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Home manufacturing facility

Home manufacturing facility description/claims

This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/431,196 entitled “Building Transport Device” and filed on May 9, 2006; Ser. No. 11/620,103 entitled “Device and Method for Transporting a Load” and filed on Jan. 5, 2007; Ser. No. 11/559,229 entitled “Transport Device Capable of Adjustment to Maintain Load Planarity” and filed on Nov. 13, 2006; Ser. No. 11/620,560 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Mobile Stem Wall” and filed on Jan. 5, 2007; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/887,696, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INTEGRATED INVENTORY AND PLANNING” and filed on Feb. 1, 2007 the entire contents of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Prefabricated buildings, such as commercial structures and residential homes, have become a popular alternative to “built-on-site” buildings. Prefabricated buildings include manufactured buildings, wherein the building is built in a factory setting, and prefabricated buildings, wherein the components of the building are prefabricated and precut in a factory setting. Some facilities are organized in an assembly line fashion to build the individual components for a prefabricated home, such as the panels and the framework. The components are precut at the factory and shipped via truck to the site of the home for assembly.

However, prefabricated building systems are only able to accommodate a single design or single model without having to significantly change the assembly line(s), which can be very expensive. Thus, consumers who desire to invest in prefabricated homes are only provided with a limited number of design options set by the manufacturers and lack the ability to select their own custom, or mixed-model, designs.

Yet another significant drawback is that in order to ship the buildings, the buildings must be split into appropriate sized “modules” to fit on the back of a truck and fit within the typical dimensions of a highway lane. In order to create appropriate sized modules for shipping, a building is typically “forward engineered” in parts, wherein each part is designed to fit within the maximum allowable shipping limits, or envelope. In other words, consideration of the size and the dimensions of the shipping modules may override those of the consumer's desires in the design of the building. This may place undesirable limitations on the design of the building.

The present invention relates to a facility for manufacturing non-roadable buildings, including an enclosed area having a roof and a plurality or bays for positioning the non-roadable buildings therein, each of the plurality of bays configured to have one non-roadable building positioned therein and being at least partially enclosed and separated from each other of the plurality of bays. The facility further includes an exit positioned adjacent each of the plurality of bays configured to allow the non-roadable building positioned therein to pass therethrough when the non-roadable building is substantially complete and lifting means positioned within the enclosed area and configured to move elements for manufacturing of the non-roadable building through the facility, including movement of the elements to each of the plurality of bays.

In another embodiment, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing non-roadable buildings, including the steps of providing an enclosed area having a roof, the enclosed area having a plurality of bays for positioning the non-roadable buildings therein, each of the plurality of bays configured to have one non-roadable building positioned therein and being at least partially enclosed and separated from each other of the plurality of bays, assembling the non-roadable buildings using lifting means positioned within the enclosed area to move elements for manufacturing of the non-roadable building through the enclosed area, including movement of the elements to each of the plurality of bays, and exiting the enclosed area through a doorway configured to allow the non-roadable building to pass therethrough and adjacent each of the plurality of bays.

In another embodiment, the present invention relates to an enclosed facility for manufacturing movable standard sized dwellings, including a plurality of bays configured to have one movable standard sized dwelling manufactured and positioned therein, each of the bays being at least partially separated from each of the other bays, a plurality of subassembly areas, each of the subassembly areas configured to have a portion of the standard sized dwelling built therein, lifting means to lift and move each of the plurality of subassembly areas to each of the plurality of bays, and an exit proximate each of the plurality of bays configured to allow the standard sized dwelling to exit each bay. Wherein the standard sized dwellings are configured to be moved by a multiple piece transport vehicle, capable of moving the standard sized dwelling from an area adjacent the exit.

Additional features and advantages are described herein, and will be apparent from, the following Detailed Description and the figures.

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a facility according to one embodiment of the present invention with buildings positioned within the bays;

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of the facility of FIG. 1 with the roof removed;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of FIG. 2 showing one of the bays and a hoisting device;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the facility shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a side view in section of the facility of FIG. 4 taken along lines 5-5;

FIG. 6 is a side view of one end of the facility of FIG. 4 taken along lines 6-6; and

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• Utility Patent

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