INTERNALLY FRAMED STRUCTURE
This invention describes a method of building structures including electronic and medical working buildings and vessels from large to microscopic using pre-fabricated interdependent panels having internal framing and slotted attachment features for ease of assembly. Compared to prior art, this novel method allows creation of vertically supported horizontal and vertical planar structures that require minimal or no fasteners by using internally framed cross slotted, interlocking, intersecting and interdependent constituent panels. Key advantages and novel applications over prior art construction methods are discussed including but not limited to art structures lower cost, green energy applications, corrective foundational alignment and use in furniture, electronic, and medical and electronic components, vessel fabrication and wherever Art structure internal frame is cost effective.
This application is a nonprovisional of U.S. Ser. No. 61/695,185 filed on Aug. 30, 2012, the entire content and disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to the creation of three-dimensional structures of parallel horizontal and/or vertical planar surfaces the preferred embodiment of which illustrates the use of such structure as walls floors and ceilings when construct is used as residential home construction method.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONPrior art in the field of structures including home construction is quite extensive but generally falls into several common categories. One common category is homes that are made with wood framing and assembled with common fasteners such as nails and screws. Another category are mobile homes which are assembled using pre-fabricated panels and also assembled with fasteners such as rivets, nails and screws. The third category of home construction is homes constructed out of ceramic based materials such as brick, concrete and mortar.
These common methods of home construction all share a set of disadvantages which shall now be discussed. The first disadvantage is that the aforementioned home construction methods use substantial amounts of fastener materials. Depending on the size of the home, the actual number of fasteners used can easily run into the tens of thousands or in the case of brick homes, thousands of pounds of brick and mortar. The high degree of fasteners used to build homes not only adds substantial material costs but also is the largest percentage of the overall labor cost of building new homes.
Another common disadvantage is the high cost of transportation of home construction materials to the building site. Wooden frames and boards or blocks and bricks typically require timing and choreographing of multiple shipments which require more trucks and transport of construction material to the site. The net effect of these inefficiencies implicit to prior art is to make quality housing unavailable for many. The method of the present invention is designed to fix this problem.
Yet another disadvantage of common home construction methods is that they result in static rigid structures that are often easily destroyed by environmental extremes such as floods, earthquakes and hurricanes; are not easily or flexibly expanded or moved; and are not energy efficient in regards to exploiting green technologies such as solar power and water collection.
A final disadvantage is that these common construction methods are not environmentally friendly. Home renovations and demolitions produce staggering amounts of non-biodegradable waste materials such as pressure treated wood, metal, vinyl, concrete and adhesives. These waste materials add to the already massive landfills around the planet and help contribute to the world's air, land and water pollution levels.
These disadvantages in prior art structures as discussed are numerous and together form the motivation for the present invention to address.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIt is the object of the present invention to address disadvantages inherent in non-art structures. Additional applications and purposes of construct present various disadvantages not unlike those addressed and inherent to art structure construction versus dwellings using prior art methods of constructing vertically supported horizontal planer surfaced structures. The invention proposed is a novel method of construction that utilizes pre-fabricated, low cost internally framed interdependent panels that have a plurality of interdependent slots for use in assembly. The preferred embodiment of this invention is a method of using Art structure method in the construction of a residential home, but alternative embodiments may also includes use of the easy and inexpensive to assemble art structure of the present invention to construct vessels, electronic and medical devices, furniture and the like on all scales large to microscopic. In the preferred embodiment, the internally framed constituent panels are designed to be recyclable and mass produced in a variety of lengths, thicknesses, shapes and widths to produce elements that will form or contain the ceilings, walls and floors and the functional enhancements of a dwelling such as stairs, sinks, showers, utilities etc. built into or accommodated in or upon the vertical and/or horizontal (parallel and perpendicular) constituent panels. Because each panel has a plurality of slots aligned in both the horizontal and vertical axis, one size (thickness) of easily mass produced panels may be constituted to describe and house all elements of a home such as the ceiling, side walls, appliances, fixtures, counters and flooring. The external or peripheral walls or glass windows and solar energy collectors easily slide into slots between successive layers of horizontal structure which may be of various shapes when viewed from above to enclose and/or lend structural and/or esthetic cohesiveness to the dwelling. Because each interdependent set of cross slotted constituent panel is self-supporting and internally framed from the factory, they do not require attachment to wooden or other forms of framing using fasteners as would be the case with prior art methods. Therefore as a consequence of the internal framing of the cross slotted panels, only a very small amount of time and fasteners will be required to assemble a home using the method of the present invention and the structure may be assembled and operational in a very short period of time versus prior art.
It is yet another object of the present invention to substantially reduce the transportation costs as compared with prior art construction methods. The key reason for the reduction in transportation costs is that the present invention requires a much smaller volume and variety of construction materials due to the internally framed design of the cross slotted panels. A conventional home built using wood framing requires transportation of the wood framing as well as gypsum and plywood boards, roofing materials, plumbing and electrical wiring, doors and windows. The present invention as depicted in the preferred embodiment incorporates all plumbing, electricity, etc. into the vertical component, would only require a tiny fraction of the framing, carpentry, plumbing, electrical work and finishing due to on site the internal factory framed design and functionality built within the vertical and or horizontal panels of art construct's the cross slotted and cross cut panels which are segmented and/or hinged to allow efficient transport, erection and deconstruction. This savings in components and volume through the drastic reduction in framing could easily save 33% or more of the total transportation costs associated with construction versus prior art methods.
It is yet another object of the present invention to allow homes to be constructed in a more long lived and energy efficient manner (i.e. less carbon footprint) that better accommodates human endeavors because art construct internalizes human habitat which can variously be stacked, expanded and or tiered to afford space efficient housing which can be easily moved and/or placed into alternate settings such as upon elevated foundations, within peripheral walls or within a protective hull to avoid flooding. Prior art methods typically result in static rigid structures. Although solar panels are commonly attached to the roof structure of prior art homes, they only can collect solar energy when the sun's rays pass over their static exposed area. Homes designed using the cross slotted method of the present invention which allows sliding panels (windows panelized peripheral walls) to be slid into place between successive layers of parallel horizontal levels to allow entire sun exposed windowed portion of the structure to be solar energy productive as supplemented by retractable solar cells or other functionality as enabled by art structure as deployed in various and diverse circumstances. Art structures are able to be flexible deployed and redeployed into various environments because unlike prior art structures Art structures are designed and components hinged so components may all be moved on tractor trailer from which they erected and deconstructed to afford flexibly structurally supported movement tolerant safe housing and adjustment means built primarily into the vertical component which allows re orientation of entire levels of structure and/or movement or articulation means in peripheral panels to for instance capture solar energy. In a more general sense use of art structure for dwelling depicts one example of use of art structure panels to extend and/or accommodate human endeavor. The preferred embodiment illustrates an Art structure dwelling depicted as square or box dimension to facilitate stacking, adjacent structures expansion and reconfiguration to provide inexpensive high quality human habitat readily reconfigured, expanded, stylized and optimized to diverse geographic location and applications. The horizontal construct viewed from above can be of any shape which may be properly supported by the cross slotted vertical component.
It is a yet another object of the present invention to construct homes that are better for the environment over a longer lifespan than prior art. One advantage of the present invention is that there is a significant reduction in materials required to build the home due to the savings in fasteners and framing materials. This results in a direct reduction in landfill waste when the home eventually has to be demolished. Another advantage of the present invention is that the cross slotted panels may be constructed with recyclable materials such as thermoplastics. During renovations and eventual demolition, the removed panels may be sent back to recycling centers instead of adding to landfill waste as is typical with prior art homes.
Referring now to the drawing of
Holes 1, 2 and 3 may be cut either partially into or completely through panel 100. These holes may serve in a plurality of functions including, but not limited to: (1) access for electrical, plumbing, HVAC or other common piping or cabling requirements for a structure; (2) as rough cut holes for installation of counters, sinks, doors or windows; and (3) for additional mating of panels or other objects used in the building of the structure. These holes may vary in shape and depth of cut as discussed previously.
Said panels 100 are preferably designed for prefabrication in a manufacturing facility so as to help lower the overall cost of building a structure such as a home. Using modern tools such as CAD/CAM software, entire homes can be designed to be fabricated with CAD designed panels 100 which fit precisely together using one or more slotted holes 1, 2, and 3 as shown in
The thickness of panel 100 also may vary depending upon the loading requirements of the particular panel. The panels may be constructed from a variety or combination of common construction materials including but not limited to cement based materials, plastics, chemicals, metals, wood, wood fibers, composites, laminates, particle board, recycled materials, organic materials, living reactive tissues, gypsum board and plywood, some of which may be moved or mechanically movable and or articulated to accomplish purposes for which structure is constituted or to accommodate additional functionality.
Referring now to all of the drawings in
Referring next to
Referring next to
Referring finally to
It was discussed previously that another object of the present invention was to allow structures to be built that allow homes to be more energy efficient. Prior art construction methods result in structures that are fixed in shape and generally have no moving components other than door or window elements. Another advantage of using cross slotted panels to build structures is that it is possible to maintain the internal frame(s) of the structure yet change the external shape of vertical and/or horizontal panels and the shape of the structure to accomplish various objectives. With regards to designing more energy efficient structures, movable cross slotted panels can be used to add additional horizontal or vertical surface area or to add functionality using slotted edge connectivity to enclose structure with peripheral walls, securely affix extensions, expand construct by placing additional art structures adjacent and/or above art structure(s).
One preferred embodiment showing how the movable slotted panels 80 of the present invention could function is depicted in
Yet another application for fastener-less cross slotted panels 80 is to provide means for foundational corrective realignment. To illustrate this concept,
Referring now to
Yet another embodiment using the method of construction of the present invention is in the related field of furniture. Referring next to
Referring back to the preferred embodiment of a residential home constructed using the method of the present invention, it is further desired to build homes that may also have one or more movable exterior panels in contrast to the rigid, immobile siding that is typically built into prior art homes. Referring next to
Next referring to
It is yet another object of the present invention to also allow internal structures within the home itself to also be movable and adjustable. To illustrate a preferred embodiment, a multi-storied residential building 900 is shown in
It is a final object of the present invention of slotted panel construction to be utilized for the fabrication of electrical products and medical devices. One embodiment in the area of electrical products would be to fabricate electrical batteries for example PEM fuel cells which use stacked proton exchange membranes (PEM). By constructing PEM fuel cells with slotted membrane panels, more surface area could be packed into the same volume, thus increasing fuel cell efficiency by reducing the overall fuel cell volume. This method would be beneficial where space savings is a critical design input such as in cars and aerospace vehicles. Another embodiment in the field of medical devices would be for developing advanced design cardiovascular products such as artificial hearts and stent products. One skilled in the art of making medical devices could see the benefits of using movable panels to adjust blood flow within an artificial heart device for example.
Claims
1. A structure comprising:
- two or more first vertical panels, the two or more first vertical panels comprising one or more first slots and one or more first protractions extending vertically above the two or more first vertical panels;
- two or more second vertical panels, the two or more second vertical panels comprising one or more second slots and one or more second protractions extending vertically above the two or more second vertical panels, wherein the one or more first slots slidably engages the one or more second slots; and
- one or more horizontal panels, the first of the one or more horizontal panels comprising a plurality of first horizontal slots, the plurality of first horizontal slots slidably engaging the one or more first protractions and the one or more second protractions.
2. The structure of claim 1, further comprising two or more third vertical panels, the two or more third vertical panels comprising one or more third slots and one or more third protractions extending vertically below the two or more third vertical panels and one or more fourth protractions extending vertically above the two or more third vertical panels and two or more fourth vertical panels, the two or more fourth vertical panels comprising one or more fourth slots and one or more fifth protractions extending vertically below the two or more fourth vertical panels and one or more sixth protractions extending vertically above the two or more fourth vertical panels, wherein the one or more third slots slidably engages the one or more fourth slots.
3. The structure of claim 2, wherein the plurality of first horizontal slots slidably engages the one or more third protractions and the one or more fifth protractions.
4. The structure of claim 2, wherein the second of the one or more horizontal panels comprises a plurality of second horizontal slots, the plurality of second horizontal slots slidably engaging the one or more fourth protractions and the one or more sixth protractions.
5. The structure of claim 4, further comprising one or more fifth vertical panels that extend from the first of the one or more horizontal panels to the second of the one or more horizontal panels, the one or more fifth vertical panels affixed to the first of the one or more horizontal panels and the second of the one or more horizontal panels.
6. The structure of claim 5, wherein the one or more fifth vertical panels are configured to be movable along the first of the one or more horizontal panels and the second of the one or more horizontal panels.
7. The structure of claim 1, wherein the two or more first vertical panels and the two or more second vertical panels are supported by at least one of a foundation, a fuselage and a hull and operably attached the at least one of the foundation, the fuselage and the hull.
8. The structure of claim 7, wherein the foundation comprises a plurality of movable foundation elements configured to altering a height of the foundation.
9. The structure of claim 1, wherein the two or more first vertical panels and the two or more second vertical panels are supported by a hull.
10. The structure of claim 1, wherein the plurality of first horizontal slots extend through a portion of a thickness of the first of the two or more horizontal panels, the portion being less than the thickness of the first of the two or more horizontal panels.
11. The structure of claim 4, wherein the one or more first slots, the one or more second slots, the one or more third slots, the one or more fourth slots, the plurality of first horizontal slots and the plurality of second horizontal slots are selected from the group consisting of square slots, slots with corner radii, dovetail grooves, tongue-in-slot grooves and chamfered slots.
12. The structure of claim 4, wherein the one or more two or more first vertical panels, the two or more second vertical panels and each of the one or more horizontal panels are formed of the same or different materials, the material or combinations of materials selected from groups consisting of cement based materials, plastics, chemicals, metals, wood, wood fibers, composites, laminates, particle board, recycled materials, organic materials, living reactive tissues, gypsum board and plywood.
13. The structure of claim 1, wherein the one or more horizontal panels is fixed to the two or more first vertical panels and the two or more second vertical panels with one or more fasteners.
14. A method for forming a structure, the method comprising:
- slidably engaging one or more first slots with one or more second slots, the one or more first slots formed in two or more first vertical panels, the two or more first vertical panels comprising one or more first protractions extending vertically above the two or ore first vertical panels, the one or more second slots formed in two or more second vertical panels, the two or more second vertical panels comprising one or more second protractions extending vertically above the two or more second vertical panels; and
- slidably engaging a plurality of first horizontal slots with the one or more first protractions and the one or more second protractions, the plurality of first horizontal slots formed in the first of the one or more horizontal panels.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising slidably engaging one or more third slots with one or more fourth slots, the one or more third slots formed in two or more third vertical panels, the two or more third vertical panels comprising one or more third protractions extending vertically above the two or more third vertical panels, the one or more fourth slots formed in two or more fourth vertical panels, the two or more fourth vertical panels comprising one or more fourth protractions extending vertically above the two or more further vertical panels.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising slidably engaging the one or more third protractions and the one or more fourth protractions with a plurality of second horizontal slots, the plurality of second horizontal slots formed in the second of the one or more horizontal panels.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising affixing one or more fifth vertical panels between the first of the one or more horizontal panels and the second of the one or more horizontal panels.
18. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more horizontal panels is fixed to the two or more first vertical panels and the two or more second vertical panels with one or more fasteners.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 30, 2013
Publication Date: Mar 6, 2014
Inventor: Paul Kerian (Valley Stream, NY)
Application Number: 14/014,566
International Classification: E04B 1/61 (20060101); E04B 1/00 (20060101);