EP0022100A1 — Elongated building structure

Claim 1

Independent Claim 280 words

1) An elongated building structure comprising a plurality of solid, substantially plane-parallel building elements (l,ll, 13, 22) having four substantially parallel edges and each having a longitudinal direction, a height direction substantially perpendicular thereto, and a thickness dimension which is perpendicular to said two directions, said elements being interconnected at at least one of their ends in such a way that the longitudinal direction of each element substantially registers with the longitudinal direction of the other elements, and adjacent building elements overlap each other at their said ends (connection ends) (4, 4a, 4b, 4c) in their common longitudinal direction as well as in the height direction or the transverse direction corresponding to said thickness dimension, said building elements being provided with mutually supplementary, preferably congruent notches or grooves (3, 3a, 19) in their mutually overlapping connection ends, charecterized in that the grooves or notches (3, 3a, 19) extend substantially in the height direction, and that the connection ends (4, 4a, 4b, 4c) of the building elements are interconnected by means of substantially plane-parallel connection elements (5, 12, 14, 18, 22) which are substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and have substantially the same thickness and extension in the height direction as the building elements and are substantially shorter than these and engage into said notches to hereby prevent mutual displacement of the building elements (1, 11, 13, 22) in said longitudinal direction, said connection elements having also one or more notches (3, 9, 16, 19), into which such areas of the mutually overlapping connection ends (4, 4a, 4b, 4c) engage as are adjacent to respective notches and which hereby prevent mutual displacement of the building elements in said transverse direction.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 280 words

1) An elongated building structure comprising a plurality of solid, substantially plane-parallel building elements (l,ll, 13, 22) having four substantially parallel edges and each having a longitudinal direction, a height direction substantially perpendicular thereto, and a thickness dimension which is perpendicular to said two directions, said elements being interconnected at at least one of their ends in such a way that the longitudinal direction of each element substantially registers with the longitudinal direction of the other elements, and adjacent building elements overlap each other at their said ends (connection ends) (4, 4a, 4b, 4c) in their common longitudinal direction as well as in the height direction or the transverse direction corresponding to said thickness dimension, said building elements being provided with mutually supplementary, preferably congruent notches or grooves (3, 3a, 19) in their mutually overlapping connection ends, charecterized in that the grooves or notches (3, 3a, 19) extend substantially in the height direction, and that the connection ends (4, 4a, 4b, 4c) of the building elements are interconnected by means of substantially plane-parallel connection elements (5, 12, 14, 18, 22) which are substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and have substantially the same thickness and extension in the height direction as the building elements and are substantially shorter than these and engage into said notches to hereby prevent mutual displacement of the building elements (1, 11, 13, 22) in said longitudinal direction, said connection elements having also one or more notches (3, 9, 16, 19), into which such areas of the mutually overlapping connection ends (4, 4a, 4b, 4c) engage as are adjacent to respective notches and which hereby prevent mutual displacement of the building elements in said transverse direction.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 150 words

2) An elongated building structure according to claim 1 comprising building elements overlapping each other in the longitudinal and height directions, characterized in that the extension in the height direction of the mutually overlapping connection ends (4) of the building elements is half of that of the remaining portion of the respective building elements (11) due to the fact that a piece, which is rectangular as seen in a plan view, of at least one of the ends of the respective building elements has been removed or omitted, and that the notch has a depth (3), which is about half of the extension in the height direction of the connection ends (4), and opens substantially centrally into that edge of the connection end which is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the building element and has been formed by the omission or removal of said rectangular end piece (Fig. 6).

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 146 words

3) An elongated building structure according to claim 1 comprising building elements overlapping each other in the longitudinal and height directions, characterized in that the extension in the height direction of the mutually overlapping connection ends (4b) of the building elements is half of that of the remaining portion of the respective building elements due to the fact that a piece of the connection end of the building element, which is rectangular as seen in a plan view, has been removed or omitted, and that the notch of each connection end (3) has a depth, which is approximately half of the extension in the height direction of the connection end (4b), and opens substantially centrally into that one of the edges of the connection end which also constitutes one of the longitudinal edges of the building element which are parallel to its longitudinal direction (Fig. 15).

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 141 words

4) An elongated building structure according to claim 1 comprising building elements mutually overlapping each other in the longitudinal and height directions, characterized in that the connection ends (4a) of the building elements have an extension in the height direction which decreases substantially linearly to zero due to the fact that a piece which is triangular, as seen in a plan view, of at least one of the ends of the respective building elements has been removed or omitted, and that the notch (3a) of each connection end has a depth which is approximately a fourth of the maximum extension in the height direction of the building elements, and opens substantially centrally into the oblique edge which has been formed by the removal of said triangular end piece and corresponds to the longest side of the triangular end piece (Fig. 14).

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 148 words

5) An elongated building structure according to claim 1 comprising building elements overlapping each other in the longitudinal and height directions, characterized in that the connection ends (4c) of the building elements have an extension in the height direction which decreases substantially linearly due to the fact that a piece which is substantially triangular as seen in a plan view of the connection end has been removed or omitted, and that the notch (3) of each connection end has a depth, which is about a fourth of the maximum extension in the height direction of the building element, and opens into that longitudinal edge of the building element which is parallel to its longitudinal direction, substantially just opposite the centre of the oblique edge which has been formed by the removal of said triangular end piece and corresponds to the longest side of the triangular piece (Fig. 16).

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 50 words

6) An elongated building structure according to claim 1, characterized in that the building elements (11) have connection ends (4, 4a, 4b, 4c) according to any of the claims 2 - 5 at their two ends, said omitted or removed rectangular or triangular pieces being located diagonally (e.g. Fig. 6).

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 107 words

7) An elongated building structure according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises end elements located at the ends of the building structure and each having a connection end (4, 4a, 4b, 4c) which is formed according to anyone of the claims 2 - 5, and that the opposite end (2) of each element has a pair of mutually opposite notches (3) which have a depth, which substantially equals a fourth of the extension in the height direction of the end elements, and open into an individual one of the longitudinal edges of the end element which are parallel to its longitudinal direction (e.g. Fig. 3).

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 99 words

8) An elongated building structure according to claim 1 comprising building elements overlapping each other in the transverse direction, characterized in that the building elements (13) at each of their respective ends have a pair of notches (3) which are located just opposite each other as seen in the height direction and open into an individual one of those two longitudinal edges of the building elements which are parallel to the longitudinal direction of the building elements, the depth of said notches being approximately a fourth of the extension in the height direction of the building element (Fig. 23).

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 74 words

9) An elongated building structure according to claim 1, characterized in that at least some of the connection elements (5, 14, 18) have two notches (3, 16, 19) which are located substantially just opposite each other and open substantially centrally into an individual one of the edges of the connection elements which are substantially perpendicular to the height direction whereby these connection elements obtain substantially the shape of a H (Figs. 4, 24, 27).

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 47 words

10) An elongated building structure according to claim 9, characterized in that the notches (3, 19) of the connection elements (5, 18) have a width, as measured between the mutually parallel edges of the notches, which substantially equals the thickness of the building elements (Figs. 4, 27).

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 37 words

11) An elongated building structure according to claim 9, characterized in that the edges of the notches (3, 16) of the connection elements (5, 14) are all substantially parallel to the height direction (Fig. 4, 24) .

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 52 words

12) An elongated building structure according to claim 9, characterized in that the parallel edges of the notches of the connection elements (18) are all substantially parallel to each other and form an acute angle with the height direction, said building elements preferably overlapping each other in the transverse direction (Fig. 27).

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 40 words

13) An elongated building structure according to claim 9, characterized in that the depth of the notches (3, 16) of the connection elements (5, 14) substantially equals a fourth of the height (h) of the building elements (Fig. 4, 24).

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 57 words

14) An elongated building structure according to claim 9, characterized in that the depth of one (3) of the notches of the connection elements substantially equals a fourth of the height (h) of the building elements, and that the depth of the other notch (9) substantially equals half of the height of the building element (Fig. 40).

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 64 words

151 An elongated building structure according to claim 9, characterized in that the width, as measured between the mutually parallel edges, of the notches (16) of the connection elements (14) is substantially twice as great as the thickness (t) of the building elements, adjacent building elements preferably overlapping each other in the transverse direction while being in mutual contact with each other (Fig. 24).

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 125 words

16) An elongated building structure according to claim 1, characterized in that at least some of the connection elements (24; 26) have two pairs of symmetrically located notches (3; 3, 19) which are located substantially just opposite each other within each pair and open into an individual one of those edges of the connection element (24, 26)., which are substantially perpendicular to'the height direction, at a distance from the nearest end of the connection element which substantially equals a third of the length of the connection element, whereby these connection elements approximately get the shape of a double H having a central shank common to the two H:s, adjacent building elements overlapping each other in the transverse direction without contacting each other (Fig. 37, 39).

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 78 words

17) An elongated building structure according to claim 1 characterized in that at least part of the connection elements (12) have a notch (9) which is substantially parallel to the height direction and has a width between its edges, which equals the thickness of the building elements, and a depth, which substantially equals half of the height of the building elments, and which opens substantially centrally into one of the side edges of the connection elements (Fig. 13).

Elongated building structure

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