IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRIVING OR FOR DRAWING UP PILES BY STEAM
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Etienne Léon Pensuete, of Dunkirk, in the Empire
of France, for the Invention, of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
DRIVING OR FOR DRAWING UP PILES BY STEAM."
Sealed the 7th June 1859, and dated the 9th December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Etienne Léon Pensuete
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th December 1858.
I, ETIENNE LEON PENSUETE, of Dunkirk, in the Empire of France, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR DRIVING OR FOR DRAWING UP PILES BY STEAM," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists of certain new mechanical arrangements and con-
trivances for effecting the combined operations of driving piles into ground,
and of drawing them out thereof, by the use of one and the same machine
or apparatus, to be constructed and operated with as follows:-A framework
of timber, say, forty-five feet high, is furnished with a steam cylinder fitted
with a piston and hammer. The said cylinder has connected to its lid at
opposite points two strong metal rods, and to the lower extremities of said
rods a casting is fixed, same being provided with two right and left handed
screws, on which are placed two moveable jaws, by which it is proposed to
embrace firmly the head of the pile. As the pile is driven by the elastic
force of the steam, the steam cylinder follows the pile, and when driven
sufficiently far the jaws are released from the pile, and the cylinder raised by
connecting a chain to the top thereof. This chain passes on to a barrel or
drum placed on the platform of the machine, and is proposed to be worked

page_text: by a small steam engine, so that for drawing piles out of the ground it is
only necessary to fasten the before-mentioned jaws round the head of the
pile, and then to wind the chain around the barrel, at the same time gently
tapping the head of the pile with the hammer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Etienne Léon Pensuete in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ETIENNE
LEON PENSUETE, of Dunkirk, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Etienne Léon Pensuete, Her special licence that I, the said Etienne
Léon Pensuete, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Etienne Léon Pensuete, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
inight make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRIVING OR FOR DRAWING UP PILES BY
STEAM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Etienne Leon
Pensuete, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the dato
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Etienne Léon Pensuete, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to bo performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My. Invention consists of certain new mechanical arrangements and con-
trivances for effecting the combined operations of driving piles into ground,
and of drawing them out thereof, by the use of one and the same machine or
apparatus, to be constructed and operated with as follows:-A framework of

page_text: timber, say, 45 feet high, is furnished with a steam cylinder fitted with a
piston and hammer. This said cylinder has connected to its lid at opposite
points two strong metal rods, and to the lower extremities of said rods a
casting is fixed, same being provided with two right and left handed screws,
on which are placed two movable jaws, by which it is proposed to embrace
firmly the head of the pile. As the pile is driven by the elastic force of the
steam, the steam cylinder follows the pile, and when driven sufficiently far,
the jaws are released from the pile, and the cylinder raised by connecting a
chain to the top thereof. This chain passes on to a barrel or drum placed
on the platform of the machine, and is proposed to be worked by a small
steam engine, so that for drawing piles out of the ground it is only necessary
to fasten the before-mentioned jaws round the head of the pile, and then to
wind the chain around the barrel, at the same time gently tapping the head
of the pile with the hammer.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheets of
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of
reference marked thereon respectively, as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
At Sheet 1, Figure 1 exhibits a side elevation of my improved mechanical
arrangements complete; Figure 2, a vertical section of the cylinder and piston
thereof. At Sheet 2 is exhibited a top plan view of the principal parts of
the aforesaid arrangements, and at Sheet 3 a front elevation thereof. B is a
boat, on which my improved mechanism is placed and secured; T are the
principal timbers or framework supporting the mechanism; D, D', is vertical
timber work, serving as guides for directing the mechanism and the pile to
be driven in their proper course; H and I are transverse pieces employed to
connect the four timbers D, D¹, together, to preserve the parallelism thereof;
H, H, are sloping pieces used for tieing together and consolidating the
timber work D and D'; J, J, are cross-shaped pieces employed for joining
together the sloping timber work internally, and the sliding timber work
externally; denotes timber work, which should be so constructed as that
the cylinder and pipes K and Q shall be capable of sliding throughout its
entire length. The slide is maintained on each side of the timber work D,
and the sloping timber work H, by transverse pieces similar to that marked
I; all of the said timbers should be strongly connected together to prevent
vibration of the mechanism. I would here remark that the sliding timber

page_text: work D should descend nearly to the surface of the water, so as to enable
the mechanism to drive piles close to the surface. P is a piece of timber
shaped as a pile held by gripes or claws, and maintained in position by the
piece A, which serves as a foundation to the mechanism; C represents a
steam cylinder, the piston whereof imparts motion to the hammer R connected
thereto. This hammer slides between two iron pillars or guides X, X, which
also serve to connect the cylinder C to the foundation piece A, and allow
the mechanism to follow the pile as it descends into the earth; S is a socket
piece fixed to the hammer, and employed to govern the range of action
thereof by means of the stopping rings U, U, which can be adjusted as
required; W are gripes or claws, employed to hold the head of the pile by
means of two screws a, a', one baving a right-handed and the other a left-
handed screw formed about the same,, which can be readily adjusted to suit
piles of different sizes; L is the longitudinal timber work of the boat, con-
nected to and with the framework of the aforesaid mechanism; G is a
winding-on barrel or drum, around which passes a chain for raising the
mechanism after the pile has been driven to the required depth. The
barrel G receives motion from the mechanism at M, which also serves to
draw piles out of the ground; Y is a wrought-iron cross piece securely fixed
to the four timbers; F, a pulley connected to the top of Y.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention of
"Improvements in Apparatus for Driving or for Drawing up Piles by Steam,"
together with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, I hereby declare my Invention to consist in, and I claim,
the method above particularly described of driving and drawing up piles, and
the machinery or apparatus employed for those purposes, as above stated, and
represented by the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof; I, the said Etienne Léon Pensuete, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
ETIENNE LEON PENSUETE. (L.S.)
FRANÇOIS JOSEPH ZIEGLER,
Rue de la Grille, N° 22,
à Dunkerque.