Patent ID: 7526899

Claim:
A foundation system for supporting a support beam of a manufactured home and for preventing longitudinal movement of the beam, the beam having a longitudinal axis defining a longitudinal direction and a bottom end including a laterally extending front flange and rear flange, each of the front flange and rear flange having a top, a bottom, and a free end, said foundation system comprising: a pair of rigid arms jointly forming a V, each arm including a lower end and an upper end; a ground pan for preventing downward and horizontal movement, the ground pan defining a top and a bottom, the bottom for bearing against the ground, and the ground pan including for preventing horizontal movement: ground blades extending from a perimeter of the ground pan in a first direction to a distal extent that is a first distance from the top for insertion in the ground, and; a plurality of legs, each extending from adjacent ground blades at intersections thereof, the leg extending to a distal extent that is a second distance from the top, the second distance greater than the first distance; an arm connector for pivotably connecting said lower ends of both said arms with a single bolt to said ground pan, said arms pivoting about the bolt; a pair of clamps, each clamp associated with one of said upper ends of said arms and each clamp including: attachment means for pivotable attachment to said upper end of its associated said arm; and clamping means for clamping said clamp to the front and rear flanges of the lateral flange of the bottom end of the support beam such that said clamp cannot move along the beam; said lower ends of said arms connected to said ground support means so as to be freely pivoting such that, responsive to supporting the beam, each said clamp exerts an upward force supporting the beam and a resultant longitudinal force on the beam.