US3628338A

US3628338A - Shipbuilding device

Info

Publication number: US3628338A
Application number: US858425A
Authority: US
Inventors: Kiyoshi Tersi; Tatsumi Kurioka; Hideshi Takeuchi; Zirou Nakao
Original assignee: Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd
Current assignee: Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd; Kawasaki Motors Ltd
Priority date: 1968-09-21
Filing date: 1969-09-16
Publication date: 1971-12-21
Anticipated expiration: 1988-12-21
Also published as: GB1289357A; DE1947153A1

Abstract

A movable building structure surrounds a ship during its construction and is composed of a front frame and a rear frame each including pillar members supporting the building structure which spans across rails, one or more of which are laid on both sides of a building dock building the ship and also to one side of an area accommodating surface plates for assembling parts of the ship structure. The front and rear frames are combined into a boxlike construction and a plurality of overhead traveling cranes are supported inside of the building structure by the frames and pillars. The whole building structure rests on wheels or rollers which rotate on the rails, allowing the building structure to be moved along the rails in accordance with the progress of the shipbuilding works by a hydraulic winch.

Description

United States Patent Inventors Appl. No.

Filed Patented Assignee Priorities SHIPBUILDING DEVICE 3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

11.8. C1 61/67, 114/65, 114/77 Int. Cl B631! 9/00, B63c 3/00 Field of Search 61/64, 68,

References Cited Primary Examiner-Jacob Shapiro At!orney-Sughrue, Rothwell, Mion, Zinn & Macpeak ABSTRACT: A movable building structure surrounds a ship during its construction and is composed of a front frame and a rear frame each including pillar members supporting the building structure which spans across rails, one or more of which are laid on both sides of a building dock building the ship and also to one side of an area accommodating surface plates for assembling parts of the ship structure. The front and rear frames are combined into a boxlike construction and a plurality of overhead traveling cranes are supported inside of the building structure by the frames and pillars. The whole building structure rests on wheels or rollers which rotate on the rails, allowing the building structure to be moved along the rails in accordance with the progress of the shipbuilding works by a hydraulic winch.

FATENIEB HERE? I979 SHEET 1 [1F 2 smrsmwino DEVTCIE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a building structure for overlying a ship or like large structure, and more particularly one which carries a plurality of overhead traveling cranes and weather protective members such as roofs and walls to surround the ship during construction to protect the same from the effects of any undesirable weather.

2. Description of the Prior Art Heretofore, although various proposals have been made under the expectation of obtaining all-weather-type shipbuilding facilities, none of them have yet proved to be satisfactory because some of them which cover the whole building dock of building berth and also the surface plate storage area involve an exceedingly high initial cost. Those covering merely one or more of a plurality of portions of the building dock or the like are not movable. Furthermore, the type employing the conventional Goliath" crane creates undesirable deformations in its structural members although the crane is movable along the building dock or the like area.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention provides a shipbuilding device which is movable along the building dock or the like, and which, in sequence, can cover substantially whole working area in accordance with a suitable arrangement of the working schedule, and which is economical in its construction.

The invention provides sufficient protection against all kinds of weather, allowing the assembling works of shipbuilding to be carried out in an automated manner.

The invention further provides a novel shipbuilding structure which has the least possibility of deformation, with the operation of the cranes or other assembling facilities thus being highly efficient. I

An additional object of the invention is to provide a novel construction of a shipbuilding device which is comparatively light in weight and has an improved movability.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved by a novel construction of a shipbuilding structure according to the present invention which comprises a front and a rear frame including a number of pillar members mounted on frames which span across rails. One or more of the rails are laid on both sides of a building dock or a building berth and also to one side of an area accommodating surface plates for use in assembling ships or the like. The front and rear frames are combined into a boxlike construction. A plurality of overhead traveling cranes are supported on said frames and pillars. Means are provided for allowing the whole building structure to be shifted along the shipbuilding dock or the like and consist of antifriction members such as wheels or rollers rotatable on the rails. Thus, when the building structure is desired to be moved to another location, the device may be easily tracted by employing separate traction devices such as hydraulic winches.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a movable shipbuilding structure according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 schematically shows various positions taken by the shipbuilding structure of the invention in accordance with the progress of the shipbuilding works;

FIG. 3 is a schematical front view of a conventional Goliathtype crane overlying a building dock.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to FIG. l, a shipbuilding structure according to the present invention comprises a plurality of overhead traveling cranes ll of heavy load capacity. Supporting means 2 means 2. Means d renders the shipbuilding structure movable along rails 5, and comprise, for instance, wheels, rollers, or balls. Scaffolds 6 are movable vertically and horizontally for working on the flank of the vessel. A plurality of overhead traveling cranes '7 of light load capacity are intended solely to transport welding apparatus to the desired working areas. Although not included as a part of the building structure, there are provided a plurality of conveyors 8 for transporting building blocks and the like into the building structure for vessel 9 now under construction.

In FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C, there are indicated the cases where the building structure according to the present invention is moved from a position A to position B and then to another position C in accordance with the building schedule of the ship or other large structure.

In order to utilize the building device according to this invention effectively, the building work outdoors of the ship or the like structure is so arranged that the work is sectionalized along the longitudinal length and that the assembling work of each of the longitudinally divided (laterally cut) sections is carried out according to a predetermined plan.

That is, when assembling work for one laterally cut section is completed, the subsequent laterally cut section of the ship' is then assembled and the building device according to the present invention is moved over to the new section prior to working on the new section. By this, the working area at any stage of the building vessel is always covered by the building structure in spite of its partial coverage of the total building area. This advantageous feature, for instance, improves the working efficiency of shipbuilding which is in itself easily susceptible to weather conditions. To be more particular, the building efficiency of the ship can be maintained constant even in rainy or extremely hot weather.

Furthermore, since a required number of small capacity overhead cranes are specifically provided for transporting the welding apparatuses, automation of the shipbuilding works can be easily attained. Because lighting installations can be easily attached on the above described framework and structural members, building works on a two or three shift basis can be easily exercised. The productivity in shipbuilding installation can be remarkably elevated.

If it is required, a plurality of such shipbuilding structure may be provided at a single building dock or building slip, and a multipoint parallel construction method can be exercised for shortening the working period.

Considering the installation cost of each building structure, it is apparent that a building structure covering merely one part of the building area can be built at a far cheaper cost than those covering the whole area of the vessel or the like heavy structure.

In the building structure according to the present invention, a plurality of heavy load cranes can be employed at cheaper cost than conventional Goliath-type cranes shown in FIG. 3. The reasons for this reside in the facts that the span of the cranes can be shortened in this building structure over the conventional type crane because in the present invention, the cranes are disposed longitudinally so that they can travel in the lateral direction on lateral frames: which are supported by the intermediate pillars. Further, the load capacity of the members employed for preventing torsional deformations can be individually reduced because of the boxlike construction of the building device.

Another advantage attained by the boxlike construction of the building structure according to the present invention is that the possibility of torsional damage and falling of components is completely eliminated.

As for the moving or driving devices to be employed with this shipbuilding structure, since it has been found that the structure need not be moved around during its building operation, no provision of a self-driving device such as an electric motor is required. Thus, an outside hydraulic or oil pressure jack thruster or a winch of minor capacity may be employed with a sufficient result, and basic antifriction means such as fat provided with the building structure of the invention. However, it is of course possible to provide wheels for supporting the building device although these are somewhat more expensive than the above described antifriction means.

V, In Alendal Shipbuilding Yard of Getterferken Co. in Sweden, ships are built under a similar laterally cut block system as employed in the present invention and the ships hull is pushed out along the building area employing heavy hydraulic pushers. However, such a procedure inevitably accompanies the restriction that the ship must be built in one direction from a starting point. Furthermore, due to the requirement of moving an extremely heavy body such as a ships hull, the above described shipyard had to provide two extremely expensive building docks and two pushers of heavy capacity for the purpose of shortening the building period of the ships.

According to the present invention, any conventional building dock or building berth can be used together with one or more building structure of the present invention, so that the double investment required for the building dock having pushers and also for the building housing may be avoided. In addition, if a plurality of the building structures (ordinarily two) are prepared, a multipoint parallel construction may be exercised so that the shortening of the construction period and rationalized distribution of man hours during the building dock assembling period are realized, such features constituting a superior characteristic of the building structure according to the present invention.

As is apparent from the above description, the employment of the building structure includes frameworks including pillars which are constructed over one part of a building dock or a building berth and also over surface plate areas for assembling parts of blocks. They include more than four pillars supporting a plurality of overhead traveling cranes; and roof and walls are provided over the framework for protecting the same from the weather such as rain and hot direct sunshine. There is also means for making the whole building structure movable along rails laid along the building dock or the building berth and the surface plate areas. Substantially the whole of the working area may be sequentially and selectively covered by the building structure so that the work may be carried out without any influence of the weather and the automation of various work related to the assembling of parts may be facilitated. Thus, the working condition and efficiency in the building of vessels or like heavy structures can be substantially improved.

What is claimed is:

l. A building structure for a ship constructed in a building dock and provided with assembling areas alongside thereof comprising a plurality of pillar support members; a plurality of lateral frames carrying the plurality of pillar support members thereon and spanning across the building dock; a pair of rails laid on both sides of the building dock; means connecting the lateral frames with the rails to permit movement along the rails; longitudinal structural members interconnecting the lateral frames so that a boxlike construction of the building structure is fonned which extends partially along the rails; a plurality of overhead traveling cranes supported for lateral movement by the frames and the pillar members, and a pair of conveyors adapted to transport building material into the building structure, said conveyors running parallel to and being disposed between the pairs of rails on each side of the building dock.

2. A building structure as in claim 1 where the means for permitting the building structure to travel along the rails includes a fat employed in launching ships.

3. A building structure as in claim 1 where the support members form a structural H-shape above each conveyor.

Claims

1. A building structure for a ship constructed in a building dock and provided with assembling areas alongside thereof comprising a plurality of pillar support members; a plurality of lateral frames carrying the plurality of pillar support members thereon and spanning across the building dock; a pair of rails laid on both sides of the building dock; means connecting the lateral frames with the rails to permit movement along the rails; longitudinal structural members interconnecting the lateral frames so that a boxlike construction of the building structure is formed which extends partially along the rails; a plurality of overhead traveling cranes supported for lateral movement by the frames and the pillar members, and a pair of conveyors adapted to transport building material into the building structure, said conveyors running parallel to and being disposed between the pairs of rails on each side of the building dock.