System of construction based on prefabricated elements

Description

[0001] The invention described herein entails a construction system for assembling a series of pre-fitted components for building a previously-conceived structure or for progressively developing a structure to meet the requirements and imagination of the builder. Said system can be used for assembling real-life structures or make-believe constructions (i.e., as a toy construction set) which share similar characteristics with the former and whose possibilities are limited only by the imagination of the builder.

[0002] The material used in manufacturing the construction components would preferably be plastic or other material which meets the necessary requirements in terms of endurance, rigidity and elasticity.

[0003] The system is comprised of five essential components for building either a real-life, imaginary, customary or slightly-complex structure.

[0004] The five components of the construction system are as follows: upright supports, partition walls, floor sections, floor-connecting pieces and roof sections.

Prior Art

[0005] Patents for construction systems based on pre-fabricated components do exist (e.g., DE-B-1.113.404).

[0006] In the aforementioned patent, the upright supports are rectangular, not square, in section; the inside of the support base is hollow; and the grooves run only partially along the sides of the support (Fig. 7), and therefore their position cannot be changed nor can they be inverted. Said upright supports are always the same length, i.e., the height of one storey. To add height to a structure, several intermediate pieces fitted to each of the two supports to be joined (Fig. 2, item 17,17',17',18,19 & 20), and frames (Fig. 8, item 24) are needed in addition. This makes it a complicated system, and the greater the height of the structure the less sturdy the construction is.

[0007] Under patent DE-B-1.113.404, the rebates at the corners of the partition walls are of varying sizes (Fig. 11, items 39 & 40) and therefore cannot be inverted. Said partition walls can only be fitted to the upright supports through the storey under construction.

[0008] The floors sections under patent DE-B-1.113.404 are rectangular, not square, with protrusions of varying sizes (Figs. 2,5 & 6) and therefore cannot be placed indiscriminately in any positions.

[0009] Once structures are built using the aforementioned patent, they cannot be extended horizontally.

[0010] In the present patent application, a highly simple system is proposed which resolves the aforementioned problems, while offering considerable advantages.

[0011] To better understand how said system works, refer to the drawings included in this descriptive report.

Fig. 1

Represents a construction;

Fig. 2

View of an upright support;

Fig. 2,

Item 1 one of the grooves along the upright support;

Figs. 3,4,5 & 6

Cross-sectional views of several types of upright support;

Fig. 7

Window or partition wall with opening, arises and ribs along borders;

Fig. 8

Section of a curved partition wall;

Fig. 9

Item 2, upright support groove in which partition wall arris and rib are introduced;

Fig. 10

Partition wall with opening;

Fig. 11

Railing;

Fig. 12.

Floor section;

Fig. 12.

Item 3, groove or orifice along floor section;

Fig. 13.

Item 4, protrusion along floor-connecting piece;

Fig. 14.

Roof section;

Fig. 15.

Support walls and connecting pieces for roof sections.

[0012] The components of the system are described as follows:

• upright supports (Fig. 2) are square in section (Figs. 3,4,5 & 6) and their sides are identical in length and width, each side being grooved (Fig. 2, item 1) from end to end.
• partition walls may be flat (Fig. 7) or curved (Fig. 8) and ribs are provided on their edges corresponding to the said grooves, wherein the upright supports and the partition walls are assembled by sliding the rib of the partition wall (Fig. 9, item 2) into the upright support groove by dovetailing or a similar tongue and groove combination; the position of the upright supports can be changed, inverted or positioned flush with the edge of another upright support after a partition wall as been fitted to add to the height of the structure without having to use intermediate pieces, whereby upright supports can be added to increase the height or the width of the construction as desired; and wherein the partition walls are either blind for forming walls or having openings for adding windows, door frames or balcony railings (Figs. 10 & 11).
• floor sections are rectangular (Fig. 12) and the four corners of each floor section are cut out a right angles to form recesses to accommodate the upright supports; the floor pieces having at their edges either a steplike indentation or a ridged border or an orifice for floor-connecting one section to another by introducing the protrusions of corresponding rectangular floor-connecting pieces (Fig. 13, item 4) into the orifice, wherein the floor-connecting pieces (Fig. 12, item 3) are placed over the steplike indentation or borders of two adjacent floor sections, and protrusions from these floor-connecting pieces (Fig. 12, item 3) are fitted into the grooves or orifices of said adjacent floor sections to join them together whereby any extension and shape can be obtained by simply floor-connecting floor sections together.
• Roof sections (Figs. 14 & 15) which are rectangular and joined together using roof-connecting pieces which are similar to the floor-connection pieces, and wherein the roof sections are connected to and supported by a plurality of partition walls.

Assembly

[0013] The floor sections are joined together using several connecting pieces until the desired shape and extension is obtained.

[0014] The upright supports are placed at the open corners of the assembled floor section. The rebates and ribs of the partition walls are slid through the grooves of every two consecutive upright supports.

[0015] To complete the lay-out of the first storey, roof or floor sections are joined together as described above. Once assembled, the roof or floor sections are place on top of the upright supports, and the first storey is then completed.

[0016] New pieces can then be joined together as described above to continue building as many additional stories as desired (Fig. 1).

[0017] To obtain greater structure height, additional upright supports are joined at the arises of the already-assembled partition walls and construction continues as described above.

[0018] The simplicity of its components and its unlimited possibilities, sets this construction system apart from any other system presently known.

[0019] Some of the advantages of this construction system when compared to others are as follows:

• Only five essential components are used: upright supports, partition walls, floor sections, floor-connecting pieces and roof sections;
• structures can be assembled in a variety of forms, styles and sizes;
• Greater building simplicity;
• Solid and stable structures;
• Symmetrical upright supports and partition walls which can be inverted and superimposed;
• Easily extended both horizontally and vertically, without having the modify what has already been constructed;
• Partition walls which are easy to fit and dismantle, by simply sliding in and out of the grooves along the upright supports, from any storey;
• Upright supports can be any length and the structure can be built higher by simply placing support upon support, after having first introduced the arises and ribs of the partition walls;
• As the floor sections are square, they can be placed in any position. Floor-connecting one section to another is much simpler in this systems than in others and allows for any shape or size of floor;
• No nails or screws are needed in building;
• As a toy, it is educational, stimulates the child's imagination and enhances manual coordination. There are no minute pieces which could prove dangerous for young children;
• For assembling real-life structures, just a small number of components are needed to mount and transport prefabricated structures for camping, housing, emergency shelters, fencing and so on.

Claims

1. A construction system based on the use of prefabricated components, comprised of five essential components: upright supports, partition walls, floor sections, floor-connecting pieces and roof members which make it possible to assemble a construction (Fig. 1), whereby the configuration of each of the main component pieces is as follows:

- The upright supports (Fig. 2) are square in section (Figs. 3,4,5 & 6) and their sides are identical in length and width, each side being grooved (Fig. 2, item 1) from end to end,

- The partition walls may be flat (Fig. 7) or curved (Fig. 8) and ribs are provided on their edges corresponding to the said grooves, wherein the upright supports and the partition walls are assembled by sliding the rib of the partition wall (Fig. 9, item 2) into the upright support groove by dovetailing or a similar tongue and groove combination; the position of the upright supports can be changed, inverted or positioned flush with the edge of another upright support after a partition wall as been fitted to add to the height of the structure without having to use intermediate pieces, whereby upright supports can be added to increase the height Or the width of the construction as desired; and wherein the Partition walls are either blind for forming walls or having openings for adding windows, door frames or balcony railings (Figs. 10 & 11),

- The floor sections are rectangular (Fig. 12) and the four corners of each floor section are cut out a right angles to form recesses to accommodate the upright supports; the floor pieces having at their edges either a steplike indentation or a ridged border or an orifice for connecting one section to another by introducing the protrusions of corresponding rectangular floor-connecting pieces (Fig. 13, item 4) into the orifices, wherein the floor-connecting pieces (Fig. 12, item 3) are placed over the steplike indentation or borders of two adjacent floor sections, and protrusions from these floor-connecting pieces (Fig. 12, item 3) are fitted into the grooves or orifices of said adjacent floor sections to join them together whereby any extension and shape can be obtained by simply connecting floor sections together,

- Roof sections (Figs. 14 & 15) which are rectangular and joined together using roof-connecting pieces which are similar to the floor-connection pieces, and wherein the roof sections are connected to and supported by a plurality of partition walls.

Ansprüche

1. Ein Konstruktionssystem bestehend aus vorgefertigten Teilen, das sich aus fünf wesentlichen Bestandteilen zusammensetzt: Stützen, Wandbauteile, Bodenbauteile, Verbindungsstücke und Dachbauteile. Diese ermöglichen es, ein Gebäude zusammenzufügen (Fig. 1), wobei sich die Formbeschreibung von jedem der Hauptbestandteile wie folgt darstellt:

- Die Stützen (Fig. 2) haben einen quadratischen Querschnitt (Fig. 3, 4, 5 und 6), ihre Seiten sind in Länge und Breite identisch und außerdem an allen vier Seiten mit Nuten (Fig. 2, Punkt 1) versehen, die von einem Ende bis zum anderen reichen.

- Die Wandbauteile können plan (Fig. 7) oder gebogen sein (Fig.8) und ihre Ränder besitzen Grate, mit deren Hilfe man Stützen und Wände zusammenfügen kann, wenn man die Grate mittels Schwalbenschwanz oder einer Nut- und Feder- ähnlichen Verbindung in die oben erwähnten Nute der Stützen hineinschiebt (Fig. 9, Punkt 2). Die Position der Stützen kann man verändern, da es möglich ist, diese umzudrehen oder eine Stütze dicht auf eine andere zu setzen, um somit ein Bauwerk an Höhe zunehmen zu lassen, ohne dazu Zwischenstücke zu benötigen. Auf diese Weise kann man die Konstruktion nach Wunsch sowohl erhöhen als auch verbreitern, indem man entweder glatte Wandbauteile anfügt oder Bauteile, die mit Hohlräumen für Fenster, Türen oder Balkongeländer versehen sind (Fig. 10 und 11).

- Die Bodenbauteile sind rechteckig (Fig. 12) und an jeder Ecke ist ein rechter Winkel ausgeschnitten, um die Stützen dort einzupassen. An den Rändern der Bodenteile entlang befinden sich Kerben oder Löcher, die dazu dienen, Zusatzteile anzufügen, indem man die Vorsprünge der rechteckigen Verbindungsstücke dort einsetzt (Fig. 13, Punkt 4). Die Verbindungsstücke werden entweder mittels Kerben (Fig. 12, Punkt 3) oder mittels Löchern (Fig. 12, Punkt 3) eingepaßt und ermöglichen auf diese Weise durch einfaches Hinzufügen von Bodenbauteilen jegliche Ausdehnung und Formgebung des Bodens.

- Die Dachbauteile (Fig. 14 und 15) sind rechteckig und werden durch Verbindungsstücke aneinandergefügt, mit deren Hilfe sich die Dachbauteile unter sich selbst verbinden und durch die Vielfalt der Wandbauteile gestützt werden.

Revendications

1. Il s'agit d'un système de construction constitué d'éléments préfabriqués, et qui est composé par cinq éléments essentiels : des supports, des fragments de mur, des fragments de plancher, des pièces de jonction et des fragments de toit qui rendent possible l'assemblage d'une construction (schéma 1). Quant à la configuration des chacun des éléments principaux elle apparaît de la manière suivante:

- Les supports (schéma 2) ont une coupe carrée (schéma 3, 4, 5 et 6), leurs côtés ont une longueur et une largeur identiques, et sont dotés, en plus, de fentes (schéma 2, point 1) d'un bout à l'autre et sur les quatre côtés;

- Les fragments de mur peuvent être plats (schéma 7) ou courbes (schéma 8) et tous leurs bords sont munis d'arrêtes grâce auxquelles on peut assembler les supports et les murs, juste en introduisant les arrêtes dans les fentes des supports mentionnés ci-dessus (schéma 9, point 2) et grâce à des queues d'aronde ou grâce à une combinaison similaire de languette et de lente; on peut changer la position des supports, et l'on peut les inverser ou les placer au niveau d'un autre support afin de superposer une structure sans avoir recours à des pièces intermédiaires; il est possible d'augmenter, à volonté, aussi bien la hauteur que la largeur de la construction, en ajoutant des fragments de mur lisses ou des fragments munis de trous pour y mettre des fenêtres, des portes ou des barres d'appui de balcons (schéma 10 et 11).

- Les fragments de plancher sont rectangulaires (schéma 12) et les quatre coins de chaque fragment forment un angle droit dans le but d'assembler les supports; tout au long des bords de chaque fragment de plancher il y a des encoches ou des trous qui servent à joindre des fragments ajoutés en introduisant les parties saillantes des pièces rectangulaires de jonction (schéma 13, point 4); la jonction de ces pièces se fait soit grâce à des encoches (schéma 12, point 3), soit grâce à des trous (schéma 12, point 3) ce qui rend possible n'importe quel montage et que le plancher prenne des formes diverses, juste en ajoutant des fragments de plancher.

- Les fragments de toit (schémas 14 et 15) sont rectangulaires et reliés par des pièces de jonction, grâce auxquelles on peut raccorder des fragments de toit entre eux tandis qu'ils reposent sur plusieurs fragments de mur.

Drawing