US3818852A - Method and apparatus for transporting factory constructed housing units - Google Patents

Abstract

A system including method and apparatus for transporting and placing on site foundations factory constructed housing units, completely finished interiorly to provide integral and mechanically operable living spaces ranging in size to a maximum floor area in excess of 4,000 square feet. The system includes coordinated transfer and transporting units, the latter units including both marine vessels and land vehicles, which with the transfer devices are capable of maintaining at all times throughout overall system operation of factory shipping and project phases, a continuous foundation-like support to supply substantially the same measure of structural integrity to the housing unit as that supplied by a permanent foundation. The housing units of which the interior is finished completely at the factory, including interior painting, carpeting and draperies as well as other operational units such as kitchens, bathrooms, heating and airconditioning units and the like, is, after placement on the permanent site foundation, completed exteriorly by on-site placement of roofs, exterior appendages such as garages, porches, large items of exterior trim, exterior chimneys and the like.

Description

United States Patent r191 Lewis et a1.

[ June 25, 1974 Primary Examiner-George E. A. Halvosa Assistant Examiner-Sherman D. Basinger Attorney,'Agent, or Firm--Lane, Aitken, Dunner &

ABSTRACT A system including method and apparatus for transporting and placing on site foundations factory constructed housing units, completely finished interiorly to provide integral and mechanically operable living spaces ranging in size to a maximum floor area in excess of 4,000 square feet. The system includes coordinated transfer and transporting units, the latter units including both marine vessels and land vehicles, which with the transfer devices are capable of maintaining at all times throughout overall system operation of factory shipping and project phases, a continuousfoundation-like support to supply substantially the same measure of structural integrity to the housing unit as that supplied by a permanent foundation. The housing units of which the interior is finished completely at the factory, including interior painting, carpeting and draperies as well as other operational units such as kitchens, bathrooms, heating and airconditioning units and the like, is, after placement on the permanent site foundation, completed exteriorly by on-site placement of roofs, exterior appendages such as garages, porches, large items of exterior trim, exterior chimneys and the like.

6 Claims, 35 Drawing Figures METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING FACTORY CONSTRUCTED HOUSING UNITS [75] Inventors: Eugene C. Lewis, Scotch Plains,

N.J.; c. Robert Gottlieb, Mobile, zlems Ala; Robert H. Macy, Pascagoula, MISS. 57

[73] Assignee: Diamondhead Corporation,

Mountainside, N.J. 22] Filed: se tzi, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 291,033

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 163,935, Sept. 19, 1971.

[52] U.S. C1 114/72, 294/81 SF, 294/67 DB, f 214/12 [51] Int. Cl 'B63b 25/00 [58] Field of Search 114/72, 75, 76, 43.5; 294/67 BC, 106, 81 SF, 67 DB; 214/12, 14, 15 R [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,900,867 3/1933 Olds 114/72 3,034,659 5/1962 Willison et a1. .1 214/15 R 3,083,670 4/1963 Harlander et a1 1 114/75 3,624,736 11/1971 lwami 114/72 3,680,518 8/1972 Tabuchi et a1. 114/72 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 697,687 11/1964 Canada 294/81 R 26 I j a s; fb m w :L 88 6 "a if 90 g9 06 ml 106 Z PATENTEBJIJNZSIBM sum 01 or 15- mom O mm m mum; 62636212, 5% W N v a 0 nS IODOL; @2360 D In. E

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PAIENTED JUNE 5 I974 sum -1aur1 5 FIG/Z PATENTEDJUNESW 3 .8 1 8,852

sum 13 or 15 FIG/8.

PATENTEI] JUNE 51974 sum 1a or 15 PATENIED 3.818.852

sum 15oF 15 FIG. 24.

. 11 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING FACTORY COl JSTRUC'I'ILD HOUSING UNITS CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This is a division of application Ser. No. 163,935 filed July 19,1971.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a system for building and transporting housing units. More particularly, it concerns a method and apparatus by which factory-built integral housing units, each provided with completely finished, mechanically operable, interior living space, are transported over water and/or land to a building site located many miles from the factory and transferred to permanent site foundations in the development of residential real estate.

In recent years, home builders have turned more and more to the use of factory-built or pre-fabricated structural components which can be transported for final assembly and finishing at remotely located permanent building sites. The reasons for this trend in home build-. 'ing, though numerous, are oriented largely to reducing the costs of materials and labor. Although most materials conventionally used in home building are not especially expensive at their source or origin, the storage, shipment and handling operations incident to getting such materials to remotely located individual building sites increases their cost to a point where the price for materials payed by the ultimate home purchaser is many times the cost at the original source of supply. Quite obviously, much of the material handling and distribution expenses associated with conventional on-site home construction, not to mention work hold-ups and delays caused by interruptions in the distribution stage, can be eliminated by centralized material inventories available to a factory.

An even greater increment of expense is incurred as a result of the problems attendant to procurring and maintaining an adequate work force of personnel required for on-site home construction. Because of the many specialized skills required in the construction of a home, many of which are mutually exclusive by choice of labor unions, a home builder must either engage in a substantial amount of subcontracting or retain on his payroll a work force of substantial size in order to have available the many skills needed. The vast amount of tract development in this country during recent decades, in which large numbers of homes are built in individual construction projects, can be attributed in good measure toproviding a home builder with a basis for maintaining a sufficient number of workers to meet the requirements for specialized skills while at the same time showing a margin of profit. Even in large tract developments, however, such unpredictable factors as weather and work stoppages resulting therefrom contribute to added expense to on-site construction.

Although factory pre-fabrication of such readily transported building components as roof trusses, wall units, preassembled window and door units and the like have been widely accepted by the home building industry, the aforementioned problems associated with onsite construction have led to increased employment of factory pre-fabrication techniques. It has become conventional practice, for example, to build at a factory LII substantially complete housing modules which are in reality pieces or sections of a complete home or dwell ing unit except in cases of units having less than approximately 900 sq. ft. of single floor area. Modules of this type are then shipped over land by truck or railway to remotely located building sites at which two or more such modules are assembled on a foundation to provide the complete housing unit. In this way, the handling and distribution costs normally incurred are reduced by building material inventories at the factory site and moreover, it is possible to maintain steady or continuous employment for construction laborers as well as increasedspecialization of skills with more efficiency and savings of labor cost to the builder.

A major difficulty with factory pre-fabricated modules of the type heretofore used, however, lies in the architectural restraints imposed by the size and shape of modules which can be transported by land systems of transportation. Specifically, the maximum width of module which can be transported by rail or highway is in the range of 10 to 14 ft. depending on local regulations. Where two such units are placed side by side in the finished home, as is most often the case, the maximum width of the home is onlyt24 ft. Hence, larger sizes of homes constructed in this manner tend to be long and narrow in relation to conventionally constructed homes of like size with the result that rooms on opposite sides of a corridor extending longitudinally of the house, for example, tend to be narrower than desirable. Though obviously, more than two such modules might be used in each house to circumvent this problem, either architectural design of the resulting house suffers from the use of 12 ft. (for example) modular increments or module sizes commensurate with less than maximum use of the transportation facility are required. Also, the added on-site labor required in the assembly of two, three or more modules detracts significantly from the economic rationale for factory prefabrication and thus becomes less than favored practice.

Another problem with land transportation of modular units is brought about by the physical abuse inflicted on the modules during transportation at normal railway or highway speeds inthe range of 30 to 50 mph. of necessity in order to stay within the existing stream of traffic. To overcome this problem, either specialized construction materials and/or techniques must be employed or a substantial amount of finishing and repair must be carried out at the final site, Though specialized construction can satisfy the functional requirements for housing modules, much of the aesthetic qualities sought after by the prospective home buyer lie in the warmth and security of traditional building materials and construction techniques. lnasmuch as a home represents the largest single purchase of most families,

I such aesthetic qualities must be provided if the house is to be sold under normal economic criteria. Because the modular approach to factory pre-fabricated home building has beenunable to meet the aesthetic or architectural standards of homes built on site, some of the homes constructed from modules have been aesthetically adequate for the low-cost housing market but have not been accepted in the market for moderate and higher priced homes.

It is apparent therefore, that major strides have been made by the building industry in meeting the spiraling costs of on-site home construction by turning more and more to the use of factory pre-fabricated components and modular units. It is equally apparent, however, that there exists in the industry a need for a more complete use of factory pre-fabrication of complete housing units by which the amount of on-site construction and finishing operations is even further reduced without sacrifice of aesthetics and sound architectural design.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a fully coordinated transportation and handling system by which factory-built housing units, completely finished and providing mechanically operable interior living spaces ranging in size to a maximum floor area in excess of 4,000 sq. ft., may be transported by marine vessels such as barges by way of either or both of available sea and inland waterways and then transferred by special land vehicle to permanent site foundations for completion of exterior appendages, roofs and trim. The housing units, though factory-built, are constructed entirely from conventional building materials to provide a conventional organization of structural components primarily to satisfy the aesthetic appeal and warmth of tradition. In an overall operation context, the invention contemplates successive factory, shipping and project phases during which the housing units are at all times handled or carried by structural devices capable of supplying to the housing units substantially the same measure of structural integrity conventionally supplied by a permanent site foundation. Hence, a complete cycle of construction, transportation and site placement may be achieved without damage to interior finishes on such conventional construction materials as plaster, dry walls, and the like. In the transportation phase of the overall system and where a combination of sea-going and inland waterway barges are required, a sea-going barge is loaded from a dock in the proximity of the factory using either a dock crane or a barge crane equipped with a spreader lift mechanism designed to supply a foundation-like support to each housing unit and cooperable with hold cell structures within the barge to facilitate placement of the housing units therein in accordance with a preestablished placement scheme. The sea-going barge crane is employed to unload the housing units from the seagoing barge for placement at a project destination dock site or in smaller inland waterway or river barges again using the spreader lift on the sea-going barge crane.

Upon reaching a project docking facility, the river barges are docked by ballasting at least one end thereof on a stable structure whereby a crane-like straddle vehicle, again equipped with thespreader lift structure, removes the housing units from the river barge for placement at the project docking terminal. The units are transported from the terminal directly to individual site foundations on low surface reaction land vehicles or truck-like transporters using roadways between the dock and the project as well as preconstructed project streets. After placement on the site foundations, exterior appendages such as garages, porches and the like are added, as are roofs and other special exterior trim projections in excess of 6 inches. The placement of roofs and exterior appendages at the project site both facilitates the shipping phase of the system and, more significantly, enables the exterior architecture of the house to be varied as desired to achieve an aesthetically pleasing project development.

Among the objects of the present invention are therefore: the provision of an unique, coordinated system for the construction, transportation, and placement of housing units having completely finished and mechanically operable interior living space; the provision of an improved method and apparatus by which the aforementioned inten'orly finished housing units may be handled effectively during transfer and transporting operations incident to moving the units from the factory to a remotely located building project without damage to the units; the provision of such a method and apparatus by which maximum efficiency of transporting equipment may be achieved; the provision of a method and apparatus of the type referred to enabling maximum employment of factory pre-fabrication construction techniques without in any way sacrificing architectural design in either the housing units individually or in the architectural design and aesthetic appearance of an overall housing development or project; the provision of an improved marine system for shipping housing units of the type referred to as well as other large cargo units having similar characteristics; and the provision of novel, structurally coordinated handling and transporting components for housing units of the type referred to.

Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description to follow taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGS. 1A through ID are schematic illustrations providing a flow sheet of the overall operation contemplated by the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic or line drawing in perspective, the lines thereof representing basic structural components in a conventional housing unit;

FIGS. 3A through 3C are sectional views showing alternative forms of typical floor and foundation arrangements for the housing units to be constructed, transported and placed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation, partially in section, illustrating the sea-going barge forming part of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a transverse section through the barge illustrated in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view partially cut away and showing the hold cell organization of the barge shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section showing the housing unit support structure within the hold cells of the barge illustrated in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of one embodiment of a spreader lift used in handling the housing units during barge loading and unloading operations;

FIG. 9 is a side elevation of the spreader lift shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a cross-section taken on line l010 of FIG. 9;

FIG, 11 is an end view of the spreader lift illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section taken on line l2l2 of FIG. 9;

FIG. I3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section taken on line l3-13 of FIG. 10;

FIGS. 14A-14F are schematic plan views illustrating the various loading schemes for the hold cells in the sea-going barge of FIG. 4;

FIG. 15 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating an inland waterway or river barge of the present invention;

FIG. 19 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section taken on line 19-19 of FIG. 18;

FIG. 20 is a fragmentary plan view illustrating the project barge terminal in accordance with the inven tron;

FIG. 21 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of a unit carrier adapted to be transported with the river barge but in position at the project barge terminal shownin FIG. 20;

FIG. 22 is a plan view showing a special transporter by which the housing units'are transported from the barge terminal to the individual site foundations at the project;

FIG. 23 is aside elevation showing thetransporter of FIG. 22;

FIG. 24 is a side elevation showing transfer of a housing unit from the transporter to a permanent site foundation using a project crane; and

FIG. 25 is a side elevation of the lift spreader being handled by the project crane at the foundation site.

DETAILED. DESCRIPTION'OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A general understanding of the overall operation contemplated by the practice of the present invention may be had by reference to FIG. IA through FIG. ID of the drawings. Basically, the overall operation is logically separated into a factory phase depicted by FIG. 1A; a shipment phase depicted FIG. 1B; and a project phase depicted by FIGS. IC and 1D. Duringthe factory phase and as suggested by the legends employed in FIG. 1A, a continuous manuracturing cycle is completed under a roof generally designated by the reference numeral 10 by assembling a floor unit I I on a suitable movable carriage such as a dolly l2 initially positioned on the extreme left end of the factory as depicted by FIG. 1A. Thereafter, the floor unit 11 and the dolly 12 are advanced through successive stations under the roof 10, at which stations various components of the complete mechanically operable housing unit are placed on the floor supported by the dolly. As illustrated, completion of the floor is followed by the placement thereon of complete kitchen and bath modules l4 and 16 and then by the assembly of interior and exterior walls. Also, though not shown in the drawing, heating and airconditioning installation will be made at this time. Thereafter, a completely finished ceiling unit is placed over the interior and exterior walls and secured in place to complete the basic structural organization of the housing unit. In accordance with the invention, all interior walls. as well as interior ceiling surfaces will be completely finished and painted during the manufacturing phase. Also, conventional materials will be used throughout. Hence, following the assembly of the ceiling with the interior walls it will be appreciated that the corner joints which result between the ceiling and the walls, each of which in themselves having been previously finished, will haveto be touched up such as by joint taping in the event conventional gypsum board or dry wall paneling is employed. After such touch-up operations, the interior of the housing unit is completed by placement of carpeting, draperies, fixtures and other such interior trim as might be expected in a conventional home interior.

The completed mechanically operable interiorly finished housing unit, designated in the drawings by the reference numeral 20, is packaged with a water impervious wrapping of appropriate weather resistant sheet material to complete the factory phase. It will be noted that the housing unit 20 at this time, though completely finished interiorly, is without a roof structure or exterior appendages such as garages, porches and the like. The omission of the roof structure and exterior appendages at this phase of the overall operation has the apparent advantage of facilitating shipment of the housing units. In addition, however, it provides a very significant architectural advantage in achieving desired exterior appearance of the ultimate house in its final position. In other words, though each of the housing units is of cubic configuration at the factory, a wide variety of diverse exterior designs may be effected by the selection of the particular roof and exterior appendages to be added at the project phase of operations. It is further noted at this point that the housing units 20 are depicted in FIGS. lA-lD as single story units. As will be apparent from the more detailed description of the transporting and handling components of the overall system, the invention contemplates the factory prefabrication, shipping and project placement of two story units having an overall height approximating twice that of a single story unit. Also, several variations in length of the units 20 are contemplated. Thus, the facility offered by the present invention for providing a wide range of sizes and interior designs of completely integrated housing units will be appreciated. To maximize efficiency in the shipping and project phases, however, a uniform width of the housing units 20 will be retained. In the practice of the present invention, a common width of thirty feet has been found desirable principally from the standpoint of providing required facility for architectural planning of the housing interior.

In the shipment phase of the present invention, either one or both of a combination of sea andriver or inland shipping waterways will be used. Hence, and where the factory phase and the project phase are separated by sea lanes, the housing units 20, after having been packaged at the factory 10, are transferred from the factory dolly 12 to an ocean or sea-going barge 22 either by a wharf crane 24 or by a barge crane 26 each equipped with a spreader lift 28 to be described in more detail below. Also in a manner which will become more apparent from the description to follow, the sea-going barge 22 is equipped with means (not shown in FIG. 1B) for supporting the housing units one above the other in tiers.

Following ocean shipment, the housing units 20 are transferred, using the sea-going barge crane 26, to one or more river barges 30 equipped in the embodiment shown, with a wheeled carrier 32 having a spreader lift unit 28a. Although use of both the sea-going barge 22 and one or more river barges 30 is essential to shipment of the housing units where ocean waterways are involved, it is contemplated that the shipment phase may be carried out using only the river barges in situations where the factory is located on an inland waterway or a river on which access may be had to the location of the project.

Upon completion of the shipment phase of the operations with arrival of the river barges at the project site, the project phase of operation is initiated by unloading the river barges 30. The preferred technique for unloading the river barges 30, as depicted schematically in FIG. 1C of the drawings is to align the barge 30 with which bow extensions of the river barge 30 may be supported firmly by appropriate ballasting of the barge. The housing units 20 are then lifted by the spreader lift 28b on the barge carrier 32 and the carrier advanced along the length of the barge onto the dock ramp 34 to a project terminal 38 in the vicinity of the dock ramp 34. At the project terminal 38 the housing units 20 are temporarily stored. From the terminal 38, the housing units are transported individually by truck transporters 40 along project streets to the individual project lots on which the housing units are to be placed, such lots having been previously prepared and provided with permanent foundations 42 as shown in FIG. 1D. A project crane 44, also equipped with a spreader lift 28c, transfers the housing units 20 from the transporter 40 directly to the foundations 42. As depicted in FIG. 1D, the housing units are completed by the assembly of roofs, garages, or other external appendages such as porches or the like. Also at this time final large units of exterior trim are applied as well as exterior fireplaces and the like.

To provide a clearer understanding of the method and apparatus of the present invention, particularly during the shipping and project phases of the over operation described above, consideration will be given first to the structural characteristics of the housing units 20 and the conditions which must be met during shipping and handling while maintaining the interiors of the units in the condition to which they were finished at the factory It). In FIG. 2, the basic structural components of the housing units 20, using conventional wood frame construction, are depicted by lines representing floor joists 46, joist end plates 48, wall studs 50, ceiling joists 52, and wall stud caps 54. Though obviously, each of the housing units 20 include such additional structural components as interior walls which will supply a measure of strength in the completed unit, variation in interior design between units limits meaningful analysis of structural integrity to the basic components represented by the lines illustrated in FIG. 2 of the drawings. In this context, it will be seen that the unit 20 possesses structural integrity only in substantially discrete transverse sections established primarily by the floor joists 46 inasmuch as the other components such as wall studs, ceiling joists and the like are ultimately carried by the joists 46. Also it will be appreciated that if interior wall finishes such as plaster and gypsum board or dry wall are to be maintained in their initial factory condition, any external stress tending to deflect the initial positional relation of the components depicted in FIG. 2 must be absorbed by these components themselves. While this latter factor is accounted for readily by proper size selection of materials from which the respective components are formed, it is apparent a dock ramp 34 having a bow support ledge 36 on that the interrelation of the structural members will not be maintained unless an adequate foundation-like support is provided to retain the initial planar orientation of the floor joists 46 within accepted deflection tolerances. As an example, Universal Building Code requirements for structural foundations limit joist deflection to one three-hundred-sixtieth of Spam. The foundation support for the unit 20 is depicted in FIG. 2 by arrows 56. In other words, the nature of the structural components in the unit 20 are such that non-deflecting vertically oriented points of support must be provided on the opposite ends of each joist 46 if the initial planar orientation of the floor joists is to be maintained.

In FIG. 3A of the drawings, a transverse section through the lower portion of the unit is shown and illustrating the preferred configuration of a wood joist contemplated for the housing units 20 in accordance with the invention where conventional wood frame construction is employed. As shown in FIG. 3, the joists 46a span the entire width of each of the units and are provided with notches 58a at opposite ends having a length l and a depth d. The notches 58a are provided to facilitate handling of the units during the shipping and project phases of the overall operation described above and also to provide at the ends of each joist, an overall depth corresponding to that which would be conventional were the housing units erected on the foundation 42a in normal fashion. The added depth of the joist represented by the dimension d, enables the joist to withstand interior floor loading of the unit while the latter is supported only at opposite ends. The permanent foundation 42a, having a central supporting beam 60, will accommodate the additional live interior loadings which may occur when the udit is occupied and in a manner to provide an exceptionally strong and rigid floor.

In FIGS. 38 and 3C of the drawings, alternative forms of floor structures contemplated for the housing units are shown. Thus in FIG. 3, a concrete slab 61 having T-joist sections 46b reinforced by rods 62 is provided. In this instance the foundation 42 on the lot site is replaced with pedestals 63 spaced at appropriate increments over. the area of the floor as needed to support the slab 61. In FIG. 3C, steel truss units 460 are substituted for the wooden joists 46a in the embodiment of FIG. 3A. Thus it will be seen that the system of the present invention lends itself to a variety of conventional construction materials and techniques.

In light of the foregoing discussion of FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings, it-will be appreciated that during the shipping and project phases of the operation in which the method and apparatus of the present invention are employed, the coplanar orientation of the joists 46 must be maintained.

An understanding of the sea-going or ocean barge 22 and the manner in which the housing units 20 are loaded, stowed and unloaded using either the dock crane 24 or the barge crane 26 equipped with the spreader lift 28, may be had be FIGS. 4-14 of the drawings. As shown in FIG. 4, the barge 22 is formed with a sea-going hull having a bow section 70, a midship section 72 at a bifurcated stern section 74 adapted for trunnion connection to a pusher tugboat 76. The trunnion interconnection of the tugboat 76 with the stern of the barge 22 is effected in a manner disclosed fully in US. Pat. No. 3,512,495 issued on May 19, 1970 to Edwin H. Fletcher. Although the size of the barge 2'2

Claims (6)

1. In a marine transportation system for handling and transporting factory constructed housing units, each providing completely finished, mechanically operable interior living space ranging in single floor area size to 2000 square feet or more and having structural integrity only in 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 near the 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, the combination comprising: a marine vessel having a hull structure establishing at least one stowage cell of a transverse dimension sufficiently in excess of the common width of the housing units to provide clearance space between opposite sides of the housing units and the interior of the cell, of a length to accommodate a plurality of said units in end to end relation and of a depth to accommodate multiple tiers of said units, means mounted on said hull structure to provide a foundation-like support for each tier of said housing units, said foundation-like support means for each tier including a plurality of longitudinally aligned beams along each side of said stowage cell, said beams for at least the tiers elevated in relation to the bottom of the stowage cell each being carried by a pair of arms pivotally connected to said hull structure for movement between a load carrying position under opposite ends of said housing unit transverse beam members and a retracted position out of said clearance space on opposite sides of said housing units, and spreader lift means for transferring said housing units to and from said stowage cell, said spreader lift means including a pair of generally parallel, rigid linear support members, each of a length corresponding to the full length of 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 a common house width and in which the spreader lift means can be lowered downwardly over a housing unit positioned in said stowage cell, and a lifting position in which said continuous support members engage the underside of the housing unit transverse beam members near the outer ends thereof and means to maintain said continuous 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 longitudinally aligned beams of the support means for each tier having unobstructed linear top surfaces lying in a single plane to establish said foundation-like support irrespective of the longitudinal location of a housing unit in said cell and said top surfaces of said beams elevated in relation to said arms or other supporting structure to provide clearance space under the housing units enabling movement of said support members from said retracted position to said lifting position, whereby said housing units may be supported by rigid, essentially mono-planar linear support means along closely adjacent parallel lines of support during both stowage in said load cells and during transfer thereof to and from said stowage cell.

2. The system recited in claim 1 wherein the length of said spreader lift means and of said rigid linear support members is adjustable to accommodate variations in the length of the individual housing units.

3. The system recited in claim 1 wherein said marine vessel is a sea-going barge.

4. The system recited in claim 1 wherein said hull structure defines a flat-bottomed exterior hull configuration for use of said marine vessel as a river barge.

5. The system recited in claim 1 wherein said stowage space is defined on opposite sides by a series of vertical columns arranged longitudinally of said stowage space in uniform spacing increments.

6. The system recited in claim 5 including first guide means supported on said columns facing into said stowage space and second guide means on said spreader lift means cooperable with said first guide means to restrict horizontal movement between said spreader lift means and said hull structure when said spreader lift means are positioned within said housing unit stowage space.

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