US1988461A - Apparatus for the designing of buildings - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 22, 1935. T, H. REEVES APPARATUS FOR THE DESIGNING OF BUILDINGS FiledNov. 5, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR 73 H. Beef/e5 ATTORNEY$ Jan. 22, 1935. T. H, REEVES 1,938,461

APPARATUS FOR THE DESIGNING 0F BUILDINGS Filed Nov. 5, 1951 s Sheets-Sheet 2 39- 5&6

I lag/WV ATTORNEY! Jan. 22, 1935. H REEVES APPARATUS FOR THE DESIGNING 0F BUILDINGS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 5. 1931 INVENTOR 77H. Baez/v.5

ATTORN EY.

. nary house floor plan. To facilitate this laying Patented Jan. 22, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Thomas H. Reeves, Birmingham, Ala. Application November 5, 1931, Serial No. 573,134

3 Claims. (01. 35-16) My invention relates to a new and improved to define. My invention contemplates a variety apparatus for simplifying and perfecting the of means which may be used to define the walls designing of buildings, and, while not specifically and interior subdivisions of the proposed buildlimited thereto, is principally concerned with ing, so long as thereby I secure in effect a full 5 perfecting a means for the designing of residences sized floor plan subdivided by partitioning of only 5 or homes whereby a prospective builder maybe sufficient height to enable the room effect to be enabled to visualize the projected building in adcorrectly visualized. vance of its erection and to adjust the design to My invention further contemplates these fit his immediate and particular needs. dummy units in varying lengths and with special Heretofore, all buildings and particularly resiunits adapted to indicate the position of win- 10 dences have been built in accordance with plans dows and doors, thereby permitting the openings prepared by architects and submitted to the prosin a room to be designated. pective builder. Very few people are skilled in My invention further contemplates providing the reading of blue prints and even the few that light portable full size dummy representations of are so skilled can hardly visualize and apprehend articles of furniture which may be placed within 15 the exact' 'result in designing or arrangement the confines of the various rooms defined by the which will be obtained in the finished building. dummy partitions and thus conveyintrue propor- As a result, nearly all residence builders are subtion the setting of these articles as it may be dejected to expensive and troublesome changes in sired to place them in the room and thereby to plans and specifications and yet, even while some permit the redesigning of the room where neces- 20 changes can still be made within the limits of sary to the better accommodate such articles of reasonable expense, it is true that in a majority furniture. of times it only after the house is built and My invention further contemplates providing beyond the.possibility of change that the disthe dummy partition sections with means to interappointing features in the design and arrangelook their abutting ends so that they can be quick- 25 ment become apparent. Generally this occurs ly set up and will be rigidly held in place during when the home builder moves in and seeks to arthe inspection and rearrangement of the particurange his furniture in the various rooms. Then lar floor plan or building design under conit is found that one room is too large, another too sideration.

small, that the openi s, both W n ow a d doo My invention further comprises the novel de- 30 are ineptly placed so that the furniture must be tails of construction for practicing the invention, disposed where it is not convenient or sightly, or which will be hereinafter more particularly depart thereof must be entirely eliminated. scribed and which will be better understood by I have conce v that. if any apparatus could be reference to the accompanying drawings which devised that would be effective to overcome those form a part of t specification, and in 35 difiiculties for the ordinary non-technical builder, 1 is plan view of a floor section t it m st be d s d to Present the true proportion a design of a building reproduced thereon by my 0f the t tu to be erected, as it is y With improved dummy'partitions which are shown in reference to true proportions that the average plan View with the arrangement f dummy 40 Person in a practicable manner understand articles of furniture shown in dotted lines. 40

the house design and visualize the furniture arrangement. To this end I have conceived the idea of providing a suitable floor space, ample for the laying out thereon in full size of any ordi- Fig. 2 is a fragmental view in perspective showing a corner of one of the rooms illustrated in Fig. 1 with dummy articles of furniture arranged therein. 7 w

out the floor may be marked into foot Squares so Figs. 3 and 4 are side and end views of a standthat reading from the architecvs drawing it will ard dummy wall partition section, the view in elebe a comparatively simple matter to reproduce vatlfm bemg broken in full size on this floor space the outline of the Flgs- 5 and 6 are corresponfimg VIEWS a building walls and partitions. dummy wall section for use adJacent to a door 50 I provide suitable portable dummy wall partiop i tions, made of light material, so that they may be lil 7 d 8 ar p and clevational views 0 readily set up and which are of substantial height a right angle Corner Wall section.

so as to give a fairly accurate conception of the Fi 9 and 10 are similar views of a T-wall proportions of the rooms which they may be used Section- I 55 Figs. 11 and 12 are similar views of a window section.

Fig. 13 is a plan view of Fig. 11.

Figs. 14 and 15 are plan and elevational views of the dummy elements defining a door opening.

Fig. 16 is a view taken on the line XVIXVI of Fig. 3 showing the dummy end connections separated.

Fig. 17 is a similar view showing the dummy end sections connected.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated, I show a floor 20, which may be of any desired material and which is preferably divided by in-' tersecting lines spaced on foot centers, so that it will be easy to measure ofi distances and to lay out straight lines thereon. Itis generally contemplated that such a floor will be provided for the use of customers of the architect, builder or supply house, to the end that by employing the mechanism which will now be described, various fioor' plans of buildings and-particularly of dwellings can be set up on this floor according to their actual dimensions. I

The mechanism employed for carrying my invention into effect comprises a series of standard dummy wall partition units 21, one of which is more clearly illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, and is made up with a substantially wide bottom board 22 shaped along its wide edgesto give the effect of a base shoe 23 and having mortised therein the base boards 24, which are rabbeted -on their inner faces to receive the light composition or wood wall boards 25 which at their tops are connected to a top board 26.

Each unit is provided with suitable end walls formed by studs 27, one stud having a groove 28 and the other a complemental rib 29. Intermediate studs are used in long wall units. The rib has anchored-therein and projecting therefrom eye bolts 30 and the grooves have slots 31 adapted.

to receive these eye bolts. The top board is provided near each end with a hole 32 adapted to receive a vertical rod 33 which passes down through the eye bolts and interlocks the end sections together as shown more clearly in Fig. 17. These eye bolts are adjustable by being screwed into a threaded opening in an anchor plate 34 connected to the inside of the end wall 2'7.

The dummy wall sections thus provided are approximately three feet in height, it being important that this height be just sufiicient to enable one, viewing an enclosure formed thereby, to obtain a reasonably accurate conception of the proportions of the finished room. It is-well known that rooms do not assume their correct proportions to unskilled or inexperienced observers until the partition walls defining them are set up, and it is therefore obvious that some sacrifice of complete presentment of the building design must be waived in the interest of economically producing dummy partition units which will be light enough to be easily handled and small enough 'to be economically produced. It is thought that ap-. proximately three feet or four feet in height, will be suflicient for the purposes contemplated and it will be understood that in making up the standard partition units described material which is light is employed. The dummy unit bottom and base is preferably of heavy wood while the body is of light wooden or composition, boards.

Without describing indetail the various dummy sections that would be provided, it seems suflicient to say that in Fig. '1, I show a dummy section difiering from Fig. 3 only in providing the angled wall unit 35 and in Fig. 9 is shown a T-shaped unit 36. It will also be understood that the length of the standard units 21 will be varied so that it will be feasible, with reasonable accuracy, to reproduce the exact dimensions of each room being exemplified.

In Figs. 11 and 12, I show what I term a dummy window unit 3'7 which comprises a lower wall section interlocked with the standard wall units 21 and adapted to receive a window unit 38, shaped to slip fit over the top 26 and over the adjacent ends of the units 25 so as to hold this window section standing substantially above the top level of the standard wall sections. whereby to emphasize the location of the window opening.

In Figs. 14 and 15, I show the wall sections 39 for a door opening, these sections having post members 40 and one of these members carrying a hinged door board 41 which is adjustable as to length to suit the door opening and the hinge 42 of which is reversible to the swing of the door and the room into which it opens.

Having before one a floor plan, such as appears in Fig. 1, to practice my invention the standard and special dummy wall unit sections are selected as required and the rooms are laid out starting from any desired point and fol-' lowing thedimensions of the architect's drawings or developing the layout without plans. When the rooms have thus been defined with their window'and door openings in position, dummy furniture may also be provided and installed in the various rooms so that their proportions can be understood, the space provided for them relative to the window and door openings checked and modified where necessary, and the whole house thus tested by actual experience until the proper readjustments of partitions and openings are finally agreed upon according to the pleasure and for the greatest convenience of the house builder. Thereupon the architect can readily correct his plans and the erection of the building can proceed with the least probability of alteration and change in plans and therefore with the consequent reduction of building expense.

It will of course be understood that the dummy sections which have been described are those which I have built and by trial have found are suited to the purposes'stated, but others may modify this manner of forming the representation of the building walls and partitions without departing from the essential features of my invention for which I seek protection and which are pointed out in the appending claims.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of variouschanges and modifications, without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art oras are specifically set forth in the appended claims. Y

2. As an article of manufacture, a representation 01 the floor plan of a building layout in full size as to length and comprising a plurality of dummy elements representative of a vertical section oi the lower portion 0! a wall partition. means asociated with said elements to represent doors and windows of the building, said sections being readily movable about over their support. and means to interlock the sections in assembled position to correspond to the floor plan 0! the building, said sections each having suflicient height when assembled to enable the proportions of the proposed dwelling to be apprehended and checked in advance of its permanent erection.

3. In an apparatus for producin by dummy representation, the wall and partition arrangement 0! a propom building, in combination, a floor ample in size to receive a full size layout of the floor plan to be represented and havin its surface marked by intersecting lines into squares of unit area, and means representative of but having only part of the height of the walls and partitions of the proposed building which are assembled in upright position on said floor so as to reproduce thereon the arrangement of such building's walls and partitions in full length but only in partial height.

THOMAS H. REEVES.

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