Foresight Industries, Inc.

Thomas E Jewett

Daniel W Gray

Ground anchors are installed by drive rods or gads connected in end to end relation by sleeves or couplers which accommodate sliding of adjacent rod ends into abutting relation under impact or compression loads and which retain the rods in connected string relation under tension loads. The sleeves have smooth rolled internal rope type threads in their end portions separated by a slide chamber receiving mating threads on end portions of adjacent rods which are threaded through and beyond the internal threads into the slide chamber. The rods slide in the sleeves and ends of adjoining rods will abut under compression loads and separate under tension loads while still being retained in end to end relation. A string of drive rods is successively built up to be impacted successively from ground level.

Coupled drive rods for installing ground anchors

A ground rod driver is provided with a clamp mechanism which transmits impact blows from a driving tool such as a jackhammer to an intermediate portion of the rod at a convenient level above the ground to drive the clamped portion to ground level and which then releases the rod under the action of the same driving tool so that it may be raised above the ground and reclamped to the rod for driving the next increment of rod length into the ground. The driver receiving impact blows from the tool will automatically grip the rod when the impact tool is in a driving position and will automatically release the rod when the impact tool is in a releasing position. A ground plate surrounds the rod to bottom the driver for the release step. Specifically, the impact tool engages a wedge in the driver in its driving position to clamp the driver on the rod and is rotated 90.degree. to engage release blocks on the driver when the wedge is bottomed on the plate for releasing the rod.

Ground rod driver

Rods, tubes, posts, and the like rod structures are driven into the ground by a device which is successively clamped to selected intermediate portions of the lengths of these rods to avoid heretofore involved awkwardness, instability, and unsafe driving conditions encountered when the top ends of long rods are engaged to force the rods into the ground. The device is easily and quickly clamped to the rod at a level close to the ground to be impacted by a driving tool such as a jackhammer at a convenient reachable height. When the device is driven to ground level, it is easily released from the rod and raised to a starting level and then reclamped for the next driving increment. The successive raising and driving steps are repeated until the rod is driven to a desired depth in the ground. When the top end of the rod approaches ground level, the device can be mounted over this end and impacted to drive the rod further into the ground. A driving shank is slidably retained in a socket of the device spaced laterally from the clamp rod and inclined toward the rod so that the device will deliver type impact blow substantially along the axis of the rod to minimize bending. The device is especially useful for rods which drive ground anchors into the ground.

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Littleton, CO, United States of America

Thomas E Jewett