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US 4,107,886 AGranted
Prefabricated building module
AssigneeSystems Concept, Inc.
InventorsOrlando F. Ray, Enrique H. Gutierrez
Life of this patent
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AssigneeSystems Concept, Inc.
InventorsOrlando F. Ray, Enrique H. Gutierrez
Estimating the term…
A prefabricated building module comprising at least two side-walls, a ceiling, and a floor. In one embodiment of the building module, the walls, ceiling and floor each include a thin, continuous layer of a concrete-like material having spaced-apart, open web bar girders embedded in one surface thereof. The two side-walls, the ceiling and the floor are assembled together with the bar girders extending outwardly and are rigidly attached to one another, for example, by welding the ends of the bar girders to one another, thus forming a rigid, box-like building module. The building modules can be formed into a building by placing one layer of building modules with one side-wall of each module adjacent to but spaced-apart from one side-wall of a different module. Concrete is poured into at least a portion of the space between the side-walls of adjacent building modules for forming a supporting column between the adjacent side-walls which is reinforced by the bar girders which extend outwardly from the side-walls and into the space. The supporting column and the building modules on either side thereof are thus rigidly joined to one another by the bar girders. If a multi-story building is required, a shoulder or saddle is formed on top of the supporting column for supporting a portion of the adjacent modules to be placed directly above the modules on each side of the supporting column until concrete can be poured therebetween.
A building comprising at least one horizontal row of at least two side-by-side lightweight, prefabricated building modules, the one row of building modules forming at least a portion of one story of the building, each of the prefabricated building modules having at least two opposing side-wall portions, a ceiling portion and a floor portion, each of the two side-wall and ceiling portions including a thin panel of concrete-like material and a plurality of vertical open-web elongated reinforcing members, each of which includes longitudinal edge members spaced-apart and extending substantially parallel to one another and a web extending between the edge members substantially throughout the length thereof, the reinforcing members extending across the outer surface of the thin panel in the manner of studs, with an edge member of each reinforcing member being embedded in the thin panel and extending substantially to the outer surface thereof, and the other edge member and at least a portion of the web of each reinforcing member extending outwardly from said outer surface;
A building comprising at least one horizontal row of at least two side-by-side lightweight, prefabricated building modules, the one row of building modules forming at least a portion of one story of the building, each of the prefabricated building modules having at least two opposing side-wall portions, a ceiling portion and a floor portion, each of the two side-wall and ceiling portions including a thin panel of concrete-like material and a plurality of vertical open-web elongated reinforcing members, the reinforcing members of at least the two side-wall portions of each building module each including longitudinal edge members spaced-apart and extending substantially parallel to one another and a web extending between the edge members substantially throughout the length thereof, the reinforcing members extending across the outer surface of the thin panel in the manner of studs, with an edge member of each reinforcing member being embedded in the respective thin panel and extending substantially to the outer surface thereof, and the other edge member and at least a portion of the web of each reinforcing member extending outwardly from said outer surface;
A building comprising at least one horizontal row of at least two side-by-side lightweight, prefabricated building modules, the one row of building modules forming at least a portion of one story of the building, each of the prefabricated building modules having at least two opposing side-wall portions, a ceiling portion and a floor portion, each of the two side-wall and ceiling portions including a thin panel of concrete-like material and an equal plurality of vertical open-web elongated reinforcing members, the reinforcing members of the two side-wall portions and the ceiling portion of each building module each including longitudinal edge members spaced-apart and extending substantially parallel to one another and an open web extending between the edge members substantially throughout the length thereof to form open web girders, the reinforcing members extending across the outer surface of the thin panel in the manner of studs, with an edge member of each reinforcing member being embedded in the respective thin panel and extending substantially to the outer surface thereof, and the other edge member and at least a portion of the web of each reinforcing member extending outwardly from said outer surface;
A building comprising at least two horizontal rows of at least two side-by-side lightweight, prefabricated building modules, one row of building modules forming at least a portion of one story of the building, and the other row of building modules forming at least a portion of another story of the building, each building module of the other row being above a corresponding one of the building modules of the one story of the building each of the prefabricated building modules having at least two opposing side-wall portions, a ceiling portion and a floor portion, each of the two side-wall portions and the ceiling portion including a thin panel of concrete-like material and a plurality of vertical open-web elongated reinforcing members spaced apart from one another, the reinforcing members extending across the outer surface of the thin panel in the member of studs, with an edge portion of each reinforcing member being attached to the thin panel, and means for rigidly attaching the upper and lower ends of the reinforcing members of each of the side-wall portions to the ceiling portion and the floor portion, respectively, for forming a rigid, box-like structure having the other portion of each reinforcing member extending outwardly therefrom, each building module in each of the rows of building modules having at least one side-wall portion thereof adjacent to and spaced-apart from a side-wall portion of an adjacent building module for forming a space therebetween the thin panels of the adjacent side-wall portions providing a form structure, the other portions of at least some of the reinforcing members of the side-wall portions of adjacent modules extending in staggered nesting relation into the form structure, and a wall disposed between each of the adjacent side-wall portions of the one row of building modules, the wall being formed by pouring a concrete-like material into at least a portion of the space between each of the adjacent side-walls, the other portions of the reinforcing members of the adjacent side-wall portions reinforcing the wall formed therebetween and integrally incorporating the building modules on each of the sides of the wall into the wall, the thin panels and the reinforcing members of the adjacent side-wall portions merging with and into the poured concrete wall to form a monolithic reinforced concrete support wall for the floor and ceiling portions of the modules, and each of the spaces between the modules of the other row being directly above the wall disposed in one of the spaces between the adjacent side-wall portions of the building modules forming the one story, and another wall disposed between each of the adjacent side-wall portions of the other row of building modules, theother wall being formed by pouring a concrete-like material into at least a portion of the space between each of the adjacent side-wall portions of the other row of building modules, the other portions of the reinforcing members of the adjacent side-wall portions of the other row of building modules reinforcing the other wall formed therebetween and integrally incorporating the other row of building modules on each of the sides of the other wall into the other wall, each of the other walls between adjacent building modules of the other story being merged with the top of the corresponding one of the walls between adjacent building modules of the one story and being integrally connected thereto, whereby the adjacent building modules of each story are supported by and merged into a common wall poured between them.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.