IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS ADAPTED FOR CONSTRUCTING TUBE WELLS AND DRIVING HOLLOW PILES, AND IN THE MODE OF OPERATING THEREWITH FOR THOSE PURPOSES." OF OPERATING THEREWITH FOR THOSE PURPOSES."
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Clark, of Cheapside, in the City of
London, for the Invention of "IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS ADAPTED FOR
CONSTRUCTING TUBE WELLS AND DRIVING HOLLOW PILES, AND IN THE MODE
OF OPERATING THEREWITH FOR THOSE PURPOSES."
OF OPERATING THEREWITH FOR THOSE PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th October 1869.
I, THOMAS CLARK, of Cheapside, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS
ADAPTED FOR CONSTRUCTING TUBE WELLS AND DRIVING HOLLOW PILES, AND IN THE
MODE OF OPERATING THEREWITH FOR THOSE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates, first, to tube wells formed by driving tubes
into the ground, and consists in employing in lieu of the implements
now in use for that purpose implements of the following improved con-
struction; and, secondly, in employing the said implements for driving
hollow piles.

page_text: The following is an example of the construction of the said improved
implements and the manner of operating therewith:-First, as regards
tube wells, this Invention consists in forming the bottom end of a tube
well open instead of closed, and in fitting into the bottom and open end
of that tube which first enters the ground a solid or hollow conical steel
or iron plug, the upper part of which for about two feet is formed
cylindrical so as to fit easily within the said tube, but perfectly close in
the lower end thereof to prevent debris passing up the tube between
the aforesaid plug. The aforesaid plug, which is about six feet long,
is formed tapering downwards from its diameter to a sharp point, and to
this plug I connect rods as the sinking of the tubes progresses, and I
so form the uttermost length of rod as that the aforesaid plug connected
thereto may be driven or forced into the ground by a monkey or other
suitable contrivance so arranged and actuated as to lift the plug out of
the ground each time it has been driven therein to its range of action,
or as far as the nature of the strata will admit of, at one or more blows
or impulses of the monkey or other driving contrivance, and I further
so arrange the driving mechanism that it can either drive the tube down
with the plug in passing through sand or loose ground, for example, or I
first drive down the plug leaving the tube stationary, and afterwards
drive down the tube in the hole formed. by the plug. In the former
case I raise the plug out of the ground for a short distance so as to
loosen it therefrom before again driving it down, and in this manner
and by these means I proceed to construct the well until I have gone
sufficiently deep, and I remove the aforesaid rods and plugs from time to
time to ascertain when water has been reached. In some cases I proposo
to form a screw around the conical part of the aforesaid plug, which in
some class of strata can be used with greater advantage than driving.
By thus constructing tube wells the necessity for withdrawing the debris
from the bottom of the tube from time to time during the construction
of the well is avoided by reason of the point of the plug forcing or
wedging the earth away, thereby forming a hole for the tube to enter as
before stated, and this mode of operating it will appear evident applies
to the driving of hollow piles. If rock is met with in the construction
of the wall the aforesaid plug can be withdrawn and the ordinary chisel
inserted and used in the manner commonly practised of well boring.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
CLARK, of Cheapside, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Clark, Her special licence that I,
the said Thomas Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as J, the said Thomas Clark, 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 "IMPROVED IMPLEMENTS ADAPTED FOR
CONSTRUCTING TUBE WELLS AND DRIVING HOLLOW PILES, AND IN THE MODE
OF OPERATING THEREWITH FOR THOSE PURPOSES," upon the conditions (amongst
others) that 1, the said Thomas Clark, 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 Thomas Clark, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention relates, first, to tube wells formed by driving tubes into
the ground, and consists in employing in lieu of the implements now in
use for that purpose implements of the following improved construction;
and, secondly, in employing the said implements for driving hollow
piles.
The following is an example of the construction of the said improved
implements and the manner of operating therewith:-First, as regards

page_text: tube wells, this Invention consists in forming the bottom end of a tube
well
open instead of closed, and in fitting into the bottom and open end of
that tube which first enters the ground a solid or hollow conical steel or
iron plug, the upper part of which for about two feet is formed
cylindrical so as to fit easily within the said tube, but perfectly close in
the lower end thereof to prevent debris passing up the tube between the
aforesaid plug. The aforesaid plug, which is about six feet long, is formed
tapering downwards from its diameter to a sharp point, and to this plug
I connect rods as the sinking of the tube progresses, and I so form the
uppermost length of rod as that the aforesaid plug connected thereto
may be driven or forced into the ground by a monkey or other suitable
contrivance so arranged and actuated as to lift the plug out of the
ground each time it has been driven therein to its range of action, or as
far as the nature of the strata will admit of, at one or more blows or
impulses of the monkey or other driving contrivance, and I further so
arrange the driving mechanism that it can either drive the tube down
with the plug in passing through sand or loose ground, for example, or
I first drive down the plug, leaving the tube stationary, and afterwards
drive down the tube in the hole formed by the plug. In the former case
I raise the plug out of the ground for a short distance so as to loosen it
therefrom before again driving it down, and in this manner and by these
means I proceed to construct the well until I have gone sufficiently deep,
and I remove the aforesaid rods and plug from time to time to ascertain
when water has been reached. In some cases I propose to form a screw
around the conical part of the aforesaid plug, which in some class of
strata can be used with greater advantage than driving. By thus con-
structing tube wells the necessity for withdrawing the debris from the
bottom of the tube from time to time during the construction of the well
is avoided by reason of the point of the plug forcing or wedging the
earth away, thereby forming a hole for the tube to enter as before stated,
and this mode of operating it will appear evident applies to the driving
of hollow piles. If rock is met with in the construction of the well the
aforesaid plug can be withdrawn and the ordinary chisel inserted and
used in the manner commonly practised of well boring.
And in order to explain my said Invention more fully 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 Sheet of
Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to the numeral figures and
letters of reference marked thereon respectively as follows:-

page_text: Figure 1 represents a transverse and vertical section of a tube well as
it would appear in course of being constructed with my improved
implements; Figures 2, 3, 4, and S are enlarged sections of portions of
the said implements herein-after particularly described and referred to;
Figure 5, a top plan view of other of my improved implements, shewn
also at Figure 1; Figure 6, a key or spanner; Figure 7 represents an
elevation on a small scale of a tube well as it would appear in course
of being constructed with my improved implements. At each of the fore-
going Figures I employ similar letters of reference to denote corresponding
parts wherever they appear at each of such said Figures respectively.
A marks a tool for displacing the earth; B, lengthening rod screwing
on to the top of A; C are the tubes of which the well is to be formed;
D marks a shoe screwed on to the end of that length of tube which
first enters the earth; E is a collar screwed on to the uppermost length
of tubing; F, monkey rod screwed on to the uppermost length B of
the displacing tool A; G the monkey connected by chains and shear
legs to a crab, as shewn at Figure 7.
MODE OF OPERATING.
The mode of using my improved implements for the purpose of
forming a well is as follows:-I commence by driving down the
displacing tool A attached to the rod B to any depth that it may be con-
veniently driven; I then withdraw the said tool and insert the tube C;
having screwed on its bottom end the shoe D, and upon its top end the
driving collar E, I then insert inside the tube C and through the
shoe D the point of the displacing tool, and attach the upper end of the
said tool to the monkey rod F upon which works the monkey G. This
displacing tool must always be worked with the cylindrical part a in the
shoe and fit so exactly that no earth can pass up between the inside of
the shoe and the outside of the displacing tool. On the bottom of the
monkey rod just above the joint thereof I attach the handles H by
means of bolts and nuts b, b; these are for the purpose of twisting the
displacing tool as the driving proceeds, and thereby assisting the driving.
To drive the tube I lift the monkey up the monkey rod to such a height
as may be deemed necessary for the purpose of forcing the tube into
the ground and until such time as nearly its whole length (which for
convenience may be six feet long) is driven down. In order to continue

page_text: with another length of tube I first lift the rods and place the joint o
the monkey rod on the rod rest I, shewn at Figure 4, and unscrew the
joint with the rod wrench or spanner K, shewn at Figure 6, and screw
on another length of rod six feet or any other shorter length, then fif
the rods again and take away the rod rest I and lower the rods back
then unscrew the driving collar E and connect on to the tube C another
length of tube C corresponding with the length of rod last put on to
ensure the cylindrical part of the displacing tool being always in the
same position within the shoe, then screw the two joints up tight sc
that the ends of each pipe butt against each other to prevent the
screw of the same in driving becoming damaged; then screw on the
driving collar E firmly, and then screw on the monkey rod F to the
uppermost or top length of rod, taking care that the joint thereof
is securely made or screwed home SO as not to drive upon
the screw of the joint. This operation is to be repeated until the
required depth is reached, taking care always to insert the same length
of tube as rod, as before stated. The rods may be withdrawn at any
time during the driving for the purpose of ascertaining if water has been
met with as also the strata, and when the tube has been driven
sufliciently far the well is finished and the displacing tool removed,
thereby leaving the bottom of the tube open and perfectly free. Should
it be found impracticable to continue the driving of the tube, or in the
event of rock being met with a bore might be continued by the ordinary
method of well boring, as also should the tube already driven be of
sufficient diameter a smaller tube and displacing tool may be inserted
inside the former tube and so the well be continued to a greater depth.
In the event of clay being met with I prefer to withdraw the displacing
tool and insert an ordinary well boring auger, and, so to speak, take out
the core through the bed of clay, and then insert the displacing tool
again and drive through the bed; by this means a great deal of strain or
pressure is taken off the tube while driving. The means employed for
driving the tubes or pulling them out after having been driven may be
by shear legs with an ordinary single purchase crab and blocks and fall
when required attached in any manner most convenient and suitable.
I would here remark that if desirable I form a screw on the displacing
tool A and screw it into the shoe D, as at Figure 3, instead of the tool
sliding within the shoe as before stated. When large sized tubes are to
be driven steadiments should be fixed upon the rods at every four or six
feet.

page_text: 22
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my
said Invention for "Improved Implements adapted for Constructing
Tube Wells and Driving Hollow Piles, and in the Mode of Operating
therewith for those Purposes together with the best means I amr
acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I would
remark in conclusion that what I claim as my Invention intended to be
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is as
follows:
I claim the improved implements above described with reference to
the accompanying Drawing and the manner of operating therewith in
constructing tube wells.
And especially I claim the shoe D in combination with the tool A for
displacing the earth, thereby leaving the bottom of the tube open for the
passage of water after the displacing tool has been withdrawn from the
tube.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
THOS. CLARK. (L.S.)