Collapsible Garage

Abstract

A collapsible garage or the like building which comprises a plurality of upstanding spaced apart arch shaped structural members disposed in parallel relationship to one another. The lower ends of the arch shaped structural members are received in a pair of channel members which are fixed, such as by nailing, to the ground. A flexible top covering is spread over the arch shaped structural members and the lower edges of this covering are held by the channel members.

Description

This invention relates to a collapsible garage or the like building. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a building of the type which can easily be mounted or dismantled, and can be fabricated at low cost.

For many reasons, for example due to lack of space or because of the cost involved, many home owners do not have a permanent garage. The question of a collapsible garage becomes especially urgent during the winter months or rainy seasons when it is necessary to protect cars against bad weather and to store away garden tools or the like. Presently known collapsible garages or similar buildings are either too expensive or so badly designed that none of them has yet been successful enough to be in popular demand.

In order to overcome the above disadvantages there is now provided a collapsible garage or the like building which comprises a plurality of upstanding spaced apart arch shaped structural members disposed in parallel relationship to one another. The lower ends of the arch shaped structural members are received in a pair of channel members which are fixed, such as by nailing, to the ground. A flexible top covering is spread over the arch shaped structural members, and the lower edges of this covering are held by the channel members.

In the drawings which illustrate the invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, with part of the top covering and the door removed, of a collapsible garage according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of an arch shaped structural member,

FIG. 3 is an elevation view of another arch shaped structural member,

FIG. 4 is an elevation view of a reinforced arch shaped structural member also illustrating the front door in the rolled up position,

FIG. 5 is an end view of the door in the rolled up position with part of the structure in section,

FIG. 6 is an exploded view showing two adjacent pedestals and the lower edge (in part) of the collapsible garage according to FIG. 1,

FIG. 7 is a section taken through line 7--7 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 8 is a partial elevation view of the garage illustrated in FIG. 1, also showing the attachment of a pedestal to the ground, said garage having stiffening members, and

FIG. 9 is a partial elevation view, on a larger scale than in FIG. 8 showing the same attachment of a pedestal to the ground, the collapsible garage having no stiffening members.

Referring to the drawings, the structure of a collapsible garage 1 according to the invention will be seen to consist of a plurality of upstanding arch shaped structural members 3. As illustrated, these arch shaped structural members 3 are spaced apart and are disposed in parallel relationship to one another.

To mount a garage structure which is rigid enough to withstand all weather conditions there are provided longitudinal reinforcing bars 5 and 7 which are bolted to the underface of each arch shaped structural members 3 in the manner shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings.

If desired, as illustrated in FIG. 3, an additional reinforcing bar 9 may be fixed in the same manner as reinforcing bars 5 and 7. Reinforcing bar 9 is mounted at the upper portions of the arch shaped structural members 3.

The lower ends of each arch shaped structural members 3 are received in channel members 11 which will now be described.

A channel member 11 is formed of as many pedestals 13 as there are arch shaped structural members 3. Each pedestal 13 comprises a base plate 15 and two spacedly mounted vertical wings 17, 19 defining a channel 21 in the pedestal 13. Referring to FIGS. 6, 8 and 9, it will be seen that each base plate 13 as four openings 23 which are used to insert nails 25, the latter being driven into pavement 27.

To assemble the collapsible garage 1, the lower ends of each arch shaped structural members 3 is fitted in a channel 21 of a corresponding pedestal 13 (which has been nailed into pavement 27), between the wings 17 and 19 thereof. Then a transparent vinyl top covering 29 which may be tinted for esthetic purposes is spread over the arch shaped structural members 3, in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings, until the lower edge of the covering 29 reaches the bottom of the channel 21. It will be noticed with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 of the drawings that the flexible top covering 29 is obviously placed between the lower edge of the arch shaped structural members 3 and the outer wings 17 of the pedestals 13. A longitudinal shim 31 is then inserted between the lower edge of flexible top covering 29 and the wings 17. Another longitudinal shim 33 is thereafter inserted between the lower ends of the arch shaped structural members 3 and the wing 19. The shims 31, 33 are tightly held in the channels 21 by means of the assembling pins 35 which extend through holes 37 in the wings 17, 19 and holes 39 in the shims 31, 33 and are tightened with locking wedge 41. Between the pedestals 13, the lower edge of the flexible top covering 29 is held applied against the longitudinal shim 31 by means of clips 43.

If desired, the structure can be rendered more rigid by the use of stiffening members 45 in the lower portions of arch shaped structural members 3. This as been illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 8 of the drawings, it being understood that the stiffening members 45 can be mounted over the structural members 3 by any known means.

Finally, the collapsible garage 1 comprises a front door opening 47. The door 47 is formed of an upper stationary panel 49 and a lower upwardly rollable panel 51. Both panels 49 and 51 are made of the same transparent vinyl, optionally tinted material as the top 29. Referring to FIG. 5, it will be seen that the lower end of the upper panel 49 is wrapped around a transverse bar 53 while the upper end of the lower panel 51 is wrapped around another transverse bar 55 all in the manner illustrated in FIG. 5. There is a C-member 57 which is used to connect the thus wrapped lower end of the upper panel 49 and upper end of the lower panel 51. The C-member 57 has a hooking member 59 to hook the lower panel 51 of door 47 after the panel 51 has been rolled upwardly as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 of the drawings.

The lower end of the lower panel 51 comprises a transverse bar 61 which is provided with eyelets 63 at both ends thereof. To lock the door it will suffice to attach the eyelets 63 to the brackets 65 which are provided at the lower end of frontmost arch member 3.

Finally anchor cables 67 are used for a better rigidity of the structure and the tensioning cable 69 can be mounted in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2 with a turn buckle 71 to prevent a spreading of the arch member 3.

Claims

I claim:

1. A collapsible garage or the like building comprising:

a. a pluraliy of upstanding spaced apart arch shaped structural members disposed in parallel relationship with respect to one another,

b. a pair of channel members in which the lower ends of said arch shaped structural members are received,

c. each channel member formed of a plurality of pedestals nailed to a pavement surface, each pedestal comprising a base plate and two spacedly mounted vertical wings defining a channel in said pedestal, said wings formed with openings, and pins inserted through said wings and through the lower end of an arch shaped structural member to hold the latter in a vertical position,

d. a flexible top covering spread over said arch shaped structural members,

e. the lower end of said flexible top covering placed between said wings exteriorly of said arch shaped structural members, a first longitudinal shim placed between said arch shaped structural members and the inner wings, and a second longitudinal shim placed between the lower end of said flexible covering and the outer wings and a clip at the lower end of said flexible top covering to hold said lower end of said flexible top covering against said first longitudinal shim.

2. A collapsible garage or the like building according to claim 1, which comprises longitudinal reinforcing bar fixed to the underface of said arch shaped structural members to provide a rigid structure for said garage.

3. A collapsible garage or the like building according to claim 1, which comprises stiffening members for the lower portions of said arch shaped structural members.

4. A collapsible garage or the like building according to claim 1, which comprises a front door for said building.

5. A collapsible garage or the like building according to claim 4, wherein said door comprises a sheet of flexible material which is upwardly rollable.

6. A collapsible garage or the like building according to claim 5, wherein said sheet of flexible material is formed of an upper stationary panel and a lower upwardly rollable panel the lower end of said upper panel wrapped around a first transverse bar, the upper end of said lower panel wrapped around a second transverse bar, a C-member connecting the thus formed lower end of said upper panel and upper end of said lower panel and a hooking member provided on said C-member to disposed the rolled lower panel.

7. A collapsible garage or the like building according to claim 6, which comprises a third transverse bar at the lower end of said lower panel, eyelets at the ends of said third transverse bar, and brackets in the frontmost pedestals to receive said eyelets and to lock said third transverse bar.

8. A collapsible garage or the like building according to claim 5, wherein said flexible top covering and said door are made of transparent vinyl material.

9. A collapsible garage or the like building according to claim 8, wherein said transparent vinyl material is tinted.