailer, and whereby the trailer jack (39) and the extensible legs (24) of the cabin can be utilized to assist in mounting and dismounting as assembled cabin onto and from a trailer. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in or relating to transportable cabins The present invention relates to transportable cabins and more particularly to the transportation of cabins intended primarily for use as temporary office or housing accommodation.

Transportable cabins are well known in the art and differ from caravans in that they do not include wheeled axles as part of the integral structures. Cabins generally comprise six major assemblies defined by a floor assembly, front and rear wall assemblies, two side wall assemblies, and a roof assembly, said six assemblies including, as integral parts of their construction, such windows, doors, ventilators, and other fixed fittings and fixtures as may be desirable.

Such cabins may be constructed for permanent erection, in which case the cabin must be transported in the erected condition, or the cabin may be of so called "knock-down" construction whereby the cabin can be reduced to the six major assemblies and the six assemblies placed one atop another to make a compact package.

Transportable cabins are constructed in many forms but generally each major assembly comprise a weatherproof exterior material, which may be concrete, timber and the like conventional materials, and often an insulating liner is screwed, nailed or otherwise attached in block or panel form to the weatherproof material. Further, in many cases, the cabin may include an inner surfacing material to give a pleasing appearance to the interior of the cabin and again the linear material may be nailed, screwed, stapled or glued to the insulating layer, the weatherproof material, or securing means, often timber members, between adjacent blocks or sheets of insulating material.

Transportable cabins of conventional forms and constructions are transported on general purpose, so called "heavy goods", vehicles, that is to say vehicles having a heavy goods license, which vehicles when carrying cabins, and even when carrying more than one cabin in "knocked-down" compact package form, are loaded well below their safe working load. Thus transportation has never produced cabin weight problems for the cabin maker and cabin makers have therefore continued to use conventional materials and methods of construction. As conventional transport comprises heavy goods vehicles such a vehicle must be returned to normal duties as soon as is possible after the cabin or cabins have been off-loaded and, if transport facilities are required at and around the site, such transport must be separately provided.

Transportable cabins conventionally include four extensible legs upon which the cabin can stand if the site is unsuitable for the base of the cabin to rest on the ground. However, it is often necessary when the cabin is to be transported to use the extensible legs to raise the cabin to permit the transporting vehicle to drive beneath the elevated cabin whereupon the cabin can be lowered onto the vehicle or when off-loading, to elevate the cabin to permit the transporting vehicle to drive off, whereupon the legs can be lowered to the height required. Such use of the extensible legs has led to the provision of jacking means, sometimes hydraulic but generally a manual winching, for each extensible leg, which not only increases the costs for the cabin but also greatly adds to the total weight of the cabin.Such use of the extensible legs is not limited to permanently erected cabins and often the leg support arrangements are specially adapted to permit knock-down cabins in compact packaged form to the self-loading and off-loading from the transporting vehicle.

It will be seen from the above that the conventional transportation of cabins on heavy goods vehicles, (a) does not create cabin weight problems for the cabin builder and therefore affords little incentive for the cabin builder to depart from conventional construction techniques and materials.

(b) makes jacking means for the extensible legs essential to ensure that the vehicle is not kept longer than is necessary, and (c) the transporting vehicle serves only to transport the cabin(s) to the site and local transport must be provided separately, and, when a transporting facility at a site is necessary or desirable, the costs of the heavy goods transport, the cost of the cabin including jacking legs, and the cost of providing site transporting means constitute a substantial expense to the site project.

The present invention seeks to provide a transportable cabin arrangement which avoids the need for transportation by a heavy goods vehicle and which can be used in combination with a transporter capable of affording transport facilities at a cabin location.

According to the present invention there is provided a cabin defined by six major assemblies comprising a floor assembly, front and rear wall assemblies, two side wall assemblies and a roof assembly, at least some of said panels comprising laminated sandwich panels with the inner material comprising a rigid foam material.

Preferably the said panels comprise vacuum bonded laminated sandwich panels.

Preferably the wall assemblies comprise laminated sandwich panels and the intended outer face of such panels comprise a metal sheet material, conveniently a plastics coated steel sheet material.

Preferably the floor assembly comprises a vacuum bonded laminated sandwich panel and wherein the intended external floor material is defined by a sheet steel material. Conveniently the floor assembly may comprise a pressed galvanised steel pan finished in high density vinyl.

Preferably the roof assembly comprises a vacuum bonded laminated sandwich panel and the intended external surface comprises a weatherproof vinyl membrane.

In a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention all six major assemblies comprise vacuum bonded laminated sandwich panels.

Preferably the major assemblies of the cabin are detachably connected to permit the cabin to be dismantled to form a compact package for transportation.

Preferably at least the upright corners of the cabin, are protected by angle members, each of which angle members applied to a corner presents a flange or web to each of the two major assemblies at said corner.

Preferably the cabin presents adjustable legs, one at or adjacent each corner, said legs and leg support means do not include individual jacking means, and conveniently each said leg is longitudinally located relative to its support means by a pin which passes through the leg and engages with the leg support means.

Preferably each leg support is attached to one of said angle members.

Preferably the intended internal surface of the major assemblies comprise plywood panels.

It will be seen that the cabin structure proposed by the invention is specifically designed to afford the maximum stability with weatherproofing, insulation, and internal finish, whilst retaining the cabin weight to a minimum, so much so that even the conventional leg jacking means are omitted, and the overall effect of this weight reduction affords two major advantages, (a) The major assemblies can be readily loaded and off-loaded from a transporting vehicle manually by two men, and (b) The cabin can be transported on a trailer of "light weight" capacity so that a "heavy goods" transporter is no longer necessary.

The term "light weight" trailer when used in this specification means any trailer which does not require a heavy goods license or rating and which is capable of being towed by a large car, landrover or the like vehicle.

Thus, according to a further aspect, the present invention envisages, in combination, a knockdown cabin and a light weight trailer primarily designed to transport the cabin or a plurality of cabins in compact packaged form.

As stated above the cabin or cabins can be loaded on and off-loaded from the transporter manually whilst the cabin major assemblies are separable and can be moved individually, but on occasions it is desirable to move a cabin in erected condition and, without a crane or jacking legs, there are difficulties.

The present invention solves such difficulties by providing, for the transportation of cabins, a trailer comprising a wheeled chassis with a jacking leg spaced from the axis of the wheels and capable of tilting the chassis about the axis of the wheels.

Preferably the trailer comprises a fixed tow bar and the jacking leg attaches to said tow bar.

Preferably the trailer is decked over to permit the trailer to be used as a flat-bed trailer when not transporting cabins.

Preferably the trailer includes removable front and side walls and a removable tail gate.

The manner of loading and off-loading an erected cabin on the trailer will become apparent hereinafter.

The invention will now be described further by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which; Fig. 1 shows the general arrangement for a knock down cabin in exploded perspective view, Fig. 2 shows a cross section through a roof/side wall connection, Fig. 3 shows a cross section through a floor/side wall connection, Fig. 4 shows a side view of a trailer with an erect cabin partially mounted thereon.

In the illustrated example a "knock-down" cabin comprises six major assemblies defined by a floor assembly 11 , front and rear wall assemblies 12 and 13, side wail assemblies 14 and 15, and a roof assembly 1 6. The front wall assembly 12 includes a doorway 1 7 with attached door 1 8 and a window 1 9. The side wall assembly 1 5 includes a window 20. The front and rear wall assemblies 12 and 1 3 are slightly longer than floor assembly 11 so that said assemblies overlap the vertical edges of assemblies 14 and 1 5.

The cabin may be assembled by first locating the floor assembly 11 in a horizontal plane spaced above ground level, erecting the rear wall assembly 13 against the floor assembly 11 and securing the assembly 1 3 to assembly 11 by bolts 21, erecting an end wall assembly 14 or 15 against assembly 11, and securing the wall 14 or 1 5 to aseembly 11 by bolts 21 and to the rear wall assembly 1 3 by screws (not shown) which pass through the thickness of rear wall assembly 1 3 and into the edge of the side wall assembly.The other side wall 1 4 or 1 5 and front wall assembly 11 may then be erected, each wall assembly being secured to floor assembly 11 by bolts 21 and each corner being secured by screws (not shown) passing through the thickness of the assembly 12 or 1 3 at said corner and into the edge region of the assembly 1 4 or 1 5 at said corner.

With the four wall assemblies 12, 13, 14 and 1 5 erected the roof 1 6 is fitted and secured to wall assemblies 12, 13, 14 and 1 5 by screws 22.

The assembly is completed by securing angle shaped uprights 23 (only one of which is shown in Fig. 1) to the four corners of the cabin to cover the vertical joints between the wall assemblies 12, 13, 14and 15.

Adjustable length legs 24 for the cabin are slidably arranged in brackets 25 secured to the four corner uprights 23, each leg 24 has a plurality of holes 26 spaced along its length and through which a restraining pin 27 can be inserted so that, unlike conventional cabin legs, height adjustment to the cabin is affected by an auxiliary jack, such as may be carried by any road vehicle, which raises/lowers the cabin, and each cabin leg 24 supports the cabin when the restraining pin 27 is located in a hole 26 and the cabin is lowered until bracket 25 rests on the pin 27.

The wall assemblies 12, 13, 14 and 15 are, as stated hereinbefore, of sandwich construction defined by an outer layer material 28, conveniently plastics coated galvanised sheet panelling, an inner layer material 29, conveniently plywood panelling, and a core material 30, conveniently expanded polystyrene. At the edges of the assemblies 12, 13, 14 and 1 5 the core material 30 is bounded by timber members 31 to contain the core material 30, stiffen the assembly, and afford anchorage for the assembly screws and bolts such as screws 22 and bolts 21.

The roof assembly 1 6 is identical in construction with the exception that the outer layer material 28 is covered by, or replaced with, a weatherproof vinyl membrane 32 and the assembly also includes a surrounding timber facia 33 protected by an angle member 34.

The floor assembly 11, is basically similar to wall sections 12, 13, 14 and 15 in that it comprises an outer layer material 28, an inner flooring panelling 29 and a core material 30 but in said floor assembly 11 the outer layer material is formed as a succession of inverted pans along the length direction so that each pan presents a floor supporting surface 28a bounded by a downwardly extending wall 28b and whereby said walls 28b offered rigidity to the panels and thereby the floor assembly. The floor assembly may have a floor covering 34 bonded to, or simply laid on, the panelling 29.

The assemblies 11,12,13,14, 15 and 16 are preferably made by a vacuum bonding process.

Thus, by the above arrangement using the sandwich construction for the major assemblies and avoiding the use of a separate jack means for each adjustable length leg, the cabin can be made with minimal weight whereby, with the cabin disassembled, the major assemblies 11 to 1 6 inclusive can be readily man-handled and packaged for transportation, with the six panels lying in parallel planes one on top another, or broken down from the package and assembled.

The trailer arrangement proposed by the present invention comprises a rigid chassis 35 with a rigidly attached "A" frame constituting the two bar 36 and provided, at its end remote from the chassis, a towing eye connection 37. The chassis is mounted on a single wheeled axle 38 and a screw jack 39 is provided at the forward end of the towing bar 36. The trailer is decked over and provided with detachable front and side walls and a tail gate (not shown).

The trailer may include brakes, lights, and other necessary or desirable, attachments to allow the trailer to be used on the road and which devices have been omitted for clarity in the drawings.

To use the combination with the cabin in stripped down packaged form, the front and side walls of the trailer and preferably the tail gate, are removed from the trailer and either: (a) stowed beneath the deck of the trailer in special fittings, (b) supported on the deck of the trailer beneath the cabin package, (c) included in the cabin package, or, (d) secured atop the cabin package.

With light weight "knock-down" cabins of the type described above the trailer may carry more than one cabin in packaged form and, conveniently, the trailer may be constructed to support two, three, or even four, packaged cabins.

As the trailer is constructed as a "lightweight" trailer, that is to say with a maximum carrying capacity well below that normally classed as "heavy goods", the trailer can be towed by any large car, landrover, tractor, or the like vehicle conventionally to be found on construction sites.

Upon arrival at the site location the packaged cabin, or cabins, are manually removed from the trailer and assembled at the desired site location or locations, the front and side walls for the trailer and the tail gate, can be readily assembled on the trailer and the trailer thus provides a handy general purpose trailer for use around the site or for transporting goods to and from the site and again, because of its light weight construction, the trailer can be towed by a "lightweight" site vehicle.

In the event that an assembled cabin is to be moved on the trailer for a relatively short journey, or to avoid the necessity for stripping out special fixtures in the cabin, the cabin is raised by an auxiliary jack, for example a bottle jack carried by the towing vehicle, applied successively to the cabin corners to allow the legs 24 to be extended to support the cabin at such height that the trailer can be run beneath the cabin. With the trailer located beneath the cabin the auxiliary jack can again be used to lift the cabin corners to allow the legs 24 to be lifted and stowed for travelling or alternatively the jack leg 39 on the trailer can be wound down to elevate the forward regions of the trailer, thereby raising the adjacent end of the cabin to allow the legs 24 at said elevated end to be released and stowed in an elevated position for travelling.Thereafter, again using trailer jack 39, the forward regions of the trailer can be lowered to raise the rear of the trailer and thereby the rear of the cabin (the assembly rocking about the wheeled axle of the trailer) to allow the cabin legs 24 at said rear end to be elevated for travel.

Thereupon the trailer, with the cabin mounted thereon, can be attached to the towing vehicle and towed to the new site location.

At the new site location the erected cabin is dismounted from the trailer by first lowering the jack leg 39 of the trailer, to tilt the assembly about the wheeled axle lowering the forward regions of the trailer and cabin and elevating the rear regions thereof, lowering the rearward legs 24 of the cabin, and then, again using the jack leg 39, elevating the front end of the assembly to allow the forward cabin legs 24 to be lowered. When the cabin is self supporting on its corner legs 24 the jack 39 of the trailer can be again lowered to allow the trailer to be pulled from beneath the cabin and then, again using an auxiliary jack, the cabin can be lowered to the desired floor height.

As the adjustable legs 24 of the cabin are of lightweight construction it is desirable that the cabin be lowered on to a base, or supporting members such as balks of timber, particularly when the cabin is to be retained on the site for a prolonged period.

It will be seen that the present invention in proposing a special cabin structure opens up a new concept in transportation in that the transportation can shift from the expensive "heavy goods" transportation with its accompanying limitations to a "light weight" concept which affords special advantages on site. Thus, for many constructional sites a single trailer, carrying one, two, three, or four cabins, can not only afford transportation of the cabins to the site but may be retained on the site to afford general purpose transport facilities and is particularly advantageous when the site is remote and a light weight transportation facility is required to service the site.

Although the present invention has been described by way of example it will be appreciated that many modifications and variations will be apparent to persons skilled in the art.

Claims (17)

1. A cabin defined by six major assemblies comprising a floor assembly, front and rear wall assemblies, two end wall assemblies, and a roof assembly, at least some of said assemblies comprising laminated sandwich panels with the inner material comprising a rigid foam material.

2. A cabin as claimed in claim 1 in which at least some of said panels comprise vacuum bonded laminated sandwich panels.

3. A cabin as claimed in claim 2 in which said wall assemblies comprise laminated sandwich panels and the intended outerface of such panels comprise a metal sheet material.

4. A cabin as claimed in claim 3 in which said intended outer face comprises a plastics coated steel sheet material.

5. A cabin as claimed in claim 2 in which the floor assembly comprises a vacuum bonded laminated sandwich panel and wherein the intended external floor material is defined by a sheet steel material.

6. A cabin as claimed in claim 5 in which said intended external floor material comprises a pressed galvanised steel pan finished in high density vinyl.

7. A cabin as claimed in claim 2 in which the roof assembly comprises a vacuum bonded laminated sandwich panel and the intended external surface comprises a weatherproof vinyl membrane.

8. A cabin as claimed in any preceding claim in which the major assemblies of the cabin are detachably connected to permit the cabin to be dismantled to form a compact package for transportation.

9. A cabin as claimed in any preceding claim in which at least the upright corners of the cabin are protected by angle members, each of which angle members applied to a corner presents a flange or web to each of the two major wall assemblies at said corner.

10. A cabin as claimed in any preceding claim including adjustable legs, one at or adjacent each corner, each leg being displaceable relative to a leg support means attached to the cabin and each said leg being longitudinally locatable relative to its support means by a pin which passes through the leg and engages with the leg support means.

11. A cabin as claimed in claims 9 and 10 in which each leg support is attached to one of said angle members.

12. A cabin as claimed in any preceding claim in which the intended internal surface of the major assemblies comprise plywood panels.

13. A cabin as claimed in claim 10 and claims 11 and 12 when dependent upon claim 10 in combination with a trailer of such length and width as to allow the legs to be engaged with the ground whilst the cabin is supported on said trailer.

14. A cabin and trailer combination as claimed in claim 13 in which said trailer includes a jacking leg off-set from the axis of the wheels of the trailer and whereby the trailer can be tilted about the axis of said wheels.

1 5. A cabin and trailer combination as claimed in claim 13 or 14 in which the trailer is decked over and includes removable side walls and a tail gate.

16. A method for dismounting an assembled cabin from a cabin and trailer combination as set forth in claim 14 or claim 1 5 when dependent upon claim 14 comprising the steps of actuating the trailer jacking leg to tilt the trailer and cabin about the axis of the trailer wheels, thereby elevating one end of the cabin, lowering the legs at the elevated end of the cabin into contact with the ground and securing said legs, actuating the trailer jacking leg to tilt the trailer in the opposite direction thus elevating that end of the cabin remote from its extended legs, lowering the legs on the newly elevated end of the cabin into contact with the ground, and then actuating the trailer jacking leg to return the trailer to its normal position, leaving the cabin supported on its legs, and drawing the trailer out from beneath the cabin.

17. A cabin substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

1 8. A cabin and trailer combination substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Fig. 4 of the accompanying drawings.