GB2503894A - Support device for a mobile or portable building formed from stacked plastic grids - Google Patents

Abstract

The support comprises a plastics or polymer component 12, 14, 16, 18 having upright wall portions forming a lattice, grid or grille formation and at least one bearing layer or sheet atop the plastic component for resting the building on top of. The plastics component may have side formations for complementary interlocking connections to similar components. The components may be stacked in use with others to form a square shaped support, the vertical column being supported by plastic elongate stakes which go through aligned openings or apertures in the components. The bearing layer may include a resilient soft play mat interlocking with the plastic component and have a metal plate positioned on top of the resilient part. Also claimed is a method of supporting a portable or temporary building using the supports and a building installation using the supports. The plastics component may be an Eco Grid (RTM) tile. The support may be placed on a stone base.

Description

Title: Support for portable building Descrirtion of Invention This invention relates to a support, for supporting a portable building on the ground.

The use of portable buildings to provide temporary accommodation is well known. For example, a site where construction or demolition work is being carried out might utilise one or more portable buildings to provide office facilities, storage for equipment and/or materials, and personal facilities (for eating, washing and possibly even sleeping) for persons working at the site, if there is no or insufficient other accommodation available. For such usage, the portable building(s) may only be in situ for the duration of the work being undertaken, but in many cases portable buildings remain in situ on a semi-permanent basis, e.g. to provide additional accommodation if a permanent building at the site offers insufficient space.

Characteristically a portable building is a self contained unit incorporating a framework which enables it to be delivered to a site where it is required, usually by truck from which it is off-loaded by a crane, and placed in the required position on a suitably prepared base. The framework requires to be supported at a number of positions beneath the building, and the base must provide for such support. Hitherto, if the ground itself does not provide a rigid surface capable of bearing the loads imposed by the building and its contents, such support has been afforded by either a concrete "raft" cast in situ entailing appropriate ground excavation, or by a number of concrete support blocks or like structures (which also requires ground excavation to ensure their stability and load-bearing capabilities) placed where required, of height suitable to level the building supported thereby. Such provision of supporting elements for a portable building is expensive and takes time to put in place and to dismantle after the portable building has been removed.

It is broadly the object of the present invention to address the above disadvantages of known support arrangements for portable buildings.

According to one aspect of the present invention, we provide a support for a portable building, comprising at least one plastics component having upright wall portions arranged in grid formation, and a bearing means atop the plastics component and affording a support surface for a portable building part.

The plastics component may have formations which are engageable with complementary formations on adjacent like plastics components, to hold the components to one another in side by side relationship.

The plastics component may be substantially square or rectangular in plan view, so that a member of such components can be disposed in square or other formation, interfitting with one another to provide a support which, in plan view, has a number of times the area of a single such component.

Each plastics component may be a component known as a EcogridTM) tile.

Ecogrid tiles are well known for disposition on a surface which is or is to be grassed, to stabilise and provide for effective drainage of ground whose surface is to be subject to high footfall or vehicular traffic in, for example, a car park. They are made of recycled waste plastics, and are strong, stable, and quickly installed.

The support may comprise plastics components disposed one above another.

Then, elongate elements may be provided extending in upright orientation through aligned openings defined between the wall portions of the plastics components, to hold the plastics components in alignment above one another.

Conveniently such elongate elements may comprise stakes, which may be of a plastics material.

Thus, a support of suitable dimensions in plan view and height may be constructed utilising a number of the plastics components alongside and on top of another as required. Above the uppermost component or components, the bearing means, for example a steel plate, may be placed to provide the support surface which engages the appropriate part of the portable building.

The bearing means may comprise a resilient element fitting on top of the, each, or some of the plastics component(s) of the support, such a resilient element may be a "Soft play" mat, obtainable from the supplier of Ecogrid tiles, which has formations interfitting with the grid walls of an Ecogrid tile. A rigid bearing plate, e.g. a metal plate may be positioned on top of such a resilient element and, when a portable building is supported thereon, remain in place by friction.

The or each lowermost plastics component in a support, if on soft ground, may be placed on a base of stone or the like, provided on the ground. The ground may be excavated to a required depth for such a stone base.

According to another aspect of the invention, we provide a method of supporting a portable building, comprising erecting at least one support according to the first aspect of the invention, with the bearing member of the or each support being at a required height for carrying the respective part of the

portable building.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a support constructed in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 illustrates the sequence of construction of a support such as that shown in figure 1.

Referring firstly to figure 1 of the drawings, this shows a support for a portable building, the support being substantially square in plan view and rectangular in front and side elevation. It is made of a number (32 in this example) of plastic components, arranged in eight layers, each comprising four of the components.

In figure 1, the uppermost layer of components is indicated at 10 and comprises individual plastics components 12, 14, 16 and 18. The structure of each of these components is illustrated for the component 12 (and can be clearly seen in figure 2 of the drawings) each component comprising a number of upright wall portions arranged in grid formation, and defining openings between them extending vertically through the component. The components have engagement formations along their sides, which enable adjacent such components to be interfitted with one another to retain them in position relative to one another. In figure 1, the component 12 will be connected to the components 14 and 18 along their mutually adjacent outermost walls by such formations; similarly the component 14 will be connected to the components 12 and 16, and so forth. The lowermost layer of components is indicated at 20; it rests on a ground surface and may simply be placed thereon if the ground surface is hard and able to bear loads (e.g. if it is of concrete or tarmac). If the ground surface is soft, e.g. grass or soil, the surface may be excavated to a depth sufficient to place a bed or layer of stone beneath the plastics components.

The openings defined between the upright walls of the plastics components align with one another. In the support shown in figure 1, elongate members may be provided, extending downwardly through some of the openings of the components 12 to 18 and the corresponding aligned openings of the components in the layers beneath them. Four such elongate elements, in the form of plastics stakes 22, 24, 26, 28 are provided, extending downwardly. If the ground on which the support is standing is soft, the stakes may be driven into the ground beneath the support, or if the ground on which the support is standing is hard the length of the stakes may be equal to the height of the support, so that no part of each stake extends above the uppermost layer 10 of the support or beneath the lowermost layer 20 thereof.

Referring now to figure 2 of the drawings, this shows in sequence the construction of a support as shown in figure 1. Illustration A shows a single component as above described; its grid formation of upright walls is clearly visible as are formations indicated at 30 provided at spaced intervals along the outermost walls thereof for engagement with complementary formations on adjacent components.

Illustration B shows two of the components disposed alongside one another, while illustration C shows their position closely adjacent one another when their complementary formations have been engaged with one another.

Illustrations D, E, F and C show the addition of successive components until a lowermost layer of interfitting components is provided.

Illustration H shows the lowermost layer of the plastics components, into which four upright elongate elements in the form of stakes have been inserted into respective openings defined between the walls thereof, around the periphery of the layer. Such stakes may be of (possibly recycled) plastics material.

Illustrations I, J, K and L show the addition of four further components in succession, to establish a second layer of components, while illustrations M and N show the addition of a further layer of components. When the support has reached the desired height, bearing means may be placed atop the plastics components, illustration 0 showing a first such bearing means in situ, and illustration P showing four such bearing means covering the entire upper part of the support. The bearing means may comprise resilient elements with rigid bearing plates (e.g. steel plates) on their upper faces to engage a portable building placed thereon. The resilient elements may have formations which interfit with the walls of the plastics components for location proposals.

Illustration 0 shows the final form of the support, ready to have an appropriate part of a portable building placed upon its support surface afforded by the bearing members thereon.

Thus, the invention provides a portable building support which is easily and rapidly erected from individual components in situ, can be made of any desired dimensions in plan view and height, and when no longer required for supporting a building can easily dismantled and removed for reuse elsewhere.

When used in this specification and claims, the terms "comprises" and "comprising" and variations thereof mean that the specified features, steps or integers are included. The terms are not to be interpreted to exclude the presence of other features, steps or components.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the following claims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate, may, separately, or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims (15)

1. Claims 1. A support for a portable building, comprising at least one plastics component having upright wall portions arranged in grid formation, and at least one bearing means atop the plastics component and affording a support surface for part of a portable building.
2. 2. A support according to claim 1, wherein the plastics component has formations engageable with complementary formations on adjacent like plastics components, to hold the components to one another in side by side relationship.
3. 3. A support according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the plastics component is substantially square or rectangular in plan view, the support including a number of such components disposed in square or other formation.
4. 4. A support according to any one of the preceding claims wherein each plastics component is an Ecogrid (registered trade mark) tile.
5. 5. A support according to any one of the preceding claims including said plastics components disposed one above another.
6. 6. A support according to claim 5 further comprising elongate elements extending in upright orientation through aligned openings defined between wall portions of the plastics components.
7. 7. A support according to claim 6 wherein the elongate elements comprise plastics stakes.
8. 8. A support according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the or each bearing means includes a resilient element atop the plastics component is of metal.
9. 9. A support according to claim 8 wherein the bearing means includes a rigid bearing plate atop the resilient member.
10. 10. A support according to claim 8 or claim 9 wherein the resilient element interfits with the grid of the plastics component(s) to retain alignment therewith.
11. 11. A support according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the or each lowermost plastics component of the support is placed on a base of stone or the like provided on the ground.
12. 12. A support substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.
13. 13. A method of supporting a portable building, comprising erecting at least one support according to any one of claims 1 to 12 on the ground, and placing the building on the at least one support and any other required supports.
14. 14. A portable building installation including at least one support according to any one of claims ito 12.
15. 15. Any novel feature or novel combination of features described herein and/or in the accompanying drawings.