Not applicable.
This invention relates generally to a plastic resin building, for example, an outhouse or bus stop, and in particular to a skid base for such a building.
Outdoor shelter structures, such as portable outhouses, are commonly rented and used for special events, such as parties, festivals or concerts, as well as at job sites or other locations where people are gathered temporarily. These shelters are moved to and from the site on a truck typically, and while at the site they may be pumped out occasionally, to empty their septic tanks. While at the site, they must be stable, and not susceptible to tipping over, or being tipped over by the wind or by vandals.
These shelters must be rugged and durable, and since they must be moved manually, most operators who rent these out (a.k.a., pumpers) prefer them to be light in weight. A minority want them heavy, so as to counter any tendency to tip over. The buildings must be movable on and off of the truck, but once off of the truck, a single person should be able to move the building across the ground to position it in the desired location. The buildings also must be low in cost.
It is common to form much of these outdoor shelters of plastic resin. One exception, however, has been the base on which the remainder of the building is built. The bases are typically a composite structure of plastic and wood. The bases also usually have several main structural components, which can adversely affect their strength and rigidity.
Another common problem has been the connections between the shelter walls and the base. While plastic components in the base are preferable to wood for aesthetics, cleanliness and durability, the fastener holding ability of plastic base components has often been lacking. Sheet metal screws are typically used to secure the shelter walls to the base. The stresses at these fastener locations can be great when moving the shelter, under heavy winds, or when forces are applied to the walls, especially with a person in the shelter or with a full septic tank. Failure of the base to hold the fasteners can result in troublesome or costly repairs or complete replacement of the base or whole shelter.
The present invention provides a resin skid base for a portable building that overcomes the aforementioned problems.
A skid base of the invention has a deck with top and bottom surfaces, and front, rear, right, left and side surfaces between the top and bottom surfaces, the skid base being adapted to mount walls of a building structure that extend above and enclose the top surface of the deck. The skid base has at least two runners that are generally parallel and spaced apart and extend beneath the deck, each runner having a bottom surface to support the deck above a support surface. The runners and the deck are molded in one piece so as to be integral with one another and have openings in their bottom surfaces that open downwardly. This provides a skid base that is enclosed on all sides but the bottom. The bottom of the base is not visible in normal use as it faces the ground, and can be formed with reinforcement ribs and covered with other parts if necessary, which can be replaceable.
The invention may be applied to skid bases that may be used for buildings with different purposes, such as outhouses, bus stop shelters, ticket booths, sentry huts and storage sheds. If used as an outhouse, the base supports a septic tank, and the base is shaped to match the bottom of the tank which is sloped toward a central, low point of the tank to facilitate pumping out the tank.
Thus, the invention provides an improved resin skid base for a portable building that can be used for many purposes. The base is easy to assemble and disassemble to the remainder of the building and is lightweight with all of its main structural components integrally formed in one piece for excellent strength and rigidity. Runners of the base have solid vertical walls and have openings in the bottoms in which reinforcing ribs are formed. A bottom plate is assembled to the skid over the opening to close the opening and provide a continuous surface to slide over the ground like a ski, to facilitate moving the building over the ground. Notches are formed into the runner sidewalls and in the bottom plates to catch on the edge of a truck so the building can be more easily loaded onto and unloaded from the truck. The bottom plates also have a longitudinal groove in which the fastener heads that hold the plate to the runner are countersunk, that rigidifies the runner and plate, and that reduces friction when the building is slid over the ground. The runners and plates also have stake down slots to allow anchoring the building with stakes at an angle and reinforcing ribs in the plates in the areas of the truck loading notches.
In another aspect of the invention, an open grate-type floor is molded into and integrally part of the deck. This is ideal for construction sites or outdoor concert-type events where a lot of dirt is carried on the bottom of the user's shoes into the building. It also helps keep the building clean in normal use, as fluids and small objects can drop through the grate. Ventilation is also improved through the grate. When a solid floor is required, a thin sheet of plastic can be placed over the grate to close it.
Preferably, the floor is crowned in the center to allow liquids to run off if the open grating is covered with the plastic sheet.
In addition, the openings in the grating are preferably tapered such that if anything is dropped or forced into the hole from the top, it is assured of dropping down through the bottom. The webbing, or ribs, that create the grating are taller at the perimeter of the floor than at the center to save weight and maintain strength.
Another feature of the invention is that it is provided with cabin mounting fastener locaters. These are lines molded into the sides of the upper base and on the top surface of the runners to show where to put the threaded fasteners to mount the cabin wall panels. The material of the base is thicker in these places. In addition, bosses that provide fastening points for the fasteners that secure the wear plates to the runners can be coincident in location to these places.
In one preferred form, the base is adapted for use as the base of a portable restroom, and in that case, the surface of the base that supports the waste or septic tank is molded to conform to the bottom of the tank. The bottom of the tank is slanted downwardly toward a central point in the bottom of the tank. There are, therefore, no flat surfaces or pockets to prevent complete drainage to the bottom of the tank, which facilitates pumping the waste out of the tank. In addition, in this embodiment, there may be provided triangular-shaped reinforcements at the corners, to give the base unit corners strength and dimensional stability. Preferably, these reinforcements are also sloped down to match the shape of the septic tank.
A base of the invention may be injection molded using high density polyethylene structural foam material, in which case it would be relatively light in weight. Many pumpers prefer a light weight structure, for ease of transport. However, there are some who prefer it to be heavier. To satisfy them, additional weight bars, for example, made of iron or another heavy material, can optionally be added to the base, and in addition weight covers may be provided to cover the weights or to close up the bottom of the base if so desired.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the detailed description which follows. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention.
The cabin 14 may be of any suitable construction and is not limited to being a portable outhouse. For further details about the construction of a suitable cabin 14, reference is made to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/195,680 (US Patent Publication No. 2003/0024191 published Feb. 6, 2003) and to U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,672, which are incorporated herein by reference.
Referring to
One preferred aspect of the base design is the direction that the mold splits apart to yield a base that is formed on all sides with molded surfaces (top, front, rear, left and right sides) except the bottom side. The bottom side of the base (i.e., the bottom sides of the deck 18 and runners 13) is not visible in normal use as it faces the ground. In addition, the openings on the bottom of the base, where they are important, can be closed up with other parts, that can be replaced when they wear out. Another advantage of making the openings on the bottom of the base is that numerous structural reinforcement ribs can be provided, which serve to strengthen the various portions of the base, as illustrated in
As shown in
At each location where a hole 24 is formed, there are lines 26 (e.g., small grooves) molded into the sides of the deck 18 and on the top surface of the runners 13 to show where to put the threaded fasteners for mounting the cabin panels, i.e. for mounting the cabin front, sides, and rear. The structural foam material of the deck 18 is thicker in these locations, a result of the placement of the bosses 28 that contain the holes 24 that provide the fastening points for the runner wear plates 20. Referring to
In addition, referring particularly to
In addition, referring particularly to
It should be noted that the base 12, the wear plates 20, and also optional weight cover plates 71 which can be provided over the weight holding areas of the base 12, described below, can be molded in a single family mold, all at the same time. The skid base 12 can be made in a standard size, for example, a 41 inch by 41 inch industry standard size, which will fit most portable restrooms produced currently.
Another preferred feature of the base 12 is that the deck 18 is provided with a grate style floor 52 that has a grid of openings formed in it. Since one mold half is inserted into the bottom of the base, and the other mold half forms the top of the base, the draft on the bottom mold half makes the openings of the grate larger at the bottom than at the top, so that anything falling through the grate 52 from the top will be sure to fall all the way through and not get caught in the bottom of an opening. In addition, referring particularly to
Another advantage of the grate style floor 52 is that it improves ventilation through the building, which is particularly important when it is used as an outhouse, and as mentioned above, dirt, rocks and urine falls through the grate 52.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
A base of the invention has its runners formed integral with the deck and other structural components of the base in a molding process which forms all of the recesses of the deck and runners opening downwardly. This enables using ribs, bosses, and draft angles in the recesses which are not visible to users and which contribute to an efficient, economical, high-strength, and rigid molded base.
A preferred embodiment of the invention has been described in considerable detail including many particular preferred features. Many modifications and variations to the preferred embodiment described, and to the features of it, will be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, the invention should not be limited to the embodiments described or to the particular features of it, but should be defined by the claims which follow.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/781,129 filed Feb. 18, 2004, issuing as U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,757 on May 20, 2008, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/448,567 filed Feb. 19, 2003 and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/195,680 filed Jul. 12, 2002, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,639 on Nov. 30, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference, and which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/346,641 filed Jan. 8, 2002, and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/504,513 filed Feb. 15, 2000, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,672 on Jul. 16, 2002, and which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/120,828 filed Feb. 19, 1999.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3139627 | Rice | Jul 1964 | A |
3581709 | Van Huis et al. | Jun 1971 | A |
3685464 | Ranno | Aug 1972 | A |
3702100 | Wharton | Nov 1972 | A |
3795206 | Utz | Mar 1974 | A |
3915098 | Nania | Oct 1975 | A |
3916803 | Garcia | Nov 1975 | A |
4305164 | Sargent et al. | Dec 1981 | A |
4367255 | Blohm | Jan 1983 | A |
4380836 | Braxton | Apr 1983 | A |
4423528 | Wiedmeier | Jan 1984 | A |
4446585 | Harding et al. | May 1984 | A |
D275520 | Harding et al. | Sep 1984 | S |
4493118 | Braxton | Jan 1985 | A |
4574025 | Juaire et al. | Mar 1986 | A |
4756413 | Gits | Jul 1988 | A |
4831671 | Harding | May 1989 | A |
5251342 | Sansom et al. | Oct 1993 | A |
5372396 | Van Nahmen | Dec 1994 | A |
5560050 | Tagg | Oct 1996 | A |
5619826 | Wu | Apr 1997 | A |
5687652 | Ruma | Nov 1997 | A |
5758462 | Finn | Jun 1998 | A |
5873679 | Cusimano | Feb 1999 | A |
5937767 | Togawa et al. | Aug 1999 | A |
5974597 | Conwell | Nov 1999 | A |
6047663 | Moreau et al. | Apr 2000 | A |
6131983 | Jackson | Oct 2000 | A |
6164214 | Smorgon et al. | Dec 2000 | A |
6308486 | Medland | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6327719 | Lobertmann et al. | Dec 2001 | B1 |
6418672 | Hampel | Jul 2002 | B1 |
6427256 | Mullett et al. | Aug 2002 | B1 |
6508182 | Smorgan et al. | Jan 2003 | B1 |
6619002 | Pettit | Sep 2003 | B2 |
6823639 | Hampel | Nov 2004 | B2 |
20020016986 | Miller et al. | Feb 2002 | A1 |
20040069190 | Smyers | Apr 2004 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20080210141 A1 | Sep 2008 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
60488567 | Feb 2003 | US | |
60346641 | Jan 2002 | US | |
60120828 | Feb 1999 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 10781129 | Feb 2004 | US |
Child | 12122445 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 10195680 | Jul 2002 | US |
Child | 10781129 | US | |
Parent | 09504513 | Feb 2000 | US |
Child | 10195680 | US |