Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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S P E ` C I F I C ~ T I O N
" GROUND AN CHOR "
This invention relates to the art of
plate or wing-type earth or ground anchors driven
lengthwise into the ground and pulled when reaching an
optimum depth to tilt into a flat transverse position
for anchoring guy rods, cables or the like.
Specifically the invention relates to rigid plate
ground anchors with a longitudinal drive rod receiving
socket having a round concave bottom for tiltable
mating impact engagement with a round convex end of a
drive rod, wings radiating from the socket, a star
point chisel or drill leg leading end projecting
forwardly from the wings, a raised longitudinally
extending rib or ridge on the front face of the plate
diverging from the trailing end of the leg to an eye
hole with a sharp leading end and having recessed flat
side faces straddled by a shackle or the looped end of
a cable tiltable in the hole, a sharpened trailing end
on the wings and socket and an extended curved lip on
the socket to facilitate tilting of the anchor.
~ eretofore known plate-type or wing-type
ground anchors with drive rod sockets have had wide
leading ends which are easily deflected when
encountering hard ground layers or obstruct~ons
thereby causing the plate to tilt or cock relative to
the driving rod. The sockets of such anchors have
flat bottoms impacted by flat ends of the driving
rods~ Any cocking o the anchor from the on-line
driving path not only increases the energy needed or
advancing the anchor, but also misaligns the bottom of
the socket with the driving end of the drive rod to
minimize the area of contact causing an off center
impact to further shift the anchor from its on line ,
driving course. The limited impact area soon causes
the end of the drive rod to flatten or "mushroom" and
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bind in the socket preventing its withdrawal.
Further, the raised rib or ridge
required for the eye hole of prior known plate or
wing-type ground anchors has presented a wide blunt
obstruction impeding piercing of the earth during the
driv1ng operation and further increasing the required
drlv1ng energy.
It would therefore be an improvement in
this art to avoid or minimize the above mentioned
deiciencies of the prior known ground anchors.
Specifically it would be an improvement
in this art to provide wing or plate-type ground
anchors with axially extended chisel or star drill
leading ends beyond the plate or wings to facilitate
on-line driving of the anchor into the ground and to
conserve driving energy.
It would be a further specific
improvement in this art to provide round bottom
sockets in ground anchors to be impacted by round-
ended driving rods to insure full area impact zonesand to maintain the anchor on the desired driving
line.
A still further specific improvement in
this art would be to provide the eye ridge of plate or
wing-type socket equipped anchors with a sharp leading
edge and recessed side faces at ~he eye hole to
facilitate piercing of the ground and free swinging of
a shackle or looped end of a cable in the eye hole.
According to this inventi~n there i5
provided a rigid noncorrosive cast metal axial socket
equipped plate or wing anchor capable of anchoring guy
lines and the like for utility poles without yielding
even under pull stress loads greater than heretofore
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handled without massive buried concrete anchor blocks.
A preferred anchor of this invention is cast from a
virtually indestructible aluminum/bronze alloy or
ductile iron (pref~rably galvanized). While the
anchors of this invention can be made in many
different sizes, a very effective anchor for utility
pole guy wires is about 14 inches long, 7 inches wide,
and 3-1/2 inches high at its tallest zone. Such a
preferred sizing has a two inch long cruciform star
point leg projecting axially forwardly from the wings.
This cruciform leg has sharpened front edges and
operates like a star drill to hold the anchor on its
drive path even when encountering small rocks, shale,
sandstone and the likeO This elongated central axis
star point penetrates hard layers and chips or breaks
away obstructions before the wings of the plate
encounter the hard layer in the soil. The chisel
point action on the soil in advance of penetration by
the wings or plate also decxeases the driving energy
required for advancing the anchor into the soil.
The leading ends of the wings are
sharpened and tapered or inclined rearwardly. They
are also tapered radially outward from the central
socket body to thinner outer edges to further decrease
; 25 earth resistance and aid in rapid penetration during
the driving operation.
One pair of the cruciform sides or legs
of the star point merge into the forward edges of the
wings. The other pair of legs of the star point
extend normal to the wings and merge rearwardly into
the central axial socket defining portion of the
anchor. A front or top face of the plate has a rai5ed
longitudinal ridge or rib diverging from the upright
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cruciform leg and sloping rearwardly to a higher level
than the le~. The rear end of this ridge has a
transverse eye hole therethrough and has flat sides
normal to the wing behind radial shoulders of the
ridge. These flat sides are straddled by either a
shackle with a pin extended through the hole or the
eye loop end of a cable. During the driving step the
shackle or cable end is behind the shoulders and the
sharpened front face of the rib or ridge plows the
earth laterally away from the shackle or eye loop so
that they do not form obstructions during the driving
operation.
The U-shaped shackle has a threaded hole
in its bight portion to receive a pull rod to $ilt or
rotate the anchor when it has reached its desired
depth in the ground.
The trailing ends of the wing are also
sharpened together with the ri~l around the open top of
the socket. The socket has an extended lip portion
beyond the wings and the ri~ of the socket and the lip
are inclined and parallel with the sharpened edges of
the wings. The lip portion is also outturned
providing a curvecl tip diverging from the wings that
will facilitate tilting of the anchor to its locking
po~ition when the pull rod or cable is tensioned.
The invention will be further understood
from the showings in the drawings, for~ing a part of
this specification, in which:
FIGURE l is a top face and edge
perspective view of a ground anchor of ~his invention.
FIGURE ~ is a front face view of the
anchor of FI~URE 1.
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FIGURE 3 is a back face view of the
anchor of FIGURES 1 and 2.
FIGUR~ 4 is a central longitudinal
cross-sectional view of the anchor taken along the
line IV-IV of FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 5 is a leading edge elevational
view of the anchor taken along the line V-V of FIGURE
2.
FIGURE 6 is a trailing edge elevational
view of the anchor taken along the line VI-VI of
FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 7 is a front and side perspective
view, with parts broken away, illus~rating the manner
in which the anchor is driven into tne ground.
FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 7,
but illustrating the manner in which the pulling
operation for setting the anchor is initiated.
FIGURE 9 is a view similar to FIGURE 8,
but taken 90 degrees therefrom to illustrate the
manner in which the anchor is tilted or rotated during
the pulling operation.
FIGURE 10 is a view similar to FIGURE 9
showing the anchor in its fully rotated or~tilted
locked position and illustrating the manner in which a
cable or guy wire is attached to the pull rod.
FIGURE 11 is a view similar to FIGURE
10, but illustrating the manner in which the eye end
of the cable or guy wire can be attached directly to
the anchor to eliminate the shackle.
In FIGURES 1-6 the reference numeral 10
designates generally a cast metal socket equipped
plate or wing anchor of this invention wlth a fron,t
face lOa and a back face lOb. The anchor has a
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central longitudinal or axial tubular body 11 with
wings 12,12 radiating from the body. These wings
12~12 are tapered from thicker portions adjacent the
body to thinner outer edges.
The forward or leading end of the
tubular body 11 has a projecting cruciform shaped leg
13. One pair 13a,13a of the cruciform sides of the
leg 13 are in the same plane as the wings 12,12 and
project forwardly from the sharpened front edges
12a,12a of the wings. These edges 12a,12a slope
backwardly from the sides 13a,13a to the outer edges
of the wings.
The other pair of sides 13b,13b, of the
cruciform leg 13 are normal to the plane of the wings
12,12 and merge into the forward end of the tubular
body portion 11.
The leading edges of the sides 13a and
13b are sharpened as illustrated at 14.
The side 13b of the leg 13 normal to the
front face 10a of the anchor merges into an uprlght
rib or ridge 15 extending axially of this front face
and having an eye hole rear end portion 15a which is
narrower than the leading end of the rib and has flat
side faces extending beyond radial shoulders 15b of
the rib. The eye portion 15a has a transverse hole
therethrough and a U-sbaped shackle 16 has side legs
straddling the side faces of the eye portion 15a and a
bight portion clearing this eye portion 15a. ~ pin 17
secured in the leg portions of the shackle 16 extends
through the eye hole and tiltably supports the shackle
on the anchor. The bight portion of the shackle has a
threaded hole 16a therethrough to receive a pull rod
as further hereinafter explained. The eye hole is
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positioned just rearwardly of the transverse centPr of
mass of the anchor so that when the anchor is freely
suspended on the pull rod its forward end will tilt
downwardly at a slight angle from the horizontal.
Then since most of the mass is f orwardly of the
pulling axis, the trailing end of the plate will swing
downwardly about the leg 13 to a flatwise position.
The trailing ends of the wings 12,12 are
also sharpened as illustrated at 12b,12b and the
tubular body portion 11 extends rearwardly beyond tlie
sharpened edges.
The tubular body 11 has a cylindrical
socket 18 open at the rear end but having a round
concave bottom 18a at a level above the leg 13. The
socket has an open rear end defined by a rim 18b which
is inclined upwardly and rearwardly from the front
face lOa of the anchor to an outwardly and downwardly
curved tip 19. The inclined rim is in the same plane
as the sharpened trailing ends 12b,12b of the wings
12,12 and has its bottom portion extending forwardly
from the sharpened ends with its top portion
projecting beyond the sharpened ends. The degree of
inclination of the lip l~b and the sharpene~ ends
12b,12b is about 45 from the front face of the
anchor.
The rounded bottom 18a of the socket 18
is preferably fragmental spherical but any round
convex shape accommodating free tilting movement o a
round bottom driving tool is satisfactory.
As shown in FIGV~E 4, the socket 18
receives a drive rod 20 in loose sliding fit relation.
A slight clearance of about 1/8" is desired. The
driving rod 20 has a convex, preferably hemispherical,
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driving end 20a mating with the concave bottom 18a to
provide an extended area zone of contact between the
drive rod and the bottom of the socket e~Pn when the
clearance relationship of the drive rod and the socket
S accommodate a slight degree of cocking of the anchor
relative to the drive rocl.
The leading end portion of the rib 15 is
also sharpened providing a cutting edge 15c to plow
into the ground to divert the earth to the sides of
the eye portion of the rib and the shackle pivoted in
the eye.
As shown iTl FIGURE 7, the ground anchor
10 of this invention is easily and quickly driven into
the ground G by a jackhammer J driving the drive rod
20 which, as shown in FIGURE 4, has its leading end
seated in the socket 18 with its rounded end 20a
impacting the rounded bottom 18a of the socket. The
drive rod 20 can have a hexagonal portion 20c above
the cylindrical leading portion 20 for ease in
connection to the jack J.
A pull rod 21 is threaded into the bight
portion of the shackle 16.
In operation the pull rod 21 ~s
positioned directly over the drive rod 20 and the
front fac~ lOa of the anchor 10 on this drive rod to
address the ground G in an upright endwise position at
a desired angle relative to the surface of the ground.
Angles of from 30 to 90 degrees, depending on the
desired angle for the guy rod or wire to be anchored,
are used. As illustrated, the cruciform star point
leg 13 of the anchor first enters the ground to chisel
a somewhat round hole H which is then enlarged with,
slots S by the wings 12,12 as they enter the ground.
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The leg 13 with its four cruciform sides 13a and 13b
each having sharpened leading edges 14 acts as a star
drill or chisel to cut through the ground and any
obstructions in the ground to facilitate entry of the
wings into the ground. The drive rod 20 is
sufficiently lony to permit the jackhammer J to drive
the anchor 10 to a desired depth in the ground. The
pull rod 21 is sufficiently long to project above the
ground level when the anchor 10 is driven to its
desired depth in the ground. Since the entire driving
operation maintains the anchor 10 in an upxight
position, the anchor acts as a cutting tool offering
minimum resistance to the earth and preserving driving
energy as it is impacted to its desired depth.
As illustrated in FIGURE 8, when the
anchor 10 has been driven into the ground to the
desired depth, the drive rod 20 is pulled out of the
socket and removed from the ground. SincP the rounded
end of the drive rod and the rounded bottom o the
socket provide an extended impact area, the drive rod
will not be deformed during the driving operation and
is easily removed from the socket and pulled from the
ground back through the round hole which the central
portion of the anchor has formed. Then a pulling tool
T, as shown in FIGURE 8, is threaded on the upper end
of the pull rod 21 and the rod 21 is pulled, as shown
in FIGURE 9, to tilt the anchor 10 about the leg 13
from its upright position to a transverse position in
the ground. This tilting of the anchor 10 is
facilitated by the placing of the eye hole rearwardly
of the transverse center of mass of the anchor and the
curved tip or lip 19 on the inclined rim 18b of the~
anchor. The hole H in the ground formed rearward]y of
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the leg lessens resistance to the tiltiny or rotation
about the leg. During the pulling operation the shackle
16, of course, pivots in the eye hole and the sharpened
leading and trailing edges of the wings together with
the sharpened edge 15c of the ridge 15 ease displacement
of the ground to facilitate the tilting.
When the anchor 10 has been pulled to its
transverse or flat position in the ground, as shown in
FIGURE 10, ~he pulling tool T is removed from the pull
rod 21 and a thimble 23 is threaded onto the upper end
o the pull rod providing an eye hole 23a for receiving
the eye end of a guy rod or guy wire 24. The other end
of the guy rod or wire 24 is attached to a utility pole,
a tree, or any upright structure to be anchored to the
ground.
FIGURE 11 illustrates the manner in which
a cable 25 can be used in place oE the pull rod 21. In
this arrangement the shackle 16 is not used and the cahle
25 is provided with an eye 25a extending through the
hole of the eye in place of the pin 17. The eye end 25a
of the cable will pivot in the eye hole in the same
manner as the shackle 16 and the cable 25 can be pulled
in the same manner as the pull rod 21 to set the anchor
in the ground and to be attached to the pole or other
structure to be anchored.
The invention may be characterized as a
plate-type ground anchor to be driven edgewise into the
ground and rotated in the ground to a flatwise anchoring
position. The anchor has a rigid plate with an axial
tubular body portion having an open top and a closed
bottom. A leg projects forwardly from the body portion.
A pair of wings radiate laterally from the body portion
along the length thereof and have leading edges
; rearwardly of the leg and trailing edges at the open top
of the body portion. A raised axial rib on the body
portion diverges from the leg to a trailing end forwardly
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of the open top. A transverse hole through the trailing
end o~ the rib receives a pull member to rotate the plate
to its flatwise position in the ground. The axial rib
on the body portion has a sharp leading edge and
outwardly inclined sides for plowing earth to the sides
of the rib.
The leg on the body portion is preferably
cruciform shaped and a shackle preferably straddles the
rib with a pin mounted therethrough in the hole of the
rib. The body has a longitudinal socket along its length
with a roundsd bottom and an open top and the open top
has an inclined rim projecting behind the trailing ends.
The leg portion projecting from the body
forwardly of the rib preferably has radiating sides and
sharpened leading edges forwardly of the wings. The rib
has a sharpened leading edge effective to plow earth to
the sides of the body. The eye portion of the rib has
radial shoulders in advance of the eye. A pull member
is pivotally mounted in the eye behind these shoulders
and the socket has an open top with an inclined rim
projecting rearwardly from the trailing ends of the
wings. ~his rim, as w~ll as the trailing and leading
ends of the wings are sharp to facilitate xotation of the
member in the ground~
From the above descriptions it should
therefore be understood that this invention improves the
art of plate or wing-type ground anchors by facilitating
insertion of the anchor into the ground and rotation of
the anchor to its locked position in the ground. ~he
anchors of this invention have exten~ive anchoring
surfaces which when inserted upright or edgewise into the
ground o~fer little resistance to ground penetration and
rotation to a locking position when penetrated to the
desired depth.
