Apparatus for transporting factory constructed housing units

Claim 1

Apparatus for handling and transporting factory constructed housing units each providing completely finished, mechanically operable interior living space ranging in single floor area size to 2,000 square feet or more and having structural integrity only discrete transverse sections defined in part by transverse beam members establishing floor support of sufficient strength to carry the full dead load of the housing unit when supported only the near of ends of such members, the housing units being of a common width and varying only in length to provide the range of floor area size, said apparatus comprising: a combination of lifting transfer devices and transporting units, said lifting transfer devices each comprising a spreader lift means including a pair of generally parallel rigid, continuous linear support members each of a length at least as long as the housing unit to be transferred, means supporting said support members for movement between a retracted position spaced from each other by a distance in excess of the common house width and in which the spreader lift means can be lowered downwardly over a housing unit and a lifting position in which said support members engage the underside of the housing unit transverse beam members near the outer ends thereof and means to maintain said linear support members in mono-planar relation at least while in said lifting position irrespective of floor area loading variation in the housing unit; said transporting units each having a supporting frame structure and another pair of generally parallel rigid linear and mono-planar support members for engaging the undersides of the housing unit transverse beam members also near the ends thereof but inwardly of said first mentioned linear support members of said lifting transfer devices, said other support members being upstanding rails having top surfaces elevated in relation to the supporting frame structure of said transporting units located outwardly of said other support members sufficient to provide clearance space under the housing units enabling movement of said first mentioned support members from said retracted position to said lifting position, whereby said housing units may be supported by non-deflecting mono-planar linear support means along closely adjacent parallel lines of support during a succession of lifting transfer and transporting operations in moving the housing unit from a factory to a remotely located building site.