GB2092633A - Nuclear blast and fallout shelter - Google Patents

Abstract

The underground shelter has walls, floor, and roof 1 to 4 comprising at least one layer of fibre glass reinforced resin on each side of a layer of a light material, e.g. balsa wood or foamed material. The walls and other sections of the shelter are made by moulding at least one layer of resin impregnated fibre glass in a suitable mould, placing a layer of balsa wood on the moulded fibre glass/resin, and adding one or more further layers of fibre glass reinforced resin onto the balsa wood to form a sandwich type construction. The sections may have joists 33 and reinforcing webs 36, and peripheral flanges 34. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Shelters This invention concerns shelters particularly shelters for protection against nuclear fall-out, and a method of constructing same.

There is much concern at this time about the possibility of nuclear war and its effects as a result of nuclear explosion and the subsequent nuclear fall-out. Therefore, provision of suitable underground shelters for protection against nuclear blasts and fall-out is of considerable importance.

This invention seeks to provide a shelter suitable for protection against nuclear blasts or fall-out and a method of making such a shelter.

Accordingly this invention provides a shelter having walls comprising at least one layer of glass fibre reinforced resin on each side of a layer of a light material to provide thickness and strength to the walls.

This invention also provides a method of constructing a shelter comprising the steps of forming sections for the walls etc., for example by moulding at least one layer, preferably two layers, of fibre glass reinforced resin, placing a layer of light material to provide wall thickness on the first layer, and adding at least one layer, preferably three layers, of glass fibre reinforced resin onto the light material layer, and joining such sections appropriately.

Such light material may be balsa woodt or a foamed plastics material, such as polystyrene.

Particularly for a fall-out shelter, the walls may be reinforced by joists, preferably of wood or metal.

These joists may be held in position by one or more layers of fibre glass reinforced resin or may fit recesses in the walls and be covered by one or more layers of fibre glass reinforced resin.

The walls including the floor and the roof, of the shelter may be constructed as separate sections and then fixed together, say with nuts and bolts.

Suitable sealant may be used to provide watertight seal between the sections. Also, webs may be used to provide extra strength for the joints between sections. To assist joining of sections the various sections may have flanges on edges to be joined to adjacent sections.

Usually the walls, roof and floor will be made up of several sections each so that any required size of shelter can be made by using the appropriate number of sections.

The various sections of the shelter may be made by the following steps. Firstly a plug of suitable material, usually wood, is made to the shape of the required section. A mould, usually of glass fibre reinforced resin is then made around this plug. The plug is removed and the inside surface of the mould polished. The finishing layer such as a pigmented gel coat is then coated on the inside surface of the mould. Following this, two layers of resin impregnated fibre glass mat are placed on the gel coat. Next an intermediate layer of balsa wood or expanded polystyrene is placed on the fibre glass. The layer of balsa wood or polystyrene is preferably about 2111 thick. Finally three layers of resin impregnated glass fibre mat are placed on the intermediate layer. Reinforcing joists may now be added and fixed by further layers of resin impregnated glass fibre mat.

Various sections may be made to construct different sizes and designs of shelter. In addition sections may be made to construct both vertical and angled entry chutes and to split the shelter into compartments say to provide an air lock or decontamination compartment.

The shelters of the invention may be fitted with one or more of beds, chairs, an electricity source, such as batteries, storage facilities, a ventilation system, toilet facilities, water storage facilities, cooking facilities and heating facilities.

When a shelter of the invention has been constructed, for nuclear fall-out protection purposes, it is intended to be sited underground, preferably on a concrete base to prevent flotation.

This invention will now be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is an exploded view of a shelter showing the various sections used in its construction; Figures 2A to D show various views of a roof/wall section of a shelter; Figures 3A to D show various views of a wall section of a shelter; Figure 4 is a section through a five person shelter; Figure 5 is a section through a five person shelter showing its internal layout; Figure 6 is a plan view of the layout of the shelter of Figure 5; Figure 7 is a section through the entrance of the shelter of Figures 5 and 6; and Figure 8 is a section through the rear of the shelter of Figures 5 and 6.

Referring to Figure 1, the basic shell of a shelter is made up of floor and roof sections 1, sidewall sections 2 a closed endwali 3 and an endwall 4 having an opening 5 for access which may be closed by a door (not shown). An access vestibule is constructed from sidewalls 6, base and roof sections 7 and endwall 8.

The roof section 7 has a cut-out 1 5 to allow access via a vertical shaft made from sections 9 and 10. The vertical shaft will usually have a ladder or ladder rungs secured to its inner surface.

An entry door 13 is provided to allow access to the vertical shaft.

An alternative to the vertical access shaft is a staircase entry made from upper and lower sections 11 and 1 2 respectively. Endwall 8 of the vestibule has an opening 1 6 to allow access to the shelter from the staircase entry. Again an entry door 14 is provided.

Sections 1,2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12 are flanged to assist joining of sections which is usually by galvanised nuts and bolts through the flanges or edge portions of unflanged sections.

The joins are sealed with a mastic sealant and finished with three strips of glass fibre reinforced resin on the inside surfaces.

The construction of the wall 2 and roof/floor sections 1 is shown in Figures 2 and 3. The outer face 30 of each section has a gel coat finish. Then sandwiched between layers of resin impregnated fibre glass mat is a 21' thick layer of balsa wood.

These layers are indicated at 31. Wooden joists 33 are then fitted and held in place by three layers of resin impregnated fibre glass mat.

Both wall and roof/floor sections have a flange 34 around their perimeters. These flanges are usually drilled at 1 50 mm centres to accommodate 8 mm galvanised nuts and bolts for joining to flanges of other sections, usually with a mastic sealant between the flanges. The joins are then finished by three strips of fibre glass reinforced resin on the inside faces of the sections.

The roof and floor sections are in fact, identical having a flattened U-shapes, thus providing the floor/roof and upper or lower parts of the sidewalls of the shelters. In order to reinforce the U-shaped structure of these sections, the webs 36 are provided at the join of floor/roof and sidewall parts joists.

Figure 4 is a section through an assembled five person shelter. The main living compartment 40 is constructed from four roof and floor sections 1, four sidewall sections 2 an endwall section 3 and an endwall section 4 having an access opening.

The vestibule compartment 41 is shown with both a vertical access shaft 42 and a staircase entry shaft 43, although it will be appreciated that normally only one or the other would be provided.

The vestibule compartment 41 is made up of two sidewall sections 6 and floor and roof sections 7 and endwall section 8 having an access opening.

The roof section 7 also has an access opening.

The vertical shaft 42 is made up of a U-shaped wall section 9, a flat wall section 10 and closure section 13. A ladder or ladder rungs (not shown) will be secured to the inside of the vertical shaft.

The staircase shaft 43 is made up of upper and lower sections 11 and 12 with closure 14.

Normally a staircase will be fitted in this shaft, although slide entry is a possible alternative.

The various sections of the shelter are held together by nuts and bolts 44 through the flanges or edges of adjoining sections. The joins are sealed by a suitable mastic sealant and finished with three strips of glass fibre reinforced resin on the inner faces of the sections.

A layout for the interior of a five person shelter is shown in Figures 5 to 8, the particular shelter illustrated having its staircase entry shaft at right angles to that of the shelter of Figure 4.

The living compartment 40 is split into two parts, one being provided with bunk beds 51.

Beneath the lower bed on one side are fitted water storage tanks 52 and below the bed on the other side storage space and batteries. On the endwall is mounted a ventilation and air filtration appliance 53.

The other part of the living compartment contains toilet facilities, namely a wash basin 54 and a toilet 55. The toilet is discharged by means of hand pump 56.

The shelter is on a concrete base 57 which also extends a short distance up the shelter walls. The staircase entry shaft 43 also has its upper portion protected by concrete at 58, 59.

It will be appreciated that the equipment provided and the layout of the shelter can be varied to suit different needs.

Claims (24)

1. A shelter having walls comprising at least one layer of glass fibre reinforced resin on each side of a layer of a light material to provide thickness and strength to the walls.

2. A shelter as claimed in claim 1 wherein the light material is balsa wood or a foamed plastics material.

3. A shelter as claimed in claim 2 wherein the foamed plastics material is polystyrene.

4. A shelter as claimed in claim 1,2 or 3 wherein the walls are reinforced by joists.

5. A shelter as claimed in claim 4 wherein the joists are of wood or metal.

6. A shelter as claimed in claim 4 or 5 wherein the joists are held in position against the walls by one or more layers of fibre glass reinforced resin.

7. A shelter as claimed in claim 4 or 5 wherein the joists fit recesses in the walls and are covered by one or more layers of fibre glass reinforced resin.

8. A shelter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the walls including the floor and roof are constructed as separate sections and then fixed together.

9. A shelter as claimed in claim 8, wherein sealant is used between joining sections.

10. A shelter as claimed in claim 8 or 9 wherein webs are used to provide extra strength for joints between sections.

11. A shelter as claimed in claim 8, 9 or 10 wherein some or all of the sections have flanged edges to assist joining thereof.

12. A shelter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 having vertical and/or angled entry chute sections.

13. A shelter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 1 2 having partitioning sections to split the shelter into compartments.

14. A shelter as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13 fitted with one or more of beds, chairs, an electricity source, storage facilities, a ventilation system, toilet facilities, water storage facilities, cooking facilities and heating facilities.

1 5. A shelter substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, 4 or 5 to 8 of the accompanying drawings.

1 6. A method of constructing a shelter comprising the steps of forming sections for the walls, roof and floor and joining such sections appropriately.

1 7. A method as claimed in claim 1 6 wherein a sealant is trapped in the joints between sections.

18. A method as claimed in claim 16 or 1 7 wherein the sections are made by moulding at least one layer of fibre glass reinforced resin, placing a layer of light material to provide wall thickness on the first layer and adding at least one layer of glass fibre reinforced resin onto the light material layer.

19. A method as claimed in claim 1 8 wherein the light material is balsa wood or a foamed plastics material.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19 wherein the foamed plastics material is polystyrene.

21. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 5 to 20 wherein sections are made by making a plug of suitable material to the shape of the required section, making a mould around the plug, removing the plug, polishing the inside surface of the mould, coating the inside surface of the mould with a finishing layer, placing one or more layers of resin impregnated fibre glass mat on the finishing layer, placing a layer of light material on the fibre glass, placing at least one layer of resin impregnated fibre glass mat on the layer of light material and removing the section when set from the mould.

22. A method as claimed in claim 21 wherein further comprising the step of adding reinforcing joists and fixing these to the section by one or more layers of resin impregnated glass fibre mat.

23. A method of constructing a shelter as claimed in claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any of the accompanying drawings.

24. A shelter made by a method as claimed in any one of claims 15 to 23.