The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-11-01
DRIVING PILES FOR FOUNDATIONS,
Why and Whero They Are Used-PiIes TbnJ
Cost $50 Apiece,

A few sharp, asthmatic puffs O,
steam, followed by heavy thud as the
block of iron, ton weight, falls on tho
long spruce pile, driving it q foot into
the solid earth In this manner the
foundations of many New York build.
ings are laid-not exactly on rock, bui
practically as nearly so rs if solid
stone wall was built up from the gravel
or the hardpan to which the pile has
penetrated, and ut each succcs sive blow
the pile-oftcn sixty or seventy feet in
lcngth-sinks deeper, and when it has
at last touched the hard bottom, the
heavy iron block rebounds with n ring.
as if it had struck an anvil. From that
point there is no moro driving, or the
pile would be splintered as easily as a
match. In those portions of tho CITY
where the original hollows in the land
have been filled to the surrounding
grade, pile foundation is always driven
when the building is Of any considerable
weight; or the filling is carted away and
the foundation wall started on the bed
rock. In the lower portions of the CITY.
which were once swamp bottoms, and
where tho rock-stratum is far beneath
the surface, piles also must be used, and
they are frequently driven through a
foot or more of water. For building
Eow going up in Spruce street, q six,
storied brick structure, the piles are
driven to depth ranging from twenty
five to forty feet; the longest of them
would make very respectable telegraph
poles. When the massive abutment of
the Brooklyn Bridge, opposite the
Spruce street building, was constructed,
it was considered best to begin at the
gravel bottom, and the foundation
stones were laid fifty feet below the
street. Under the Spruce street struc-
ture 500 of these piles have been placed,
with calculation that each pile will sus-
tain weight of six tons. though the
supporting capacity of each is much
greater. They are arranged in sections.
double row in each section, With
mathematical accuracy; the surface is
filed in with concrete, and floor of
heavy planks, spiked on the piles, pre-
pares them to receive the stone layers.
The woodwork is so covered with earth
that it is impervious to the mir, and it
will last till long after the walls above
have crumbled. In another large ware
| house now going up in Greenwich
| street, near Desbrosscs street. yet
| greater number of piles wero used, and
| their average length was fifty feet.
When the piles do not exceed fifty
| feet in length, the cost is comparatively
small for such foundation. An inferior
8rado of spruce is used, such MS is not
| deemed straight enough, or that is too
full of knots for ship-spars, The cost
is placed at about $40 n pile, exclusive
of the stonework. There are many
| buildings in the city where the piles
| have cost much more. In the founda-
| ton of the Vanderbilt Elevator, the
large elevator in Jersey City and that re-
| Gently erected at the mouth of the Wee
hawken Tunnel, none of the piles were
| less than seventy feet long They had
| to be specially selected in Michigan
| forests. and the first cost was $50 each.
| Under the Wcchawkcn Elevator Is, 600
| piles were driven, and many of them
were over fifty feet long.
1t is curious thing" said Robert
| Brown, an old pilc-driver, chow these
| piles behave. We start them in with n
blunt end, and if you should pull one of
them up you would find the point
| sharpened like lead-penci And there
is no wear out to them when they get
into the mud. pulled ono old snag out
of the East River in 1868 that had been
driven in 1911, and, where the mud cov~
cred it, there were green leaves sticking
to it yet. They are solid, too, as any
foundation. When I was doing some
work for the Government in the harbor
few years ago, the engineer made a
calculation on somc piles I had driven
about forty feet, and he said they would
sustain q weight of $50 tons each. ~.
Y Tribune.