Building structure

The object of the invention is to provide a building structure (1) that is free-standing, clear-span, for bulk storage of materials such as fertilizer, salt, sand, grain, coal, any granular-type material that must be covered and the like. The structural uniqueness of the interface joint (21) of the building structure (1) permits such building to be of variable straight-line, convex, concave profiles, or combinations of such profiles, to spatially accommodate not only materials to be stored, but also equipment to prepare such materials for storage. Said building structure (1) has a series of frustums, with each frustum being in and of itself an independent and self-supporting structure and with each frustum having a plurality of trapezoidal-shaped panels (5) having bottom and top plates (7) and (9). The panels (5) of a lower frustum are joined to the panels (5) of an upper frustum through their interface joints (21) of respective mating top plates (9) and bottom plates (7). Each top plate (9) forms with its panel (5) an interior angle (23) greater than 90 degrees and the planes of the interface joints (21) of such joined-together top and bottom plates (9) and (7) all lie below and outside the imaginary horizontal plane (25) of the building structure (1) thereby contributing to the solution of two problems of the art: hinge moment at the joints causing inward building collapse, and shear and sliding forces acting at the joints.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention relates to a building structure for bulk storage of 
materials such as fertilizer, salt, sand, grain, coal, any granular-type 
material that must be covered and the like. 
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION 
In accordance with the present invention, a building structure is provided, 
but is not countenanced in the prior art, in the form of a series of 
frustums, bolted and otherwise joined together. Each frustum, in and of 
itself, is an independent and self-supporting structure. Each frustum has 
a plurality of trapezoidal-shaped panels joined together. The top plate of 
a panel of a lower-disposed frustum is joined to a mating bottom plate of 
a panel of a upper-disposed frustum. Such top plate forms an interior 
angle of more than 90 degrees with its panel, and, in addition, the plane 
of such joined-together top and bottom plates must lie below and outside 
the plane of the building structure itself to obviate any problems arising 
of "hinge moment" to cause inward collapse at the joint, and any problems 
from shear and sliding forces which act at the building joints that are 
horizontally disposed. Since less material and fewer fastenings must be 
employed to hold the building together, considerable savings in not only 
material but labor costs result. 
The phenomenon of this invention and the construction, angular arrangement 
and disposition of its joined-together top and bottom panel plates not 
only permits such building structure to be a free-standing, clear-span 
building, but also permits such building to be of variable profiles and 
combinations of such profiles, such as straight-line, convex, concave. 
Since the building is free-standing, this allows the building to be erected 
at any location whether or not another structure or other types of support 
are available. Bulk material such as salt and sand are stored in remote 
areas where other buildings or support are non-existent. 
The building in this invention is clear-span. A clear-span building allows 
greater storage capacity for materials and minimizes structural damage to 
the building when heavy equipment such as payloaders and bulldozers are 
used inside the building. 
Bulk materials such as salt, sand, potash, sulphate, etc. all have 
differing angles of repose when stored in a "free pile". Therefore, to 
efficiently cover the different materials without undue wasted space, a 
variable profile is necessary. Since some materials soak up moisture from 
the air, the closer the building profile is to the particular material's 
angle of repose, the better. Not only can the profile of the building be 
varied, but also combinations of such profiles--straight-line, convex, 
concave--can be effected in one building. In other words, the profile may 
start as an outward bulge, change to a straight-line profile and finish 
with a concave profile. Such profile or combinations can be effected for 
reason of the unique interface design and interior angle of the panel top 
plate of a lower frustum with the mating panel bottom plate of the upper 
frustum. 
Such profile or combinations of same permits the profile of such building 
to be tailor-made for storing not only particular kinds of materials, but 
also for spatially accommodating certain functions to be performed for 
preparing such material for storage, such as equipment disposed in such 
building for use in drying grain to be stored, and thereupon storing such 
dried grain in the same building. Should it be desired to load the 
building by use of a conveyor through an opening at the top of the 
building to spread such grain over a surface or system that removes 
moisture from the grain before allowing the grain to fall in a free pile 
on the building floor, the top portion of the building would have to be 
larger than normal to spatially accommodate such equipment. Hence, such 
spatial accommodation would require a corresponding profile design change 
for the top portion of the building to house such equipment therein. 
Should the end-user of the building further require that the building be 
profiled to accommodate mechanical means for removal of such stored grain, 
such use of the building may require a combination profile starting as an 
outward bulge, straightening and then change to a concave profile to 
spatially accommodate and cover drying equipment. 
This invention makes further contributions to the art in that the building 
structure is made-up of factory-manufactured, prefabricated building 
panels that can easily be transported to the building site and from one 
place to another. This permits the main construction work of the building 
to be performed under ideal conditions where weather is not a factor, such 
as inside a manufacturing plant. Since the building components are such 
that standard-type trucks can readily transport them, no special hauling 
permits are necessary. 
The panels for each individual frustum can be assembled on the ground at 
the building site without the need for any further bracing or support. 
Since each frustum is, in effect, an independent and self-supporting, 
rigid structure, each frustum can be lifted by crane, or other suitable 
mechanical means, and be disposed for assembly and for being joined to the 
frustum immediately below it. This obviates the need for erection crews 
from working at great heights with resulting time and money saved in labor 
costs. 
Further savings are achieved through this invention because common building 
materials such as lumber and plywood are used, and for the reason that the 
design can readily be reworked to form a panel with unsophisticated 
equipment.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
In FIG. 1 of the drawings, reference numeral 1 generally refers to the 
free-standing, self-supporting, clear-span building structure for bulk 
storage of materials such as fertilizer, salt, sand, grain, coal, any 
granular-type material that must be covered, and the like. The structure 1 
shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 6 and 7 is of pyramidal configuration with 
straight-line sides rising from a base of polygonal configuration. The 
structure 1 has an entrance 3 of suitable dimensions to admit vehicles and 
equipment to unload and store materials, and to remove stored materials 
therefrom. 
The building structure 1 comprises a series of mating frustums bolted or 
otherwise suitably joined together. Each frustum has a plurality of 
similar and uniform panels 5, trapezoidal in shape, bolted or otherwise 
suitably joined together. Each frustum, in and of itself, constitutes an 
independent and self-supporting structure. 
Each of the panels of a lower-disposed frustum has an external surface area 
that is greater than the external surface area of a panel of the next 
succeeding upper-disposed frustum. Each panel 5 comprises a bottom plate 
7, top plate 9, lateral plates 11, studs 13, bridging 15 and a flat, 
plywood skin 17. The bottom plate 7, top plate 9 and lateral plates 11 of 
each panel 5 are suitably joined together such as by nailing, gluing and 
the like to form a flat, superstructure to which the flat, plywood skin 17 
is joined. Studs 13 are suitably joined to the bottom plate 7 and top 
plate 9 such as by nailing, gluing and the like. Since plywood comes in 
uniform dimensions of 4 by 8 feet, FIGS. 3 and 5 depict some of the studs 
13 disposed on their sides, 4 feet on their centers, to present thereby a 
greater surface area upon which to nail, glue or fix the plywood thereto. 
Solid bridging 15 disposed, as shown, between the lateral plates 11 and 
studs 13, and suitably joined thereto such as by nailing, gluing and the 
like, provides thereby strength and structural rigidity for such panel 5. 
The plywood skin 17 is suitably joined to the superstructure of the bottom 
plate 7, top plate 9, lateral plates 11, studs 13 and bridging 15 by 
gluing, nailing and the like. Each panel 5 has holes 19 formed through 
their plates. Such holes 19 are correspondingly aligned with adjacent 
holes in plates of mating lateral panels of such frustum, and, similarly, 
are correspondingly aligned with mating plates of panels in upper and 
lower disposed frustums, in order that the panels of a frustum can be 
joined together and in order that the assembled frustums can be joined to 
mating frustums. 
In FIG. 10 of the drawings, reference numeral 21 generally refers to a 
typical interface joint when a top plate 9 of a lower frustum is joined to 
the bottom plate 7 of a panel of a mating upper frustum. Each of the 
panels 5 is constructed so that the top plate 9 of a panel of a lower 
frustum will lie flat upon and engage its mating bottom plate 7 of the 
panel of the upper frustum. Hence, the upper surface of such top plate 9 
will be coplanar with the bottom surface of such bottom plate 7 to form 
such interface joint 21. Such joint 21 must observe two critical 
conditions. The first condition is that the interior angle 23 which such 
top plate 9 of the panel of such lower frustum forms with its plywood skin 
17 must be an obtuse angle or greater than 90 degrees; and the second 
condition is that the interface plane of such joined-together top and 
bottom plates 9 and 7 must be so disposed that it lies below and outside 
of the imaginary horizontal plane 25 of the building structure 1. For the 
sake of further clarity, an imaginary line 27 is shown drawn normal to the 
plywood skin 17 of panel 5. 
Assume for the sake of discussion of the first condition that the interior 
angle 23 which top plate 9 of the panel of the lower frustum forms with 
its plywood skin 17 were 90 degrees. Since the sloped exterior profile of 
the building structure shown in FIG. 10 is straight, the bottom plate 7 of 
the panel of such upper frustum would similarly form an angle of 90 
degrees with its plywood skin 17. Such resulting 90 degree joint angle 
would constitute a hinge moment and the building would tend to collapse 
inwardly at this joint and at such other similarly disposed 90 degree 
joints. 
Assume for the sake of discussion of the second condition that the building 
is now constructed such that the plane of the interface joint 21 of each 
top plate 9 joined together with its mating bottom plate 7 lies within the 
imaginary horizontal plane 25 of such building or that the plane of such 
interface joint 21 is coplanar with the imaginary horizontal plane 25 of 
such building. Such arrangement, construction and disposition of such 
interface joint 21 would result in the problems of shear forces and 
sliding forces acting at such horizontally disposed joints of the 
building; and, at considerable expense, attempts would have to be made to 
overcome these problems of shear and sliding forces by employing 
additional joint material of sufficient structural strength and by 
employing additional joint fastenings to hold the joints and thereby to 
hold the building itself together. 
It should have been discerned and appreciated from the foregoing 
description and discussion that this invention makes a unique contribution 
to solving the problems of the art by arranging and constructing the 
panels 5 such that the interior angle 23 which each top plate 9 forms with 
its plywood skin 17 is greater than 90 degrees while at the same time the 
plane of each of the interface joints 21 of such top and bottom plates 9 
and 7 will lie below and outside the imaginary plane 25 of the building. 
Thus, contributing to the solution of both problems: hinge moment at the 
joints causing inward building collapse, and shear and sliding forces 
acting at the joints. This invention also achieves considerable savings 
because less material and fewer fastenings must be employed to hold the 
joints and building together, along with considerable savings in labor 
costs. 
FIG. 11 is a perspective view of portions of two individual frustums of 
panels 5 before loading one on top of the other, as indicated by the 
dashed lines 29. The arrows 31, 33 and 35 indicate the directions of the 
forces as to static loading, reacting tensile and compression, 
respectively. 
FIG. 12 is a perspective view of portions of two of such individual 
frustums of panels 5 joined together and indicates thereon the 
transference of compression and tensile forces which are indicated by 
arrows 37 and 39, respectively. When such frustums are joined together, 
such tensile and compression forces 33 and 35 are converted to opposite 
reacting compression and tensile forces 37 and 39 because of the 
phenomenon of the particular and unique joint interface angle 21 utilized 
in this invention. 
FIG. 13 is a perspective view of three individual frustums of panels 5 in a 
potential loading mode and depicts the angular slope changes of panel 
construction to produce a building of variable profile. 
Since the normal profile of bulk material when stored is a straight line 
(the angle of repose of such stored material is indicated by reference 
numeral 41 applied to the dashed lines), the pyramidal configuration, as 
shown in FIG. 7, is "normally" employed. FIG. 7 depicts the lowermost 
portion of the frustum joined to a conventional base 43, such as a 
concrete footing. 
The plywood skin 17 is covered by conventional asphalt shingles 45. In FIG. 
1, the structure is shown as being provided with vents or windows 47. The 
peak of the structure has a cap 49 of any suitable construction. 
FIG. 8 depicts a building structure of variable profile to accommodate 
stored bulk material having an angle of repose indicated by reference 
numeral 51 applied to dashed lines. The lowermost frustum is joined to a 
conventional base 53, such as a concrete footing. The peak of the 
structure has a cap 55 of any suitable construction. The structure shown 
in FIG. 8 similarly has a series of frustums bolted or otherwise suitably 
joined together with each frustum having a plurality of uniform panels, 
trapezoidal in shape, that are bolted or otherwise suitably joined 
together. Nevertheless, each panel has a flat outermost plywood skin. 
Similarly, each frustum, in and of itself, constitutes an independent and 
self-supporting structure. 
FIG. 9 depicts a building structure of combination profiles achieved by 
employment of frustums, their panels and the unique joint interfaces of 
this invention. The building profile can be any combination of convex, 
concave or straight-line. The building profile in FIG. 9 was designed for 
the functional purpose of loading grain from the top, drying it and 
allowing it to descend for storage. The lowermost frustum is joined to a 
conventional base 57, such as a concrete footing. The structure has a 
series of frustums bolted or otherwise suitably joined together with each 
frustum having a plurality of uniform panels, trapezoidal in shape, bolted 
or otherwise suitably joined together. Each panel has a flat outermost, 
plywood skin. Similarly, each frustum, in and of itself, constitutes an 
independent and self-supporting structure. 
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY 
As should now be obvious from the description and nature of the building 
structure 1 of this invention, same can be utilized and exploited by 
industries, farms, municipalities, etc. for bulk storage of materials such 
as fertilizer, salt, sand, grain, coal, and any granular-type material 
that must be covered, and the like. The structural uniqueness of the 
interface joints 21 of the building structure 1 not only permits same to 
be a free-standing, clear-span building, but also permits such building to 
be of variable straightline, convex, concave profiles, or combinations of 
such profiles, not only to spatially accommodate the materials to be 
stored, but also to permit the building profile to be tailor-made in its 
design to spatially accommodate equipment, etc. for operations to be 
performed to prepare such material for storage. For example, the building 
can be tailor-made in its profile design to spatially accommodate 
equipment to dry grain for purposes of storage and to store such dried 
grain.