Retractable And Detachable Wheel Assembly

Abstract

A wheel assembly for use with transportable structures such as trailers, mobile homes and prefabricated buildings consisting of a wheel or wheels conventionally supported between longitudinal beams of a rectangular frame and wherein one end beam of the frame is detachably and rotatably mounted to the structure it supports and the opposite end beam is detachably connected to the frame of the structure through a jack which is operable to lower the wheel assembly to carry the structure during transit and to raise the wheel assembly causing the structure to be lowered on a fixed support at its destination.

Description

This invention relates to wheels transportation and particularly to wheeled structures and to wheeled assemblies for use with such structures which are occasionally but infrequently moved over highways such as trailers, mobile homes and prefabricated buildings or building units.

House trailers, or mobile homes as they are usually referred to, while being in the form of highway vehicles in that they have wheel assemblies permanently affixed to them, are not intended for continuous highway travel. Typically a mobile home is moved from the factory to a dealer, and then to a purchaser's lot where most frequently it remains throughout its useful life. In some instances the mobile home will be moved one or more additional times, but periods of movement are still relatively short in contrast to its total period of usage. Thus in reality the transportable features of these structures has a very limited use. Once set up on a lot it is the usual practice to support the mobile home on a solid foundation such as provided by concrete or concrete blocks. Thereafter the wheels do not serve a useful function. Thus in terms of return for one' s money the purchaser of a mobile home is somewhat short changed in that he has had to purchase a fairly expensive wheel assembly while like new in condition when the mobile home is delivered to his lot are of no further, or at least no immediate, use to him.

While it is of course physically possible to remove wheel assemblies from mobile homes and to refit them to another one and reuse them, known existing type wheel assemblies are not quickly and readily removable. Further, they are not generally universally interchangeable from mobile home to mobile home and it is believed that for this reason that no known significant effort has been made to recycle wheel assembly usage. Of course the mobile home industry has grown tremendously in the last few years and the demands have been such that competition has not generally forced this economy on the industry. However it is believed that supply is overtaking demand and that the present day customer in demanding more for his dollar sees little reason to purchase what may be regarded as simply accessories which are not needed on a permanent basis and thus the purchaser reasonably should be permitted the option of purchase or return of wheel assemblies.

Perhaps of equal significance is the question of whether wheel assemblies can and should be capable of recycled in use is the fast growing prefabricated housing industry which provides modular building units which are being shipped over the highways. With them, there is substantially no likelihood that they will be transported except to the construction site to which they are initially transported.

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide improved wheel assemblies for structures to be transported over highways on a limited base and wherein the wheel assemblies would be removed when the structures reached their destination, permitting the wheel assemblies to be returned to either the manufacturer or dealer for reuse.

It is a further object of this invention to provide wheel assemblies of the character described which are simply and readily attached to a structure to be transported and which, similarly, can be simply and readily removed without damage to the structure to which they have been attached.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide wheel assemblies of the character described which may be attached to a structure resting on a floor or roadway, the wheels then being readily adjusted downward to raise the structure to an operating position and locked in place for transit.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide wheel assemblies of the character described wherein when a structure to which the wheel assemblies are attached reaches its destination that the wheels of the wheel assembly may be readily adjusted upward permitting the structure to be lowered onto a stationary base.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a wheel assembly of the character described wherein the wheel assemblies are readily removable from the structure to which they are attached after they have been raised sufficiently for the structure to rest solidly on a stationary base.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an improved transportable structure of the type adapted to be moved over roadways which includes retractable and readily removable wheel assemblies.

In accordance with the present invention the aforesaid objects are met by the construction of a wheel assembly which includes a rigid wheel frame in which one or more wheels are supported by the frame through conventional spring suspension. The wheel frame is pivotally mounted at one end to the structure it is to support and is coupled through a jack to it at the other end whereby the wheel assembly is moved in an arc about the pivoted end by the jack. The wheel assembly is thus jacked downward to raise the vehicle and support it during highway travel and is jacked upward to permit the structure to be lowered for mounting on a stationary base. The structure referred to, mobile home, prefabricated housing unit, etc., would include an opening for the removal of the wheel assembly.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description when considered together with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a wheel assembly constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view along line 2--2 of FIG. 1, ratchet and teeth on jack being omitted for purposes of clarity;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of a wheel assembly showing pivotal connections to a trailer;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of a portion of the wheel assembly shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cut away plan view of a trailer incorporating a pair of installed wheel assemblies of the type shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 6 is a cut away side view of the trailer shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cut away end view of the house trailer shown in FIGS. 5 and 6;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a flat bed trailer particularly adapted for transporting and installing prefabricated buildings wherein the buildings consist of four walls and a roof;

FIG. 9 is a side elevation view of trailer as shown in FIG. 8 together with a transportable building showing raised and lowered positions of the trailer;

FIG. 10 is a transverse view, partially in section, of a portion of a trailer and transportable building with wheel assembly in lowered position for hauling;

FIG. 11 is a transverse view, partially in section, of a portion of a trailer and transportable building with wheel assembly in a raised position for removal of the building;

FIG. 12 is a side elevation view showing a flat bed trailer being removed from a building; and

FIG. 13 is an enlarged sectional view of a mounting base shown in FIG. 11 after it has been permanently affixed in place.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly FIGS. 1-7, a wheel assembly or wheel housing 10 consists of a rectangular steel frame 12 which includes parallel side members or beams 14, end plates or beams 16 and 17 and top plate 18. A pair of wheels 20 mounted on a conventional axel assembly 22 are attached through axel mounting bracket 24, leaf spring 26 and spring hangers 28 to top plate 18. One end 30 (FIG. 3) of frame 12 includes a hinged or pivotal mounting assembly 32 which in turn consists of a pair of hinge members 34 which are rigidly attached to trailer or mobile home body 36 by means of cross beam 38, which otherwise supports floor 39 of trailer 36. A pair of mating hinge members 40 are rigidly attached to end 30 of wheel housing 10 and are coupled to hinge members 34 by means of pin 42. Thus wheel housing 10 is raised or lowered by rotation about the axis of pin 42 to assume a lower, or in-transit position, shown in solid lines (FIG. 1) or a raised position as shown in broken lines. In the raised position trailer 36 would of course be resting directly on supporting surface 44.

Wheel housing 10 is adjusted or operated between upper and lower positions by means of jack assembly 46. The basic structure of the jack assembly and its operation is similar to a rack type automotive jack having racked teeth 48 on elongated beam 50 and an up-down control 51, and is operated by a conventional ratchet assembly 52 by means of handle 54. Hook 56 on ratchet assembly 52 is adapted to be inserted through an opening 58 in clevis lug 60 attached to end 62 of wheel housing 10. Hook 64 is attached to the lower end of beam 50 of jack assembly 46 and is adapted to removably connect to clevis 66 through an opening 68. Clevis 66 is rigidly attached to cross beam 70 of trailer 36. Hinge assembly 72 is similar to hinge assembly 32 and consists of hinge members 74 rigidly attached to end 62 of wheel housing 12, mating hinge members 76 and locking pins 78 which intercouple the hinged members when wheel housing 10 is in a lowered position. In this position jack assembly 46 may be removed. Thus jack assembly 46 is used in the installation of a wheel assembly 10 wherein it would be employed to jack down the wheel assembly 10 and thus lift trailer 36. Pins 78 would then be inserted to lock wheel assembly 10 in position and jack assembly 46 removed. Typically this would ready trailer 36 for towing. Then following the towing of trailer 36 to its destination, jack assembly 46 would be reconnected, pins 78 removed and jack assembly 46 operated to jack up wheel housing 10 until trailer 36 rests on surface 44 which would remove tension from wheel housing 10 permitting pins 42 to be removed and thus wheel assembly 10 to be removed. Its removal from trailer 36 would be provided for by appropriate structural opening as through a door of the trailer.

The foregoing description has dealt with the application of the invention to trailers or mobile homes which have floor structures. FIGS. 8-13 illustrate forms of the invention applicable to the transport of prefabricated buildings having four walls and a roof but no floor. This is becoming a popular type structure in that it is often preferable to employ a masonry floor in the finished structure and a masonry floor is not generally economically prefabricated and transported. FIG. 8 illustrates a flat bed trailer 80 which utilizes two of the wheel assemblies 10 shown in FIGS. 1-4 and supported in the same manner illustrated in FIG. 3 except between cross beams 44 and 70. The difference between trailer body 36 in FIGS. 1-4 and trailer 80 of FIG. 8 is simply that there is no superstructure included in the trailer of FIG. 8. Trailer 80 basically consists of rectangular frame 81 having longitudinal frame members 82 and supporting cross members 84, 86, 44 and 70. Towing frame 88 would include a trailer hitch, not shown, to provide means for towing as well as means for movement of trailer 80 in and out of engagement with a building structure, represented in this case by building structure 92 (FIGS. 9-13) with respect to which it is to be used as will be further described.

As particularly shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 longitudinal frame members 82 include elongated beams 94 which slide or otherwise move within channel 96 of structure 92 and provide supporting coupling between trailer 80 and structure 92 for hauling, and to facilitate engagement and disengagement during loading and unloading operations. A typical sequence of use would be to first jack down wheel assemblies 10 sufficiently to raise trailer 80 to allow beam 94 to freely move within channels 96 (FIG. 11) and then to back trailer 80 into a position within structure 92 suitable for balanced support of structure 92 (solid line position shown in FIG. 9). Next, wheel assemblies 10 would be jacked down further, raising structure 92 to the level shown in FIG. 10 (and dashed lines in FIG. 9) and bolts 98 inserted to secure together channels 96 and elongated beams 94. Trailer 80 with structure 92 thus supported and secured would be towed to the building site where structure 92 is to be installed. There, wheel assemblies 10 would be jacked up to the position illustrated in FIG. 11 wherein structure 92 would rest on a prepared base 100. Bolts 98 would then be removed and trailer pulled out of structure 92. This operation is illustrated in FIG. 12. Deflectable or removable flap 102 would be built into structure 92 to facilitate passage of wheel assemblies 10 during loading and unloading operations. Finally, structure 92 would be fastened to base 100 and to concrete floor 104 as shown in FIG. 13 by means of bolts 106 secured by nuts 108. Bolts 106 would be appropriately spaced and embedded in concrete floor 104 to firmly anchor structure 92. Cover plate 110 with clips 112 would then be inserted in channel 96 to give a base board effect to the interior of structure 92.

It is believed that by the wheel assembly and trailer and wheel assembly combinations described and illustrated herein that there is provided improved and novel means of facilitating the road transportation of structures not primarily designed for road transportation which when used will result in substantial savings in the cost of such structures and their transportation. It is to be appreciated that details of construction with respect to wheel suspension and such matters as openings for the installation and removal of wheel assemblies will vary depending upon the particular vehicle or structures involved. For example, although the wheel assemblies illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 8-11 are independent of each other, right with respect to left, it may be desirable to provide a temporary axel coupling between them as a means of providing lateral support. Such coupling would be installed after the wheels were in the position shown in FIG. 10 and removed prior to raising the wheels as illustrated in FIG. 11. Individual wheel assemblies would be separately removed where directly connected to a building structure as typically would be the case with mobile homes, which would be particularly constructed to include a removable wall section or door through which wheel assemblies would pass.

An exception to this would be where a wheel assembly would be constructed of sufficient width to extend substantially across the full width of a trailer and thus only a single wheel assembly be used. In such instances typically pairs of wheels would be spaced to be mounted near each side of the wheel assembly, and trailer, and in some instances would be connected by and mounted on a single axle.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A retractable and detachable wheel assembly for a transportable structure wherein said structure includes a supporting base and wherein said wheel assembly comprises:

A. a rigid rectangular frame having a pair of longitudinal beam members interconnected at each end by and including a pair of shorter end beam members;

B. at least one wheel and means for rotatable supporting said wheel on said frame about an axis intermediate between ends of said frame, said axis of said wheel being perpendicular to said longitudinal beam members;

C. coupling means connected to one of said end beam members for pivotally interconnecting said frame to said base about a coupling axis parallel to the axis of said wheel, whereby said wheel assembly is raised or lowered with respect to said base when said wheel assembly is rotated about said coupling axis; and

D. positioning means supported by said base and connected to the other end beam member for selectively rotating said wheel assembly about said coupling axis and thereby adjusting said wheel assembly in elevation with respect to said structure between a selected lower position wherein said wheels protrude below said base for supporting said structure during transit and a selected upper position for stationary location of said structure.

2. A retractable and detachable wheel assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said positioning means includes means for detachably interconnecting said base and said frame and further comprising locking means for securing the other said end of said frame to said base, whereby said positioning means may be released and removed when said wheel assembly is positioned in a lower position and secured to said base.

3. A retractable and detachable wheel assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said positioning means comprises a jack detachably interconnecting said base and said frame.

4. A transportable structure comprising:

A. a housing structure and a supporting base interconnected thereto;

B. at least two wheel assemblies connected in side-by-side relation to said base and each comprising:

1. a rigid frame;

2. at least one wheel and means for rotatably supporting said wheel on said frame about an axis intermediate between extreme ends of said frame;

3. coupling means for pivotally interconnecting one end of said frame to said base about a coupling axis, said coupling axis being parallel to the axis of said wheel located between said wheel and one of extreme ends of said whereby said wheel assembly is raised or lowered with respect to said base when said wheel assembly is rotated about said coupling axis, and

4. positioning means supported by said base and connected to a region of said frame opposite of said end of said frame to which said coupling means is connected, for selectively rotating said wheel assembly about said coupling axis and thereby adjusting said wheel assembly in elevation with respect to said structure between a selected lower position wherein said wheel protrudes below said base for supporting said structure during transit and a selected upper position for stationary support of said structure;

C. said housing structure includes passageways adapted to permit removal of said wheel assemblies when said wheel assemblies are in an upper position, said passageways including a pair of spaced elongated channels, one being attached to each of two lower sides of said housing structure; and

D. said supporting base includes a pair of longitudinally extending elongated beams, each positioned on the outer side of each of said wheel assemblies, said beams being adapted to be positioned within and be slideably removable from said elongated channels.