Embedded marine pile hoop

A pile hoop for slidably securing the end of a mainwalk or finger float to a marine pile. The pile hoop includes a cylindrical pipe forming a semicircular portion terminating in a pair of parallel legs. A rub shoe extending between the legs allows the semicircular portion and legs to completely surround the pile. The legs are inserted into respective tubes imbedded in the ends of the mainwalk or finger float. Tie rods extending transversely through the float pass through at least a portion of each tube and leg to secure the hoop to the float.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to marine floats, and more particularly, to a 
structure for slidably securing marine floats to a marine pile. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Interconnected marine floats are commonly used to form marinas, docks, 
piers and the like. Various structures must be used to maintain the floats 
in position since the floats are subjected to forces exerted by currents 
and tidal changes. One very commonly used technique involves driving 
marine piles into the sea floor so that they project vertically from the 
surface of the water in which the floats are placed. Circular structures 
known as "pile hoops" are placed around the piles and secured to the 
floats. The hoops loosely surround the piles to allow the floats to rise 
and fall responsive to tidal changes while limiting the horizontal 
movement of the floats. Such pile hoops are most typically found at the 
ends of mainwalk and finger floats, but they may also be positioned in 
spaced-apart locations along the sides of the mainwalk and finger floats. 
A variety of structures are used to secure the pile hoops to the ends of 
floats, none of which are entirely satisfactory. In one variety of pile 
hoop, the hoop projects from a flat plate having several holes formed 
therein through which bolts or inserts imbedded in the float project. The 
plate is then secured to the float by threading nuts onto the imbedded 
bolts or inserts. The principal disadvantage of this fastening structure 
arises from inadequately anchoring the inserts in the float. Most marine 
floats used with this pile hoop mounting structure are formed by a casing 
of concrete surrounding a buoyant foam billet. The bolts or inserts do not 
extend into the concrete for any great distance and are thus easily pulled 
out by side loads exerted on the float. The inserts may also be pulled out 
of the float by applying excessive torque to the fastening nuts, or when a 
pile is not entirely vertical so that it exerts transverse loads on the 
pile hoop as the hoop slides along the length of the pile. Once the 
inserts have been pulled out of a float, repair is not possible and the 
float must be replaced. 
A second type of pile hoop mounting structure utilizes a wrap-around 
mounting plate to which the pile hoop is secured. The wrap-around plate is 
basically an end plate extending transversely across the end of a float 
having a pair of side plates projecting perpendicularly therefrom along 
the sides of the float. Tie rods extending transversely through the float 
project through respective apertures formed in the side plates to secure 
the side plates to the float. This mounting structure is far superior to 
the imbedded-insert structure since it utilizes tie rods which extend 
completely through the float. However, it is relatively expensive since it 
uses more material and requires substantially more fabricating and welding 
effort. Additionally, it is difficult for the side plates to suitably 
interface with elongated wood wales which typically extend along the upper 
side edges of the floats to interconnect one float to another. If the 
wales are to be placed along the outside surface of the side plates, 
either the float or the wales must be notched to allow the side plates to 
extend around the sides of the float. If the side plates are placed along 
the outside surface of the wales, the rigid corners between the end plate 
and the side plates can potentially damage vessels tieing up at the float. 
While resilient bumpers can be secured to the corners and side plates, 
this only adds to the relatively high cost of this type of pile hoop. 
Additionally, the floats are often not fabricated with a great deal of 
precision so that the fit between the pile hoop mounting structure and the 
float is not always satisfactory. Finally, this mounting structure is 
usually not satisfactory for fairly wide floats because the mounting plate 
is secured only at its ends. The large span resulting from use of this 
structure on wide floats allows the mounting plate to bend responsive to 
transverse forces exerted between the pile and the float. 
While pile hoops are thus a highly satisfactory structure for slidably 
securing marine floats to piles, it is apparent that neither of the 
above-described mounting structures are both sufficiently inexpensive and 
sufficiently sturdy. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the invention to provide a mounting structure for a pile 
hoop which does not rely on imbedded inserts to secure the hoop to a 
marine float. 
It is another object of the invention to provide a pile hoop which does not 
place a rigid structure along the upper edge of a float which might damage 
vessels moored at the float. 
It is another object of the invention to provide a pile hoop having a 
relatively low cost stemming from its use of relatively little material 
and relatively little fabricating labor. 
It is still another object of the invention to provide a pile hoop which is 
extremely versatile in that it can be adapted to floats having any size or 
shape. 
It is a further object of the invention to provide a pile hoop which can be 
easily and quickly removed and then reinstalled on a marine float in the 
event of damage. 
These and other objects of the invention are provided by a pile hoop 
mounting structure for a marine float formed by a concrete casing 
surrounding a buoyant foam core. Several spaced-apart tie rods extend 
transversely through the float with their respective ends projecting from 
opposite side walls of the float along its upper edges. The pile hoop 
includes a preferably semicircular encircling portion, terminating in a 
pair of parallel mounting legs having a rub block extending therebetween. 
The encircling portion has an inside transverse dimension slightly larger 
than the diameter of the pile to allow the encircling portion to loosely 
surround the pile. A pair of parallel mounting tubes are imbedded in the 
float with their respective ends accessible at the end wall of the float. 
The tubes are spaced apart by the spacing between the mounting legs and 
they have an inside diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of 
the mounting legs to allow the mounting legs of the hoop to be inserted in 
the mounting tubes and secured in place. The transverse tie rods may pass 
through either an aperture or a notch in the mounting legs to prevent 
axial movement. Alternatively, the mounting tubes can project from the end 
wall of the float and respective pairs of bolts may be inserted through 
the mounting legs and tubes. The rub block may be a rail mounted on the 
upper surfaces of the mounting legs by respective bolts extending 
downwardly through the rail and mounting legs. An alternative rubbing 
block is a length of the same material forming the encircling portion 
which is secured between the inner edges of the mounting legs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
A marina formed by a large number of interconnected floats, each of which 
has a concrete casing surrounding a buoyant core, is illustrated in FIG. 
1. The marina 10 includes mainwalk floats 12 interconnected end-to-end in 
a row from which a plurality of interconnected finger floats 14 project at 
a right angle. The finger floats 14 are secured to the mainwalk floats 12 
by triangularly shaped gussets 16. A conventional marine pile 18 projects 
upwardly from the sea floor at the end of the row of mainwalk floats 12 
and at the end of each row of finger floats 14. As explained in greater 
detail hereinafter, the finger floats and mainwalk floats are slidably 
secured to the piles 18 so that they can rise and fall with tidal changes. 
However, the piles 18 prevent transverse movement of the floats 12, 14. 
A finger float 14 having a pile hoop 20 of the present invention installed 
therein is illustrated in FIG. 2. As also illustrated therein, the two 
adjacent finger floats 14a, 14b are interconnected by elongated wales 22 
extending along the upper side edges of the floats 14 and bridging the gap 
therebetween. Tie rods 24 extend transversely from one side wall of the 
float 14 to the other, with their ends projecting through the wales 22. 
Nuts 26 threaded onto the ends of the tie rods 24 compressively load the 
concrete forming the casing of the float 14 and secure the wales 22 to the 
float. 
The pile hoop 20 includes an encircling portion 30 having a diameter 
slightly larger than the diameter of the pile 18, a pair of mounting legs 
(shown hereinafter) projecting from the encircling portion 30 into the 
float 14 and a rub block 32 extending from one mounting leg to the other. 
The encircling portion 30 and mounting block 32 thus surround the pile 18 
to prevent transverse movement of the float 14 while allowing the float 14 
to move vertically along the pile. 
The pile hoop 30 is illustrated in greater detail in FIGS. 4 and 5. As 
illustrated therein, the encircling portion 30 is semicircular in 
configuration and terminates in a pair of parallel mounting legs 34 as an 
integral unit. The pile hoop may be formed of a variety of materials, but 
metallic pipe bent into the shape illustrated in FIG. 4 can be 
advantageously used. The pipe is preferably galvanized to allow it to 
resist the corrosive elements with which it will come in contact during 
use. The embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 is substantially 
identical to the embodiment of FIG. 2, except that instead of a rub block 
32 welded between the mounting legs 34 as illustrated in FIG. 2, a wooden 
rail 36 is mounted on the upper edge of the mounting legs 34 by bolts 38 
extending downwardly through the mounting legs 34 and fastened by nuts 40. 
Accordingly, respective apertures 42 are formed in the mounting legs 34 to 
receive the bolt 38. The mounting legs 34 also have formed therein 
transverse bores 44 through which, as explained hereinafter, the tie rods 
24 extend to secure the pile hoop 20 to the float 14. 
As shown in FIG. 3, it will be seen that the mounting legs 34 are inserted 
into mounting tubes 50 imbedded in the concrete casing of the float 14. 
The mounting tubes 50, which may be steel, plastic or other suitable 
material, are positioned such that the tie rods 24 are adapted to extend 
through the mounting tube 50 and hence the mounting legs 34. The tie rods 
24 are typically inserted into imbedded cross-tubes so that the tie rods 
24 can be removed from or inserted into the float 14 at any time. Thus the 
tie rods 24 are removed from the float 14, the mounting legs 34 are 
inserted in their respective mounting tubes, and the tie rods 24 is 
reinserted in their respective cross-tubes to prevent axial movement of 
the mounting legs 34. 
In another embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the mounting tubes 50 are 
positioned beneath the tie rods 24 and a pin 52 extends vertically through 
the deck of the float 14 and through each of the mounting tubes 50 and 
mounting legs 34. The pin 52, like the tie rod 24 of FIG. 3, prevents 
axial movement of the mounting legs 34. 
The embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 1-6 utilize mounting tubes 50 which 
have their ends flush with the end wall of the float 14. The embodiment of 
FIG. 7, however, utilizes mounting tubes 54 which project from the end 
walls of the float 14. This allows the mounting legs 34 of the pile hoop 
20 to be secured within the mounting tube 54 by the bolt 38 securing the 
rub block 36 to the legs 34 and by a second bolt 56 fastened by a 
respective nut 58. The mounting tubes 54 are embedded in the float 14 
where they are anchored by the tie rods 24 extending through notches 
formed in the upper surface of the mounting tubes. 
It will be apparent that structures other than those illustrated herein can 
be used without departing from the invention. For example, the encircling 
portion 30 need not be semicircular as illustrated herein, but it may be, 
for example, square either to match a square pile or to carry rollers 
which roll along the pile 18. Further, the hoop 20 need not be formed from 
a circular pipe, but bars or rods having other configurations may be used.