Patent GB-190826828-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in, and relating to, Stagings or Supports for Submarine Boring, Blasting, Pile-driving, Block-setting and like Operations.
Inventor: PIERCY ROBERT ALWYN ARNOLD STE
Filed: 1908-12-10
Granted: 1909-06-24
Abstract: 26,828. Piercy, R. A. A. S. Dec. 10. [Patent of Addition to No. 3688, A.D. 1908.) Buildings and structures, subaqueous.-Stagings or supports, of the kind described in Specification No. 3688, A.D. 1908, for submarine boring, blasting, pile-driving, block-setting and like operations, and for carrying appliances for diving, salvage, dredging, or excavating operations, or for supporting pumps, cranes, or conveyers, wherein the staging comprises two structures normally resting on the sea &c. bottom, but mounted on one another so as to permit of relative movement, are constructed so as to enlarge the scope of working and permit of complete rotary adjustment horizontally. In this case, the staging may be constructed of two or more structures movable on each other by means of rollers and tracks, and by causing the structures alternately to serve as the support, a general displacement of the staging can be effected. The structures are provided with adjustable supporting spuds made of timber, steel tubes, lattice work, reinforced concrete, &c., and are shaped at the bottom to suit the ground or they may be sunk into a sand bed by means of water jets. The spuds or structures are operated separately or in combination by ropes, levers, &c. operated from a single motor or separate motors, and the various pieces may be arranged to counterbalance one another. The various parts of the staging may be floated into position and erected, and each of the structures may be composed of two or more parts, which may be employed collectively or serve to make up additional stagings which when arranged at some distance apart and connected by ropes &c. serve to enlarge the range of operations. One end of the staging may be supported on tracks on a pier &c. which is in the course of construction. Figs. 1 and 2 show a staging comprising an inner structure b provided with adjustable supporting- spuds c and mounted by rollers j on cross rails i, which are mounted by rollers g on a circular outer structure also provided with adjustable supporting- spuds c. Further adjustability is secured by making the inner structure also circular and mounting it by rollers on transverse beams carried by rollers from the rails i. Fig. 4 shows the rails i directly secured to. spuds c, the structure b being formed with a circular channel to receive rollers l carried by a sleeve k<1> mounted by rollers j on the rails i. In a modification, shown in Fig. 8, the rollers l are carried on the sleeve k<1> by adjustable brackets, which may be set to allow displacement in a rotary or any lateral direction, the guide-plate m being made broad for this purpose. The rollers may be arranged to run between tracks, or pairs of rollers may embrace tracks, so that when the spuds of any structure are raised, this structure is supported from the others through the medium of the rollers, and can be displaced as required. In some cases the rollers are mounted in forks at opposite ends of vertical spindles. Fig. 20 shows the inner structure supported by rollers carried by a number of independent spuds. Displacement is effected by raising some of the spuds and moving them round the structure to a new position, where they are caused to take the weight. When supported at the curved corners only, a certain amouut of rotary adjustment of the structure can be effected. Fig. 21 shows a structure b supported by two sets of iudependent spuds a', a', a<3>, a' and a<5>, a<6>, a<7>, which permit lateral and rotary adjustment respectively. Fig. 22 shows a staging b supported at one end on tracks on a pier in course of construction, displacement being provided for by means of two pairs of adjustable spuds a. The working-appliances may be mounted on any of the structures according to design.