Patent Abstract:
A temporary tripod support system for use during preparation of the home foundation of concrete piers and the like. At locations along the sidewalls and mate line of home the tripod supports may be installed in a number significantly less than conventional design supports. The tripod support system comprises multiple tripods each having a triangular transverse frame to support an extended undercarriage area. Due to its triangle top, each tripod makes two separate supporting abutments with its overlying straight perimeter or mating line joist at the same time thereby reducing the total number of supporting installations and labors in half.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     A. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a building support system, and more particularly to a temporary support system for supporting manufactured homes during foundation process.  
         [0003]     B. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     Manufactured homes are transported to a customer&#39;s site for a permanent or semi-permanent setup. One way in practice is through cast-in-place and on-the-ground building foundations wherein the complete building is suspended while vertical supports such as construction piers and stanchions at selected locations in the foundation plan are engaged at their top ends to an undercarriage of the building and their bottom ends are buried in fabric containers of cementitious slurry until the piers and stanchions become an integral foundation in the solid block of concrete conformed to the ground for the leveled dwelling house.  
         [0005]     For the suspension of the building, various designs of support are known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,843 discloses height-adjustable I-Beam stanchions for supporting the I-Beam bearing the mobile home undercarriage. The stanchion has two angle iron support arms extending from the bottom of the stanchion at right angle to each other reaching the undercarriage to assist in supporting the I-Beam and undercarriage.  
         [0006]     U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,767 offers a mobile home support stand for permanently supporting a mobile home to counteract high winds and/or earth vibrations. The support stand has a support stud functioning as a screw-jack disposed between a ground steel post and a home I beam, and a hold down assembly clamps the post and beam together.  
         [0007]     Using these and other known structures the required time to finish the home supporting was slow because ten or more of such vertical supports must be erected one by one for each undercarriage I beam and the total number multiplies depending upon the type or size of the manufactured home to build.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     When a, manufactured housing arrives at the site, the flooring assembly is typically supported at its underside by horizontal parallel beams or joists and also vertically supported by foundations that stand firmly on the ground.  
         [0009]     The present invention provides a temporary tripod support system during preparation of the home foundation of concrete piers and the like. At locations along the sidewalls and mate line of home the tripod supports may be installed in a number significantly less than conventional design supports.  
         [0010]     The tripod support system comprises multiple tripods each having a triangular transverse frame to support an extended undercarriage area.  
         [0011]     Due to its triangle top, each tripod makes two separate supporting abutments with its overlying straight perimeter or mating line joist at the same time thereby reducing the total number of supporting installations and labors in half which no other precedent supports could offer.  
         [0012]     During the operation of the inventive tripod supports a ground surface cast-in-place foundation assembly may be made with a plurality of buttress assemblies set in the foundation to vertically engage the perimeter beam of the level modular home.  
         [0013]     Such buttress assembly may include a means for seating the perimeter beam, a tubular stanchion having an upper and lower end, an anchor base plate fixedly connected to the lower end of the stanchion and a couple of transverse tabs attached to the intermediate portions of the stanchion; and a flowable and settable foundation material which envelopes at least a portion of the buttress assembly, whereby the foundation material conforms to the shape of a porous fabric container into which it is poured, and it sets with the enveloped portion of the buttress assembly embedded therein. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  is a partial side view of a tripod support of the present invention in operation showing one of three piers of the tripod supporting a sidewall or mate line of a home.  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  is a plan view of the tripod showing its saddle jacks in position at each junction of the three cross.beams.  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  is a partial cross sectional view of the saddle jack according to the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 4  shows in detail the saddle jack holding two adjacent cross beams at their junction.  
         [0018]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the tripod support system supporting sidewalls of the manufactured home on site. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0019]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a tripod support  10  is shown assembled to buttress the bottom of a sidewall of home  11 . The tripod support  10  has three identical piers of which piers  12  and  13  are numbered in  FIG. 2 . The pier  12  comprises four metal legs  15  through  18  welded to a rectangular bottom frame  19 , which is in turn fastened by nails or screws to a bearing pad  20  laid on the ground. The pad  20  may be made of wood. The legs  15 - 18  are converged at their upper ends where they are welded together. At the top of the legs a stopper nut  21  is rotatably installed. The nut  21  is positioned so that its inner threads extend vertically in the center of the pier  12 .  
         [0020]     Triangular framework  22  of three cross beams  22   a ,  22   b  and  22   c  are suspended to make contact with the sidewall  11 . This suspension is enforced by three saddle members  23  adjustably threaded to the nut  21  of the pier  12  through a rod  24  which has corresponding threads formed on its outer faces and is welded to the bottom of the saddle member  23  as shown in detail in  FIG. 3 . Thus, the saddle member  23 , threaded rod  24  and nut  21  together constitute a saddle jack assembly  25  for buttressing the cross beams  22   a - 22   c  at their junctions.  
         [0021]     Referring further to  FIG. 4 , the saddle member  23  with rod  24  of the saddle jack assembly  25  is adapted to be transported as a loose component to the construction site where it is assembled with the cross beams as well as the corresponding pier.  
         [0022]     The cross beams  22   a - 22   c  have a common structure so that they can be interchangeably laid to extend between any two saddle jack assemblies  25  forming the triangular framework  22 . In a right handed configuration, the four walls cooperate, two of them holding a right supporting beam and two of them holding a left supporting beam. The right supporting beam extends beyond the end of the left supporting beam. Because they are identical, the beams can be interchanged, and the saddle jacks can also be interchanged. The top of view of the saddle jack shows that the configuration can be reversed so that the left beam protrudes beyond the end of the right beam, so that the top view is a mirror image. Taking a mirror image configuration translates a right handed configuration into a left handed configuration.  
         [0023]     The saddle member  23  has a horizontal plate  26  comprising an elongated main plate section  27  and a crossing plate section  28  extending from the main plate section so that the longitudinal axis of the section  27  and an extension of the longitudinal axis of the section  28  meet at an angle A of about 60°. In addition, the crossing plate section  28  has two end walls of which a shorter wall  29  stands upright from a shorter lateral end of the plate section  28  facing clockwise direction in  FIGS. 2 and 4  and a longer wall  30  stands upright from a longer lateral end at the other side. The opposing walls  29  and  30  may have a third bridging wall between them as shown in  FIG. 2  to limit the cross beam  22   a  in its longitudinal movements although an open structure of  FIG. 4  works well to hold the beam.  
         [0024]     On the other hand, the main plate section  27  has a first end wall  31  extending along the entire lateral edge of the plate section  27  facing approximately the same direction of the shorter end wall  29  of the plate section  28 . The first end wall  31  also joins the shorter end wall  29  at an inner merging point  32  between the plate sections  28  and  28 .  
         [0025]     However, at the other side of the first end wall  31  the main plate section  27  has a second end wall  33  extending from an open end  34  of the main section  27  and terminating short of a virtual extension line of the shorter end wall  29  to allow for laying the cross beam  22   a  past the second end wall  33 . The second end wall  33  faces inwardly of the triangular framework  22  in  FIG. 2 . The threaded rod  24  may be centered along a line connecting the inner merging point  32  and an outer merging point  35 .  
         [0026]     The cross beams  22   a  and  22   b  are shown as seated in the saddle jack assembly  25  making an angled joint of the beams each having rectangular cross sections. The beam  22   a  has a first blunt end  36  adapted to be seated on the saddle member  23  defined by the plate section  28  and the opposing Walls  29  and  30 . The other second end of the beam  22   a  is not shown in  FIG. 4  but is similar to the next cross beam  22   b  wherein its abutment end  37  is cut at the angle A to make an angled assemblage with the opposing side of the blunt end  36  of the cross beam  22   a  when the cross beam  22   b  is seated on the saddle member  23  defined by the plate section  27  and the opposing walls  31  and  33 .  
         [0027]     The saddle jack has an interior connection and an exterior connection. The interior connection has a portion of the connection inside of the triangle formed by the horizontal supporting beams, and the exterior connection is located outside of the triangle formed by the horizontal supporting beams. The first connection is the interior connection shown in  FIG. 4  as a bolted connection  44 ,  45 . The exterior connection is also shown as a bolted connection  40 ,  41 . Assembling the blunt end  36  of the cross beam  22   a  with the saddle jack assembly  25  may be done by using a thru bolt  40  and a nut  41  threaded through an opening  42  in the end wall  29  and an opening  43  in the end wall  30 . Likewise, the mating abutment end  37  of the cross beam  22   b  may be assembled with the saddle jack assembly  25  using a thru bolt  44  and a nut  45  threaded through an opening  46  in the end wall  31  and an opening  47  in the end wall  33 . Optionally, washers  48  may be used with these fastening members.  
         [0028]      FIG. 5  shows the tripod support system of the present invention applied to the manufactured home  11  on site.  
         [0029]     The home  11  has been suspended by the tripod support system of the present invention in which two of several tripod supports for the visible sidewall are demonstrating the actual field installations.  
         [0030]     During the operation of the tripod supports a ground surface cast-in-place foundation assembly  100  is made with a plurality of buttress assemblies  101  set in the foundation to vertically engage the perimeter beam of the level modular home  11 .  
         [0031]     When the home foundation  100  is solidified, the tripod supports  10  may be easily retrieved by first turning a round of the stopper nuts  21  to lower the saddle jack assemblies  25  out of engagements with the home  11 . The released tripod supports  10  can be immediately disassembled at their joints by unscrewing the nuts  41  and  45  of the saddle jack assemblies  25  into small and easy parts to transport to the next construction site. The nuts can be tightened against the pier, as seen in figure one, allowing the vertical and rotational retention of the saddle jack. The nuts can also be called locking nuts.  
         [0032]     Therefore, while the presently preferred form of the tripod support system has been shown and described, and several modifications thereof discussed, persons skilled in this art will readily appreciate that various additional changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as defined and differentiated by the following claims.  
       Call Out List of Elements  
       [0033]      10  Tripod Support  
         [0034]      11  Home  
         [0035]      12 ,  13  Pier  
         [0036]      15 - 18  Leg  
         [0037]      19  Bottom Frame  
         [0038]      20  Bearing Pad  
         [0039]      21  Stopper Nut  
         [0040]      22  Triangular Framework  
         [0041]      22   a - 22   c  Cross Beam  
         [0042]      23  Saddle Member  
         [0043]      24  Threaded Rod  
         [0044]      25  Saddle Jack Assembly  
         [0045]      26  Horizontal Plate  
         [0046]      27  Main Plate Section  
         [0047]      28  Crossing Plate Section  
         [0048]      29  Shorter End Wall  
         [0049]      30  Longer End Wall  
         [0050]      31  First End Wall  
         [0051]      32  Inner Merging Point  
         [0052]      33  Second End Wall  
         [0053]      34  Open End  
         [0054]      35  Outer Merging Point  
         [0055]      36  Blunt End  
         [0056]      37  Abutment End  
         [0057]      40 ,  44  Thru Bolt  
         [0058]      41 ,  45  Nut  
         [0059]      42 ,  43 ,  46 ,  47  Opening  
         [0060]      48  Washer  
         [0061]      100  Cast-in-Place Foundation  
         [0062]      101  Buttress Assembly

Technology Classification (CPC): 4