Abstract:
This invention describes a method of building structures including electronic and medical working buildings and vessels from large to microscopic using pre-fabricated interdependent panels having internal framing and slotted attachment features for ease of assembly. Compared to prior art, this novel method allows creation of vertically supported horizontal and vertical planar structures that require minimal or no fasteners by using internally framed cross slotted, interlocking, intersecting and interdependent constituent panels. Key advantages and novel applications over prior art construction methods are discussed including but not limited to art structures lower cost, green energy applications, corrective foundational alignment and use in furniture, electronic, and medical and electronic components, vessel fabrication and wherever Art structure internal frame is cost effective.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a nonprovisional of U.S. Ser. No. 61/695,185 filed on Aug. 30, 2012, the entire content and disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    This invention relates to the creation of three-dimensional structures of parallel horizontal and/or vertical planar surfaces the preferred embodiment of which illustrates the use of such structure as walls floors and ceilings when construct is used as residential home construction method. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Prior art in the field of structures including home construction is quite extensive but generally falls into several common categories. One common category is homes that are made with wood framing and assembled with common fasteners such as nails and screws. Another category are mobile homes which are assembled using pre-fabricated panels and also assembled with fasteners such as rivets, nails and screws. The third category of home construction is homes constructed out of ceramic based materials such as brick, concrete and mortar. 
         [0004]    These common methods of home construction all share a set of disadvantages which shall now be discussed. The first disadvantage is that the aforementioned home construction methods use substantial amounts of fastener materials. Depending on the size of the home, the actual number of fasteners used can easily run into the tens of thousands or in the case of brick homes, thousands of pounds of brick and mortar. The high degree of fasteners used to build homes not only adds substantial material costs but also is the largest percentage of the overall labor cost of building new homes. 
         [0005]    Another common disadvantage is the high cost of transportation of home construction materials to the building site. Wooden frames and boards or blocks and bricks typically require timing and choreographing of multiple shipments which require more trucks and transport of construction material to the site. The net effect of these inefficiencies implicit to prior art is to make quality housing unavailable for many. The method of the present invention is designed to fix this problem. 
         [0006]    Yet another disadvantage of common home construction methods is that they result in static rigid structures that are often easily destroyed by environmental extremes such as floods, earthquakes and hurricanes; are not easily or flexibly expanded or moved; and are not energy efficient in regards to exploiting green technologies such as solar power and water collection. 
         [0007]    A final disadvantage is that these common construction methods are not environmentally friendly. Home renovations and demolitions produce staggering amounts of non-biodegradable waste materials such as pressure treated wood, metal, vinyl, concrete and adhesives. These waste materials add to the already massive landfills around the planet and help contribute to the world&#39;s air, land and water pollution levels. 
         [0008]    These disadvantages in prior art structures as discussed are numerous and together form the motivation for the present invention to address. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    It is the object of the present invention to address disadvantages inherent in non-art structures. Additional applications and purposes of construct present various disadvantages not unlike those addressed and inherent to art structure construction versus dwellings using prior art methods of constructing vertically supported horizontal planer surfaced structures. The invention proposed is a novel method of construction that utilizes pre-fabricated, low cost internally framed interdependent panels that have a plurality of interdependent slots for use in assembly. The preferred embodiment of this invention is a method of using Art structure method in the construction of a residential home, but alternative embodiments may also includes use of the easy and inexpensive to assemble art structure of the present invention to construct vessels, electronic and medical devices, furniture and the like on all scales large to microscopic. In the preferred embodiment, the internally framed constituent panels are designed to be recyclable and mass produced in a variety of lengths, thicknesses, shapes and widths to produce elements that will form or contain the ceilings, walls and floors and the functional enhancements of a dwelling such as stairs, sinks, showers, utilities etc. built into or accommodated in or upon the vertical and/or horizontal (parallel and perpendicular) constituent panels. Because each panel has a plurality of slots aligned in both the horizontal and vertical axis, one size (thickness) of easily mass produced panels may be constituted to describe and house all elements of a home such as the ceiling, side walls, appliances, fixtures, counters and flooring. The external or peripheral walls or glass windows and solar energy collectors easily slide into slots between successive layers of horizontal structure which may be of various shapes when viewed from above to enclose and/or lend structural and/or esthetic cohesiveness to the dwelling. Because each interdependent set of cross slotted constituent panel is self-supporting and internally framed from the factory, they do not require attachment to wooden or other forms of framing using fasteners as would be the case with prior art methods. Therefore as a consequence of the internal framing of the cross slotted panels, only a very small amount of time and fasteners will be required to assemble a home using the method of the present invention and the structure may be assembled and operational in a very short period of time versus prior art. 
         [0010]    It is yet another object of the present invention to substantially reduce the transportation costs as compared with prior art construction methods. The key reason for the reduction in transportation costs is that the present invention requires a much smaller volume and variety of construction materials due to the internally framed design of the cross slotted panels. A conventional home built using wood framing requires transportation of the wood framing as well as gypsum and plywood boards, roofing materials, plumbing and electrical wiring, doors and windows. The present invention as depicted in the preferred embodiment incorporates all plumbing, electricity, etc. into the vertical component, would only require a tiny fraction of the framing, carpentry, plumbing, electrical work and finishing due to on site the internal factory framed design and functionality built within the vertical and or horizontal panels of art construct&#39;s the cross slotted and cross cut panels which are segmented and/or hinged to allow efficient transport, erection and deconstruction. This savings in components and volume through the drastic reduction in framing could easily save 33% or more of the total transportation costs associated with construction versus prior art methods. 
         [0011]    It is yet another object of the present invention to allow homes to be constructed in a more long lived and energy efficient manner (i.e. less carbon footprint) that better accommodates human endeavors because art construct internalizes human habitat which can variously be stacked, expanded and or tiered to afford space efficient housing which can be easily moved and/or placed into alternate settings such as upon elevated foundations, within peripheral walls or within a protective hull to avoid flooding. Prior art methods typically result in static rigid structures. Although solar panels are commonly attached to the roof structure of prior art homes, they only can collect solar energy when the sun&#39;s rays pass over their static exposed area. Homes designed using the cross slotted method of the present invention which allows sliding panels (windows panelized peripheral walls) to be slid into place between successive layers of parallel horizontal levels to allow entire sun exposed windowed portion of the structure to be solar energy productive as supplemented by retractable solar cells or other functionality as enabled by art structure as deployed in various and diverse circumstances. Art structures are able to be flexible deployed and redeployed into various environments because unlike prior art structures Art structures are designed and components hinged so components may all be moved on tractor trailer from which they erected and deconstructed to afford flexibly structurally supported movement tolerant safe housing and adjustment means built primarily into the vertical component which allows re orientation of entire levels of structure and/or movement or articulation means in peripheral panels to for instance capture solar energy. In a more general sense use of art structure for dwelling depicts one example of use of art structure panels to extend and/or accommodate human endeavor. The preferred embodiment illustrates an Art structure dwelling depicted as square or box dimension to facilitate stacking, adjacent structures expansion and reconfiguration to provide inexpensive high quality human habitat readily reconfigured, expanded, stylized and optimized to diverse geographic location and applications. The horizontal construct viewed from above can be of any shape which may be properly supported by the cross slotted vertical component. 
         [0012]    It is a yet another object of the present invention to construct homes that are better for the environment over a longer lifespan than prior art. One advantage of the present invention is that there is a significant reduction in materials required to build the home due to the savings in fasteners and framing materials. This results in a direct reduction in landfill waste when the home eventually has to be demolished. Another advantage of the present invention is that the cross slotted panels may be constructed with recyclable materials such as thermoplastics. During renovations and eventual demolition, the removed panels may be sent back to recycling centers instead of adding to landfill waste as is typical with prior art homes. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a top view of a cross slotted internally framed panel of the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIGS. 2A-2D  are perspective views showing the various stages of construction of a structure assembled using cross slotted horizontal and vertical panels. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of another structure having the capability to use movable and adjustable cross slotted panels. 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is a detailed view of a preferred means of moving cross slotted panels of the present invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the underside of a structure showing movable foundation elements for use in foundation corrective realignment. 
           [0018]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a water vessel with internal cabins and internal frame and decks assembled using the cross slotted panels of the present invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 7A  is an exploded assembly perspective view of a piece of furniture assembled without fasteners using the cross slotted panels of the present invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 7B  is a perspective view showing an assembled piece of furniture using the cross slotted panels of the present invention. 
           [0021]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a building with movable and adjustable exterior vertical panels. 
           [0022]      FIG. 9  is a detailed perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a constituent movable vertical exterior panel. 
           [0023]      FIG. 10  is a perspective view of a multi-storied building with a movable interior vertical wall panel shown in the retracted position. 
           [0024]      FIG. 11  is a perspective view of a multi-storied building with a movable interior vertical wall panel shown in the extended position. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0025]    Referring now to the drawing of  FIG. 1 , the features of a typical cross slotted panel will be described. The panel  100  is the common building block elemental structure to be used to build structures such as residential homes, furniture and inexpensive  3   d  rigid planar surfaced structures for various purposes and applications. Panel  100  has a plurality of slotted holes or cut outs  1 ,  2  and  3  that are to be used to join together with other panels to form the walls, ceiling and flooring of a home. The slotted holes are preferably made in both the horizontal (denoted in  FIG. 1  as the X direction) and vertical (denoted in  FIG. 1  as the Y direction). The hole shape is not limited to only square slots as are shown; other types of slotted cut shapes are also possible such as slots with corner radii, dovetail grooves, tongue-in-slot grooves, chamfered shapes and other types of slots that exist in prior art. The number of actual slots cut into panel  100  depends on the specific design of the structure. The panel length and width also varies depending on the structure specific design. The slotted cut may also vary in depth anywhere between a blind hole and a slot cut completely thru panel  100 . 
         [0026]    Holes  1 ,  2  and  3  may be cut either partially into or completely through panel  100 . These holes may serve in a plurality of functions including, but not limited to: (1) access for electrical, plumbing, HVAC or other common piping or cabling requirements for a structure; (2) as rough cut holes for installation of counters, sinks, doors or windows; and (3) for additional mating of panels or other objects used in the building of the structure. These holes may vary in shape and depth of cut as discussed previously. 
         [0027]    Said panels  100  are preferably designed for prefabrication in a manufacturing facility so as to help lower the overall cost of building a structure such as a home. Using modern tools such as CAD/CAM software, entire homes can be designed to be fabricated with CAD designed panels  100  which fit precisely together using one or more slotted holes  1 ,  2 , and  3  as shown in  FIG. 1 . Using this approach, it is estimated that as much as 50% of the onsite construction labor costs using traditional nail and wooden frame type fasteners of prior art may be saved. 
         [0028]    The thickness of panel  100  also may vary depending upon the loading requirements of the particular panel. The panels may be constructed from a variety or combination of common construction materials including but not limited to cement based materials, plastics, chemicals, metals, wood, wood fibers, composites, laminates, particle board, recycled materials, organic materials, living reactive tissues, gypsum board and plywood, some of which may be moved or mechanically movable and or articulated to accomplish purposes for which structure is constituted or to accommodate additional functionality. 
         [0029]    Referring now to all of the drawings in  FIG. 2A-2D , a preferred method of using panels  100  to build a structure shall now be discussed. Referring first to  FIG. 2A , a foundation  10  is formed from typical prior art methods such as using concrete. Two cross slotted vertical panels  20  are then joined together to form a reinforced floor support structure located above the foundation  10 . The panels  20  may be rigidly attached to foundation  10  using prior art construction methods such as fasteners. 
         [0030]    Referring next to  FIG. 2B , a second panel  40  is then joined to each of the previously assembled vertical panels  20  using at least two cross slots  41  located in panel  40 . In this embodiment, panel  40  is being used to create the first floor of the structure. Additional structural support may be further provided by mating panel  40  to vertical panels  20  using slots  42  located at the end faces of panel  40 . The vertical structure may contain as many levels or layers of horizontal development as practicable. 
         [0031]    Referring next to  FIG. 2C , one or more additional cross slotted vertical panels  20  are then joined together to create vertical walled elements of the structure. The vertical panels  20  may be designed in various lengths and widths to provide room for stairs, elevators and/or create room sizes to accommodate specific architectural designs. Some constituent panels  20  may also have hinges and collapsible or folding attributes to allow ease of shipment and assembly additional openings  25  cut into or caste upon them to create features such as doors, counters, sinks, showers, or window mounting locations on both vertical and or horizontal components. The flooring panel  40  may also have one or more additional openings  45  cut into it to create features such as a flight of stairs  30 . 
         [0032]    Referring finally to  FIG. 2D , the remainder of the structure is shown assembled using additional panels  50  and  60  to form the ceiling and roofing structures respectively. Additional vertical panels  70  may later be further assembled onto the structure to finish the outside exterior facades of the structure or provide additional structural support in applications particularly where the construct is stacked or placed in alignment with respect to adjoining structure or when further support is necessary or desired. 
         [0033]    It was discussed previously that another object of the present invention was to allow structures to be built that allow homes to be more energy efficient. Prior art construction methods result in structures that are fixed in shape and generally have no moving components other than door or window elements. Another advantage of using cross slotted panels to build structures is that it is possible to maintain the internal frame(s) of the structure yet change the external shape of vertical and/or horizontal panels and the shape of the structure to accomplish various objectives. With regards to designing more energy efficient structures, movable cross slotted panels can be used to add additional horizontal or vertical surface area or to add functionality using slotted edge connectivity to enclose structure with peripheral walls, securely affix extensions, expand construct by placing additional art structures adjacent and/or above art structure(s).  FIG. 3  shows a preferred embodiment of a structure built with cross slotted panels  20  which may be constructed with a variety of potential edge configurations to allow expansion or accommodate functionality which can be either permanently or temporarily attached to the edge piece or retracted into the panel(s) structure using attachments like movable components within slotted panels  80  that can extend outward from the roof panel  50  to add dimension to the overall structure, change the roof line, add functionality, capture solar energy or facilitate expansion with adjoining structure. In the preferred embodiment of  FIG. 3 , these movable panels  80  increase the surface area for solar energy collection compared with the roof surface area alone represented by panel  60 . It should also be obvious to one skilled in the art that another application using slotted edge connectivity to allow movable sub panels  80  to extend the structure (add a balcony or add or extend functionality with cranes, control surfaces, sails, lights, etc.). It should also be further obvious to one skilled in the art that the method of the present invention allows for non-rectangular shaped structures and/or features to be built such as Art structures with elliptical shapes, triangular shapes, “FIG.  8 ” shapes, circular shapes, parabolic shapes and so on. 
         [0034]    One preferred embodiment showing how the movable slotted panels  80  of the present invention could function is depicted in  FIG. 4 . Said roofing panel  50  has a plurality of slotted pockets  52  that would contain movable panel  80  when it the retracted position. Movement of the panel  80  can be achieved by using a hydraulic actuator unit  54  which can adjust the position of panel  80  using the hydraulic ram arm  56  which is rigidly attached to the rear face of panel  80 . Using a programmable logic controller (PLC), the position of each panel could be programmed to extend out during the day and retract when the sun sets in the evening. This feature would have the added or alternative advantage of hiding the solar panels or other functional enhancements inside the roofing panel  50  when not in use which would have significant aesthetic advantages over prior art which typically mounts the solar panels or lighting systems on the roof of homes for permanent viewing. One skilled in the art could also see that this method of using which is soundly structurally movable panels  80  could also be used to collect rainwater and or to utilize or extend the structural platform to accommodate other activity or desired functionality. 
         [0035]    Yet another application for fastener-less cross slotted panels  80  is to provide means for foundational corrective realignment. To illustrate this concept,  FIG. 5  shows a structure  500  having a plurality of adjustable movable foundation elements  15 . In the preferred embodiment, each foundation  10  would have a centralized hydraulic control unit  16 . Said control unit  16  would be able to independently adjust the position of each movable foundation element  15  using hydraulic power connections  17 . In the case of the structure  500 , there are eight independent movable foundation elements  15 . Movable foundation  15  allows for a very fine degree of control of the structure&#39;s leveling during the lifetime of the structure. The building&#39;s level may be adjusted in the longitudinal, transverse and vertical axis using this preferred and illustrated method of corrective realignment. One skilled in the art of construction could select and facilitate leveling using inclined planes at precut and prepared pry or adjustment points and otherwise design and appropriate number of adjustable foundation elements  15  based on the complexity of the structure&#39;s design as well as the stability of the environment in which the structure is to be built. 
         [0036]    Referring now to  FIG. 6 , it is yet another object of the present invention to provide a means to assemble other types of structures in addition to the preferred embodiment of a residential home.  FIG. 6  shows another embodiment of the present invention applied to the construction of a water vessel  600 . Vessel  600  consists of a watertight hull  605  and a plurality of main decks  610 , vessel  600  could also be a fuselage structure (not shown). The support structure for the lowest deck  610  is formed by two pairs of interlocking vertical panels  620  and  630 . One interlocking pair is located at the forward section of vessel  600  and the other is located at the aft section. Vertical panel  620  has an extended elevation which also interlocks with a cutout slot located in the second deck  610 . The third and fourth decks  610  are also similarly assembled using forward and aft pairs of interlocking vertical panels  620  and  630 . One skilled in the art of naval architecture could see how vessels of various sizes could be constructed using this method of slotted interlocking panels. Interior cabins of various sizes could also be further constructed by using additional vertical panels  620  and  630  with different lengths and widths to suit specific architectural goals. 
         [0037]    Yet another embodiment using the method of construction of the present invention is in the related field of furniture. Referring next to  FIG. 7A , a piece of furniture  700  is shown in an exploded assembly state. Furniture  700  is assembled completely without fasteners using a series of interlocking slotted horizontal and vertical panels. First, the base of furniture  700  is assembled using a set of vertical panels  710  which join together with a set of extended height vertical panels  720  using slots cut down approximately at the vertical centerline of each panel. Next, a horizontal panel  730  is assembled into the previous assembly using a slot at each end as shown. Further reinforcement is provided by the transverse slots cut at both ends of horizontal panel  730  which join into the corresponding slotted tabs of vertical panels  710 . A top horizontal panel  740  is then joined to the previous assembly using at least two slots which join to the corresponding slotted tabs of extended height vertical panels  720  as shown. The completely assembled piece of furniture  700  is shown in  FIG. 7B . 
         [0038]    Referring back to the preferred embodiment of a residential home constructed using the method of the present invention, it is further desired to build homes that may also have one or more movable exterior panels in contrast to the rigid, immobile siding that is typically built into prior art homes. Referring next to  FIG. 8 , a home  800  is shown constructed using the same interlocking cross slotted horizontal and vertical panel assembly method as discussed in reference to previous  FIG. 2(   d ). Home  800  is shown to have an exterior façade comprised of a plurality of fixed and immovable vertical wall panels  810 . The thickness of said exterior panels  810  is adjusted so as to allow a portion or the internal volume to be removed to form a pocket for movable vertical panels  820  to be stored. These internal volumes which are hidden when viewed from the exterior of the home are shown by the dashed lines for better clarity in  FIG. 8 . The fixed vertical exterior panels  810  also have cutout sections to allow the movable panels  820  to move into whenever desired. This embodiment allows for a home to be cooled by natural convection sources in nature such as by wind flowing through the openings in the home produced when a movable panel  820  is slid into the recessed pockets of fixed panels  810 . 
         [0039]    Next referring to  FIG. 9 , a preferred embodiment of a movable vertical panel  820  is shown in order to discuss some additional features. The main body  821  of the vertical panel  820  is composed of any combination of solid structural material appropriate to the structures use and purposes which could be not only be made of wood or similar cellulosic materials but also recyclable thermoplastic moldable materials such as polyethylene. Main body  821  may have one or more holes  822  cut into it at depths ranging from completely thru to small fractions of an inch in depth. The purpose of said holes  822  is to allow additional aesthetic and/or energy efficient components to be mounted to the movable panel  820 . Examples of aesthetic features include windows or decorative exterior siding panels. An example of an energy efficient component would be a solar panel. On the top and bottom ends of vertical panel  820  are rigidly attached wheel roller mounting brackets  824 . Said brackets  824  would typically be made of a higher strength material such as aluminum or steel. The purpose of brackets  824  is to locate a plurality of roller wheels  826 . Said wheels  826  would be assembled into said brackets  824  using techniques already known to those skilled in the art of sliding door construction. 
         [0040]    It is yet another object of the present invention to also allow internal structures within the home itself to also be movable and adjustable. To illustrate a preferred embodiment, a multi-storied residential building  900  is shown in  FIG. 10  and  FIG. 11 . Building  900  is preferably built using the method of the present invention as previously discussed in this specification. A vertical “L” shaped wall panel  920  is shown in  FIG. 10  such that the top surface of said panel is flush with the top floor of building  900 . For purposes of improved clarity the roof structure of building  900  is not shown in both  FIG. 10  &amp;  FIG. 11 . In this position, the vertical panel  920  is acting as a member of the top floor of building  900 . Using a preferred method of moving heavy masses such as the hydraulic ram previously discussed and referred to in  FIG. 4 , vertical L shaped wall panel  920  is moved upwards such that the top of the panel is flush with the ceiling level of the top floor as illustrated in  FIG. 11 . This embodiment clearly illustrates how the construction method of the present invention may allow for dynamic modifications to internal building architecture without the need for expensive and time consuming renovation work as is the case with prior art methods. 
         [0041]    It is a final object of the present invention of slotted panel construction to be utilized for the fabrication of electrical products and medical devices. One embodiment in the area of electrical products would be to fabricate electrical batteries for example PEM fuel cells which use stacked proton exchange membranes (PEM). By constructing PEM fuel cells with slotted membrane panels, more surface area could be packed into the same volume, thus increasing fuel cell efficiency by reducing the overall fuel cell volume. This method would be beneficial where space savings is a critical design input such as in cars and aerospace vehicles. Another embodiment in the field of medical devices would be for developing advanced design cardiovascular products such as artificial hearts and stent products. One skilled in the art of making medical devices could see the benefits of using movable panels to adjust blood flow within an artificial heart device for example.