Abstract:
Floating structures are made to carry load up to their design loading capacities without the risk of being capsized or damaged, wherein the improvement comprises the method and apparatus for diverting all or part of the initial load to other area(s) of the structure by means of a hydraulic and/or spring action between two or more floating or resilient means that were installed under the structure.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to a method and apparatus for the improvement in load-bearing capacity of floating structures. More particularly, it relates to a method of and an apparatus for increasing the load on floating structures such as pontoon, vehicle shock-absorbing system, airplane landing gear, shoe heels, buildings, and the likes without being toppled over. 
     Under a normal usage of a typical pontoon there is always a chance of the pontoon being overly tilted or even capsized as a result of an imbalanced loading. This type of accidents could happen even with a load of less than the design capacity of the pontoon. 
     In the case of vehicle shock-absorbing system, airplane landing gear, shoe heels, or buildings situated on an unstable ground, a sudden load concentrating on any particular point could lead to early structural failures of the entire system. 
     To minimize such incident several methods such as by physically queueing of the people using the pontoon into columns in order to distribute the load has been used. But this type of restraint remains unpopular among the commuters due to the unresolved problem concerning the interaction between those who want to get off and those who want to get on the boat at the same time. 
     Another method is by making the pontoon more stable in the horizontal direction, i.e. by installing columns around the pontoon to prevent it from tilting. However, this type of permanent structures require large amount of investment. 
     As for buildings and other structures situated on an unstable ground such as those in the earthquake area several methods have been used in order to lessen the impact due to the sudden movement of the ground. However, they are not very reliable and still need to be improved. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus to improve the load-bearing capacity of floating structures by making them more stable without compensating their design capacities. 
     According to the present invention, there is provided a method and apparatus to improve the load-bearing capacity of floating structures such as pontoon, vehicle shock-absorbing system, aircraft landing gears, shoe heels, buildings, and the likes, by diverting all or part of the initial load at any given points on the structure to other location(s) in accordance with the hydraulic action between two or more floating or resilient means installed under the structure. Under such action of load diversion it is therefore possible to increase the load onto the same general area of the structure without the risk of putting the entire structure under a hazardous condition before the design capacity of the structure has been reached. Specifically, the present invention consists of a number of large and small (major and minor, respectively) floating or resilient means that operate in tandem. Each set of large and small floating or resilient means installed under the structure is completed with inter-linking hydraulic system that will allow the minor floating or resilient means to take on the initial load, even when such load was not directly on the minor floating or resilient means itself. And after the minor floating or resilient means loading capacity have been reached then the remaining or any additional load will be born by the major floating or resilient means. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a load-bearing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a load-bearing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a variation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2. 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing load-bearing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention that works in conjunction with a fulcrum. 
     FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a variation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 4. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the drawings, the illustrative embodiments of load-bearing apparatus and the method of operation according to the present invention will be explained in detail. 
     FIG. 1 shows one set of the load-bearing apparatus for a loading platform P of a typical pontoon with a design loading capacity W. The apparatus according to the present invention consists of a major pontoon 1 and one or more minor pontoons 2, wherein the buoyancy capacity of the major pontoon 1 is greater than that of the minor pontoons 2. Pontoons 1, 2 are connected to the underside of the platform P at locations 7 and 8, respectively, via piston rods 9, 10 of hydraulic cylinders and pistons 3 and 4, respectively, of the same operating pressure. Hydraulic cylinders 3 and 4 are linked to each other by hydraulic pipes 5, 6 wherein the hydraulic fluid from cylinder 3 flows into cylinder 4 via pipe 5 and the hydraulic fluid from cylinder 4 to cylinder 3 via pipe 6. 
     Under a normal operating condition when a load W is applied on the platform P at location 7 both pontoons 1, 2 will be forced to submerge to the predetermined levels in accordance with their respective buoyancies. However, if the load at location 7 on platform P is higher than the design loading capacity W the major pontoon 1 will also bear more load which will create a counter force of the same intensity due to its buoyancy, and therefore will put a pressure through the piston rod 9 of cylinder 3 and force the hydraulic fluid from cylinder 3 into cylinder 4 via pipe 5. The hydraulic fluid coming from cylinder 3 will in turn push down the piston rod 10 of the cylinder 4 of the minor pontoon 2, and therefore submerge the minor pontoon 2 further down to the next level which is in addition to any existing load W at location 8 above the minor pontoon 2. It is to be noted that the additional load-bearing capacity of the minor pontoon 2 can be predetermined by the length of piston rods 9, 10 in relation to the cross-sectional areas of pontoon 1,2, respectively. 
     After the minor pontoon 2 has been forced down to the maximum length of the piston rod 10 any remaining or additional load at location 7 will be born by the major pontoon 1 until the design capacity has been reached. 
     It can be seen that, with an apparatus according to the present invention, the concentrated load will be distributed to other areas without putting the entire platform under a risk of being tilted or capsized. 
     FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the hydraulic piston cylinders of the apparatus are concentrically arranged in an enclosure. As shown in the drawing, piston 1 and piston 2 are concentrically arranged to be able to move in a vertical direction within an enclosure 3. Piston 1 is supported by a coil spring 4 of higher loading capacity whereas piston 2 is supported by a coil spring 5 of lower loading capacity. When an initial load W is applied to the top of an enclosure 3 both springs 4, 5 will, theoretically, share the load evenly. However, since the spring 4 is stronger than spring 5 it will therefore force the piston 1 to move up and this action will in turn force the hydraulic fluid of the piston 1 to flow into the piston cylinder 2 and therefore forcing down on the coil spring 5 through the movement of piston 2. From such action the initial load W will be diverted to spring 5 instead of being concentrated on spring 4, and leave the spring 4 to take on any additional load at a later stage. 
     FIG. 3 is a variation of the load-bearing apparatus shown in FIG. 2 wherein a bottom enclosure 6 is provided for the reason of mobility. 
     FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the load-bearing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention that were installed under a building on an unstable ground such as those found in the earthquake areas. According to the drawing the entire weight of a building is being born by the main foundation C at location D that acts as a balancing fulcrum of the building floor 3. Hydraulic cylinders 4 and 5 of the same capacity with respective piston rods 6, 7 of the same length were installed in tandem under the building floor 3. The lower end of piston rod 6 is connected to a lower compression capacity coil spring 8 that sits on top of a piling, whereas the lower end of piston rod 7 is connected to a higher compression capacity coil spring 9 on another piling of the foundation. Hydraulic cylinders 4, 5 are respectively interconnected by hydraulic pipes 10, 11. 
     Upon the movement of the ground under the building due the force of the earthquake the entire building will be subject to a sudden movement both in the vertical and horizontal directions, and will put the different parts of the building under the stress and strain. The building floor 3 at side A and side B will be moved in an opposite direction at locations 12, 13 and locations 14, 15 respectively due to the fulcrum action at location D. When the load is applied to locations 12, 13 the hydraulic cylinders 4, 5 will receive the load at the same time. However, since the coil spring 9 has a higher compression capacity it is therefore able to force the piston rod 7 to move up, and concurrently forcing the hydraulic fluid in the cylinder 5 through pipe 11 into the cylinder 4. With such action the piston rod 6 is then forcing down on the spring 8 and consequently diverting the load to location 12 from location 13. 
     FIG. 5 is the variation of the building shown in FIG. 4 whereas the load-bearing apparatus was replaced by the ones shown in FIG. 2. 
     It is to noted that the present invention is not limited to the above description of illustrative embodiments. For example, the present invention may use other types of spring in place of a coil spring, and that the location of the major and minor pontoons or hydraulic cylinders, or the higher and lower compression capacity springs are interchangeable.