Prefabricated Room Unit

Abstract

A prefabricated room unit designed for use in constructing modular buildings. The prefabricated room unit is formed of a plurality of identical sheet metal panels of substantially U-shaped cross section. The walls of the room are formed by disposing the sheet metal panels side-by-side having their adjacent lateral flanges joined. The floor of the room unit is formed of substantially identical panels mounted in pairs with their web portions in contact and secured to each other so that each combination of two sheet metal panels forms an I-type beam.

Description

The present invention relates to a prefabricated room unit, especially a bathroom, the load-carrying structure of which substantially consists of sheet metal. As is commonly known the general advantage of prefabricated building elements is the possibility of shortening the time of construction of a building. On the other hand, the prefabricated units are expensive as such and, moreover, the costs for their transport to the building site is higher than for building material of conventional types. This is due not only to the fact that, as a rule, prefabricated units are bulky but is also to a considerable extent caused by the need of expensive specially designed and equipped transport vehicles.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a prefabricated room unit composed by standardized uniform elements whereby it is comparatively cheap in manufacture.

Another object of the invention is to provide a prefabricated room unit of very low weight so that it renders itself for economical transport from the factory to the building site.

A room unit manufactured in accordance with the main characteristic of the invention consists of similar, elongated sheet metal elements of substantially U-shaped cross section. Those of the elements which form the walls of the room unit are disposed side by side having their adjacent lateral flanges joined, whereas the elements forming the floor of the room unit are mounted in pairs with their web portions in contact and secured to each other so that they act as I-type beams.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described in greater detail reference being made to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing, showing in perspective view a bathroom designed in accordance with the principles of the invention.

The room unit here illustrated is substantially composed of a number of similar, elongated sheet metal elements substantially of U-shaped cross section. However, the outermost portions of the flanges of the U-shaped elements are folded inwardly into parallelism with the web portions. The elements forming the floor part of the room unit have their web portions vertical and are joined pair-wise, the backs of the webs of the two elements in each pair being in contact with and secured to each other whereby there is formed a number of beams which may be considered I-beams but, naturally, have their flanges folded as just described. Reference numeral 1 designates one element and reference numeral 2 the other element in a beam composed by a pair of sheet metal elements. It has been found economical to join the two elements by spot-welding and welding spots have been shown on the drawing.

The walls of the bathroom consist of similar, elongated sheet metal elements. However, in the walls those elements are not arranged with their web portions facing each other resulting in double thickness. Instead, they are mounted side by side so that the main portions of their lateral flanges, i.e. those portions which are perpendicular to the webs, contact each other. Those flange portions have been secured to each other by spot-welding resulting in formation of stable wall panels which in turn by spot-welding are secured to the floor. The spaces formed between the parallel floor beams house sheets of an heat-insulating material 4. The external sides of the vertical walls are covered by boards 5 and 6 consisting of gypsum or some other suitable material. AS appears from the drawing the top ends of the wall panels are surrounded by the depending flanges of a U-rail which gives lateral stability. Although this has not been shown it is convenient to use the same mounting principle between the floor part of the room unit and the vertical walls in which case corresponding rails rare secured to the floor part, preferably by welding. The ceiling 7 of the bathroom may be constituted by a plywood board. The door 8 may have an ordinary wooden frame. Numerals units 10 and 11 relate to conventional equipment, viz. a bath tub, a wash basin and a WC chair. At 12 there have been shown pipes for warm and cold water and a ventilation air passage. Numeral 13 refers to a sewer pipe. Those pipes and passages may be mounted entirely inside the wall but it is often preferred to locate two bathrooms, kitchens or corresponding room units pair-wise adjacent each other in such a way that the pipes and tubing of both rooms will be housed in the space formed between the two parallel adjacent walls of the room units.

A room unit manufactured in accordance with the principles of the present invention has extremely low weight--as a matter of fact it weighs less than 10 percent of a corresponding room unit made in concrete. The underlying reason is that, thanks to the profile of the sheet metal elements, the strength properties of the material are optimally utilized. In addition thereto the construction may be reinforced at those places where the load is at maximum, such as near the wash basin and the WC chair. Such reinforcement could usefully consist of plates, ribs or brackets. It is generally preferred also in the vertical walls to have inserts of a sound and heat insulating material, such as mineral wool. Waterproofing can be attained by means of plastics material coatings attached to the inner walls by spraying or cementing. Correspondingly, the floor of the unit may be covered with a textile laminate plastics. In order still further to improve the sound-insulating properties of the unit and its capacity to withstand corrosion it is in some instances advisable to spray all the sheet metal details with a suitable composition, e.g. based on asphalt.

From what has been said above it should be apparent that in carrying out the invention practically it is possible in many different ways to modify the structural nature of the various components. This is true not only as far as the sanitary equipment inside the room unit is concerned but also in respect of the details making up the floor, the walls and the ceiling of the unit. The sole necessary condition is that the floor and the walls do, as a load-supporting framework, comprise elongated sheet metal elements each having a web portion and flanges, generally of U-configuration.

Claims

What we claim is:

1. A light weight prefabricated room comprising wall means and floor support means wherein,

said wall means comprising a plurality of walls, each of said walls comprised of a plurality of identical elongated sheet metal elements, substantially of U-shaped cross section, each of said elongated sheet metal elements being disposed side by side with their respective adjacent flanges joined,

said floor support means comprising a plurality of I-type beams, each of said I-type beams comprising a pair of said identical elongated sheet metal elements, said elongated sheet metal elements comprising said I-type beams being joined at their respective web portions,

a pair of U-rails for each of said walls, one said rail being disposed adjacent to and enclosing the upper portion of said wall, the other said rail adjacent to and enclosing the lower end of said wall,

said lower rail of each said wall being disposed on and supported by at least one of said I-type beams.

2. The room unit of claim 1 in which the elongated sheet metal elements forming said walls have their longitudinal axes oriented vertically, and said U-rails have their longitudinal axes disposed horizontally.

3. The room unit of claim 2 in which the flanges of said elongated sheet metal elements comprising said walls are directed outwardly of said room.

4. The room of claim 3 in which the external surfaces thereof are covered with gypsum boards.

5. The room of claim 1 in which said identical elongated sheet metal elements comprising said walls are joined flange-to-flange by spot-welding and said I-type beams comprising said floor support means comprise a pair of said identical elongated sheet metal elements joined web-to-web by spot-welding.