Stabilizer For Mobile Homes

Abstract

A stabilizer and support for mobile homes, trailers, building constructions and the like effective to resist wind, vibration, unequal weight distributions, and settling. The stabilizers have a combined supporting and tie-down capacity and cooperate on opposite sides of the trailer or building structure so that a tension applying load on one side will result in a compression load on the other side. Angular distribution stresses are also provided so that a force in any direction will be resisted by balancing counter-forces. The devices of this invention include anchors driven in the ground, compaction plates resting on the ground and secured to the anchors, telescoped struts supported by the compaction plates and supporting the underframing of the building structure to a predetermined load setting and tensioned cables diverging from the compaction plates to the frame structure together with tie-down cables or straps anchored to the post carried structure. The struts will shorten or lengthen when the loads thereon exceed the predetermined setting and resist impact loads in the manner of shock absorbers.

Description

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the art of anchoring mobile homes, lightweight building structures, trailers and the like to the ground. Particularly the devices of this invention provide stabilizing support and tie-down anchorage for mobile homes and cooperate with each other so that a force causing tension on one side of the mobile home will be offset by a compression resistance to this force on the other side of the home. A triangular distribution of forces is provided so that stresses applied from any direction and to any portion of the mobile home will be distributed and balanced to prevent damage to the underframing.

The term "mobile home" as used herein is intended to include any structure to be either permanently or temporarily anchored to the ground such as buildings, vehicles and trailers which may serve as a home or for any other purpose.

The stabilizer devices of this invention include ground anchor posts with extensible tentacles or tines, preferably of the type shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,069, but it should be understood that other types of ground anchors, such as auger or screw devices, could be used. The posts are driven into the ground alongside of the structure to be anchored and preferably in alignment with the wheels, blocks or the like supports for the structure. The devices are used in pairs on opposite sides of the trailer or mobile home structure. Each post has a compaction plate resting on top of the ground and anchored to the post. The compaction plates support telescoped struts which in turn support the underframe of the structure outwardly from the main structure support, such as the wheels or foundation blocks. Cables anchored to the compaction plates diverge from the plates to the main frame beams of the home or vehicle so that their frame anchored ends are longitudinally spaced apart a considerable distance on the main frame. A tie-down cable or strap extends over the top of the vehicle or trailer and has its ends anchored to the anchor post structures on opposite sides of the home or vehicle. The struts are preferably attached through a beam to the outboard ends of the conventional outrigger frames of the vehicle while the diverging cables are connected to the main longitudinal frames from which these outriggers extend.

In one embodiment the struts diverge from the compaction plate to the adjacent outriggers. In another embodiment, a single telescopic strut extends from the compaction plate to a longitudinal beam attached to the adjacent outriggers.

When the devices of this invention are in paired alignment on opposite sides of the home or trailer structure, wind or other forces tending to raise one side of the home or trailer will place the struts on that side under tension while the struts on the opposite side will be placed under compression. The telescoped sections of the struts are frictionally held against relative movement by torque clamps set to resist a predetermined load. When this load is exceeded the struts will yield under the excess load to prevent damage to the framing of the supported structure. The predetermined setting for the struts is especially useful to provide supplementary support for the mobile home at overloaded outboard areas such as where a refrigerator, stove or the like might be placed adjacent an outer wall.

The tensioned diverging cables extend inwardly under the home or trailer frame and diverge longitudinally outward from the compaction plates. This provides a triangular distribution of tension forces from the compaction plates to the main frame of the home or trailer and any force such as a wind force from any direction on the sides or ends of the home or vehicle will always be resisted by tensioned cables even though such a force may be in a direction to loosen one of the cables of the pairs. The arrangement is such that a plurality of the cables will always remain under tension regardless of the direction of wind forces or the like tending to unbalance the weight distribution of the home or vehicle on its foundation supports.

It is then an object of this invention to provide a building stabilizer and anchor which will resist wind vibration, unequal weight distribution and settling to maintain the anchored and supported structure in a stabilized condition without permitting the structure to be damaged on application of highly unstabilized forces.

Another object of the invention is to provide a ground anchor for mobile homes and the like which is easily installed and also affords stabilizing support to the structure.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combined mobile home stabilizing support and anchor.

A further object of the invention is to provide an anchor for mobile homes, trailers and the like which provides supplemental support for the home or trailer while tying the same to the ground.

A specific object of the invention is to provide a combined stabilizer and tie-down device for mobile homes, trailers, and the like cooperating with the foundation or wheels of the homes or trailers to afford shock absorbing supplemental support as well as load distribution preventing damage in the event of highly unstable forces applied to the body of the home or trailer.

A specific object of the invention is to provide mobile home stabilizers and ground anchors which are easily driven into the ground and cooperate with each other on opposite sides of the mobile home to balance tension loads with compression loads.

Other and further objects of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description of the annexed sheets of drawings which, by way of preferred embodiments, illustrate several modifications of the devices of this invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic isometric view of a mobile home equipped with the stabilizer anchors of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of the home and anchor structures of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged isometric view from underneath the portion of the home of FIG. 1 showing further details of the stabilizer anchor;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view with parts broken away of the stabilizer anchor shown in FIG. 3 and illustrating parts in further detail;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view showing the manner in which the struts of the stabilizer anchor are mounted at their lower ends;

FIG. 6 is a transverse sectional view along the line VI--VI of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view along the line VII--VII of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is an isometric view similar to FIG. 4 but showing a single strut modification of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary isometric view illustrating another modification with a swingable compaction base or plate and swivel mounting for the strut.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS ILLUSTRATED IN THE DRAWINGS

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the reference numerals 10 designate generally the stabilizer anchors of this invention in operative positions for stabilizing and anchoring a mobile home 11 on its foundations 12. The mobile home 11 has conventional underframing including a pair of longitudinal I-beams 13 extending the full length thereof under the body 14 and spaced inwardly from the sides of the body. Lateral beams or outriggers 15 extend from the main beams 15 to the outer sides of the body 14 and cooperate with the beams 13 to form the main frame support for the body 14.

The foundation supports 12 as illustrated include concrete slabs 12a resting on or partially embedded in the ground G and supporting stacks of concrete blocks 12b receiving the main beams 13 on the tops thereof. Four such foundations 12 are illustrated, but it should be appreciated that six or any larger number could be used for longer mobile homes. The foundations 12 are arranged in aligned pairs and the devices 10 of this invention are positioned laterally outward from and in alignment with these foundations. As better shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, each stabilizer anchor 10 of this invention includes a post or pile 16 driven into the ground G just outwardly from the sides of the mobile home body 14 and in alignment with a foundation 12. These posts or piles 16 are metal tubes, of square configuration as illustrated, and have driving points 17 on their leading ends. When the posts are driven into the ground to the desired depth, tentacle rods 18 are forced outwardly therefrom by impacting a head (not shown) in the post to extrude the rods, all as more fully described and claimed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,069. It will be understood, however, that the posts 16 could be replaced with other types of ground anchors. When the tentacle rods 18 are extended as illustrated, the posts are firmly and fixedly secured in the ground G and will resist forces tending to withdraw them from the ground.

A compaction plate or base 19 is mounted on the upper end of each post 16 and includes a pair of opposed metal angle plates 20 with extensive horizontal base legs 20a and vertical legs 20b in spaced opposed position. A sleeve 21 slidable on the post 16, as best shown in FIG. 7, has holes 22 in the side faces thereof receiving lugs 23 projecting from the vertical legs 20b of the plates 20. These lugs 23 pivotally mount the compaction plate assembly 19 on the sleeve 21.

A square tube 24 is also positioned between the vertical legs 20b of the plates 20 and bolted thereto in an upright position by a through bolt 25. The tube 24 projects above the legs 20b, but terminates flush with the legs 20a. A second through bolt 26 draws the free inner ends of the legs 20b toward each other to cooperate with the bolt 25 to secure the two plates in fixed relation and thereby also maintain the lugs 23 in the holes 22 of the sleeve 21.

The legs 20b have arcuate slots 27 therethrough above the lugs 23 and overlying the side faces of the sleeve 21. A through bolt 28 received through these slots 27 and through holes in the sleeve 24 and post 16 fixedly locks the compaction plate assembly 19 to the post. The slots 27 permit a pivotal adjustment of the plate 19 relative to the post so that the plate may rest flat on the ground in instances, for example, where the post is driven at an angle into the ground. It is sometimes desirable to drive the post at a slight inclined angle toward the foundations 12 giving freer access for striking the end of the post in the event it is spaced close to the sides of the mobile home.

The vertical legs 20b of the plates 20 have additional aligned holes 29 therethrough to provide for adjustable mountings of the tube 24 toward and away from the post 16.

Telescopic struts 30 are supported at their lower ends on the top edge of the sleeve 24. Each of these struts 30 has a square metal tube portion 31 slidably receiving a square channel member 32 through its upper end. The bottom of each square tube 31 is notched at 33 as shown in FIG. 5 to receive the upper end edges of the tube 24. A draw bolt 34 extends through washers 34a with inclined faces engaging the tubes, then through the lower outer ends of these tubes 31 and through the side walls of the tube 24 to lock the tubes 31 to the sleeve 24 in fixed relation.

As shown in FIG. 6, the channel tube 32 has an open slot 35 bounded by inturned flanges 36. A slide nut 37 is grooved to receive the inner ends of these edges 36 and a bolt 38 extends through the outer face of the tube 31, through the channel slot 35 and is threaded into the nut 37. Tightening of the bolt will clamp the channel 32 to the tube 31. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, two bolts 38 are provided in the tubes 31 and each have a cooperating internal nut 37. The degree of tightening of the bolts 38 will determine the loads under which the struts 30 can lengthen or shorten.

The upper ends of the channels 32 are secured by angle brackets 39 to a wood beam 40 which in turn is secured to the outer ends of adjacent outriggers 15 by means of brackets 41 or the like. The brackets 39 are attached to the beam 40 at positions, adjacent the outriggers 15 as shown, or at any position to give a desired diverging angle of the struts 30 from their supporting sleeve 24. The bridging beam 40 between adjacent outriggers 15 makes possible a desired angular positioning of the struts regardless of the distance between the outriggers and, of course, if desired, the beam 40 could span three or more outriggers.

The inner end of the compaction plate 19 anchors a pair of cables 42. These cables can, if desired, be anchored to the through bolt 26 as shown or in any other manner. The cables 42 extend inwardly from the compaction base 19 and also diverge outwardly from both sides of the base to slotted brackets 43 with slots 44 receiving the inner base flange of the adjacent I-beam main frame 13 of the mobile home. A clamping screw 45 on the bracket 43 locks the bracket to the I-beam flange. A turnbuckle 46 is provided in each cable 42 to tighten the cable between the base 19 and the frame 13.

A tie down cable or strip 47 is draped over the top of the mobile home 11 and has its ends anchored to the top ends of the post 16 of each pair of anchors 10 by any suitable means such as a hook, bolt or screw-in plug (not shown). A turnbuckle 48 is provided in the cable 47 to tighten the tie down to the anchor posts 16.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the top ends of the diverging struts 30 and the diverging cables 42 straddle the adjacent foundation 12. The cables 42 are tightened and tend to draw the compaction base 19 upwardly toward this foundation 12, but of course such movement is prevented by the anchor post 16. The struts 30 are extended to afford any desired supplemental support for the mobile home and thus cooperates with the adjacent foundation 12 to provide added lateral support stability. The struts thus normally are under compression loads tending to press the compaction base 19 into the ground. This depressing force on the compaction base is offset by the upward pull afforded by the cables 42. A balancing of downward and upward forces results in a stabilized ground plate which, of course, is anchored by the post 16.

Since, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the devices 10 are paired on opposite sides of the mobile home 11, any lifting force on one side of the home tending to place the struts 30 in tension will be offset by an added compression load on the struts of the opposite device. Here again, a balancing of forces is developed.

The nuts 38 of the struts 30 are tightened just sufficiently so that the struts will compress or elongate at a predetermined load. In this manner, excessive loads on the struts will not damage the underframing of the mobile home since the struts will give under such loads. Settling of the foundations 12 will also be accommodated by the struts so that they will not bear a full supporting load. The struts in effect act as shock absorbers resisting vibration, wind impacts and the like, but accommodating movement under steady applied overloads.

The diverging cables 42 will distribute tension loads along longitudinal spaced portions of the main frames 13 and at least one cable of each pair of cables anchored to a compaction base will always be under tension regardless of the direction of applied wind forces or the like tending to tilt the mobile home. The tie-down cables 47 also cooperate with these cables 42 to pull the home 11 down on its foundation.

If desired, the pair of diverging struts can be replaced with a single upright strut as shown in the modification 10a of FIG. 8 where components corresponding with components described in FIGS. 1 to 7 have been marked with the same reference numerals.

In FIG. 8, a single vertical strut 50 has a square tube 51 telescoping and receiving a channel member 52 in the same manner as the struts 30. However, the square tube 51 extends vertically between the vertical legs 20b above the base 19 and is directly bolted thereto by a bolt 53. Torsion bolts 54 are provided on the strut portions 51 and 52 to hold them in predetermined elongated position as described in connection with the struts 30. The upper end of the channel member 52 is attached to the central portion of the beam 40 by an angle bracket 55. Therefore, the single strut 50 acts vertically to function in the same manner as the struts 30, but without the longitudinal stability provided by the inclined struts 30.

Another vertical strut modification is shown in FIG. 9 where the device 10b has a flat metal or wood compaction base 60. A cylindrical tubular anchor post 61 slides through the base 60 and is anchored thereto by a through bolt 62.

A swivel bracket 63 is bolted to the top face of the mid-portion of the plate 60. This bracket 63 has a base 64 receiving a single bolt through the center thereof so the bracket may be rotated relative to the base. The bracket also has vertical side flanges 65 with bolt apertures therethrough.

The vertical strut 50 has the bottom of the square tube portion 51 thereof resting on the bracket 63 between the vertical flanges 65 thereof and a single bolt 66 pivotally secures the bottom of the tube to the bracket. A universal swivel joint connection with the base 60 is thereby provided. The channel portion 52 of the strut 50 extends behind the beam 40 and is directly bolted to the back face of the beam by bolts 67.

The base 60 can swing relative to the anchor post 61 and can be adjustably positioned to locate the strut 50 relative to the beam 40. Since the bracket 63 can rotate on the plate 60, the strut may be rotated and also tilted on its mounting bolt 66 to position it as desired relative to the beam 40.

A second anchor 68 can also be provided for the base 60 and as shown, the post of this anchor extends through a second opening on the end of the plate 60 remote from the first post 61. The second post is anchored to the plate in the same manner as the post 61 by a bolt 62. As shown, both anchor posts 61 have the extruded tentacle rods 18 described hereinabove. The device 10b operates in the same manner as the device 10a.

From the above descriptions it will, therefore, be clear that this invention provides stabilizers and tie-down units for mobile homes and the like which cooperate with the foundations for the homes to not only anchor the homes to the ground, but also to provide supplemental support coacting with the main foundation support and resisting the forces of wind, vibration, unequal weight distribution and settling.

Claims

I claim as my invention:

1. A stabilizer for a mobile home or similar structure which comprises a ground anchor adapted to be secured in the ground, a base member adapted to rest on the ground and secured to the upper end of the ground anchor, telescoped strut means supported on the base member and extending therefrom into supporting relation with the mobile home, means holding the strut means in extended relation under a predetermined maximum load but accommodating shortening and lengthening of the strut means under excess loads, and tension cable means extending upwardly from the base member to pull the mobile home downwardly whereby loads applied to the base member from the strut means tending to depress the base member into the ground are resisted by the tension cable means and loads tending to raise the base member are resisted by the ground anchor.

2. A stabilizer and ground anchor for cooperating with foundations of building constructions to resist movement of the constructions on the foundations which comprises a pile member adapted to be driven in the ground, a compaction base mounted on the upper end of the pile member adapted to rest on the ground, extensible strut means supported on the compaction base and supporting a building construction outwardly from its foundation, tension cables extending upwardly and outwardly from the compaction base anchored to the building construction, and means adjusting the struts to yield under excess tension or compression loads.

3. An anchor and stabilizer system for building constructions resting on foundations which comprises a pair of anchor devices driven in the ground on opposite sides of the building construction outwardly from the foundations, compaction base members secured on the upper ends of the anchors adapted to rest on the ground, extensible struts supported on the compaction bases and supporting the building construction outwardly from the foundations, means adjusting the extensible struts to elongate or shorten when subjected to loads exceeding a predetermined setting, a tie-down cable extending over the roof of the building construction and anchored at its ends to the anchor devices on opposite sides of the building construction, and pairs of upwardly inclined diverging tension cables extending from each compaction base into anchored relation with the building construction, said pairs of cables coacting with the struts to hold the compaction bases on the ground and said pile members preventing shifting of the compaction bases on the ground whereby the tie-down cable will anchor the building construction to the ground, the struts will cooperate with the foundation means to stabilize the supporting of the construction on the ground and the pairs of tension cables will coact with the struts to prevent the compaction bases from sinking in the ground.

4. A device for tying down a building construction on its foundation which comprises base members, means for anchoring the base members on the ground laterally outward from the foundation of the building construction to be tied down, extensible means mounted on the base members acting against the building construction to cooperate with the foundation for supporting the construction, means for preloading said extensible means to support a predetermined load, cable means diverging inwardly and longitudinally outward from the base means into anchored relation with the bottom of the building construction and a tie-down cable means anchored to the base means acting on the top portion of the building construction to pull the construction downwardly on its foundation.

5. The stabilizer of claim 1 wherein the mobile home or similar structure has a longitudinal frame with outrigger frames projecting laterally outward therefrom, the tension cable means are anchored to the longitudinal frame and the strut means are anchored to the outer ends of the outrigger frames.

6. The stabilizer of claim 5 wherein a beam spans adjacent outrigger frames and the strut means are attached to the beam.

7. The stabilizer of claim 1 wherein the strut means comprise a pair of struts each having telescoped tubes respectively anchored to the base member and the mobile home.

8. The stabilizer of claim 1 wherein the base member mounts a sleeve and the ground anchor slides through this sleeve and is secured thereto at a desired level.

9. The stabilizer of claim 2 including a tie-down cable secured to the pile member and acting on the upper portion of the building construction to pull the construction down on its foundation.

10. The stabilizer of claim 2 wherein the compaction base is a pair of angle plates having vertical flanges in spaced relation and base horizontal flanges extending outwardly therefrom and the pile member and strut means extend between the vertical flanges and are anchored thereto.

11. The stabilizer of claim 2 wherein the base member is a flat plate resting on the ground and the strut means is secured to the top face of the base member.

12. The stabilizer of claim 3 wherein the compaction base members have the anchor devices slidable therethrough and locked therewith at a desired level.

13. The anchor device of claim 3 wherein the building construction has laterally extending frames in spaced relation, a beam underlies the outer ends of these frames and the extensible struts are secured to the beams.

14. The stabilizer of claim 13 wherein the extensible struts include a pair of struts diverging from the compaction base.

15. The stabilizer of claim 4 wherein the strut means has an outer tube slidably receiving a slotted inner tube and a torque nut and bolt assembly frictionally connects the inner tube to the outer tube.