Untitled record

April 2, 1963 l. _E reames 3,083,418

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Filed Sept. 29. 1961 4 _a,«_ts^„_{et χ}

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At to r m e'r's

April 2, 1963

EDUCATIONAL

Filed Sept. 29, 1961

L. E. REAMES 3,083,418

ACTIVITIES BUILDING CONSTRUCTION 4 Sheets-Sheet 2

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April 2, 1963

L. E. REAMES

3,083,418

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Filed Sept. 29, 1961

Sheets-Sheet 3

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BY

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ATTORNEVS

April 2, 1963 _L. _E. _REAMES 3,083,418

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept. 29, 1961 _A . .

Sneets-Sheet 4

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INVENTOR.

Louis E· Keames

BY

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United States Patent Office „ ., Λ®^{83,418 w} Patented Apr. 2, 1963

3,083,418 EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Louis E. Reames, P.O. Box 1262, 1428 Watkins St., Lake Charles, La.

Filed Sept. 29, 1961, Ser. No. 141,733 8 Claims. (CI. 20—1)

This invention relates to building construction, and more particularly to a structural arrangement for a multi-purpose building wherein it is desirable to at times utilize a large portion of or substantially the entire floor area of a building in a single enclosure, and at other times to subdivide the floor area of the building into a plurality of individual enclosures separated from each other.

A main object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved structural arrangement for a multi-purpose building, for example, for a school building, provided with means for subdividing a large floor area of the building into a plurality of distinct and separate individual enclosures, the means being foldable so that said large floor area of the building may be at other times utilized as a single unit, said means being relatively simple in construction, being easy to manipulate, and being relatively low in cost.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved structural arrangement for a multi-purpose building, for example, for a school building, said arrangement including movable partition means and ceiling panel means which may be arranged to normally define a plurality of separate and independent cubicles or enclosures for use as classrooms, or the like, and which may be at times folded up or moved to stored positions, whereby to define a single relatively large room or enclosure in the building which may be used for student assembly purposes, for athletic 35 activities, or the like.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved structural arrangement for a multi-purpose building, such as a school building, said structural arrangement including means to provide foldable partitions and ceiling elements defining a plurality of separate and individual cubicles or classrooms, the wall means and ceiling means defining said cubicles or classrooms being foldable or movable to stored positions so that a large floor area of the building may be at times utilized as a single, relatively large room or enclosure for purposes of student assembly, or the like, the .foldable and movable partition and ceiling elements being easy to manipulate and involving relatively simple and inexpensive components and being neat in appearance as well as durable in construction.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and claims, and from the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a transverse vertical cross sectional view taken through an improved multi-purpose building constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a horizontal cross sectional view taken substantially on the line 2—2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse vertical cross sectional view taken through one side portion of the building of FIGURES 1 and 2 with parts broken away to show details of interior construction.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary vertical cross sectional view taken substantially on the line 4—4 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged cross sectional detail view taken substantially on the line 5—5 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged cross sectional detail view taken substantially on the line 6—6 of FIGURE 2.

Referring to the drawings, 11 generally designates a 70 multi-purpose building constructed in accordance with the present invention, the building being intended for use, for example, as an educational institution. The building 11 is provided with side walls 12, 12, suitable transverse front and rear walls, not shown, and may include transverse partition walls 13 spaced apart to define a relatively 5 large enclosure 14 therebetween. The building is provided with a suitable roof, for example, with a roof having the sloping portions 15,15 which extend over the relatively large main enclosure 14, as well as the remaining portions of the building. The roof may be provided with 10 aligned opposite dormers 16,16 adjacent the intermediate portion of the main enclosure 14 for a purpose presently to be described.

Designated at 17 is a fixed ceiling segment which is secured to the framing of the building 11 and which extends 15 over the inner portion of the main enclosure 14, namely, over the inner portion of the building floor area, as shown in FIGURE 1. As shown in FIGURE 1, the ceiling panel 17 is secured to framing elements 18 which are in turn secured at their ends to the roof framing, whereby 20 the ceiling panel 17 is fixedly secured to the roof framing. As shown in FIGURE 3, the members 18 are secured to longitudinal beams 19, which are in turn secured to the roof framework. Secured to the bottom flanges of the beams 19 and extending parallel to the side walls 12 25 are respective channeled supporting tracks 20, 20, and movably supported on and depending from said channeled tracks 20 are respective folding partition walls 21, 21, of any suitable material, which are of sufficient length so that when they are unfolded, they extend for a substantial length of the main enclosure 14 and define longitudinal partition walls separating the center portion of the main enclosure 14 from the spaces between the partition walls 21 and the side walls 12. As shown in FIGURE 2, the longitudinal partition elements 21 may comprise pairs of segments disposed on opposite sides of a transverse central plane along which is provided respective foldable transverse partition wall segments 23, 23 supported on transversely extending channeled tracks 24 which extend into the dormers 16, 16, so that the transversely extending foldable partition members 23, 23 may be at times folded up and may be stored in the dormers adjacent the end walls 25 thereof, as shown, for example, at the right side of FIGURE 2, and as shown in FIGURE 3.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the longitudinal tracks 21, 21 ⁴⁵ are arranged so that they communicate at their end portions with respective transversely extending storage tracks 26, 26, said storage tracks having arcuate entry portions 27 which connect with the tracks 21 adjacent the ends °f the tracks. Thus, the foldable longitudinal partition wall segments 21 may be guided into the arcuate portions 27 and thence into the transversely extending main portions of the storage tracks 26, and may be stored in folded condition adjacent the transversely extending walls _r_ 13, as shown at the right side of FIGURE 2. To unfold ^,5° the longitudinal wall segments 21, it is merely necessary to guide the segments onto the main longitudinally extending track portions 20, and then to stretch the foldable partitions so that they extend for the full distance between the main transverse partition elements 23 and the end ⁶⁰ walls 13.

Relatively narrow fixed horizontal longitudinally extending ceiling sections 30, 30 are secured to the side wall framing adjacent the respective side walls 12 adjacent their intersections with the roof, the relatively ⁶⁵ narrow fixed ceiling sections 30 extending substantially for the entire length of the portions of the main enclosure 14 defined on opposite sides of the transverse vertical plane containing the transverse main foldable partition members 23. Hinged to the inner edge portions of the relatively narrow longitudinally extending horizontal ceiling sections 30 are a plurality of movable ceiling sections 32 which are normally supported in horizontal posi3,083,418 through central doorways 5® provided in the transverse fixed end walls 13 of the main enclosure 14.

As previously mentioned, when it is desired to utilize the entire floor area of the main enclosure 14 as a single 5 room, for purposes of student assembly, athletic contests, or the like, all of the foldable partitions 21, 23 and 44 are folded up and moved to their stored positions, for example, as shown at the right side of FIGURE 2, making substantially the entire floor area of the main en10 closure 14 available for use as a continuous open area.

Under these conditions, the hinged ceiling segments 32 are raised to their dotted view positions, shown in FIGURE 3, so that they are disposed substantially flush with the fixed sloping ceiling segments 40, being held in ele15 vated positions by their associated counter weights 35 or by suitable holding means provided in other types of elevating mechanisms which may be employed.

As will be readily apparent, the foldable partition arrangement and partition storage arrangement above 20 described may be employed in a building which is either substantially rectangular in shape, or which has a sloping roof, as illustrated specifically in the drawings. The folding partition elements 21, 23 and 44 may be made of any suitable material, and may be of 25 conventional internal structure. Similarly, the channeled supporting tracks for the folding partition walls may be designed in accordance with the specific nature of the foldable partitions. The transversely extending track elements 42 and 43 may be suitably located to provide 30 enclosures 48 of the desired size. The supporting tracks for the folding partitions may be either surface mounted or recessed. The ceiling panels 32 may be made of any suitable material providing the desired acoustical characteristics and appearance.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the side portions of the building may be provided underneath the dormers 16 with housings or recesses 55 to receive the major portions of the folded transverse partition wall elements 23. The dormers 16 may be of any suitable size, and the support40 ing track 24 may be located in any suitable portion of the dormers, for example, may be located substantially adjacent the side margins of dormer windows 57 provided at the ends of the dormers so as to impose minimum obstruction to light from said windows.

As above mentioned, the counter weights 35 are of sufficient mass to substantially counterbalance the hinged ceiling members 32. This enables the ceiling members 32 to be easily elevated to their dotted view positions of FIGURE 3, and when thus elevated, the ceiling members 50 will remain in their raised positions because of the friction of the associated supporting members, mainly, the friction in the pulleys 38 and 39. Because of such friction, the hinged ceiling members 32 likewise remain in horizontal positions when they are lowered, namely, when 55 they -are lowered to the full view positions thereof illustrated in FIGURE 3.

While a specific embodiment of an improved structural arrangement for a multi-purpose building has been disclosed in the foregoing description, it will be understood 60 that various modifications within the spirit of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is intended that no limitations be placed on the invention except as defined by the scope of the appended claims.