IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCKET JOINTS FOR METAL PILES AND COLUMNS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Westwood, junior, of Tredegar House,
Bow Road, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCKET JOINTS FOR
METAL PILES AND COLUMNS.""
Sealed the 16th April 1869, and dated the 20th October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph. Westwood at
the Office of the Commissioners. of Patents, with. his Petition,.on
the 20th October 1868...
I, JOSEPH WESTWOOD, junior, of Tredegar House, Bow Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION. OP SOCKET JOINTS
POR METAL PILES AND COLUMNS," to be as follows:-
The chief object of my Invention is to afford a secure and
convenient means for coupling or uniting together separate lengths
or sections of iron screw piles and columns, such as are employed.in
the erection of bridges, piers, and other structures. It has been.
customary hitherto in constructing such piles or: columns. to forge
on one end. of each length or section an enlarged portion, which is

page_text: bored out to form a socket to receive the end of the next length or
section. This method of construction is very costly and is also very
imperfect, as the necessity of welding on the socket frequently leaves a
portion of the pile unsound immediately above the said socket. Another
method has been to employ cast-iron couplings strengthened by
wrought-iron rings or hoops, but these are objectionable on account
of the liability of cast iron to sudden fracture, and such couplings
being necessarily made much larger in diameter than the pile or
column give to the same an unsightly and clumsy appearance.
In constructing my improved socket joints I form a tube of wrought
iron or steel either by bending a plate of such metal and welding its
edges together, or by coiling a bar of the same upon a mandrel and
then welding it, or by welding together a series of rings or hoops of
the required diameter. The interior of the socket or tube is bored or
otherwise formed to fit the ends of the sections of the pile or column to.
be united. The exterior of the socket may then be turned to give a
neat and finished appearance to the work, or if desirable the exterior
of the socket may be made hexagonal or of any other shape.. The socket
may then be heated and tightly shrunk upon one of the sections. The
end of the section to be united or coupled to this section is then
inserted into the socket, the two ends being preferably made to butt
together. I then drill holes through both the socket and the pile,
into which holes I insert keys, pins, or bolts, which may be rivetted
or otherwise secured.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Joseph Westwood in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WESTWOOD, junior, of Tredegar House, Bow Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Joseph Westwood, junior, Her special licence

page_text: that I, the said Joseph Westwood, junior, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Westwood, junior, 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 might 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
THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCKET JOINTS FOR METAL PILES AND COLUMNS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Westwood, junior,
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 date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Westwood, junior, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
The chief object of my Invention is to afford a secure and
convenient means for coupling or uniting together separate lengths
or sections of iron screw piles and columns, such as are employed in
the erection of bridges, piers, and other structures. It has been
customary hitherto in constructing such piles or columns to forge
on one end of each length or section an enlarged portion, which is
bored out to form a socket to receive the end of the next length or
section. This method of construction is very costly and is also very
imperfect, as the necessity of welding on the socket frequently leaves
a portion of the pile unsound immediately above the said socket.
Another method has been to employ cast-iron couplings strengthened
by wrought-iron rings or hoops, but these are objectionable on account
of the liability of cast iron to sudden fracture, and such couplings
being necessarily made much larger in diameter than the pile or
column, give to the same an unsightly and clumsy appearance.
In constructing my improved socket joints I form a tube of
wrought iron or steel either by bending a plate of such metal and
welding its edges together, or by coiling a bar of the same upon a
mandrel and then welding it, or by welding together a series of rings

page_text: or hoops of the required diameter. The interior of the socket or tube
is bored or otherwise formed to fit the ends of the sections of the pile
or column to bo united. The exterior of the socket may then bc
turned to give a neat and finished appearance to the work, or if
desirable the exterior of the socket may be made hexagonal or of any
other shape. The socket may then be heated and tightly shrunk
upon one of the sections. The end of the section to be united or
coupled to this section is then inserted into the socket, the two ends
being preferably made to butt together. I then drill holes through
both the socket and the pile, into which holes I insert. keys, pins, or
bolts, which may be rivetted or otherwise secured.
Having thús fully described my said Invention, and shown how the
same may be conveniently and advantageously carried into practice.
I claim a socket joint constructed and applied to a pile or column
for the purpose of uniting and securing together the separate lengths
or sections thereof, substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Westwood, junior, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of
April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-ninc.
JOSEPH WESTWOOD, JUN. (L.S.)