Patent GB-630562-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to a building construction
IPC: E04B1/343
Filed: 1946-06-20
Abstract: 630,562. Shelters for aircraft etc.; doors. WACHSMANN, K. June 20,1946, No. 18573. Convention date, June 22, 1945. [Classes 20(i) and 20(iii)] Relates to very large buildings, particularly aircraft hangers, and comprises a column supported roof and a series of portable wall units which may be selectively removed for the egress or admission of aircraft at any part of the building. The roof R, Fig. 2, is preferably of cantilever construction with wide spans, supported by columns C near the middle of the building, and each wall unit W may be self-propelled into place on its own undercarriage. The wall units may be arranged in sets as shown in diagramatic plan view in Fig. 17, each slightly inclined to the building line, and can be slid over one another in the directions indicated to make openings, e.g. they may be moved from the point A in opposite directions and juxtaposed in two sets Am and An. The sets of wall units may be completely withdrawn as shown at Y<SP>2</SP> and Y<SP>1</SP>. Each wall unit extends the full height of the side of the building, and comprises a rectangular frame structure F, Fig. 4, with lateral wings 31, 32 extending the height of the frame outwards from the corner posts 39, 40 and a metal panel 30 extending diagonally between 126 those cornet posts. The panel and wings are preferably of corrugated metal, and may be in one piece. The outer edges of the wings 31, 32 have sheet metal fins 54, 53 with flexible edge strips of rubber or the like. Horizontal guide rails 35, 36 extend along the front and rear of each wall unit, protuding slightly beyond the wings and at slightly different levels to intermesh with the companion rails on adjacent wall units, Fig. 7, rollers 88 being provided on the lower guide rails 36 to facilitate the sliding of the wall units over one another. Each wall unit has a retractable undercarriage comprising the castor units U and U<SP>1</SP> incorporating jacks J. Each jack comprises a piston 60, Fig. 13, bolted to the yoke 62 of the unit and extending into an upright cylinder 59 mounted on a platform 57 fixed to the frame F. Pneumatic pressure applied through the pipe 71 gives a downward thrust on the castor unit and lifts the whole wall unit. Self-propulsion of the wall unit is achieved by a motor 37 on one of the castor units, either an electric motor or a pneumatic turbine, from which motion is transmitted through reduction gearing 68, 69 to the wheel 65. Each castor unit may be latched against swivelling by a latch 74 urged into a notch in the latch plate 73, and retractable e.g. by a solenoid 77. Compressed air may be separately supplied, or stored in the hollow tubes 39, 40 &c. The wall units are positioned by a series of downward channels 33, Fig. 11, on the underside of the roof, engageable by spring latch bolts 34 in the tops of the frame posts 38 and 40, the channels 33 being at the required angle to the building line to guide the wall units into the desired inclination thereto. An inclined ledge 85 along the edge of the channel 33 depresses the latch bolts 34 as the wall unit is moved under it, and when the wall unit is in its home position the latch bolts snap into place. The undercarriage is then retracted by releasing the air pressure and the wall unit settles on the ground, the channels 33 and the guide rails 35, 36 being deep enough to remain in engagement. Means for automatically sealing the gap between the top of the wall unit and the roof comprise a closure slide 95 of sheet metal movable in a downward channel guide 96 on the undersurface of the roof which aligns it with the panel 30 and the wings 31, 32, and a locking arm 97, Fig. 15, which ensures that the slide 95 is free to drop and rest on the angle 52, which covers the horizontal edge of the sheet 30, when the wall unit is lowered in position, but which holds up the slide 95 when the wall unit is absent. The locking arm 97 is counterweighted at 100 so that it engages under the block 102 on the slide 95 and so normally holds it up, but when the wall unit is lowered home a tripper plate 103 engages the finger 104 on the arm 97 and so releases the slide, the arm 97 being held back, after the plate 103 has passed, by the inturned edge 95e of the slide 95. The gaps between the adjacent wall units are sealed by the flexible strips on the edges of the fins 53, 54, which can engage one another in all the different relative positions of adjacent wall units indicated in Fig. 17. The ends of the semi-elliptical springs of a trailer axle may be shackled about the corner posts of the frame F of a wall unit when lowered to a horizontal position, thus converting it into a trailer. The wall units can be made reversible, i.e. slidable to the left instead of to the right, by inverting them and repositioning the undercarriage UU<SP>1</SP>, the latch bolts 34, the guide rails 35, 36 and the tripper plates 103.