Patent Application
20250136359
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The disclosure relates to anchoring apparatuses and more particularly pertains to a new anchoring apparatus for anchoring a load in response to upward forces.
Buried vessels which are buoyant in water face the problem of experiencing conditions which cause the buried vessels to rise out of the ground, such as when the water table rises or when a flood causes water to invade the immediate surroundings of the buried vessels. The prior art describes various anchoring apparatuses for anchoring objects in the ground to overcome this issue. However, the prior art fails to describe such an apparatus which comprises containers for holding weights such as water, sand, rocks, or the like.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a pair of bases, each of which comprises a container which defines an interior space. The container has a bottom wall, a perimeter wall, and a top wall. The perimeter wall is coupled to and extends between the bottom wall and the top wall. The top wall has a support portion which is configured to support a load. The top wall also has an outer portion and a medial portion. The medial portion is coupled to and extends between the outer portion and the support portion. The outer portion defines a fill hole which is in fluid communication with the interior space. The bases are positionable with respect to each other such that the support portions of the bases are positioned adjacent to each other. The pair of bases are securable via mounting straps, weldments, threaded fasteners, or the like to the load.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The support portion 22 is concave and slopes downwardly toward the perimeter wall 18. The pair of bases 12 are positionable such that the support portions 22 of the bases 12 are positionable adjacent to each other, forming a U-shape. In other embodiments, the support portions 22 may have different shapes from that shown in the drawings and which are adapted to conform to a shape of the load 66. In some embodiments, the pair of bases 12 are integrally formed, and the interior spaces 16 of the bases 12 may be in fluid communication with each other in such embodiments.
The top wall 20 of each base 12 of the pair of bases 12 further has an outer portion 26 and a medial portion 24. The medial portion 24 is coupled to and extends between the outer portion 26 and the support portion 22. The outer portion 26 is angled downwardly from the medial portion 24 to the perimeter wall 18 and defines a pair of fill holes 28. The pair of fill holes 28 are in fluid communication with the interior space 16. Each one of a pair of caps 30 is removably attachable to the container 14 to close an associated fill hole 28 of the pair of fill holes 28. External threads 32 of each cap 30 of the pair of caps 30 are complementary in shape to internal threads 34 of the associated fill hole 28. In other embodiments, the caps 30 may attach to the container 14 via latches, snap connections, friction fits, or the like.
A plurality of tubes 36 extends through the container 14. Each tube 36 of the plurality of tubes 36 has an open upper end 38 and an open lower end 40 and extends through the bottom wall 16 and the top wall 20 of the container 14. A plurality of knockout plugs 42 is mounted to the top wall 20 of the container 14. Each knockout plug 42 of the plurality of knockout plugs 42 is removable to form a drain hole in the top wall 20. A plurality of connectors 44 is coupled to each base 12 of the pair of bases 12. The plurality of connectors 44 is operable to releasably couple the pair of bases 12 together such that the support surfaces of the pair of bases 12 are positioned adjacent to each other. Each connector 44 of the plurality of connectors 44 comprises an insertion member 46 and a receiver 48. In other embodiments, the connectors 44 comprise latches, threaded fasteners, snap connections, or the like.
In use, the pair of bases 12 are connected via the plurality of connectors 44 underneath the load 66 to support the load 66. Mounting straps 70 are inserted through the tubes 36 and around the load 66 to attach the pair of bases 12 to the load 66. The bases 12 also may be attached to the load 66 via weldments, threaded fasteners, latches, or the like. Water, sand, rocks, or other weights are added into the interior spaces 16 via the fill holes 28. If desired, the knockout plugs 42 are removed to allow drain water to enter the interior spaces 16 via the openings produced by removing the knockout plugs 42. When an upward force acts on the load 66, such as a buoyant force caused during flooding, the weights counteract the upward force to secure the load 66 against the upward forces. The medial portions 24 and outer portions 26 of the bases 12 also push against soil 68 placed on the bases 12 to secure the load 66 against the upward forces.
With reference to
In some embodiments, the vessel support 56 may be hollow, allowing for weights such as water, rocks, sand, or the like to be added to the vessel support 56. A bottom surface 64 of the vessel support 56 may also define a cavity such that an upward force applied to the vessel support 56 would result in a resultant suction force against the bottom surface 64 of the vessel 52. The resultant suction force would act on the vessel support 56 to secure the vessel support 56 against the upward force.
The buried container apparatus 50 is used to store material below a ground surface. For example, the buried container apparatus 50 may be used as a septic tank, a holding tank, a casket, or the like. The vessel support 56 serves to retain the buried container apparatus 50 against upward forces exerted on the buried container apparatus 50, such as buoyant forces experienced during flooding. The vessel support 56 reacts to upward forces via weight, a normal force against soil 68 positioned above the upper surfaces 60 of the pair of segments 58 of the vessel support 56, and via the suction force described.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
