Process for the construction of buildings

It is a process for the construction of standard buildings with steel structure and standard mix casting.

Having in mind a series of different buildings, a prototype is chosen for each building and the problem of industrializing each project is faced by planning a number of optioials, in the same way as it is done in the motorcar industry.

Once the architectonic project of any kind has been established , the construction can be divided in three parts: structure, "dress" or su¬ perstructure or finish. STRUCTURE Steel is chosen to build the structure in that it is suita ble to be prefabricated, namely to be preworked wtih high precision and because, when necessary, it furnishes at once its qualities of resistance after it has been assembled according to the structural schema at the site where the construction must be carried out. "DRESS" A light mix is chosen for the dress which can be casted at the site of the construction. In fact, this material can be furnished at the site where the construction is being carried out by means of modern truck mixers; the mix has good thermic and acustic character - istics, can be used for the whole construction and protects the inside environment from the outside agents; furthermore, it protects the steel structure from corrosion in a simple and effective way; besides using suitable additives, it is possible to confer it the desired physical-chemical characteristics and the building with its stonelike aspect, will possess stability, warmth and durability characteristics. FINISH It must be such as to reflect the customer's personality; in fact, while the stability and functionality of the chosen prototype are rational factors and therefore it is possible to industrialize the production in order to restrict costs and to offer the product to a large market, it must not be forgotten that, to be able to sell, it is necessary to please man's vanity.

In this process the "dress" is made by gradual pouring of a light mix of the type used for. floors,parti ion and walls after having assembl¬ ed the structure, the molds, and after having anchored all pipes to a light electrowelded mesh work which connects all the parts of the con struction, including the molds.

As to the structure, there are no particular prescriptions to be followed except for the floors and, in some cases, or the foundations. For a rapid assembling and to be consequent with the process, for the foundation girders, it is convenient to use mesh work girders, anchor ed to the steel pillars which, instead of being connected over the foundations, pass through them (ideally, in that the casting has not been carried out yet). In such way, the foundation pillars become part of the mesh work girders with the result of a balanced metal frame-work, closed at the basis and resting on the temporary foun - dations.

The final foundations will be made by casting a standard mix with the addition, if necessary, of a further reinforcement of reinforced con¬ crete into molds anchored to the foundation mesh work girders. The pillars will rest on steel plate off-cuts, placed one on the other , until the height of the pillar which is being assembled is reached. The size of the plates will be in function of the loads to be trans¬ mitted to the ground and of the ground characteristics. Before starting to assemble the structure, along the girder directrix or better on the whole area covered by the construction, it is con - venient to place a double layer of plastic sheets in order to remove the humidity rising from the ground, to damp the transmission towards the building of possible seismic waves, and to avoid to carry out the casting and the reinforcements directly against the.ground. In this way, it is possible to obtain the followin 'advantages : to avoid the construction of underfoundations ; to avoid the delicate phase of positioning the pillar rods into the foundation with the consequent second casting under the pillar plates after the asseπbling

- 3 - of the expansive mortar; it is possible to assemble all the steel structural work right after the excavation works, without having first to carry out the casting of the foundation.

Obviously, the construction of the foundations in the traditional way does not deprive the subsequent phases of the process of its origi - nality.

For the floor, the same casting of light mix, employed for the walls and the partitions, is used. In this case, the molds must be connected to rigid joints, anchored to the main girders. The joints will be of steel with suitable center distances, so as to allow that the floor , made with a single casting of light mix, reinforced with electrowelded mesh work and iron rods, calculated for the minimum characteristic resistance allowed by the rules on reinforced mixes, is such as to cover the center distances of the joints. As the cement mix must have only a low mechanical resistance, a select ed granulometry is not necessary for the aggregates. For instance,when buildings are constructed in areas where a destructive earthquake has taken place , the wreckage of the collapsed constructions can be employed, after it has been suitably crushed and mixed with leighten- ing aggregates.

Together with the advantage of being able to assemble the installations in the masonery before it has been constructed, with the result of avoiding to cut it, the same masonery mass of which the walls, the partitions and the floors are made, can be used as means for the storage of solar energy. This can be done in a simple way: the walls, and the floors of the northern side of the building are heated during the day by means of a circulating liquid thermic carrier and during the night, they will give back the heat in a natural way. At present , heavy prefabricated elements are available, however they have the following disadvantages: it is necessary to transport the whole mass of the building from the factory to the building yard; a series of problems must be faced as for instance the problem of joining the

- 4 - parts together, the difficulty of assembling the installations and more in general, the difficulty of piercing the various elements which, being self-supporting, are made of resistant concrete, diffi¬ cult to pierce when unforeseen variations must be carried out. With the proposed process instead, no heavy materials must be transported, in that only the steel structure and the molds are prefabricated, while the material for the masonery mass can be found at the site of the construction so that it is possible to respect the local building tradition^ and all transformations and repairs can be carried out in the same way as it is done for traditional buildings. Another type of prefabricated product available at present is the one with steel structure and floors of plates in relief and finishing of concrete casting. The disadvantages of such method concern the con - struction of false ceilings. This method has also the trend of rendβ£ ing the construction lighter by using dry light panels which, at present, are in great competition with one another, due to the minimum thermic resistance which they possess in different degree. With the proposed method, it is convenient to make walls and partitions of standard width, by means of a single casting of incoherent material, instead of having to build them stone by stone.

In this way, the problem of insulating the building is solved from the very beginning. Another problem which must be faced in both methods, including the traditional one, is the superimposition of the different jobs. The proposed method, instead, foresees a programmed succession of interventions carried out by separated teams of special _^ ized workers. As first thing, the earth moving operations are carried out; then the steel structure, prearranged to receive the molds that can be quickly fixed to it, is assembled. It is worthwhile to stress that the structure is planned to support fixed loads as well as over- loads, wind, or earthquakes. During the assembling phase, the weight of the molds and of the water used for the mix replaces the weight of the overload and of the floors.

- 5 - The third operation is the assembling of the molds and the anchoring of the same to the steel structure. The next phase consists in the installation of the various systems, anchoring the pipes to the joints and to the electrowelded distribution and linkage mesh work which connects the various parts of the building and the molds.

The proposed method also offers the advantage of allowing to carry out the construction and the inspection in one phase, even if more than one floor is concerned and even before the casting is carried out, in that each floor can be reached by the workers, as it is de- limited by the molds hanging from the suffit of each floor.

In the fifth phase, after the inspection of the installations, it is possible to begin with the castings which, even if they are not carried out in one single operation, in order to avoid a too strong pressure can be performed uninterruptedly till completion of the work.

In the sixth phase the molds are removed. The seventh phase consists in the finishing operations. Finally the embarkments, the outside settling and the general inspection are carried out. These operations are made for each building or for each standard part of it (i.e. buildings with more than one floor).

It is important to note that not only the prototype can be modified with various optionals, for instance using rubber molds, or other means before the casting is made so as to vary the form of the mold that will contain the casting material and to be able to obtain re- lief motives on the facade of the building, on the floor, the suffit etc..., but also the prototypes for each kind of construction can be planned according to personal requirements.

In this way, a new market can be created in which the builder will only offer the structure, the use of the molds, the assembling schema and, possibly, the specialized workers. One more advantage is that , after the prototype has been completed, the sale price of the con - struction can be established with great precision on the basis of the

acquired experience. Furthermore once the production of a prototype has begun, it can be modified. The modified prototype can tnen be offered as mass product optional, allowing more and more sophisticated solutions at a low cost, as they are made for man production. It is also possible to adα elements after years from the date of the construction, using the ducts prearranged in the original plan.

Description of a way to realize the invention.

The metal structure (1) can be assembled on temporary foundations:.: consisting in plates (2) insulated from the ground (3) by a double plastic sheet (4). The structure (1) will be furnished with steel joints (5) ro which the mold will be hung (6) fixed to and supported by the mesh work (7) by means of the r.s. rod (8) and blocked by the key (9). The mold which will support the floor (10), near a partition or wall (11) will be connected to the frame (12) (which can be later recovered) positioned in an uninterrupted way along the perimeter of the room to be realized.

The frame (12) will be supported by the stirrups (13) which are part of the structure (1). The same stirrups (13) support the frame (14) which also follows the perimeter of the room to be realized at the ceiling extrados; also this frame will be recovered. The lower frame (14) and the upper frame (12) are prearranged to receive the vertical molds (15) which following the perimeter of each room, will enclose the room which will be occupied by the partitions and walls (11). In the room which will be later occupied by the wall mass (10) and (11) the installation (16) will be placed bound to a light reinforcement anchored to the main structure and which connects all the parts of the construction. After the inspection of the installations, the casting is carried out. This casting will as a rule involve one scaffolding and the lower walls and partitions.

All what the undersigned deems is not available at the present state of the technology is indicated as follows: