US2031937A - Arch building construction - Google Patents

Description

. Feb. 25, 1936.

Filed D80. 14, 1931 Patented F b. 25, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ARCH BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Louis Davidson, Hewlett, N. Y.

Application December 14, 1931, Serial No. 580,927

7 Claims. (Cl. 108--23) The present invention relates to long span arch building constructions and aims to provide certain improvements therein.

An object of my present invention is to pro.- vide long span arch building constructions especially adapted for use as auditoriums, natatoriums, arenas, airplane hangars, garages, etc., where columns, supporting posts and other obstructions are practically eliminated from the interior so as to provide a maximum of unobstructed floor area. Another object of the invention is to construct such buildings having arches of from thirty to one hundred and fifty feet spans in a simple, practicable and economical manner, and wherein the skeleton frame of the building may be made of either timber or steel, or a combination of both, depending upon which is cheaper or more readily available in the locality where the structure is to be erected. Still another object of the invention is to provide a building construction of the type described, wherein the roof-supporting structure may be composed of a large number of arch members or may be of a sort of lattice-like construction known as the lamella form. A still further object of the invention is to provide a building of the type described wherein adequate head room will be provided at the spring line of the arches for the erection of a reviewing stand, and also for a balcony if desired.

The present invention is an improvement upon my application, Serial No. 315,408, filed October 27, 1928, in that the present construction makes practicable the use of short small section timbers or short steel lengths for long arch roof spans without the customary exposed tie-rods and without the objectionable bents, buttresses or heavy walls often employed to take the place of tierods. The most economical construction for these light, closely spaced arches is to bring them down to the floor (spring line), but because of the seat interference or space required at the floor, most of the segments at the floor or in proximity thereto are omitted.

According'to my present invention I provide a practicable means for omitting these segments in proximity to the floor and at the seats, and at the same time, the few remaining terminal segments, which are usually made stronger, can

. be connected into the light roof arches and the concentrated loading of the terminal segments distributed into many of the light arches without locally overstraining them. This invention can also be used with what is known as the lamella type of roof construction.

The various objects of my invention and other objects not specifically enumerated, I accomplish in a simple, practical and economical manner, as will be apparent from a detailed description which follows, when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing showing several embodiments of my invention, and wherein Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 show fractional transverse sections of buildings employing various forms of my arch constructions.

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are plan sections taken along the lines 5-5, 6-6 and 1--'! of Figs. 1, 3 and 2, respectively.

Figs. 8 and 9 are sections taken substantially along the planes of the lines 8-8 and 9-9 of Figs. 2 and 4, respectively.

Fig. 10 is a view corresponding to Figs. 5, 6 and 7, showing the invention applied to an arch construction of the lamella type.

Fig. 11 is a detail fractional transverse section H of the invention when applied to the lamella type of roof construction shown in Fig. 10.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 5' of the drawing, let A indicate a retaining and enclosing wall supported on a suitable foundation B, and C the floor of the building. Within the wall A and extending upwardly from the fioor C at the foundation B are a plurality of long span arches D composed of segments E, F and G, which are suitably connected together in a manner such as to transmit the strains of the arch through the connecting means, and the terminal segments G of the arches having portions g extending beyond the curvature of the arch, for a purpose which will presently be made apparent. The arches D have their spring line at substantially the level of the floor of the building, and said ends are connected together beneath the surface of the floor by suitable tie-rods H or other usual means to resist the outward thrust of the arch. Between the arches D are long span arches which are composed of segments E and F which terminate and have their ends disposed substantially above the floor line. Preferably the arches with the terminal segments G are more widely spaced apart than those arches composed of the segments E and F, and in practice said spacings may be in the ratio of one to about ten. All the arches are disposed in parallel or lattice relation and are connected together in any suitable or approved manner, such, for ex- 0 ample, by girders I, J and K which extend at right angles to the arches. For the purpose of receiving the load and strains of the roof-supporting segments of the arch constructions and distributing them to the terminal arch segments which ill are more widely spaced apart than the roof-supporting segments, I provide the tie or primary arch sub-segments L which are supported in part by the roof-supporting arch structure and in part by the terminal segments G, and are connected to the ends of the latter which extend beyond the curvature of the arch, as indicated at l, in any suitable manner, such, for example, by bolting, riveting, welding or the like. Sub-segments (L) is a term I employ to designate members when joined together for permitting the roof of the building to be continued and to be built away and outwardly from the arches proper. The ties or arch subsegments L may be either closely spaced apart or widely spaced apart, as desired, and in Fig. 5 I have shown said segments as correspondingly spaced with the segments E. To deliver the thrusts of all the closely spaced arch segments E into the greatly spaced terminal arch segments G, I rely upon the girders K, and instead of making said girders large, I provide a truss in the plane of the segments F with the girder K becoming one chord of the truss and the girder J the other chord, with rods and turn-buckles l' disposed as shown in Fig. 5. The segments F, which are sub tended by the arch sub-segments L and the portion 9 of the terminal arch segments G, may likewise be either closely or widely spaced apart, as desired, depending upon the strains to be borne by said components of the arch construction and whether or not the-building is to be provided with a balcony, it being apparent that if such balcony is provided, the sections F will be widely Spaced apart so as not to interfere with the seating arrangements thereof. A secondary arch sub-segment may be provided between the terminal arch segments G and the enclosing wall A, as shown at M, said arch sub-segment being supported at one end by the wall A, and at its other end either upon the arch segments G or upon the girder K which connects the segments G. If desired, there may be erected within the building and extending from the wall A to a point inwardly therefrom onto or in proximity to the floor C, a suitable reviewing stand N supported in any desired manner, and preferably in part by a girder g connecting the arch segments G. It will be apparent that sufficient head room will be provided between the top of the stand N and the arch subsegments M and L, and if desired or deemed necessary, a balcony may be extended outwardly over the stand N and supported by the arches. The arch building construction may be suitably ornamented on the exterior and provision made for the access of light and air to the interior of the building, such, for example, by the windows a in the wall A and a in a secondary wall A, which extends between the secondary arch segments M and the primary arch segments L.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 7 of the drawing, it will be noted that the arch construction is substantially the same as that disclosed in Fig. 1 excepting with regard to the character of the roof arch segments E and the manner in which the arch segment F, which is subtended by the arch sub-segment L and the portion 9 of the terminal segment G, is secured to the latter. The roof arch segments E are preferably formed of lumber and are connected to the girders I, which are likewise made-of lumber, in any desired manner, and preferably as shown and described in my copending application, Serial No. 315,408, filed October 27, 1928. The arch segment F is secured at one end to the I-beam girder J, and at its other end is secured to the terminal segment G through the medium or a T connection 0, the upright top arch sub-segments L, which are in part supported by the arch proper. To deliver the thrusts of all the closely spaced arch segments E into the greater spaced terminal arch segments F the girders J are relied upon, and in order that said girders may not be made too large I provide a truss in the plane of the segments E with the girder J becoming one chord of the truss and the sub-segment L the other chord, with tie-rods and turnbuckles l disposedas shown in Fig. 6. Rods and turnbuckles Z are relied upon as additional sway rods for stifiening purposes. In said Fig. 3 the sub-segment L is provided with purlins Z for supporting the roof elements, and a wall A extends adjacent to the support portion p. In this construction the arch segments F are connected directly to the support P by suitable bolts, rivets or welding, as shown at 12 and the horizontal thrust of the arch is resisted by tie-rods H,

and dead weights P connected to the supports P by girders P In other respects the arch building construction shown in Fig. 3 is similar to that disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2.

In Fig. 4 the arch construction therein disclosed is substantially identical with that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, excepting that the wall A is disposed in abutting relation to the portion 57 of the terminal segment G, and the arch segment F is directly connected at one end of the arch sub-segment L i and at its other end to the terminal segment G. In this construction it will be noted that the segment F is composed of two channel members f one disposed on each side of the segments G and L and secured to the segment G in an ordinary manner with rivets or bolts, and plates and angles. The member F is further reinforced by having its segments I connected together by tie-cleats F. It will be understood that the construction of Fig. 8 is also applicable to the constructions shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

In Figs. 10 and 11 I.have.shown an adaptation of the invention to arch building constructions wherein the roof-supporting construction of the arch is of lattice-like form or of the lamella type, and comprises a reticulated framework R comprising segments or lamella r disposed angularly with relation to one another, the ends or two substantially aligned lamellae engaging another segment which extends at an angle thereto at substantially its middle point. Suitable nailing strips S extending transversely of the curvature of the arch are usually employed with this type of construc ion for providing suitable securing means for the roofing boards. Instead 01 this type of roof-supporting structure being supported at the spring line of the arch upon buttresses, retaining walls or the like, I propose to connect said lamellas extreme ends upon a suitable girder or beam K, which, in turn, is connected to the widely spaced arch segments G in a manner similar to the-constructions above described and comprising an arch sub-segment L for receiving the load and distributing the strains upon the lamella forming roof arches and for distributing said loads to the terminal segments or supports of said arch construction. For supporting the sub-segment L upon the lamella roof construction I employ wooden beams or girders J.

While I have shown and described several embodiments of my invention and the manner in which the same can be carried out, I do not wish to be limited to the details of construction disclosed, since it will be apparent to a worker skilled in the art that the details of construction may be varied within the range of engineering skill without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A building construction having a plurality of long span arches, said arches being divisible into two groups, one group having its ends terminating above the floor line and spaced relatively close together, and the other group having its ends at substantially the floor level and spaced relatively far apart, the terminal segments of many arches oi the second group of arches having portions rigidly connected therewith extending beyond the curvature of the arch, and arch sub-segments connecting certain of the arches to the extending portions of the terminal segments of the second group of arches outwardly of the arch so that accumulated stresses in said terminal segments will be distributed back into the arches proper.

2. A building construction according to claim 1, characterized in that it has secondary arch sub-segments connecting certain'of the arches to supports outwardly of the arches.

3. A building construction according to claim 1, characterized in that it has secondary arch sub-segments connecting certain of the arches to supports extending upwardly from the spring line of the second group of arches outwardly oi the arches.

4. A building having an arched roof construction, comprising a plurality of long span arches, supporting means for said roof construction forming part of certain of the long span arches proper, and arch sub-segments supported in part by the supporting means and in part by the arched roof construction, the arch sub-segments being connected together by truss-like constructions.

5. A building having an arched roof construction, comprising a plurality of long span arches, supporting means for said roof construction forming part of certain of the long span arches proper, and arch sub-segments supported in part by the supporting means and in part by the arched root construction, the arch sub-segments being connected together by truss-like constructions and that portion of the arch roof construction adjacent to said sub-segment sections being also of truss-like construction.

6. A building construction having a plurality of long span arches some of which are supported at about the floor level, and others of which are shorter and terminate above the floor level, means connecting the first group of arches and to which means the ends of the second group of arches are connected, the first group of arches having terminal segments, the tops of which extend upwardly above the ends of the shorter arches, and

means connecting the upwardly-extending ends of the terminal segments of the first group of arches to the arches proper to form triangular braces.

'1. An arched roof building construction having a plurality of long span arches, a minor number of which are supported at about the door level and the major number of which are somewhat shorter and terminate above the floor level, girders (K) extending transversely to the planes of the arches cgnnecting the longer arches together and supporting the ends of the shorter arches, the longer arches having straight terminal segments (G) or P, the tops of which extend upwardly beyond the arches, and means connecting the tops of said terminal segments with the arches above the girders and forming triangular braces below the rooi.

LOUIS DAVIDSON.

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