Patent GB-755466-A (GB)
Title: Improved apparatus for driving and erecting columns, piles, caissons and like support members
IPC: E02B17/08
Filed: 1954-05-31
Abstract: 755,466. Driving piles &c. DE LONG CORPORATION. May 31, 1954 [June 2, 1953], No. 16052/54: Class 68(2) In apparatus for driving and extracting piles, columns, caissons and the like, the pile is gripped by shoes or slips which are mounted in an annular member formed of segments connected by wedging devices which are movable to vary the diameter of the annulus. As shown the apparatus is carried by a floating barge 27, and two sets of grippers 29, 30 are used in alternation in such manner that the pile 28 is pressed into the sea bed by the weight of the barge, or the pile is withdrawn by the flotation effort of the barge. Each of the gripper rings 31 is formed in three segments 32-34, one end of each segment being forked at 44 to receive the reduced end 41 of the adjacent segment. The parts 41, 44 are provided with openings to receive a wedge 46 which is connected at its top to the piston 47 of a hydraulic cylinder 48 connected to the lower part 44. Movement of the pistons 47, one for each junction between segments, upwardly pulls the ends 41 into the forks 44 and contracts the ring. This action is assisted by a hydraulic cylinder and piston 62, 69 which is synchronized with the piston 47 and pulls the segments together to an extent limited by a resilient buffer 22. Each segment carries two gripper shoes 35 which are connected by flexible shoes 35 which are connected by flexible, e.g. rubber. members 36, 39 to the top and bottom of the segments, this connection permitting limited radial and axial movements -ofthe shoes relatively to the ring. To supplement the grip produced by the contraction of the ring the shoes and rings have oppositely disposed contacting wedge surfaces 80-83 so that relative axial movement, away from the neutral position, between the shoes and the ring forces the shoes to increase the grip on the pile. The segments have sloping plates 76, 78 to guide the pile centrally into position between the shoes, and the latter have serrated gripping faces. The rings of the upper and lower grippers 29, 30 are connected to circumferentially spaced brackets 87, 88, the upper brackets 87 having inturned parts which engage in a recess in the top ring 31 and inturned parts which engage under a ring 100. The lower brackets 88 are inversely arranged to engage over a ring 102, the rings 100, 102 being spaced by circumferentially spaced jacks.94 which are secured to the rings by screw means 96 and have rounded abutment surfaces 95 for bearing on similar surfaces on the rings 100, 102. Circumferentially spaced tie rods 105 have a bayonet head and slot connection 106 107 with the deck of the barge 27 and pass upwardly through channel section parts of the brackets 87, 88 to be retained in position by bolts 112 which close slots 110 in plates carried by the brackets 87. The rings 100, 102 may have guides for centering the pile when it is inserted therethrough. In operation, when a pile is being driven, the apparatus is operated to make the barge tend to climb up the pile, the weight of the barge pressing the pile into the sea bed. This is effected by operating the jacks 94 to raise the upper gripper 29, in its relaxed condition, to its upper position, as shown in dotted lines on Fig. 15. The jacks 48, 62 are then operated to close the upper ring segments to grip the pile, the jacks 94 being then contracted to raise the relaxed lower gripper 30 which is then closed upon the pile whilst the upper gripper is relaxed. The jacks 94 are then extended to raise therelaxed gripper 29 on the pile. and, by means of the rods 105, to lift the barge. The operation of the grippers 29, 30 is repeated until the pile is sufficiently driven, and if necessary, the barge can be raised above wave level. The pile may be withdrawn by a reverse operation of grippers. The invention may be used for land operations where it is required to. drive one member relatively to another.