Patent Application
20080184659
Typically, large buildings (e.g., single-family homes, townhouses, apartment complexes, commercial structures, multi-story buildings, buildings legally or physically too large to be transported substantially intact via public roads, etc.) are built upon their permanent locations. A foundation is prepared, and raw materials and perhaps small components (e.g., pre-formed roof or floor trusses, door frames, window frames, etc.) are brought to the site and assembled piece by piece onto the foundation to form the building. However, temperature, wind, precipitation, insect infestations and other weather or environmental issues can cause delays in production or damage to partly completed buildings.
In one embodiment, a building manufacturing system is provided. The system includes a temporary assembly facility configured to substantially cover one or more permanent building locations. The temporary assembly facility is further configured to enable one or more buildings to be assembled up the one or more permanent building locations. In one embodiment, the temporary assembly facility includes a raw materials, component and/or sub-component storage area.
In another embodiment, the temporary assembly facility includes a manufacturing facility. In one embodiment, the manufacturing facility includes one or more component assembly areas.
In another embodiment, the temporary assembly facility includes a transportation system. In one embodiment, the transportation system includes an overhead rail system.
In another embodiment, the temporary assembly facility includes a roof configured to divert precipitation. In one embodiment, the roof is flexible. In another embodiment, the roof includes a canvass portion. In one embodiment, the roof includes a plastic portion. In another embodiment, the roof is substantially inflexible.
In one embodiment, the temporary assembly facility includes a frame. In one embodiment, the frame is collapsible. In another embodiment, the frame includes a plurality of elongated members and a plurality of connectors. In one embodiment, the frame includes one or more members, wherein the members are configured to be removably at least partly embedded in the ground. In another embodiment, the frame is attached to one or more anchors that are at least partly embedded in the ground.
In one embodiment, the temporary assembly facility is reconfigurable. In one embodiment, the temporary assembly facility is reconfigurable to cover an additional permanent building location. In another embodiment, the temporary assembly facility is reconfigurable to not cover one of the one or more permanent locations.
In one embodiment, a method of building a building is provided. The method includes covering a permanent building location with a portion of a temporary assembly facility, assembling the building upon the permanent building location and removing the portion from the permanent building location.
Additional features and advantages are described herein, and will be apparent from, the following Detailed Description and the figures.
Preferably, the frame includes a plurality of poles or other elongated members which are releasably connected by a plurality of connectors; however, the frame can include any suitable members, permanently connected sections or connectors. Preferably, the frame is temporarily secured to the ground by temporarily embedding one or more of the poles at least partly into the ground; however, the frame can be secured to the ground in any suitable manner, including temporarily or permanently embedding one or more stakes in the ground and attaching the frame (e.g., via a rope or other suitable connection) or permanently securing one or more anchor frame members to the ground and attaching the frame (e.g., via one or more of the plurality of connectors) to the permanent anchor members.
The roof is preferably capable of providing shade and diverting precipitation from the permanent home site; however, the roof can have any suitable properties. In one embodiment, the roof is a plastic or canvass tarp; however, the roof can be any one or more materials, can be rigid or can have any other suitable characteristics. Preferably, the roof covers substantially the entire upper portion of the frame; however, the roof can cover less than substantially the entire upper portion (e.g., covering an area above a permanent home site 102 or materials storage site 104 with much of the space between two permanent home sites 102 left uncovered).
Preferably, the walls are capable of providing shade, maintaining a more consistent temperature, humidity or other environmental condition (when combined with the roof) and diverting precipitation and/or winds from the permanent home site; however, walls are not required and the one or more walls can have any suitable properties. In one embodiment, the walls are a plastic or canvass tarp; however, the walls can be any one or more materials, can be rigid or can have any other suitable characteristics. In one embodiment, one or more of the walls are continuously formed with the roof (e.g., one piece of canvass or multiple canvass sheets permanently joined together) and/or one or more other walls; however, the walls can be separate from the roof and/or other walls if desired. The roof and/or walls can be secured to the frame in any suitable manner, including tying with rope, cord or other mechanisms, sliding onto a support member similar to some curtains on a curtain rod, or any other suitable securing mechanism. In another embodiment, the roof and/or walls are not secured to the frame. Instead, the roof and/or walls are secured to the ground and merely placed over the frame. Preferably, at least one wall includes an opening through which raw materials, components or subcomponents can pass; however, such raw materials can be delivered by temporarily removing at least a portion of a wall or the roof or through an opening in the roof.
Preferably, a building (e.g., a home or other structure) is built upon each permanent building site 102 within the temporary assembly facility 100; however, a building can be built on less than each permanent building site 102. The building can be built in any suitable manner, including stick-building, panelized building, modular building, any combination thereof or any other suitable manner.
In one embodiment, a manufacturing facility 106 capable of manufacturing each component (e.g., floors, walls, roofs, foundations, or any other suitable components) to be used in building a building is erected within the temporary assembly facility; however, the manufacturing facility 106 can be capable of building only a subset of the components to be used in building a large building with the remaining components being manufactured elsewhere and transported to the temporary assembly facility 100 for integration into the building or can have any other suitable capabilities or can be located outside of the temporary assembly facility. In one embodiment, the temporary assembly facility 100 includes an overhead rail system for transporting materials or components from materials storage areas 104 or the manufacturing facility 106 to the building sites 102; however, the temporary assembly facility 100 can include any suitable materials and/or component transport mechanism, including fork lifts, ground rail systems, trucks, cranes, or any other suitable lifting and/or moving apparatuses. In one embodiment, the roof covers the overhead rail system or other suitable materials and/or component paths. Preferably, the overhead rail system or other materials and/or component moving and/or lifting system it configured to be able to independently and simultaneously move a plurality of components and/or materials even in opposite directions along the same path; however, the overhead rail 110 and/or other suitable component moving and/or lifting system can have any suitable configuration and/or capabilities.
The manufacturing facility 106 preferably has one or more component assembly areas 108 in which components are manufactured from raw materials and/or sub-components (e.g., window and door frames, standard trusses, etc.); however, the manufacturing facility 106 is not required to have component assembly areas 108. Preferably, the component assembly areas 108 are capable of manufacturing more than one type of component (e.g., walls, floors and roofs or roof segments) and/or various configurations or styles of one type of component without significant retooling or reconfiguration; however, the component assembly areas 108 can be specialized and/or require significant retooling or reconfiguration if desired. Components can be manufactured in component assembly areas 108 using an assembly line, an assembly point or any other suitable manufacturing process. Preferably, raw materials and/or sub-components are delivered to the component assembly areas 108 from a separate raw materials storage area 104 using any suitable transportation mechanism (e.g., a crane, a fork lift, manual labor, a dolly, a conveyor system, etc.) such as overhead rail 110; however, a separate raw materials storage area 104 is not required, and the component manufacturing facility 106 can have any suitable configuration, including having its own storage areas 104.
Once manufactured, components can be stored in component storage area 104; however, the component storage area 104 is not required and components can incorporated into a building being assembled upon completion or at any other suitable time if desired.
It should be understood that a building can be assembled in any suitable manner in permanent building location 102; however, preferably, a foundation, stem wall or other building support structure component is positioned at the permanent building location 102 after the location 102 is prepared. One or more components are preferably moved to and positioned at the location 102 using a crane or rail system 110; however any suitable moving system can be used. The rail system 110 can be any suitable type of rail system, and can be attached to the frame of the temporary assembly facility 100, the ground or any other suitable base inside the temporary assembly facility 100, and/or the ground, floor and/or any other suitable base outside the temporary assembly facility 100. The foundation, stem wall or other building support structure component can be of any suitable type, including but not limited to those described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/620,560 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Mobile Stem Wall” and filed on Jan. 5, 2007. The system can include rails, a dolly, a crane, a vehicle, rollers, a conveyor system, or any other suitable moving devices.
Then, one or more floor components are attached to the partly build building. The floor components can be attached in any suitable manner. Then, interior and exterior first floor wall components are attached to the partly build building in any suitable manner. If a second story is to be added, one or more floor components are added to the partly built building for the second story. Then, more wall components are added to the partly build building. When the building has the correct number of stories, one or more roof components are added to the partly built building, at which point the building can be finishing; however, it should be noted that finishing can occur at any suitable time.
Preferably, the system also includes an inventory control system configured to schedule the manufacture of components and buildings in the temporary assembly facility 100 based on a projected demand for the components and buildings such that the components are available for assembling into a building substantially when the components are scheduled for assembling into the building based on a predetermined assembly schedule wherein the predetermined assembly schedule is related to the projected demand for the large buildings. For example, a house is scheduled to be built at the temporary assembly facility 100 with a completion date and/or time. For the house to be completed by that date, a wall component would need to be present some period (e.g., two days) before that completion date. The inventory control system schedules for the manufacturing facility 100 to manufacture the wall component at a time that will enable the wall component to be ready for integration into the partly built building in time for the building to be completed by the completion date. The inventory control system can be any suitable inventory system, including those described in co-pending 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 components can be any suitable components; however, in one embodiment, the components include a wall, a floor, a roof (e.g., a traditional roof, a planted roof or any other suitable type of roof), a mobile foundation or a mobile stem wall.
It should be understood that components can be delivered to the temporary assembly facility 100 from third parties or buildings can be stick-built on the permanent building locations 102.
After one or more buildings are completed or at least completed sufficiently such that only interior work (e.g., finishing) remains, the temporary assembly facility 100 can be disassembled partly or entirely, enabling the temporary assembly facility 100 to be set up in a different location or reconfigured. For example, the portion of the temporary assembly facility 100 covering a permanent home site 102 having a substantially completed home thereon can be disassembled, as can a portion of the rail system 110 leading to that site 102 and the portion of the temporary assembly facility 100 covering that portion of the rail system 110 can all be disassembled and the temporary assembly facility 100 can be reconfigured to cover an additional permanent home site 102 that does not have a building upon it as well as a new segment of the rail system 110 leading to the additional site 102. It should be noted that, in various embodiments, the temporary assembly facility 100 can be reconfigured to add sites 102 or remove sites 102 independently. It should also be noted that the temporary assembly facility 100 is not required to be reconfigurable.
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. Nos. 11/431,196 entitled “Building Transport Device” and filed on May 9, 2006; 11/620,103 entitled “Device and Method for Transporting a Load” and filed on Jan. 5, 2007; 11/559,229 entitled “Transport Device Capable of Adjustment to Maintain Load Planarity” and filed on Nov. 13, 2006; 11/620,560 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Mobile Stem Wall” and filed on Jan. 5, 2007; 11/681,052 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Stationary Home Building Within a Factory” and filed on Mar. 1, 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.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60887696 | Feb 2007 | US |
