1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to building construction, and, more particularly, to pre-assembled elevator shaft liners for installation while concrete floors are being poured during building construction.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Common building construction of re-enforced concrete high rise/low rise buildings typically includes construction of elevator shafts and associated elevator machine rooms.
When erecting a multi-floor building, concrete is typically poured floor by floor, including pouring concrete walls of an elevator shaft. The elevator shaft walls to be formed are typically framed floor by floor by pairs of plywood sheets and concrete is poured between the sheets to form the required elevator shaft wall thickness.
When the elevator shaft wall length is completed and a roof is formed, the elevator rail system which accommodates elevator cab rollers is then installed. A temporary platform is typically built at the bottom of the shaft. Temporary cables are strung from the bottom to the top of the building to allow workers to work on the platforms, starting from the bottom and working their way to the top, drilling out the concrete elevator shaft walls, mounting rail mounting brackets to the walls and then mounting the rails to the rail mounting brackets.
However, problems can arise with the plywood forms “blowing out”, namely, if the plywood forms are not uniformly straight, the poured concrete when dried can bulge out, leaving non-straight elevator shaft walls. Such bulges need to be chopped away with jackhammers or the like to provide straight walls prior to rail installation.
The above-described conventional shaft formation and rail system installation typically takes months to complete. Therefore, a need exists for an elevator shaft and rail system construction approach that can save months of construction time and resulting costs associated with the construction of buildings having elevators.
In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, an elevator liner apparatus and method of utilization are provided that enable elevator rail and electrical trough systems to be installed in re-enforced concrete high rise/low rise buildings as the building concrete floors are being poured.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, rails are pre-installed on liner frames which are deliverable to a building construction job site ready to be installed and bolted together.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an elevator liner apparatus includes an elevator liner frame sized to accommodate an elevator cab and elevator rails within the elevator liner frame. Rail mounting brackets are mounted to interior walls of the elevator liner frame. The rail mounting brackets have elevator rail sections affixed thereto and have mounting bracket studs mounting the rail mounting brackets to the elevator liner frame and extending beyond exterior walls of the elevator liner frame. Anchor spikes are mounted to the elevator liner frame and extend beyond the exterior of the elevator liner such that plywood forms configured to form concrete elevator shaft walls are coupleable to the anchor spikes. Concrete is pourable between the plywood forms and the exterior of elevator liner frame. The concrete when dried affixes the mounting bracket studs and the anchor spikes in the dried concrete.
The elevator liner frame may include an International Standards Organization (ISO) shipping container having a top and bottom removed and sized to form stackable elevator liner frames.
The elevator liner frame may be sized to accommodate a pair of adjacent elevator cabs.
The elevator liner apparatus may further include a pair of I-beams mounted on the elevator liner frame to divide the elevator liner frame into a pair of elevator shafts that accommodate a pair of adjacent elevator cabs.
The rail mounting brackets may be mounted on the I-beams.
The elevator liner frame may include a concrete pour stop located on an exterior wall of the elevator liner corresponding to an elevator cab door location.
The elevator liner frame may include an electrical wiring trough affixed to an interior wall of the elevator liner frame and a floor button concrete pour stop located on an exterior wall of the elevator liner corresponding to a floor button location.
The elevator liner frame may be configured to be stackable and the rail sections may be configured to be joinable to an adjacent rail section when the elevator liner frame is stacked onto another elevator liner frame.
The rail sections may be joined by a splice plate coupled to ends of joinable rail sections.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention a method of fabricating an elevator shaft for a multi-floor building being constructed is provided.
A plurality of elevator liner apparatuses is pre-fabricated corresponding to an amount of multiple floors of a building being constructed. Each elevator liner apparatus includes an elevator liner frame sized to accommodate an elevator cab and elevator rails within the elevator liner frame, rail mounting brackets mounted to interior walls of the elevator liner frame, the rail mounting brackets having elevator rails sections affixed thereto and having mounting bracket studs mounting the rail mounting brackets to the elevator liner frame and extending beyond exterior walls of the elevator liner frame, and anchor spikes mounted to the elevator liner frame and extending beyond the exterior of the elevator liner such that plywood forms configured to form concrete elevator shaft walls are coupleable to the anchor spikes. Concrete is pourable between the plywood forms and the exterior of elevator liner frame. The concrete when dried affixes the mounting bracket studs and the anchor spikes in the dried concrete.
A first pre-fabricated liner apparatus is located at a desired elevator shaft area in a building being constructed.
Plywood forms are affixed to the anchor spikes of the first pre-fabricated liner apparatus.
Concrete is poured between the plywood forms affixed to the first pre-fabricated liner apparatus and an exterior of the elevator liner frame of the first pre-fabricated liner apparatus.
A next prefabricated liner apparatus is stacked onto the liner frame of the first pre-fabricated liner apparatus and rail sections of the first pre-fabricated liner apparatus are interlocked with rail sections of the next prefabricated liner apparatus.
Plywood forms are affixed to the anchor spikes of the next pre-fabricated liner apparatus.
Concrete is poured between the plywood forms affixed to the next pre-fabricated liner apparatus and an exterior of the elevator liner frame of the next pre-fabricated liner apparatus.
The stacking, interlocking, affixing and pouring is continued for each floor of the multi-floor building being constructed.
Exemplary embodiments of the inventive concepts will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements.
A typical elevator infrastructure includes a rail system affixed to walls of an elevator shaft and upon which an elevator cab is guided as it moves up and down the building. Typical elevator cabs have rollers mounted on sides of the elevator cab exterior which interface with rails that extend along an elevator shaft in the building. The rollers roll along the edges of corresponding rails that extend along the walls of the entire elevator shaft.
Referring to
Upon installation of elevator liner apparatus 10 at a desired location of an elevator shaft in a building being constructed, concrete is pourable in an area 19 between exterior walls 15 of liner frame 12 and plywood forms 17 located around the exterior of liner frame 12, such that the concrete when dried affixes mounting bracket studs 18 and anchor spikes 20 in the dried concrete.
Elevator liner apparatus 10 includes concrete pour stop 22 affixed to liner frame 12 at a wall location where an elevator door will be situated and provides concrete flow stoppage at the elevator door openings. Concrete pour stop 22 is formed of sheet metal which is sized for the door opening and extends from liner frame 12 by a concrete pour size of 12 inches (which is a typical required elevator wall thickness per standard building codes) and is welded to the liner frame. Flange 24, which may be removable, is situated at the end of concrete pour stop 22 to which a plywood forming sheet (not shown) is screwed. Concrete pour stop 22 allows for the concrete to be poured around liner frame 12, while maintaining an opening in the poured concrete wall to allow access to an elevator cab within the elevator shaft. Upon removing flange 24, an opening to the elevator shaft becomes available.
Elevator liner apparatus 10 may include in an exemplary embodiment electrical wiring trough 26 which is affixed to a wall of liner frame 12 to allow electrical wiring, such as those needed for floor by floor elevator floor button controls, to extend along the elevator shaft.
Elevator liner apparatus 10 may include in an exemplary embodiment floor button concrete pour stop 27 which is sized to correspond to the elevator floor button controls, which are typically located approximately 48 inches from where a cab floor would stop when moving from floor to floor, and is structured and operates similar to concrete pour stop 22.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that concrete pour stops protruding from the wall of liner frame 12 would not be needed when elevator liner apparatus 10 is to be installed for floors at which the elevator cabs do not stop, since a door opening or elevator floor button controls opening in the poured concrete would not be needed. Accordingly, such wall of line frame 12 would merely have anchor spikes 20 protruding.
Elevator liner apparatus 10 is provided for each floor along which an elevator cab will pass in the elevator shaft. As such, a plurality of elevator liner apparatuses 10 are vertically stackable, as will be discussed in more detail below. In view of such stackability, elevator rail sections 16 are joinable utilizing splice plates 28. Splice plate access hatches 30 may be provided on walls of liner frame 12 and situated to allow access to splice plates 28, for welding or bolting in place vertically adjoining rail sections 16. The use of splice plates 28 will be described in more detail below.
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Shipping containers 32 are designed to be stackable. Referring to
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In step 100 a plurality of elevator liner apparatuses is pre-fabricated corresponding to an amount of multiple floors of a building being constructed. Each elevator liner apparatus includes an elevator liner frame sized to accommodate an elevator cab and elevator rails within the elevator liner frame, rail mounting brackets mounted to the interior of elevator liner frame, the rail mounting brackets having the elevator rails affixed thereto and having mounting bracket studs mounting the rail mounting brackets to the elevator liner frame and extending beyond the exterior of the elevator liner frame, and anchor spikes mounted to the elevator liner frame and extending beyond the exterior of the elevator liner such that plywood forms configured to form concrete elevator shaft walls are coupleable to the anchor spikes. Concrete is pourable between the exterior of the elevator liner frame and plywood forms located around the exterior of elevator liner frame, the concrete when dried affixing the mounting bracket.
In step 110, a first pre-fabricated liner apparatus is located at a desired elevator shaft area in a building being constructed.
In step 120, plywood forms are affixed to the anchor spikes of the first pre-fabricated liner apparatus.
In step 130, concrete is poured between the plywood forms affixed to the first pre-fabricated liner apparatus and the exterior of the first pre-fabricated liner frame.
In step 140, a next prefabricated liner apparatus is stacked onto the liner frame of the first pre-fabricated liner apparatus and rail sections of the first pre-fabricated liner apparatus are interlocked with rail sections of the next prefabricated liner apparatus.
In step 150, plywood forms are affixed to the anchor spikes of the next pre-fabricated liner apparatus.
In step 160, concrete is poured between the plywood forms affixed to the next pre-fabricated liner apparatus and the exterior of the liner frame of the next pre-fabricated liner apparatus.
In step 170, the stacking, interlocking, affixing and pouring are continued for each floor of the multi-floor building being constructed.
According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, rails are pre-installed in liner containers which are deliverable to a building construction job site ready to be installed and bolted together as the building concrete floors are being poured.
While exemplary embodiments have been particularly shown and described, it will be understood that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims.
For example, to accommodate various elevator cab manufacturer's rollers, the rails affixed to the mounting brackets rather than being V-shaped with the rollers interfacing with the exterior sides of the V sides, may be T-shaped with the rollers interfacing with the exterior sides of the T stem.
Rather than re-cycling shipping containers, steel boxes can be built by assembling and welding steel walls together having dimensions corresponding to re-cycled shipping containers, with or without walls being corrugated.
In addition to using the shipping containers to provide the liner frames for pouring elevator shaft walls, such shipping containers can be utilized to provide elevator machine rooms. An elevator machine room can be similarly pre-formed off-site, lifted up and placed upon the rail system. Elevator motors and elevator controllers would be pre-anchored onto interior walls of the machine room.
This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/430,051, filed on Jan. 5, 2011, the entire content of which is incorporated by reference herein.
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