IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PILES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT. to Samuel Sharrock, of Liverpool, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF PILES."
Sealed the 23rd June 1868, and dated the 2nd March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Sharrock at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd March 1868.
I, SAMUEL SHARROCK, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PILES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
piles. Screw piles are commonly made with solid round metal stems,
they are frequently also of tubular cast iron, and the screw is formed or
fixed at the lower end of the stem.
According to this Invention the stems of such piles are tubular and
formed of malleable or ductile metal, either wrought iron or steel by
preference rolled to a semi-cylindrical form. Two lengths of metal so
rolled are placed face to face, and rivetted or bolted together to form the
stem. The semi-cylindrical sections may be rolled with flanges at their

page_text: edges projecting outwards, and these flanges may receive the rivets or
bolts. Or the sections may be rolled without flanges, and they may be
put together with external or internal butt strips, one on each side, and
each rivetted to the two sections of the stem of the pile. The screw or
other base may be cast and rivetted to the bottom of the stem, or the
screw may be otherwise formed and fixed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Sharrock in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
SHARROCK, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-first
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Samuel Sharrock, Her special licence that I,
the said Samuel Sharrock, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others, as I, the said Samuel Sharrock, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, 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 PILES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel
Sharrock, 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 Samuel Sharrock, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-

page_text: This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
piles. Screw piles are commonly made with solid round metal stems,
they are frequently also of tubular cast iron, and the screw is formed
or fixed at the lower end of the stem.
According to this Invention the stems of such piles are tubular and
formed of malleable or ductile metal, either wrought iron or steel, by
preference rolled to a semi-cylindrical form. Two lengths of metal so
rolled are placed face to face, and rivetted or bolted together to form
the stem. The semi-cylindrical sections may be rolled with flanges at
their edges projecting outwards, and these flanges may receive the rivets
or bolts. Or the sections may be rolled without flanges, and they may
be put together with external or internal butt strips, one on each side,
and each rivetted to the two sections of the stem of the pile. The screw
or other base may be cast and rivetted to the bottom of the stem, or
may be otherwise formed and fixed.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 1ª is a transverse section of one
portion or length of a pile constructed according to my Invention.
a, a, are two similar lengths of rolled metal of semi-cylindrical form
and with flanged edges, they are placed face to face, and rivetted
together. At each end a flanged ring which is conveniently of cast
metal, but better of wrought metal is applied and rivetted on, and the
several lengths of which the pile may be built up are secured together
by screw bolts passed through bolt holes in these rings. The flanged
rings may be made to fit over the flanges of the pieces a, a, as is shown
at the bottom of Figure 1, and by the transverse section, Figure 1º. Or
as is shown at the top of Figure 1, the flanges of the pieces a, a, may
be cut away where the ring bis applied, and the ring is then circular
within; Figure 2 is a side view, and Figure 2 is a tranverse section of
a portion or length of a pile made with rolled metal of semi-cylindrical
form, but without flanges.
a, a, are lengths of metal rolled to a semi-cylindrical form, they were
placed face to face, and butted together at their edges, and the joints
are covered by butt strips or welts of rolled metal c, c, and rivetted

page_text: through. Or in place of putting the strips or welts c, c, on the outside,
as is shown, they may be placed on the inside. The ends receive flanged
rings b, b, like that represented at the upper end of Figure 1.
The method of making the transverse joints may be varied, thus
Figure 3 shews to a smaller scale a side view of a pile in which on the
two sides the transverse joints between the pieces a, a, (which are similar
to those shown in Figure 1), are made to come at a distance apart, and
the joint is in each case made good by a cover plate d bent to fit to the
exterior of the metal a, and applied on the outside, and rivetted through
as is shown.
Figure 4 shows a similar arrangement as applied to a pile in which
the semi-cylindrical rolled metal is without flanges. The methods of
driving these piles are various, and the form of the foot or other base
will vary accordingly, thus Figure 3 represents a cast or wrought metal
point e, with a cylindrical stem entering within the hollow of the pile,
and rivetted or bolted through, such a pile is then fitted to be driven by
a monkey or pile driver in the usual way.
Figure 3 shows another foot or base applicable where the pile is to be
sunk in sand. It is simply a disc of cast metal with a hole in the centre,
and the pile is sunk by forcing water down it so as to wash away the
sand from under the base or foot. In Figure 4 a screw foot or base of
cast metal is shown, and the pile is then sunk by turning it round so
as to make the screw penetrate the soil to the desired depth.
It will be understood that the ways of constructing the base or foot of
the pile above described are not of my Invention.
What I claim is, the constructing the stems of piles substantially as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Sharrock, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
SAMUEL SHARROCK. (L.S.)
15 August, 1868.