US2542859A - Building construction - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 20, 1951 MacMl LLAN CLEMENTS 2,542,859

' BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed June 6, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet l Inventor: MacMillan Clements,

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Feb. 20, 1951 MacMlLLAN CLEMENTS 2,542,359

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed June 6, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Invenbor' Macffli I Ian Clements,

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Feb. 20, 1951 mac c s 2,542,859

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 6, 1945 Inventor; Mac illan Clements,

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Patented Feb. 20, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,542,859 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION MacMillan Clements, Southport, Conn.

Application June 6, 1945, Serial No. 597,845

This invention relates to building construction and more particularly to improvements in the fabrication of certain of the structural units which make up a building.

Practically all buildings have at least a roof, side walls and a floor. In addition, most of them have sills, plates or the equivalent which are interposed between the building proper and its support or foundation and which serve to tie the structure together at the bottom.

In accordance with this invention these latter units are fabricated in a novel manner from flat sheets of laminated material. This material has a flexible relatively thin high tensile strength wearand weather-resistant skin bonded to a stiff relatively thick low tensile strength backing sheet. Examples of the skin are metal, such as sheet copper, stainless steel, zinc, magnesium, etc., or organic material, such as canvas. Examples of the backing material are plywood, fiber board or hard pressboard, etc.

An object of the invention is to provide new and improved building construction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved method of constructing a building.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel type of structural unit for buildings.

The invention will be better understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a building, suitable for a barracks, which is constructed in accordance with my invention, Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the building shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a corner plan view, partly in section, on line 3--3 of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the corner whose plan view is shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 5 is a view of one of the corner wall panels as it appears originally and before it is folded into shape, Fig. 6 is a partly broken away perspective view of the same corner, and Fig. 7 is an enlarged end view of one of the sills.

Referring now to the drawings, the building shown in Fig. 1 may be supported in any suitable manner, such as by V-notched members I which may be bolted to posts or any suitable members 2, shown in Fig. 6, which are set into the ground. A

plurality of these members I are arranged in parallel straight lines, three of which are indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, for receiving supporting beams or sills 3 for the building. As shown most clearly in Fig. 6, the sills are hollow members which are illustrated as being triangular in cross 2 Claims. (01. 20-1) section. These sills are constructed by cutting parallel grooves in the backing layer of laminated sheet material of the type previously described, which grooves are parallel to the edges of the sheet and then bending the sheet along these grooves with the skin on the outside. The technique of working laminated material in this man ner to provide it with flanges forms the subject matter of my Patent 2,149,882, granted March 7, 1939, on an application filed March 1, 1937.

As seen in Figure 7, V-notched members I receive sill 3 that supports floor panel 4. The V- notched member has a skin 50 backing member 59 and meeting faces Hi, that result in the folding operation after the notches have been out.

The floor of the building is laid across the tops of the sills 3 and comprises flanged panels with the flanges extending downwardly and joined together so as to form rigid floor joists. Fig. 6 shows a portion of a floor panel 4 at one corner of the building. It will be seen that this panel has a depending flange 5 and that the flange is cut off short so as to permit the extension of the main part of the panel to rest on the flat top of the triangular sill 3. A side elevation of the construction showing the floor panel 4 with its flange 5 and its opposite flange 5 which is in abutting relation to a flange 5" on the next floor panel is shown in Fig. 4. The abutting flanges 5 and 5' are preferably fastened together by a through bolt or rivet 6, although, obviously, equivalent means, such as an eyelette or screw, can also be used.

As will be seen more clearly in Fig. 3, the flanges 5' and 5" are shorter at both ends than the overall width of the panels 4 and 4' and it will be seen that the floor panels extend to approximately the center of the middle sill 3.

The walls of the building are also constructed of multiple flanged panels whose flanges are in abutting relation and are joined together. In Fig. 3 there is shown in cross section a corner wall panel 9 and portions of two ordinary wall panels l0 and I I, which latter two may be similar in construction. As shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 6, the flanges of the wall panels are also fastened together by any suitable means, such as through bolts [2.

A perspective view of one of the corner wall panels or posts 9 is shown in Fig. 5 in which the groove I3 is the one on which the panel 9 is formed to form the corner and the grooves l4 and I5 permit the panel to be bent so as to form the end flanges. In addition, it will be noted that there are bottom grooves and notches forming 3 7 bottom tabs 16 and H. The latter are also illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. These bottom tabs may be fastened to the sills 3 by suitable means which passes through the ends of the floor panels so as to clamp the latter in position, such means being indicated by the studs l8 in Figs. 3 and 4.

The ordinary wall panels 3 are constructed in essentially the same way as the corner panel except that they do not have the center groove as they are not folded or bent in the middle.

The joined inwardl projecting flanges of the wall panels in effect constitute wall studs which give very substantial strength and rigidity to the wall structure. panels of course corresponds to the siding or surfacing of the building and, furthermore, the

backing layer of the sheets from which the panels are made constitute in effect the sheathing of the building.

As all of the structural units of the building are made by bending into shape pregroovedor notchedsheets or strips of laminated material,

the material entering into the building construction may be packed very compactly and, for ex- The metal outer skinv of the ample, a one-story building having a, x 20 Letters Patent of the United States is:

V 1. A hollow structural beam comprising a parallel sided sheet of laminated material havinga skin bonded to a backer, said backer having a relatively lower tensile strength and greater thickness respectively than said skin, a pair of parallel grooves out through said backer to said skin, said grooves being parallel to said parallel sides, said sheet being folded along said grooves to form a hollow closed sided beam with said skin on the outside, the folded parts of said sheet '4 being in contact with each other along their outer edges.

2. A support for a building including a plurality of posts set in the ground in a straight line and having V-shaped notches in their upper ends and a hollow triangular cross-section sill fitted into the V notches of said posts, said sill comprising a sheet of laminated material having a skin bonded to a hacker, said backer having a relatively lower tensile strength and greater thickness respectively than said skin, said backer being grooved down to said skin in two parallel lines, said sheet being folded along said grooves to form said triangular cross-section sill with the skin on the outside.

MACMILLAN CLEMENTS.

REFERENCES CITED I The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 969,086 Burson 1 Aug. 30, 1910 1,473,842 Frederick Nov. 13, 1923 1,479,474 Meyercord Jan. 1, 1924 1,525,242 Jagschitz Feb. 3, 1925 1,609,541 Gooding Dec. '7, 1926 1,630,857 Meyercord May 31, 1927 1,669,667 Levine May 15, 1928 1,885,330 Cherdron et al. Nov. 1, 1932 1,969,125 Fisher Aug. '7, 1934 2,023,814 Lindsey Dec. 10, 1935 2,149,882 Clements Mar. '7, 1939 2,186,538 Sl'ayter et all Jan. 9, 1940 2,227,452 Jullien Jan. '7, 1941 2,383,544 Guimont -1- Aug. 28, 1945 2,396,829 Carpenter Mar. 19, 1946 2,401,588 Smith 1- 1, June 4, 1946 2,405,584 Lewis Aug. 13, 1946 2,414,060 Rausch' Jan. '7, 1947 2,440,936 Elendorf et al. May 4, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 624,855 Germany Jan. 29, 1936

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