Prefabricated buildings, such as commercial structures and residential homes, have become a popular alternative to “built-on-site” buildings. Prefabricated buildings include manufactured buildings, wherein the building is built in a factory setting, and prefabricated buildings, wherein the components of the building are prefabricated and precut in a factory setting. Some facilities are organized in an assembly line fashion to build the individual components for a prefabricated home, such as the panels and the framework. The components are precut at the factory and shipped via truck to the site of the home for assembly.
However, prefabricated building systems are only able to accommodate a single design or single model without having to significantly change the assembly line(s), which can be very expensive. Thus, consumers who desire to invest in prefabricated homes are only provided with a limited number of design options set by the manufacturers and lack the ability to select their own custom, or mixed-model, designs.
Yet another significant drawback is that in order to ship the buildings, the buildings must be split into appropriate sized “modules” to fit on the back of a truck and fit within the typical dimensions of a highway lane. In order to create appropriate sized modules for shipping, a building is typically “forward engineered” in parts, wherein each part is designed to fit within the maximum allowable shipping limits, or envelope. In other words, consideration of the size and the dimensions of the shipping modules may override those of the consumer's desires in the design of the building. This may place undesirable limitations on the design of the building.
In one embodiment, the present invention relates to a facility for manufacturing non-roadable buildings. The facility includes an enclosed area having a roof, a plurality of bays for positioning the non-roadable buildings therein, each of the plurality of bays configured to have one non-roadable building positioned therein, a plurality of movable manufacturing areas configured to manufacture elements for manufacturing and a lifting means positioned within the enclosed area and configured to move the elements for manufacturing of the non-roadable building through the facility, including movement of the elements from each of the plurality of movable manufacturing areas to each of the plurality of bays.
In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing non-roadable buildings. The method includes the steps of providing an enclosed area having a roof, the enclosed area having a plurality or bays for positioning the non-roadable buildings therein, each of the plurality of bays configured to have one non-roadable building positioned therein, moving a plurality of manufacturing areas relative to the plurality of bays within the enclosed area such that each of the plurality of manufacturing areas is positioned adjacent each of the plurality of bays for a predetermined period of time, and assembling the non-roadable buildings, such that each of the non-roadable buildings is substantially complete, using lifting means positioned within the enclosed area to move elements for manufacturing of the non-roadable building through the enclosed area, including movement of the elements from each of the manufacturing area to each of the plurality of bays.
In another embodiment, the present invention relates to an enclosed facility for manufacturing movable standard sized dwellings. The facility includes a plurality of bays configured to have one movable standard sized dwelling manufactured and positioned therein, a plurality of movable subassembly areas, each of the subassembly areas configured to have a portion of the standard sized dwelling built therein and configured to move relative to the plurality of bays, lifting means to lift and move each of the plurality of subassembly areas to each of the plurality of bays, and an exit proximate each of the plurality of bays configured to allow the standard sized dwelling to exit each bay.
Additional features and advantages are described herein, and will be apparent from, the following Detailed Description and the figures.
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Each bay preferably has an exit door 22 or area that allows the building to be picked-up and transported away from the facility. The exit doors or areas 22 of the bay can have any type of suitable door or no door. For example, the door can be a garage style door that can be closed to maintain a suitable or desired interior climate and/or protect the building from outside or exterior weather, theft or other undesirable elements. Furthermore, the exit can be an opening with no door or covering sized and configured to allow the buildings to exit therethrough.
Each bay is generally separated by a wall or partition 24. The walls or partition 24 preferably extends partially through the facility and do not contact or abut the ceiling of the facility; however, wall 24 can extend to any suitable height, including to the ceiling, thus, completely separating the bays or, if desired, the bays can have no walls separating them.
Walls 24 can be formed of any suitable material and have any suitable thickness. For example, the walls can be relatively thin just separating each building bay or they can be thick enough to house a closet, restroom or other facility.
Each bay 12 can be separated from the central area 14, if desired using walls or partitions (not shown). As with the walls 24, the walls separating the bay from the central area can be full height, partial height, thin, thick, have storage or other facilities therein, or by constructed in any suitable manner and have any suitable size and configuration.
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Furthermore, hook 30 can move up and down relative to rail 32. Preferably, hook 32 can extend to the floor of the facility or substantially to rail 32. This allows the hoisting device to pick up material, a desirable structure, element or other device 35 and move it anywhere in the facility. It is noted that the hoisting device can be any suitable hoist or lifting device (e.g., an overhead crane, a gantry crane, a floor crane and a fork lift or any other suitable device) and can traverse any suitable area of the facility. Additionally, hoisting device can have any suitable configuration or construction, move at any suitable speed or in any suitable limited or unlimited areas around the facility.
Preferably, the hoisting device 18 is motorized and in three dimensions. In other words, hook 30 is driven by a motor or a plurality of motors that move the hook laterally and longitudinally relative to the subassembly areas and up and down relative the floor of the facility. The hook can be operated by manual controls and an operator that moves the hook over or near a desired portion of the building or construction item and lowers the hook to pick up the item. The user or operator can them lift and move the item to the desired area of the facility and lower the item. Furthermore, the hoisting device 18 can be fully automated using any suitable computer control system. It is necessary for the hoisting device to be motorized. The device can be manually operated if desired.
Central area 14 is generally divided into a plurality of areas 16a-f. Generally, the each subassembly area is a wedge or slice of the circular area 14; however, both the circular area and each subassembly area can have any suitable configuration and each subassembly area can be the same or substantially the same size as each other subassembly area or the subassembly areas can have various sizes. Each subassembly area is generally designed to build a specific portion of the non-roadable standard sized building. For example, specific areas can be used to build floors, walls, ceilings, foundations, or any other portion of a house or building desired. Areas can be specifically used for internal finishing, such as, plumbing, electrical, drywall, painting, wood trim, etc. There can be any suitable number of subassembly areas desired and some or all of the areas can have multiple purposes or multiple subassemblies can perform the same purpose, if desired.
The central area 14 is designed to rotate relative to the bays, as shown by arrow 36 in
By moving the central area and each individual the subassemblies merely need to move form the end of each respective central area to each bay, thus reducing travel distance on the hoisting mechanisms.
It is noted that the moving subassemblies do not necessarily need to be positioned in the central portion of the facility to the building bays and the subassemblies can be designed and configured to move in any direction and/or in any manner relative to the building bays desired.
Generally, materials are brought to the facility 10 using a truck or other vehicle, which can enter the facility using one of the using any of the suitable bay exits or a dedicated exit, is desired. The materials for each specific subassembly area are offloaded and the truck or vehicle moves through the facility offloading material until it exits the facility 10. There can be a specific area through which the material traverse through the facility (e.g., a materials lane) or the materials can traverse through the facility in any manner or direction suitable.
At each subassembly area 16a-f, the specific portion or portion of the house or building are built. For example, one subassembly area can build a floor assembly, another can build walls and another can build the ceilings. Multiple of each portion or subassembly can be built and stored in the specific subassembly area, thus allow the workers to efficiently build subassemblies without each house being built from the ground up, as done in conventional stick building. For example, the roof subassembly area can build multiple roofs and store the roofs in the subassembly area or other suitable area or even in another area within or without the facility. Once a house in a bay is ready, a roof can be attached. Thus, multiple roofs can be built before the walls or floors of the building are built or attached to the building 10.
Preferably, the floor or base of the facility is positioned within the facility. The base is generally built such that it can withstand movement from the facility to a predetermined position adjacent the facility for final location. The base can be formed from concrete, steel wood or any other suitable material. The base is preferably built in the base subassembly area and once completed moved using the hoisting device to an open bay. However, it is noted that the base (or any other subassembly) can be built in a bay, rather than moved. Additionally, the base can be built as described in related U.S. patent applications discussed and incorporated by reference above. Thus allowing a specially designed vehicle to move the building. Please note that it is not necessary to move the building using a specially designed vehicle or as recited in the related applications.
Next the first floor wall subassembly area is moved or rotated adjacent a bay that is ready for this subassembly. The subassembly portion can then be moved from their specific subassembly area using the hoisting device to a bay. The walls are then attached to the floor. The walls can be finished with trim and drywall either in the wall subassembly area, the bay, the predetermined site for the home or in any other suitable place. The building is then built using the subassemblies until finished. The building can be a one, two or more story building and can be any suitable building structure. Preferably, the building is a standard sized substantially complete non-roadable house, but the building can be any suitable structure.
This procedure is continued, that is, the subassemblies are rotated or moved adjacent the bay requiring the specific subassembly until the home is completed or is substantially complete. Please note that although preferable to build the home or building such that it is substantially complete, the home can be moved to different areas to complete, if desired.
Once the building is substantially complete, the building is moved through the adjacent facility exit. The building can be moved using any conventional moving means or devices. For example, the house can be moved using a dolly, a conveyor or any other structure. Once moved out of the facility, the building can be moved to a predetermined final position. The building can be moved using any suitable device, such as a truck or other device. One suitable device is a two vehicle transporter described in the U.S. patent applications discussed above, the entire contents of which have already been incorporated by reference. Generally this vehicle can have each of its two vehicles straddle the building, engage the building, pick the building up and move the building to the desired location; however, the building can be designed in any suitable manner and is not necessarily transported with the two piece vehicle.
If desired, the bays can be sized and configured to allow the two piece vehicle to enter the facility and attach to the building in the bays, thus eliminating the need to have a device to move the building outside of the bays. This movement would be accomplished by the vehicle itself.
The operation described herein is exemplary and is not meant to limit the facility, but rather facilitate the understanding of the invention and the facility can be operated in any manner desired.
It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the presently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present subject matter and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims.
This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/431,196 entitled “Building Transport Device” and filed on May 9, 2006; Ser. No. 11/620,103 entitled “Device and Method for Transporting a Load” and filed on Jan. 5, 2007; Ser. No. 11/559,229 entitled “Transport Device Capable of Adjustment to Maintain Load Planarity” and filed on Nov. 13, 2006; Ser. No. 11/620,560 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Mobile Stem Wall” and filed on Jan. 5, 2007; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/887,696, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTEGRATED INVENTORY AND PLANNING” and filed on Feb. 1, 2007 the entire contents of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference.