Abstract: A bundle of three or more rows of end-joined cans (preferably in multiples of two rows) arranged around an axis of the group, clamped into a unit by flexible ties, such as: loops of adhesive strapping tape: apertured strips or tapes of thin metal, cloth or plastic, with tape ends fastened together by adhesive on the tape, or bolts, rivets or the like thru tape-end or network apertures, or snap fasteners with a stud on one end of each cloth or plastic tape loop and a crown on the other: loops of cord with bands; or the like. This bundle may be used on the tubular framework of a wall, ceiling or roof of a stationary building, mobile home, trailer or vehicle, the framework preferably stuccoed on one side and stuccoed, plastered or otherwise wall-finished on the other.

Abstract: An upright-wall, ceiling or roof made of panels fastened together along contacting panel edges. Each panel is made of a can-supporting planar element (a sheet of plywood, masonite, plastic or the like), reinforcing bars defining outer edges of the panel, cans between the reinforcing bars, wide-mesh wire or plastic panel-reinforcing network on the cans, and molded matrix material (foamed, cellular, polyolefin plastic, or concrete of portland or other cement and sand or porous aggregate -- for example, cinders, vermiculite, pumice, charred sawdust or the like) on the cans. The can-supporting element is placed in a mold, cans are put on this element optionally parallel to it but with their axes preferably perpendicular to it, the wide-mesh network is placed on the cans, and the moldable plastic material in fluent form is poured or injected into the mold thru the wide mesh of the network around the cans and on the network.

Abstract: A contruction member, usable in exterior or interior walls, ceilings or floors, including: a stiff, planar, can-supporting panel or board; cylindrical or otherwise non-rectangular, parallel-axes cans having end covers fixed to the panel or board, these cans being preferably of metal but optionally of dense, strong plastic or glass, of the new or used type, having lengths that are less than twelve times their diameters; optional insulation inside the cans; large-mesh metal or plastic fencing, fixed to can ends; and porous, insulating, strength-providing adhesive material around portions of the can sidewalls, bonding and bracing the cans together into a bar, panel or block, part of this material being in layers within recesses of the can-end covers that are spaced from the panel or board.

Abstract: A simplified, economical vehicle is disclosed. A steerable front wheel, on the side of the vehicle toward the center of a roadway, is turned by motorcycle-like steering forks. A single powered rear wheel, aligned with the front wheel in a fore-and-aft driving axis, is driven, without a differential, by an electric motor or other motive power. In three of the inventive forms there is only the one front wheel; in another, preferred form there is at least one other front wheel, on the side of the driving axis away from the center of the roadway. It is optionally on the ground all the time during land travel -- or, optionally, normally clear of the ground and contacting it only when the vehicle tilts dangerously toward this wheel. It is swivelly mounted for turning into the plane of vehicle motion. Optionally, there is a second front castor wheel, on the side of the steerable wheel toward the roadway center.

Abstract: A winged aircraft, adapted to takeoff and land with its longitudinal axis at a very steep angle of inclination, including: balloons that have a center of buoyancy forward of the center of gravity and tend to turn the craft into the said steep angle; a controllable-thrust stern-elevating propeller in an upright wind tunnel, having a lift rearward of the center of gravity that in horizontal flight balances the torque of the balloons; and an elongated, stiffly resilient body frame of a multiplicity of inflated small tubes extending in the fore-and-aft direction, supported by longitudinally spaced, rounded ribs, disks or the like. This frame is round in the middle and somewhat streamlined at each end, its stern portion rearwardly sloping downward at its top and upward at its bottom. The assembly of tubes, preferably extending from the foremost to the rearmost parts of the frame, is flattened into substantially linear, horizontal shape at the rear portion.

Abstract: A low-cost building, building section or wall, usable as a house, mobile home, vehicle, or part of these or other structures, having numerous parallel rows of end-joined used or new cans, each can preferably consisting of a tube and can-cover elements at ends of the tube and containing thermal insulation, which may be only dead air in the relatively small hollow can space but preferably includes loose small portions of low-cost insulating material, such as sawdust, vermiculite, cotton linters, dry sand or dust, ashes, cinders, ground bark, rice or other seed hulls. Abutting pairs of can cover elements are tightly held together by connecting means which may be bonding material (epoxy putty, solder or the like) or bands of slightly stretchable adhesive tape which encompass and adhere to portions of juxtaposed pairs of the end-joined cans. A layer of mesh sheathes one side of each group of the can rows, and the other side is sheathed with wall material which may be mesh or insulating solid panels.

Abstract: An insulated bar or panel, usable in walls, ceilings-floors or roofs, including new or used cans of metal, glass or plastic, preferably having lengths less than twelve times their diameters, containing insulation (preferably inexpensive insulation such as loose earth, pumice or crushed lava, tanbark, small lumps of pine or other bark, slightly charred sawdust, bits of charcoal or coke, preferably preservative treated cottonseed or rice hulls or the like, cotton linters or bolls, tufts of cotton or rockwool, or vermiculite). The cans, which for example may be of paint-containing or coffee-containing type, are end-joined in a line. They are imbedded in a shape-holding matrix of plastic material (preferably porous, foamed plastic or porous concrete of portland, epoxy or other cement, mixed with lightweight aggregate, thus forming a strong, elongated bar or panel.

Abstract: A vehicle adapted for overland travel, having: a top (or optionally bottom) vehicle-bracing frame of four end-joined angular members, each being angular in cross section, having elongated sides at angles to each other; tubular members, each formed of end-joined cans (or optionally of pipes that preferably are of plastic) and having joints of additional thickness of the pipe or can material; exterior skin means, preferably of mesh, and stucco of portland cement, epoxy putty or other cement and light-weight aggregate on the mesh; interior skin means that optionally may be of stucco on mesh or panels of plywood or the like; and insulation adjacent to tubular members. This insulation preferably includes light-weight, economical insulating material inside the cans or pipes. Optional insulation may include in-situ-applied foam plastic or strips of foam rubber placed in V-shaped spaces between sidewalls of the tubular members.

Abstract: A life buoy or similar article of manufacture (for example, one capable of being used as a construction element), including a doughnut-shaped hollow element, which optionally may be of flexible plastic and contain pressurized gas (optionally helium); but preferably it is a gas-filled toroidal tube of blown glass or metal, permanently sealed, and flanked and protected against shock by foamed plastic (or similar porous material), coated with waterproofing rubber or paint. This hollow element may be cylindrical, spherical or polygonal, but preferably it is doughnut-shaped. The foamed plastic may be limited to the exterior of the hollow element or also may be on its interior. At its center the article may have a cylindrical or toroidal hole; or optionally the foamed plastic may continuously bridge over the hollow element at the center of the article. Such foamed plastic bridging over the article's center in the form of FIG.

Abstract: A construction member including a row of cans and a pair of channels of mesh or the like, housing and holding the cans together. Each of these channels includes an elongated middle piece of the mesh and an elongated lateral piece on each side of the middle piece, angularly and integrally joined to the middle piece. The pair of opposite lateral pieces on each side of the can row meet at middle portions of the cans, and one of this pair has elongated edge portions which overlap edge portions of the other lateral piece of the pair. Fastening means (screws or other rod-like elements and/or epoxy putty or the like) pass thru the lapped edge portions on each side of the can row, and when, as is preferable, screws are utilized these are screwed into material of at least the end cans of the can row, thus holding the mesh channels together and the cans within the channels. The cans preferably contain low-cost insulation.