Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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DESCRIPTION
REFERENCE TO PENDING APPLICATIONS
This application is not related to any pending applications.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the last few years the popularity of cellular phones, digital pagers,
wireless Internet access and
digital telephone service has increased dramatically. In order to provide
these communication
services the service providers must maintain a network of towers spread across
the area of
coverage. Since what these service providers sell is air time, it is very
important that these
providers place a tower and equipment quickly in any location where
insufficient capacity exist.
Temporary facilities play an important role in providing the service provider
a mechanism with
which they can provide coverage to meet such demand. When there is
insufficient coverage to
meet standard usage requirements, a temporary facility may be used while a
permanent site is
built. From time to time these towers are taken out of service for routine
maintenance or due to
damage caused by storms or accidents. When the towers are taken out of service
this forces the
service provider to either have a gap in coverage or to obtain temporary
facilities to provide
services. Temporary facilities are also useful in providing cellular capacity
necessary to cover
increased temporary demand due to a large sporting event, celebration or
festival.
Purported improvements to portable towers are known and represented in the
prior art. For
example:
C.A. Pat. No. 1039473 issued on Oct 03, 1978 to Frederic E. Langford discloses
a method and
apparatus for guying a load bearing member wherein a system for guying a tower
on which a force
is exerted in a direction transverse to the elongate dimension thereof
includes a plurality of guys
interconnected between the tower and respective anchors. The guys are placed
under a tension
load to oppose the force exerted on the tower. An extensible device, such as a
hydraulic piston
and cylinder assembly, is serially interconnected with the guys at a location
between the tower
and the anchor. Before a force is exerted on the tower, the piston and
cylinder assemblies are pre-
pressurized with hydraulic fluid so as to retract the pistons and thus reduce
the effective length of
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the guys. When the load on the guy bearing the greatest tension load reaches a
predetermined
value, hydraulic fluid is relieved from its associated piston and cylinder
assembly, allowing the
assembly to extend and increase the effective length of that guy. As this
occurs, the tower will
translate in the direction of the load exerted thereon, transferring a portion
of the tension load
that would otherwise be borne by the guy bearing the greatest load to the
remaining guys. The
tension load at which the piston and cylinder assembly extends is
predetermined so as to prevent
the tension load per unit cross sectional area of its associated guy from
exceeding the ultimate
strength of that guy.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a trailer mounted telescoping tower which is capable
of being erected and
guyed without use of standard terrestrial anchors.
The tower itself is a telescopic tower which rides on a trailer. When the
trailer is put into place, the
outriggers are deployed. The tower is then elevated to its normal operating
height where the guy
wires are secured from the tower guy wire attachment points down to the
chassis guy wire
attachment points.
Other objects and further scope of the applicability of the present invention
will become apparent
from the detailed description to follow, taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings
wherein like parts are designated by like reference numerals.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side view of the fully erected tower containing the present
invention.
FIG. 2 is an end view of the fully erected tower containing the present
invention.
FIG. 3 is a side view of the tower ready for transport.
FIG. 4 is a side view of the fully erected tower containing the present
invention in use with a
lighting assembly.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
While the making and using of various embodiments of the present invention are
discussed in
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detail below, it should be appreciated that the present invention provides for
inventive concepts
capable of being embodied in a variety of specific contexts. The specific
embodiments discussed
herein are merely illustrative of specific manners in which to make and use
the invention and are
not to be interpreted as limiting the scope of the instant invention.
The claims and the specification describe the invention presented and the
terms that are
employed in the claims draw their meaning from the use of such terms in the
specification. The
same terms employed in the prior art may be broader in meaning than
specifically employed
herein. Whenever there is a question between the broader definition of such
terms used in the
prior art and the more specific use of the terms herein, the more specific
meaning is meant.
While the invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity,
it is clear that many
changes may be made in the details of construction and the arrangement of
components without
departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure. It is understood that
the invention is not
limited to the embodiments set forth herein for purposes of exemplification,
but is to be limited
only by the scope of the attached claim or claims, including the full range of
equivalency to which
each element thereof is entitled.
FIG. 1 shows a side view of a trailer mounted telescopic tower with one
embodiment of the
present invention in a fully erected position. The tower 2 is comprised of a
plurality of telescoping
tower sections 11 which can nest inside one another in the down position and
can be
telescopically extended to reach the up position. Located at the top of the
tower 2 are the antenna
mounts 17. The tower 2 is pivotally mounted to a trailer 9 at the tower pivot
point 12. The trailer 9
is comprised of a chassis 22, outriggers 3, wheels 13, a plurality of leveling
mechanisms 5, and a
hitch 4.
The plurality of outriggers 3 are pivotally mounted at one end to the chassis
22. At the outer end
of each outrigger 3 is located a outrigger foot 10. The outrigger foot 10 can
be adjusted up or
down to help level the trailer 9. The leveling mechanisms 5 also assist in
leveling the trailer 9.
The trailer 9 also has a spare tire 15 and a cabinet 14 to contain various
equipment.
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There is a chassis guy wire attachment point 8 located near the hitch 4 and on
each of the
outriggers 3. There are also tower guy wire attachment points 7 mounted on a
plurality of places
on the tower 2. The upper end of the guy wires 6 are attached to the tower guy
wire attachment
points 7 while tower 2 is in the lowered position. The tower 2 is then fully
erected and the lower
end of the guy wires 6 are connected to the chassis guy wire attachment points
8. The guy wires 6
are then tensioned to secure the tower 2 into a vertical position. The exact
location of the tower
guy wire attachment points 7 and the chassis guy wire attachment points 8 can
be adapted to suit
current field conditions. The exact mechanism by which the guy wires 6 are
attached and
tensioned can be any one of a number of mechanisms which are commonly used in
this art.
The tower 2 is pivotally mounted to the trailer 9 at the tower pivot 12. There
is a tilting mechanism
21 which manipulates the collapsed tower from a horizontal position to a
vertical position. A lifting
mechanism 20 is used to extend the tower to a fully erect position. The
embodiment of the trailer
mounted telescopic communications tower 1 as shown in FIGS. 1 through 3 has
two lifting winches
19 each with a lifting cable 18. In the event one of the lifting mechanisms
fails, the tower can be
erected or collapsed using the second lifting mechanism. Other types of
lifting mechanisms 19 are
pneumatic or hydraulic in nature and are commonly used in this art.
To use the trailer mounted telescopic tower 1, the trailer 9 is pulled onto a
site. The forward most
leveling jack 5 is then lowered and the hitch 4 and safety chain 16 are
disconnected from the tow
vehicle. The two rearmost leveling mechanisms 5 are then also lowered. All of
the leveling
mechanisms 5 are then manipulated to put the trailer 9 on a level plane. Once
the trailer 9 is on a
level plane, the outriggers 3 are deployed and the outrigger feet 10 are
lowered. The outrigger feet
are then adjusted to insure that the trailer 9 remains on a level plane. The
tower 2 is then tilted
to a vertical position using the tilting mechanism 21. Once the collapsed
tower 2 is in a vertical
position, the communication equipment is mounted on the mounts 17 and on
various other parts
of the tower 2. Also the upper ends of the guy wires 6 are connected to the
tower guy wire
attachment points 7. The tower 2 is then erected by the lifting winch 19,
winching in the lifting
cables 18. Once the tower reaches the desired height, the lifting winch 19 is
then stopped. The
lower ends of the guy wires 6 are then connected to the chassis guy wire
attachment points 8. The
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guy wires 6 are then tensioned until the tower 2 is plumb. The trailer mounted
telescopic tower 1
is then ready for use once it is connected to the system.
The present invention of erecting a telescoping tower and anchoring its guy
wires to the trailer 9,
chassis 20 or outriggers 8 can also be applied to lighting towers as shown in
FIG. 4. The trailer
mounted telescopic tower 1 has a lighting assembly 24 mounted on it. In this
application the
antenna mounts 17 are replaced with a lighting assembly 24.
While this invention has been described to illustrative embodiments, this
description is not to be
construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the
illustrative
embodiments as well as other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in
the art upon
referencing this disclosure. It is therefore intended that this disclosure
encompass any such
modifications or embodiments.
