Equipment installation support on foundation

• US 7,328,879 B1
• Filed: 06/03/2005
• Issued: 02/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Thomas Mcdonnell
• Original Assignee: the united states of america as represented by the secretary of the navy
• Inventors: Plangetis, Gus F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Friedman; Carl D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCDUFFIE, MICHAEL D
• Application Number:
  US11/147,652
• Time in Patent Office: 984 Days
• Field of Search: 248/668, 248/669, 248/673, 248/678, 248/188.1, 248/188.2, 248/346.05, 248/346.06, 248/188.3, 248/679, 254/104
• US Class Current: 248/679
• CPC Class Codes: F16M 7/00 Details of attaching or adjusting engine beds, frames, or supporting-legs on foundation or base; Attaching non-moving engine parts, e.g. cylinder blocks elastic or equivalent mounting for absorbing vibrations F16F, especially F16F15/04

Abstract

A bearing washer is inserted into a horizontally elongated recess formed within the top flat surface of an upper tapered wedge of a support assembly through which equipment is adjustably positioned on a foundation. The upper wedge is vertically and horizontally adjusted in slidingly positioned contact with a lower tapered wedge along inclined surfaces within a recess formed therein before attachment of the tapered wedges to each other by horizontal fastener bolts extending through the upper wedge and the lower wedge. In such adjusted position of the wedges, a convex surface on the inserted bearing washer is in contact with a concave surface within a recess formed in the top surface of the upper wedge to support the equipment in close spaced relationship thereabove. Slidable adjustment of the wedges is limited by a recess shoulder in the lower tapered wedge to avoid excessive loading of the fastener bolts under severe shock and vibration conditions imposed on the equipment positioned on the foundation.

Claims

1. In combination with a foundation on which equipment is supported in an adjusted position by a support assembly having interrelated tapered wedges releasably attached between the foundation and the equipment, means for enhancing installational support of the equipment on the foundation by the support assembly, comprising:

bearing means inserted into an upper one of the tapered wedges for establishing a close spaced relationship between the equipment and said upper one of the tapered wedges in the adjusted position of the equipment, wherein the upper one of the tapered wedges has horizontal holes formed therein and positioned in alignment with vertically elongated holes formed in the lower one of the tapered wedges through which attachment bolts extend between the tapered wedges in the adjusted position of the equipment, wherein the lower tapered wedge has horizontally elongated holes formed therein in alignment with a bolt hole formed in the bearing means through which a vertical attachment bolt extends between the foundation and the equipment, and wherein said bearing means comprises;

a washer having a flat top surface in contact with the equipment and a lower convex surface that is inserted into a horizontally elongated recess formed in the upper tapered wedge having a concave surface contacted by the convex surface of the washer in the adjustably positioned support assembly.

2. A support assembly for enhancing support of equipment on a foundation, the support assembly, comprising:

a beating arrangement;

a pair of horizontal attachment bolts;

an upper tapered wedge, the upper tapered wedge having;

a first end, a second end, a first side, and a second side, the first and second sides substantially perpendicular to the first and second ends;

a bearing opening in an upper surface, the bearing arrangement inserted into the beating opening; and

a pair of horizontally extending holes, each hole extending from the first end to the second end of the upper tapered wedge, the pair of holes having a hole diameter;

a lower tapered wedge positioned below and in sliding contact with the upper tapered wedge, the lower tapered wedge having;

a large end;

a pair of vertically elongated holes at the large end, a topmost part of each hole of the pair of vertically elongated holes located below the topmost surface of the lower tapered wedge, the pair of vertically elongated holes having a vertical elongation length, the vertical elongation length being greater than the hole diameter of the pair of horizontally extending holes of the upper tapered wedge, wherein the pair of vertically elongated holes are aligned with the pair of horizontally extending holes such that each of the pair of horizontal attachment bolts extend horizontally from the upper tapered wedge to the lower tapered wedge by extending through one vertically elongated hole of the pair of vertically elongated holes and through one horizontally extending hole of the pair of horizontally extending holes, the pair of horizontal attachment bolts being vertically displaceable within the vertically elongated holes, wherein the lower tapered wedge further includes a recess formed therein for making the slidable contact with the upper tapered wedge for adjustably positioning the upper tapered wedge, the pair of horizontal attachment bolts holding the upper tapered wedge in an adjusted position within the recess, wherein the bearing arrangement comprises;

a washer having a fiat top surface for contacting the equipment and a lower convex surface, the bearing arrangement inserted into the bearing opening in the upper tapered wedge, the bearing opening having a concave surface contacted by the convex surface of the washer, further including a vertical attachment bolt extending vertically through the beating arrangement, the upper tapered wedge, and the lower tapered wedge, wherein the lower tapered wedge further includes a horizontally elongated hole, through which the vertical attachment bolt extends, the vertical attachment bolt being horizontally displaceable within the horizontally elongated hole.