Portable building are used in a number of different environment. For example, portable buildings are commonly used in the back yard as garden sheds or the like and are used on building sites or capital work sites to provide accommodation for workmen or safe storage areas for equipment and tools etc.. Portable buildings which are used as garden sheds are normally sold in kit form and are erected on site by the purchaser. The erection of the garden shed involves a considerable amount of work and time. Portable buildings which are used on building sites or capital work sites are generally prefabricated at a factory and are transported to

the site on a truck. When the portable building is no longer required it is transported to another site on a truck. Since these portable buildings are relatively large they usually can only be transported one or two at a time on a truck and therefore transportation costs are high.

The object of this invention is to provide a portable building which can be easily assembled on site and which can be cheaply transported.

The invention may be said to reside in a portable building, said building having a floor, a roof, side walls and end walls, said end walls being pivotally connected at the ends of the buildings so that they can pivot from an upright position to a generally horizontal position, said side walls comprising at least two portions coupled together by a hinge, one of said portions being coupled to an upper portion of the building and the other of said portions being coupled to a lower portion of the building such that said side wall can collapse inwardly so that said portions are substantially parallel with said roof and said floor, whereby said building can be transported in a collapsed position whereby said side wall is collapsed inwardly and said roof is in a lowered position and wherein said building can be erected on site by raising said roof to enable said side wall portions to pivot into an upright position and said end walls can be pivoted from a collapsed substantially horizontal position into an upright position at the ends of said building.

Since the building can be collapsed into a position wherein the side walls and end walls are pivoted into a generally horizontal position with the roof in a lowered position, the building is in a compact transportable configuration whereby a large number of buildings can be transported on a truck. The building can be easily erected at the site by simply utilizing a crane to lift the collapsed building from the truck and then to raise the roof thereby

drawing the side walls into the upright position and then manually lifting the end walls into the upright position to form the erected building.

Preferably, at least one of the side walls includes windows and at least one of the end walls includes a door.

Preferably the building is provided with wiring within the side walls, end walls and roof to enable electric power to be supplied to the building.

Preferably the side walls portions and end wall portions include rectangular frame members which support panels for defining the side wall portions and the end walls.

Preferably the end walls include locking means for locking the end walls to the side walls when the building is in the erected position. Preferably corner frame members are provided for coupling two corners defined by the side walls and end walls.

A preferred embodiment will be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a building embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of the building of Figure 1 in a partly collapsed condition;

Figure 3 is a view of the building of Figure 1 fully collapsed; Figure 4 is a side view;

Figure 5 is an end view of the building; Figure 6 is a side view showing end walls in the partly erected position;

Figure 7 is a view along the line 7-7 of Figure 1; Figure 8 is a view along the line 8-8 of Figure 1;

Figure 9 is a view of corner frame members; and Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view of the corner frame member mounted on the building.

With reference to Figures 1, 2 and 3, the building comprises a roof 10 which is formed by a plurality of panels

12 coupled in a generally rectangular frame formed of steel

frame members 16 and corner sections 18. The building is provided with side walls 20 and end walls 22. The side walls 20 are each formed of two portions 23 which are hinged together by a generally central hinge 24 which extends the 5 entire length of the side wall 20. As seen in Figure 7 the upper side wall portion 23 is pivotally coupled to the roof 10 by a hinge 26 and the lower side wall portion 23 is pivotally coupled to a floor 30 by a hinge 28. As seen in Figure 8 the end walls 22 are pivotally coupled to the floor 30 by a hinge

10 32.

The side wall portions 23 are formed of one or more panels which generally run horizontally and which are supported by rectangular frames defined by frame members 38. The end walls 22 are also include a frame formed by

15 frame members 40 which support one or more panels. The side walls 20 may include a window 44 and at least one of the end walls 22 may include a door 46.

With reference to Figures 7 and 8, the side wall 20 which is defined by the portions 23, are hingedly connected to

20 frame members 50 which are coupled to the roof 10 and project downwardly below the inner surface of the roof 10 and to frame members 52 which are coupled to the floor 30 and project upwardly beyond the inner surface of the floor 30. The floor 30 is preferably supported on frame members 54 which are

25 coupled to the frame members 52. It will be noted that the bottom portion 23 is hingedly coupled to the top portion of the frame member 52 above the floor 30 and the top portion 23 is hingedly coupled to the bottom portion of the frame member 50 below the roof 10. The space between the floor 30 and the

30 hinge 28 accommodates the end walls 22 when they are in the lowered position and generally parallel with the floor 30. When the end walls are in the lowered position, they provide a substantially flat surface onto which the side walls 20 can collapse.

The corner sections 18 on the roof 10 can include coupling points to enable the roof to be drawn upwardly by means of a crane or the like. Furthermore, the corner points 18 can also include recesses or channels 19 for receiving projections (not shown) on the bottom corners of the building for enabling a number of portable buildings to be nested together when they are stacked one above the other to facilitate transportation of the collapsed buildings.

With reference to Figures 2, 3 and 6, which show the manner of erection and collapsing of the portable building, the building is placed in the collapsed position by simply folding end walls 22 downwardly about pivot hinge 32 so that they lie generally parallel with the floor 30. The side walls 20 are collapsed by generally folding them inwardly so that the portions 23 pivot relative to one another about hinge 24 thereby folding inwardly as is shown in Figure 2 to enable the roof 10 to be lowered downwardly relative to the floor 30. When the portions 23 are completely folded inwardly the roof is lowered right down onto the portions 23 close to the floor 30 as is shown in Figure 3. The portable building can include securing devices (not shown) to secure the building in this configuration to enable it to be safely transported.

In order to erect the building, the lifting points in the corner portions 18 of the roof 10 are coupled to a crane and the roof is raised in the direction of arrow A in the Figures 2 and 3. This pulls the side wall portions 23 upwardly so that they pivot about the hinges 26, 24 and 28 into a generally vertical upright position. The ends walls 22 are then pivoted in the direction of arrows B in Figure 6 from the horizontal position parallel to the floor 30 to an upright position at the ends of the building. When the walls are in this configuration the building is generally self-supporting. However, to ensure that the building is secure, the end walls 23 include the locking devices (not shown) which comprise pins which are movable from a retracted position within the walls 22 to an outward position where they engage in notches located

in the frame members 38 of the side wall portions 23 to secure the end walls to the side wall portions 23 and thereby ensure that both the end walls 22 and the side . _: wall portions 23 remain in the upright position. In order to seal the corners defined by the junctures of the side walls and the end walls and to assist in securing the building in the upright position, corner frame members 70 are connected at the corners.

As is clearly seen in Figure 1, the corner frame members 70 extend the full height of the building from the floor 30 to the roof 10. The frame members 70 (as is seen in Figures 9 and 10) are generally L-shaped with a channel section 72 formed on one leg. The channel sections 72 commences at a level above the bottom of the member 70 and terminates at a level below the top of the member 70. The channel 72 generally forms a locating section which extends between the bottom frame member 33 and the roof 10. The top and bottom of the frame member 70 includes openings 74 for receiving bolts 76 to secure the channel member 70 to the frame members 33 and 52 as well as the frame member 50.

As also seen in Figures 7 and 8, the frame member 50 carries a rubber abutment member 60 against which the wall 22 abuts when it is in the erected position. The arrow C in Figure 8 shows the direction of movement of the wall 22 in order to fold the wall downwardly onto the floor 30. A rubber sealing strip 62 is also arranged at the bottom of the floor 22 to seal the wall 22 to the frame member 33 when the wall 22 is in the upright position. Part of the sealing members 64 and 66 are also provided at the top and bottom of the wall 20 to facilitate sealing of the side walls 20.

Since modification within the spirit and scope of the invention may readily be effected by persons skilled within the art, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiment described by way of example hereinabove.