Portable cabins are known in the art. Typically, such portable cabins provide installations which may be transported from site to site and temporarily or semi- permanently installed to fulfil a number of functions. It is known, for example, to use such portable cabins to provide temporary storage space or temporary classrooms for establishments such as schools, colleges etc. Typically, the portable cabins are installed on land and are transported by vehicular transport using a road network.

Due to their relative large size and weight, it is necessary to use a crane or similar hoist to load and unload the portable cabins onto and off the vehicular transport.

The United Kingdom (and many other countries) comprises a substantial network of inland waterways, in particular, canals. These canals provide good communication links and have typically been used in the past to transport bulk materials such as coal using floating barges or similar.

However, to date, the design of portable cabins has not lent themselves to transport by inland waterways using transport such as barges.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a portable cabin suitable for transport on inland waterways.

It is a further object to provide an apparatus in the form of a barge or similar for transporting said cabins on inland waterways which is more suited to the task than known designs.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a portable cabin suitable for transporting on a barge comprising an external flange sized to interface on loading with an upper edge of a sidewall of said barge to at least partially cover said edge.

Advantageously the external flange may cover said edge so as to prevent walking on said edge.

Preferably the external flange comprises sealing means for forming a sealing contact with said edge.

Advantageously the sealing means forms a water-tight seal, in use, with said edge.

The sealing means may comprise a polypropylene, rubber or similar seal.

The cabin comprises side walls and the external flange may extends down at least one side wall of the cabin.

The cabin may comprise two external flanges, one on each of two side walls.

Preferably, the external flanges are located approximately midway up the side walls. The cabin typically comprises a basal portion beneath the external flange which is received on loading in a hold of said barge.

Preferably, the external flange extends onto an end wall of the cabin.

Preferably, the external flange comprises a sloping upper surface.

The portable cabin may also comprise an access door in an end wall of the cabin. Preferably, an access door is provided in first and second end walls at either end of the cabin.

A roof of the cabin may comprise sloping edge portions.

The present invention also provides a barge suitable for transporting one or more portable cabins of a type described above, the barge comprising sidewalls having an upper edge sized to interface with an external flange of the one or more cabins on loading of said cabins such that the upper edge is at least partially covered by said external flange or flanges.

The upper edge may comprise a box beam.

The barge may comprise sidewalls and a bottom formed from plates. Preferably, the plates are formed as a composite material having inner and outer steel skins and an elastomeric core.

In one aspect, the one or more cabins are stowed in an open-topped hold. Preferably the hold comprises steps at an aft and/or stern end of the hold, the steps extending from a floor of the hold to the upper edge of the aft and/or stern.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective schematic view of a tug, a barge and two portable cabins in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective schematic view of an embodiment of portable cabin according to the present invention; Figure 3 is an end schematic view of the portable cabin of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a cross-sectional schematic view of the portable cabin of Figure 2 loaded into a barge according to the present invention; and Figure 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional schematic view of a portion of Figure 4.

As shown in Figure 1, the present invention provides a new transportation system involving transport of portable cabins 3 in a barge 2. In use, the barge 2 is connected by means of a forward connector 14 to a tug 1 which provides the motive force for moving the barge 2. The barge 2 has a length which is significantly greater than its beam. In addition, as shown most clearly in Figure 4, the height of the barge 2 is relatively small and the barge comprises a flat bottom with no pronounced keel. As shown in Figures 1 and 4 the barge 2 comprises an open-topped hold 11 in which in use the portable cabins 3 are loaded. An aft connector 15 may be provided at the stern 13 of the barge 2 to allow a single tug 1 to connect at the alternative end of barge 2.

This avoids the need for the combined tug 1 and barge 2 to change navigation direction only at wide points of the waterway. Changes of navigation direction can be achieved at any point of the waterway since the tug 1 can detach itself from the barge 2, change navigation direction-and reconnect itself to the barge 2 at the alternative end.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3 the portable cabin 3 of the present invention comprises a generally parallelepiped form having vertical side walls 30, vertical end walls 31, a floor 37 and a roof 32. The roof 32 preferably comprises a central flat section 34 and two sloped sections 33 joining the flat section 34 to the side walls 30. Advantageously, the shaping of the roof 32 thus provided allows the portable cabin 3 to have a greater overall height and still be able to pass through areas of restricted height such as tunnels and bridges on inland waterways.

As shown in Figure 2, one or both of the end walls 31 are provided with one or more sets of doors. In the embodiment illustrated, a pair of main access doors 35 are provided as well as a utility access door 36. The main access doors 35 allow general access to the interior of the portable cabin 3 whilst the utility access door 36 allows access to one or more utility sections of the portable cabin 3 housing utilities such as water storage tanks.

In accordance with the present invention, the portable cabin 3 comprises an external flange 39 approximately mid- way up the side walls 30. In the illustrated embodiment, two external flanges 39 are provided, one on either side of the portable cabin 3. Each flange 39 comprises a section 43 extending along the side wall 30 and end wall sections 44 at either end of the side wall section 43 which extend the flange 39 round onto the end walls 31 as most clearly shown in Figure 2. Also, as shown in Figure 2 it will be seen that the external flange 39 terminates either side of the main access doors 35 and utility access door 36 so as not to impede opening and closing of the doors.

As shown in Figure 5, the external flange 39 comprises a triangular shaped projection having a sloped upper surface 40 and a substantially horizontal lower surface 41. An underside of the lower surface 41 is provided with a seal 42 which may be formed from materials such as polypropylene or a rubberised compound. The use of the seal 42 will be described below.

It is preferred that the body of the portable cabin 3 is manufactured from a material such as glass-reinforced plastic in order to reduce the overall weight of the cabin.

Preferably, the cabin 3, excluding internal fittings and the external furniture such as windows and doors, is formed from two or more moulding. More preferably, the cabin 3 is formed from two moulding which are joined either by a suitable adhesive or by a plastic welding operation. In one particularly preferred embodiment the upper half of the cabin 3 is formed as one moulding and the lower half is formed as another moulding and the join between the upper and lower halves is located at the height of the flange 39.

Pads 38 may be provided on the base of the portable cabin 3 to raise the base 37 slightly off the bottom plate 22 of the hull 10 when loaded.

Figure 4 illustrates the portable cabin 3 of the present invention loaded into the barge 2 of the present invention. Both the portable cabin 3 and barge 2 are specifically adapted to interface in a particularly advantageous manner as will be described. The construction of the barge 2 has a number of advantageous features. iRs mentioned above, the barge 2 has a flat bottomed design with no pronounced keel. The hull 10 is formed from a plurality of plates. Vertical side plates 21 form the side walls of the hull and a joint at their base by means of box joints 25 to a bottom plate 22. Alternatively, the side plates 21 may be directly welded to the bottom plate 22.

The upper edge of the side plates 21 is joined to a box beam 20 which runs along the length of the side plates 21.

The box beam 20 is preferably a square section box formed from steel or other suitable material. The box beam's upper surface forms a narrow gunnel (also known as gunwale). The side plates 21 and bottom plates 22 are preferably formed from Sandwich Plate System plates produced by Intelligent Engineering of Gerrards Cross, United Kingdom. As shown in Figure 5, the Sandwich Plate System plates comprise steel exterior plates 23 and an internal elastomeric core 24. The composite material has increased strength and stiffness compared to a traditional steel construction and removes the requirement for separate stiffeners on the hold's interior surfaces.

Traditional barges comprise gunnels alon g the length of each side of the barge which are used by the crew to move along the length of the barge. Typically, the-gunnels comprise a relatively narrow flat surface on each side of the hold 10. It has been found by the applicant that there are dangers involved in the use of gunnels for moving along barges. In particular, it is possible for a person to fall off such gunnels and this is particularly the case where the hold 11 of the barge contains a load which extends above the height of the gunnels and is not provided with any suitable handholds or similar. According to the present invention, the need for providing gunnels which can be used as walkways is removed by providing access doors 36 in each end of the portable cabins 3. The hold 11 is designed to allow the access doors 35 of the portable cabins 3 to be opened whilst the portable cabins 3 are loaded. Thus, movement along the length of the barge may be achieved by moving through the interior of successive portable cabins 3. Preferably, the barge 2 is provided with a series of steps at the bow 12 and/or stern 13 ends to ease access to and from the barge's hull 10. The steps rise from a floor of the hold to the upper edge of the side panels at the aft and/or stern.

A particular advantage of the present invention is the interface between the portable cabins 3 and the barge gunnels as shown in Figures 4 and 5. As shown, with the portable cabins 3 loaded into the hold 11, the external flange 39 interfaces with the box beams 20 of the side walls of the barge 2. In particular, the external flange 39 covers substantially the entire breadth of the gunnels provided by the upper surface of the boxed beams 20. The polypropylene seal 42 seals against the upper surface of the boxed beam 20. Two particular advantages arise from this arrangement. Firstly, a walkable surface of the gunnel is removed which prevents anyone attempting to walk along the side walls of the barge 2 alongside the loaded cabins 3. In this way, individuals are encouraged to move safely along the length of the barge 2 through the interiors of the cabins 3 as described above. The second advantage is that a watertight seal is formed between the portable cabins 3 and the barge 2 by means of the sealing interface between the polypropylene seal 42 and the box beam 20. This prevents influx of water into the hold 11 during use of the barge 2 which is known to be a problem with current designs of barge.

Preferably, the lower parts of the main access doors 35 and utility doors 36 are provided with higher sills to resist inflow of water.

The interior of the portable cabins 3 may be fitted out with a wide variety of equipment and internal and external furniture. For example, the portable cabins 3 may be provided with work benches, sinks, chairs etc. In a preferred embodiment the portable cabin 3 is designed to be self-sufficient by providing utilities such as electricity and water without requiring external hook-up to external sources. The portable cabins 3 may be provided with a diesel generator for production of electricity and water tanks for the supply of fresh water and the containment of soiled (black) and semi-soiled water (grey).

External furniture may be provided in the portable cabins 3 such as windows, escape hatches, security grills and locking devices on doors, windows and escape hatches.

In use, the cabins 3 may be loaded and unloaded on and from the barge 2 by means of an external hoist or crane or a hoist or crane situated on-board the barge 2.

The barge 2 may be used for transporting other items such as rubbish skips or raw, bulk materials. In addition, the barge 2 may be used to transport an excavator or similar machinery for use at a site on or near an inland waterway.

The barge 2 may optionally be provided with four hydraulically operated legs which can be lowered to rest on the bed of the waterway when the machinery is operated whilst on-board the barge 2.

The cabins 3 may be transported by road-going vehicular transport if necessary.