Abstract:
A site-assembled emergency shelter has matching site-assembly portions (21) that can be juxtaposed adjacently for low-volume packaging for shipment and then assembled on site. A wide selection of sizes and shapes are included. For different shelter uses, objectives and preferences, different structural materials such as fiberglass, some aluminum alloys, some stainless-steel alloys and other materials can be selected for appearance, endurance, weight, strength, cost and other factors. Installation components such as ground anchors (10, 11, 18), air circulators (9), accesses (4, 5), handling members (8), flotation ballasts (12) and communications (13) are provided.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to emergency shelters for protection against tornados, hurricanes, floods, fire, earthquakes, burglary, bombs and other hazards. 
     A variety of emergency shelters previously have been site-constructed of cement, steel, fiberglass and other materials for particular uses. Others have been manufactured in an assembled condition for particular applications. None are known to be site-assembled from matching parts as taught by this invention. 
     Examples of different but related emergency shelters are described in the following patent documents. U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,178, issued to Aubert on Mar. 18, 1997, described a tunnel-like structure made of corrugated metallic half shells. U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,166, issued to Qualline, et al. on Sep. 11, 1990, described a tornado underground shelter having a truncated spherical form. U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,360, issued to Kuehnl on Feb. 21, 1989, described an underground supply room for supplying goods and services to vendors in a retail outlet above it in a parking lot. U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,334, issued to McCarthy on Apr. 28, 1987, described a blast shelter with a separate command station. U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,158, issued to Thornton on Oct. 7, 1986, described a mobile-home tornado shelter with a ladder leading from a trailer lot. U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,144, issued to Gustafsson, et al. on Aug. 13, 1985, described an underground bomb shelter with cellular storage compartments. U.S. Pat. No. 3,212,220, issued to Boniecki, et al. on Oct. 19, 1965, described an &#34;ovaloid&#34; or egg-shaped shelter. U.S. Pat. No. 288,354, issued to Mileham on Nov. 13, 1883, described a cylindrical cyclone refuge. 
     Regardless of catastrophic damages that occur from tornados, hurricanes, floods, fire, earthquakes, burglary, bombs and other hazards, relatively little protection against them is provided because of variously prohibitive problems with present protection alternatives. The most expensive alternative is insurance which is designed for replacement compensation instead of prevention of irreplaceable losses from major hazards. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In light of these problems, objects of patentable novelty and utility taught by this invention are to provide a site-assembled emergency shelter which: 
     Can be produced at sufficiently low cost to merit its unlikely but perilous need; 
     Can be structured for protection against a wide selection of hazards; 
     Can be marketed either assembled or unassembled; 
     Can be packaged for low-bulk, inexpensive and convenient transport; 
     Is relatively easy for an inexperienced person to assemble; 
     Can be made in sizes to meet different use requirements; 
     Can be positioned underground for protection against such hazards as tornados, hurricanes, fire, bombs and fallout; 
     Can be positioned partially underground and partially above ground for protection against hurricanes, floods and earthquakes; 
     Can be positioned underfloor for protection against burglary in addition to all of the above; 
     Can be used for storage of food and water to meet disaster needs; and 
     Can be used as an annex to a building. 
     This invention accomplishes these and other objectives with a site-assembled emergency shelter having matching shelter portions that can be juxtaposed adjacently for low-volume packaging for shipment and then assembled on site. A wide selection of sizes and shapes are included. For different shelter uses, objectives and preferences, different structural materials such as fiberglass, some aluminum alloys, some stainless-steel alloys and other materials can be selected for appearance, endurance, weight, strength, cost and other factors. Installation components such as ground anchors, air circulators, accesses, handling members, flotation ballasts and communications are provided. 
     The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention should become even more readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described illustrative embodiments of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     This invention is described by appended claims in relation to description of a preferred embodiment with reference to the following drawings which are described briefly as follows: 
     FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a domed cylindrical shelter partially in the ground; 
     FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a domed cylindrical shelter underground except for an entrance hatch; 
     FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a domed cylindrical shelter partially having a tie-down line and a ballast tank for floating in the event of floods; 
     FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a domed cubical or rectangularly domed shelter having a tie-down line and a ballast tank for floating protection from flooding; 
     FIG. 5 is a top view of a cubically domed shelter; 
     FIG. 6 is a front view of the FIG. 5 illustration; 
     FIG. 7 is a top view of a rectangularly domed shelter; 
     FIG. 8 is a side view of the FIG. 7 illustration underground; 
     FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway side view of a cubically domed shelter in pieces for packaging and transportation before being site-assembled; 
     FIG. 10 is an end view of a cylindrically domed shelter in pieces for packaging and transportation before being site-assembled; 
     FIG. 11 is an end view of a cubical shelter in pieces for packaging and transportation before being site-assembled; 
     FIG. 12 is a partially cutaway side view of a cylindrically domed shelter in pieces for packaging and transportation before being site-assembled; 
     FIG. 13 is a partially cutaway side view of a cubically domed shelter in pieces for packaging and transportation before being site-assembled; 
     FIG. 14 is a partially cutaway side view of a curve joiner; 
     FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of the cylindrical joint taken through line 14--14 of FIG. 14; 
     FIG. 16 is a partially cutaway side view of a plane joiner; 
     FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view of the angle joint taken through line 16--16 of FIG. 16; 
     FIG. 18 is a partially cutaway side view of a pole ladder for shelter hatchways; 
     FIG. 19 is a side view of an under-building shelter and a partially underground shelter in relationship to a building; and 
     FIG. 20 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a rectangular shelter with a slanted door. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Terms used to describe features of this invention are listed below with numbering in the order of their initial use with reference to the drawings. These terms and numbers assigned to them designate the same features wherever used throughout this description. 
     
         ______________________________________1.     Base portion    15.     Escape hatch2.     Wall portion    16.     Slide pole3.     Roof portion    17.     Rungs4.     Door            18.     Ground5.     Hatchway        19.     Building6.     Hatchway closure                  20.     Curved joining edges7.     Hinges          21.     Site-assembly portions8.     Lift-hook attachments                  22.     Straight joining edges9.     Air conveyance  23.     Curve joiner10.    Anchor line     24.     Plane joiner11.    Land anchor     25.     Joiner walls12.    Ballast tank    26.     Joiner bolts13.    Ariel           27.     Shipping containers14.    Under-building safe room                  28.     Transom______________________________________ 
    
     Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 9-14, a site-assembled emergency shelter has a base portion 1, a wall portion 2 and a roof portion 3 with site-assembly portions that fit together juxtaposed adjacently in an unassembled mode, as shown in FIGS. 9-13, for transportation. 
     Referring to FIGS. 1-8, 19, and 20, the wall portion 2 can be vertically cylindrical with preferably but not necessarily a slight taper and the base portion 1 correspondingly circular as depicted in FIGS. 1-3. Optionally as desired, the wall portion 2 can be vertically rectangular with or without a slight taper and the base portion 1 square as indicated in FIGS. 4-6. Further optionally, the wall portion 2 can be horizontally rectangular and the base portion 1 correspondingly rectangular as depicted in FIGS. 7-8. As shown in FIG. 20, the wall portion 2 and the base portion 1 both can be rectangular. 
     Tapering of the wall portion 2 provides not only structural rigidity but also a positioning means by being wedged under ground as shown in FIGS. 1 and 19. A positioning means also is provided by structural capacity to support ground overburden on the roof portion 3 as shown in FIGS. 2, 8 and 19. 
     At least one securable access to an inside periphery of the site-assembled emergency shelter is provided by optionally a door 4 as shown in FIGS. 1, 3-6 and 19-20 or a hatchway 5 with a hatchway closure 6 as shown in FIGS. 2, 7-8, and 19. The door 4 is preferably a flotation member that can be removed from its hinges 7. 
     Lift-hook attachments 8, as depicted in FIGS. 1-8 and 19-20, are provided to aid on-site assembly and mobility after assembly. 
     An air conveyance 9 as indicated in FIGS. 1-8 and 19-20 is preferably a telescopic tube in securable communication with an outside source of clean air and an inside periphery of the site-assembled emergency shelter. Securement of the air supply can be with an air conveyance 9 that is telescopic as shown in FIGS. 1-8 and 19-20 but also can be positioned permanently in a secure position such as indicated also in FIG. 19. 
     An anchor line 10 attached to a land anchor 11, as shown in FIGS. 3-4 is a positioning means for sheltering protection against floods. The anchor line 10 is preferably sufficiently long to anchor in flood water as deep as probable for a particular area. The anchor line 10 also is preferably releasable. 
     To aid verticality of buoyance, a ballast tank 12 shown in FIGS. 3-4 can be provided in a bottom of site-assembled emergency shelters that are intended for positioning on the ground or partially in the ground. The ballast tank 12 is preferably for potable water or other fluid that is stored in the ballast tank 12 for emergencies. Flood water also can be used for ballast as shown by outside connections. 
     Two stories as shown in FIGS. 1-4, 19 and 20 can be provided not only for people capacity but also for storage of food, water, communications equipment, flotation devices and survival equipment such as fishing and hunting implements. The horizontally rectangular site-assembled emergency shelter underground with a fast-entry hatchway as shown in FIGS. 7-8 is preferable for some conditions such as near schools. 
     An ariel 13 shown in FIG. 19 can be provided in the event of failure or unavailability of satellite communications. 
     An under-building safe room 14 with a hatchway closure 6 as shown in FIG. 19 can shelter against a plurality of hazards such as burglary, tornados, hurricanes, flood, fire, earthquakes and bombs. For maximum protection, the hatchway closure 6 is optionally sealable from the inside, has a plurality of particularly secure air conveyances 9 and has an alternate escape route through an escape hatch 15 such as oil-well casing that is made of steel and extends high enough to prevent entry of burglars or flood water. Preferably, the escape hatch 15 also has an inside-sealable hatchway closure 6. 
     For convenience in vertical access through hatchways, through the escape hatch 15 and from-floor-to-floor of a multiple-storied shelter, a pole ladder having a slide pole 16 and positional rungs 17 as shown in FIGS. 18-20 can be used. The rungs 17 can be left off for sliding down the slide pole 16 for fast entrance and then hand-positioned conveniently for going up the pole ladder. This is a particularly convenient and space-saving use of oil-well casing or other tubing for the escape hatch 15. A burglar coming down it if possible to enter it, could be stopped and trapped by a closure entrance into the site-assembled emergency shelter. 
     An annex of shelter rooms as conveniently positioned in relation to a dwelling as indicated in FIG. 19 can be used for common purposes such as a quiet room, a study, a bedroom or a storage room in addition to use for sheltering against intended hazards. They can also have access to air conditioning or heating if needed under ground 18 proximate a building 19. 
     Referring to FIGS. 9-17, curved joining edges 20 that are side-joining edges of site-assembly portions 21 can be joined and sealed with any of a selection of known means for joining metal if metal is used or for joining fiberglass if fiberglass or other plastic material is used for construction of an intended emergency shelter. Similarly, straight joining edges 22 that are side-joining edges of site-assembly portions 21 can be joined and sealed with any of a selection of known means for joining metal if metal is used or for joining fiberglass if fiberglass or other plastic material is used for construction of an intended emergency shelter. 
     Regardless of which type of material is used for construction of intended emergency shelters, a preferred means for joining curved joining edges 20 is with a curve joiner 23 shown in FIGS. 14-15 and a preferred means for joining straight joining edges 22 is with a plane joiner 24 as shown in FIGS. 16-17. Both have length approximately equal to lengths of material to be joined. Both have material channels between joiner walls 25 and both have joiner bolts 26 that are used to force the joiner walls 25 together against opposite sides of material 20 and 22 positioned between the joiner walls 25. A cement for some relatively plastic materials and a gasket for relatively hard structural materials can be positioned on opposite sides of the structural materials 20 and 22 to aid tightness of sealing. Angles between oppositely disposed channels having joiner walls 25 can be structured for particular shelter designs. 
     As shown in FIGS. 9-13, the site-assembly portions 21 of intended emergency shelters or of the base portion 1, the wall portion 2 or the roof portion 3 thereof are made to fit juxtaposed adjacently for transportation in shipping containers 27 that are represented generally by dashed lines. Site-assembly portions 21 of rectangularly shaped emergency shelters can be single sides 2 stacked for shipment as shown in FIG. 9 with a dome-shaped top portion 3 and peripheral components packaged on top of them. Circular or cylindrical site-assembly portions 21 or optionally, rectangular site-assembly portions 21 can be structured as enclosure portions as shown in FIGS. 10-13 and juxtaposed adjacently for shipment. 
     As shown in FIGS. 1, 3-4 and 20, doors 4 of intended emergency shelters having them instead of hatchways 5 can have transoms 28 that provide structural integrity. 
     A new and useful site-assembled emergency shelter having been described, all such foreseeable modifications, adaptations, substitutions of equivalents, mathematical possibilities of combinations of parts, pluralities of parts, applications and forms thereof as described by the following claims and not precluded by prior art are included in this invention.