This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/572,361 filed July 14, 2011.

BACKGROUN D OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to ground anchors, particularly of the type of ground anchor as driven into the ground trailing a fastening rod or cable attached to a top side of the anchor, the anchor having a trailing body surface adapted to cause rotation of the anchor in the ground to a position generally normal to the attached rod or cable.

Description of the Prior Art

Driven and rotating or planing anchors are well known. This type of anchor is driven into the ground, usually by a drive rod which, for the smaller anchors, may simply be impacted by a hammer or, for larger anchors, may employ jackhammers or hydraulic/pneumatic drivers. After the anchor has been driven to a desired position, a trailing anchor wire, cable, chain, rod or the like (sometimes referred to herein as anchor cable) which is pivotally affixed to the anchor is pulled on. This causes the anchor to bite into the ground at a trailing end and to then rotate until the main longitudinal body of the anchor is generally normal to the direction of the anchor cable. This sets the anchor, and a device or structure to be anchored can then be attached to the anchor cable or rod with the anchor in a loaded and "locked" position. The driven a nd rotating anchors generally consist of two types, a first type is larger such as shown in U.S. Patent 6,237,289, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. That anchor has a main body portion extending longitudinally of the anchor with a top surface having a raised section with an attachment device for attachment of a securing anchor cable or rod which can be driven into the ground along with the anchor and which will rotate at its connection to the anchor with respect to the anchor body when it is pulled backwardly after the anchor has been driven to its final depth. The anchor is equipped with laterally projecting wings which greatly increase the cross section dimension of the anchor and which extend from or point generally adjacent to, but generally spaced from, a leading edge to generally adjacent to, but spaced from, a trailing edge of the anchor extending outwardly to the sides from the main body portion. Such anchor wings may be stepped back at their leading edge and provided with individual spaced chiseled or sharpened surfaces (generally terminating in a radius edge) to facilitate the driving of the anchor into the ground by reducing the resistance of the initial forward movement of the wings. A leading end or forward end of the anchor may also be provided with a series of stepped back chiseled sections or may be cruciform or T in shape or, in certain instances, may be provided with a rounded or blunted leading edge. In a preferred embodiment of large winged anchors the forward edge is formed at the intersection of two plate like members projecting forward of the main body of the anchor at right angles to one another, each of which terminate in a series of stepped back chiseled or sharpened edges. The trailing end of the anchor is provided with an outturned lip which may be provided on the main anchor body or may be provided by outturned trailing edges at the trailing ends of the wings. The anchor is generally provided with a driving attachment point. In the embodiment of the anchor shown in the aforementioned '289 patent the driving of the anchor is done through a central bore extending longitudinally into the main anchor body to a point forward of the midway length of the anchor. A drive rod is inserted into that bore and may be impacted by a sledgehammer, a hydraulic/pneumatic hammer or a hydraulic press, ram or the like to drive the anchor into the ground. Other types of drive fastenings are known to the art which sometimes do not utilize a bore in the center section but which may engage the rear of the anchor body and trailing edges of the wings or other portions to drive the anchor's leading edge forwardly.

Another type of driven and rotating anchor, smaller than the wing type, is shown, for example, in U.S. Patent 7,534,073, again the teachings of which are incorporated by reference herein. In that type of anchor, instead of the wings the body itself may be generally tubular, as shown in U.S. Patent 4,096,673, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference, or may be provided with longitudinally extending laterally projecting ribs, such as the ribs 80, 81 shown in the '073 patent, which extend a small distance from the main body. Such anchors may have a rounded or blunted leading end as taught in U.S. Patent 7,789,594, the teachings of which are incorporated herein. Such smaller anchors are very well known in the industry. The assignee's brand of such anchors, Duckbill ^® , is famous and is sold in most countries of the world.

The larger winged anchors, which are available in many sizes, may be referred to by the assignee's marks of Manta Ray ^® and Sting Ray ^® are also widely sold. The wings, and to a lesser extent the ribs on the sides of the smaller anchors, assist in driving the anchor straight through changes in soil condition, the presence of harder sections of soil in small portions (nodes) or the position of small rocks or the like may have a tendency to cause the anchor to deviate from a straight line path or to cause the anchor to rotate about its longitudinal axis. While the wings and ribs of the prior art are generally effective in resisting such torsional rotation, the wings and ribs which begin backwardly of the leading edge may be less effective in preventing the nose and leading edge from being deflected up or down with respect to the longitudinal axis. It would be an improvement in the art to provide a structure that does not have a significant adverse impact on the driving force required for driving the anchor but which assists in maintaining straight driving and can have an effect in reducing the potential for a vertical rise or dip of the leading edge.

Summary of the Invention

The instant invention improves upon the directional stability of movement of the anchor during driving by providing small dimension supplemental guide ribs extending longitudinally along the body and positioned generally parallel to the wings for winged anchors, or, for smaller Duckbill style anchors, the principal side ribs, and by extending the supplemental guide ribs forward of the principal ribs or wings to a position forward of the main body portion but spaced from the leading edge. The supplemental guide ribs create a channel or groove extending longitudinally between the wings and the supplemental guide ribs or between the principal ribs and the supplemental guide ribs. While both supplemental guide ribs may be placed underneath the wings or the principal ribs, or above the wings or the principal ribs, it is also contemplated to place one rib above on one side and one rib below on the other side. In some applications the supplemental guide ribs may be placed both above and below the wings or principal ribs.

The supplemental guide ribs are preferably V-shaped in cross section and are relatively small in projection from the sides of the anchor.

In an embodiment of the invention, the anchor comprises a main body portion which extends longitudinally in the direction of the driving of the anchor into the ground and which has a leading edge and a trailing edge. The main body has a pair of opposed side projections that extend outwardly from a central body portion of the main body. A supplemental set of projections or guide ribs is positioned clearly spaced to the first set of projections to define a generally narrow groove between the first and second sets of projections. The second set of projections extends only a small portion of the width of the main body.

In another embodiment of the invention the anchor consists of a main body portion having a raised projection on a top surface, the raised projection accommodating a pivotable connection to an anchor line which may be a rod, a cable, a chain or a rope. The anchor body has a leading edge and a trailing edge and is equipped with projecting wings extending outwardly from the side of the main body. The wings being thinned from top to bottom with respect to the anchor body and the wings become thinner further away from the anchor body sides. A supplemental set of guide ribs extending from the side of the anchor body positioned relatively closely spaced to a surface of the wing defining a groove between the supplemental guide rib and the wing surface, the supplemental guide ribs extending from adjacent to but spread from the leading edge to adjacent the trailing edge and projecting from the anchor body by a small amount whereby the supplemental guide ribs provide little drag on driving of the anchor but cooperate with the wings to stabilize the driving direction of the anchor resisting rotation.

In a further embodiment of this invention a driven and rotating anchor is provided with a main anchor body having a leading end and a trailing end, with the trailing end having an outturned lip, the anchor intermediate the leading and trailing ends, but usually closer to the trailing end, having a fastener section for rotatably attaching to an anchor line, first and second spaced apart projecting side ribs extending from the side of the anchor body only a small fraction of the width of the anchor body and defining therebetween a groove, the ribs consisting of a principal pair of longitudinally extending ribs positioned generally midway between the top and bottom of the anchor and a supplemental pair of projecting guide ribs closely spaced to the principal ribs and extending from adjacent to but spaced from the leading edge to adjacent to the trailing edge. One or both sets of ribs may be V- shaped in cross section whereby the width of the groove increases away from the anchor body.

It is a principal objective of this invention to improve upon prior art driven and rotated ground anchors which are equipped with side projections by provided a supplemental set of side projections closely positioned to the anchor's principal side projections and which extending longitudinally from the anchor along with the principal side projections to define a groove between the sets of projections, the supplemental guide projections being small in extent of projection from the anchor body with respect to the width of the anchor body.

These and other objectives of the invention will be apparent from the description of the preferred embodiments, it being understood that although only two preferred embodiments are illustrated, that those skilled in the art are aware of a plurality of other designs for anchors of the driven and rotating type and that the teachings of this invention are applicable to such other designs.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a top elevational view of a winged ground anchor according to this invention.

Figure 2 is a side plan view of the anchor of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an end view of the anchor of Figure 1 taken from the trailing end.

Figure 4 is an end view taken from the leading end of the anchor of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a cross section taken along the lines A2-A2 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a side end view of the opposite side of the anchor from Figure 2.

Figure 7 is a bottom elevational view of the anchor of Figure 1 showing the anchor in a reverse position.

Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B2 of Figure 2.

Figure 9 is an isometric view of the anchor of Figures 1-8. Figure 10 is an isometric view of a second form of the anchor of this invention.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments

As shown in the Figure 1, an anchor generally of the type shown in U.S. Patent 6,237,289, can generally be referred to as a driven and rotating or pivoting anchor having a leading edge 11 extending from a main body portion 10. The main body portion may have a generally circular section 12 forward of a trailing end 13. Laterally projecting wings 15 and 16 project from the sides of the body portion 10 and may have chamfered leading edges 17 and 18 which are stepped back providing a series of slanted wing leading edges. The leading edge of the anchor 11 itself may be formed either from a single projecting front end member 20, which may terminate in a sharpened, pointed or chiseled leading edge, or more preferably, from a pair of orthogonally positioned plates 20 and 21, one of which (21) is vertical at a right angle to the wings 15 and 16, and the other of which is horizontal and extends forward of the leading edges 17, 18 of the wings generally aligned with the wings. Each of the plates 20 and 21 can terminate in a sharpened or chiseled surface or a plurality of smaller, setback, surfaces, best shown at 30 on Figure 9.

The trailing end of the anchor may be provided with an open bore 25 which terminates blind in the main body section 12 and into which a driving rod may be inserted. The top surface of the main body portion has a raised boss projection or protuberance 40 which extends above a top surface 41 of the main body portion 12 and which contains structure for attachment of an anchor cable. The term "anchor cable" is used herein to refer to any one of a variety of structures that will extend from the anchor to the surface of the ground after the anchor has been set a nd which may then form the basis for attachment to the structure which the anchor is securing. In the embodiment shown the structure for securing the anchor cable is a shackle pin opening 60 extending through a narrowed portion 61 of the projection 40. The projection 40 has a second section 41 forward of the narrowed section 61 which may be wedge shaped or frustoconically shaped at its leading face or otherwise designed to push the material which the anchor is being driven into away from the point of contact with the anchor cable. In the embodiment illustrated either a cable would be loop ended through the opening 60 or the opening 60 could be provided with a pivot pin for a shackle which in turn could be attached to a cable, a chain or a series of threaded rod sections, all of which are well known in the art. The particular structure shown here, the use of an eye or opening is only one known way of affixing the anchor cable and those skilled in the art will be familiar with many types of structures such as T-shaped ends on the end of a rod which fit into grooves and blind bores or the like formed in the projection 40. Many other driving mechanisms are known to the art, including specially shaped ended rods that terminate against a trailing end of the anchor and which may have slots for receipt of the wings, or even threaded connections for threading a rod to the anchor for driving.

Preferably the point of pivoting connection to the anchor cable or rod is about at the center length of the anchor but can be slightly to the rear or forward of that point. The anchor is provided with an outturned lip 70 at its trailing edge such that after having been driven into the ground by a drive rod, by pulling on the anchor cable the outturned lip will dig into the side wall of the passage made by the anchor and due to the longitudinal off center connection to the anchor cable will aid the anchor to pivot or rotate to a point where the anchor wire is essentially projecting normally to the longitudinal extent of the anchor. Application of an upward pressure sets the anchor, and at that point the anchor will be "locked" into its maximum holding position. Although in the preferred embodiment illustrated here an outturned lip is shown as extending backwardly and outwardly from the blind bore at the trailing end, other rotation causing structures are also well known and can be used either in conjunction with or in substitution for the lip. One such structure is to provide an angled outturned trailing surface on the back ends of the wings. In another structure a pivoting section of the anchor may be provided, which itself may have a trailing end for engagement with the ground upon retraction of the anchor while other portions of the anchor remain un-rotated. All such structures are referred to herein as driven and pivoting anchors.

In accordance with the teachings of the this invention the anchor is provided with at least two longitudinally extending supplemental guide ribs 80 and 81 which project to the side of the anchor and are positioned under the wings. The forward ends of the supplemental guide ribs 84 may extend forward of the wings as shown, for example, in Figure 7. The supplemental guide ribs extend longitudinally back to a trailing end 85 which may be behind the ends of the wings in this preferred embodiment. The supplemental guide ribs are preferably V-shaped in cross section. As best shown in Figure 8, the supplemental guide ribs define grooves at 90, 91 between the top surface of the ribs 81, 81 and a bottom surface of the wings. As the anchor is driven through the soil, which may be dirt, clay, sandy loam, etc., the anchor will form a running bead of soil material compressed by the grooves in the anchor.

The provision of the grooves and of the supplementary guide ribs aids in preventing the leading edge of the anchor from lifting up or being pushed down as the anchor is driven. This beneficial result can be achieved using projections that are small in their extent of projection from the anchor and small in their cross section thickness. For example, in an anchor having a trailing edge to leading edge length of approximately 366mm, and having wings having a span of approximately 178mm, supplemental guide ribs having a V-shaped cross section may extend 10mm or less from the sidewall surface of the anchor towards the trailing end of the anchor. This would be less than 10% of the side projection of the opposing wing. The

supplemental projections may extend further towards the leading edge of the anchor if desired. In such a structure the main body of the anchor may generally have a diameter of approximately 51mm. The projections may be positioned as close as 10mm from the under surface of the wing adjacent the anchor body or for this size or for larger anchors may be positioned at a greater distance. It is, however, believed that the desired results can be achieved without seriously adversely affecting rotation to the locked position with relatively small grooves formed between the principal ribs or wings and the supplemental guide ribs.

It will be understood that these specifications are illustrative only and that other dimensions may be chosen, it being further understood that the supplemental guide ribs are small and therefore do not require any significant additional driving force while inserting the anchor into the ground. Because of the V-shape cross section they also do not provide any significant resistance to rotation about the longitudinal axis of the anchor as that function is derived from the wings. The forward end of the ribs may be tapered or "chiseled."

In the illustrated embodiment, both of the supplemental guide ribs 80, 81 have been illustrated as positioned beneath the wings 15 and 16. The supplemental guide ribs could, if desired, be positioned above the wings if there is sufficient vertical room for them along the length of the body without interfering with the cable attachment. The ribs could also be positioned one above a wing and one on the other side below the other wing. In a further form the ribs could be positioned both above and below the wings.

Figure 10 illustrates a smaller anchor generally known as the Duckbill ^® anchor, which may also be provided with a multi-edged leading surface 100 and an outturned lip trailing surface 101 with a raised boss or projection 102 and a top thereof having a narrower portion 103 forming an attachment point 104 for an anchor cable. This style of anchor generally includes a generally tubular main body 105 terminating at the forward end in a frustoconical section 106 from which platelike serrated step back edged forward projections 110 and 111 may extend. As is shown, for example, in U.S. Patent 5,734,073, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference, a longitudinally extending principal rib 120 may be provided on each side of the body, such ribs generally projecting from the body to a distance approximately 20% or less of the width of the body. Since such anchors may range from quite tiny, i.e. 2 inches overall, to anchors 6 inches in length, the body may range from a diameter of approximately ¼ inch to a diameter of approximately 1 ½ inches. Larger sizes have also been known.

According to the teaching of this invention, secondary guide ribs 122 are provided beneath the principal ribs 120. It would be understood that, although not shown in the drawing, an additional supplemental guide rib 122 would be positioned on the other side of the anchor from the side illustrated, as would another principal rib 120. The supplemental ribs may extend forwardly of the front end 123 of the principal rib 120 as shown at 124 where the rib slides inwardly and is formed on the front portion of the frustoconical surface 16. That rib may then extend outwardly past one or more of the setbacks or, as shown, may terminate approximately the same as the last horizontal setback 125.

Neither of the supplemental ribs will preferably be greater in projection than 20% or less of the width of the anchor main body. As mentioned above, leading edge configurations other than the setbacks shown are known to exist, and, for example as shown in U.S. Patent 7,789,594, the leading end may be rounded or blunted. Once again the supplemental guide rib is preferably spaced relatively closely to the under surface of the principal rib, which may be considered to be akin to the wings of the earlier described embodiment so as to provide again a groove 130 between the ribs extending longitudinally of the main body of the anchor, which, as the anchor is forced through the soil it will form in the groove and leave behind a raised bead on the inner surface of the soil. The provision of the supplemental guide ribs and of the grooves between the ribs and the wings or the principal ribs cooperates to aid in the stability of alinear driving of the anchor into the soil bore formed by the passage of the anchors. As in the case of the winged embodiments, the supplemental ribs may be positioned above the principal rib, one side above and the other side below, or both above and below, in which case the grooves will be provided.

While I have chosen to show my invention with two separate embodiments of driven and pivoting anchors it will be understood that this invention can be used with other designs of anchors of the driven and pivoting type and that those skilled in the art will find from my description other ways of practicing my invention.