CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR DRIVING PILES
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
VERNON PHYSICK, of Bath, in the County of Somerset, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirtieth day of January, in the seventh year of Iler reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Vernon Physick, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Henry Vernon Physick, my executors, adminis-
trators and assigns, and such others as I, the said Henry Vernon Physick, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
APPLICABLE TO MACHINERY FOR DRIVING PILES;" in which said Letters Patent is
Contained a proviso obliging me, the said Henry Vernon Physick, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the, nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Vernon Physick, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):-
These improvements consist, firstly, in peculiar arrangements of apparatus
for driving piles.
Secondly, in the employment of an endless chain for raising the "monkey,"
and the means of guiding it as it travels.
Thirdly, in the construction of the monkey and its appendages.
Fourthly, in a means of changing the place and direction in which the
monkey shall be made to fall. And
Fifthly, in the adaptation of apparatus for boring bolt holes in the piles,
and for withdrawing a pile when required.
All which improvements will be fully understood by reference to the accom-
panying Drawings and the following description thereof:-
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of my improved pile-driving machine complete;
Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, a part of the frame and of the monkey
being removed and shewn in section; Fig. 3 is a horizontal view of the same,
the front standard of the frame with the monkey and endless chain being
removed, and a part broken away to shew the machinery below; Fig. 4 is a
horizontal view of the front part only of the machine taken above at the dotted
line *
* in Fig. 2, the portion broken away in Fig. 3 being in this instance
restored, and the front standard shewn in section. In all these Figures the
same parts of the machinery are marked with similar letters.
a, a, is the
base or horizontal frame of wood supporting the whole of the machinery,
which is mounted on running wheels b, b, b, b, for the purpose of being moved
from place to place; c, c, is an upright standard made by two pieces of wood
crossed and bolted together, as shewn in Fig. 1, and made fast at top and
bottom, which are held up and braced by slanting pieces d, d. At the top
of these standards a horseshoe-formed bar of wrought iron e, e, is allixed for
the purpose of holding up the front leading rail upon which the monkey
slides, the attachment being by means of a socket and screws taking hold of
the horseshoe bar e. The bottom end of this leading rail is made fast to a
bent iron plate g, g, through the lower part of which a horizontal bolt or
pini is passed, the ends of the bolt act as pivots bearing in the slots;
at the bottom of this bracket frame h, h; in the upper part of this
bracket frame an axle is mounted, upon which is fixed a toothed wheel
1, and at the top of the leading rail a pulley m is fixed upon an axle

page_text: capable of adjustment.
Over this pulley and the toothed wheel I an
endless chain n, n, n, is tightly distended, the peculiar construction of which
chain is shewn upon an enlarged scale in two positions at Fig. 5. For
the purpose of guiding the travelling endless chain, a groove is made. along
the front part of the leading rail from end to end, as represented in Fig. 1.
A steam engine A, of any suitable construction, mounted on the frame at
bottom, is made to communicate rotary motion through a train of wheels
to the axle on which the toothed wheel' is fixed.
Hence, by the rotation
given to that wheel 1, the endless chain n, n, is made to travel, as shown by the
arrows in Fig. 2. This rotary motion, however, may be effected by other
mechanical means without a steam-engine if found more convenient. A pile is
shewn partially driven into the ground at B, in Fig. 2; and C is the monkey,
which, in the act of driving, falls upon the head of this pile; a side
view of the monkey complete is shewn at Fig. 6, with a portion of the leading
rail ; and Fig. 7 represents a horizontal section of the monkey and of the rail f
taken in the dotted line crossing Fig. 6. The block or weight of this monkey
is formed by two pieces bolted together, as shewn in its section at Fig. 2, for
the purpose of occasionally varying its weight for driving piles into ground of
different degrees of tenancity. At the back part of the monkey there are
antifriction rollers p, p, seen in Fig. 7, which work against the back and front
edges of the vertical guide bars q, q, affixed to the sides of the leading rail.
At the upper part of the monkey a lever catch is mounted upon an axle or
pin, the longer arm or nose of which catch lever by its gravity falls, and is
projected into one of the open links of the endless chain n. Beneath the
catch lever there is a trigger lever s mounted upon a pin or axle, and weighted
at its front end, the back part of which trigger has a shoulder that passes
under the tail of the catch lever, and when the nose of the catch lever has
fallen into the link of the chain, the trigger keeps the catch firm in its
projected position, and thereby the monkey is securely held in connection with
the chain. As the endless chain revolves in the way described, the projected
end or nose of the catch r, taking into the chain, will necessarily cause the
monkey to be carried up the front of the leading rail as the chain advances.
To the upper part of the leading rail a projecting arm is affixed at any
height according to the required fall of the monkey, and when the tail of the
trigger s, by the ascent of the monkey, is brought up against this projecting
arm t, the tail of the trigger becomes depressed into the position shewn by
dots in Fig. 2, by which the catch lever is released from its hold in the
links of the travelling chain, and the monkey instantly falls down the front
of the leading rail on to the head of the pile below. A small rod u with a

page_text: spring is attached by a hook or pin to the hinder part of the trigger s, which
lifts and keeps the front of the trigger elevated during the fall of the monkey,
and thereby prevents the nose of the catch lever entering the links of the
chain. But on the monkey falling and resting upon the pile, the rod u
becomes forced up, by which the nose of the catch is enabled again to drop
into an open link of the chain, and the shoulder of the trigger to confine it in
that situation so as to cause the travelling chain to raise the monkey, as before,
and carry it up until it is again let fall by the discharge of the trigger in the
way described. If I wish to drive a pile which is not exactly in front of the
machine, I am enabled to do so without changing its position by turning
the whole of the front part of the driving. apparatus round upon a vertical
axle, the socket above sliding round upon the horseshoe bar to any situa-
tion required within the range of the apparatus, and it is then made fast by a
clip screwed tightly. In order to remove the machine or shift its situation
in a lateral direction, I sometimes take off the running wheels and place them
upon longitudinal axles, as represented by dots in Figs. 2 and 3. In the
event of it being required to drive piles in directions out of the perpendicular,
I incline the position of the leading rail by removing the horse-shoe bar e,
and allowing the leading rail to fall back at top against the cross piece of the
standards c, c, the bearings i, at the lower end of the leading rail, sliding
forward in the slots of the bracket frame. When the leading rail is thus
inclined, the monkey will descend in an oblique direction guided by the anti-
friction rollers p, p, working against the edges of the bars q, q. Fig. 8 is a
side elevation of a modification of the before-described pile-driving apparatus;
Fig. 9 is a front view, and Fig. 10 a horizontal view of the same. This
machine is made capable of carrying two monkies, and, consequently, of
driving two piles by one operation of the steam-engine or other rotary driving
power. In this machine the same construction of monkey is employed as
that at C in the first-described Figures, and also a similar kind of endless
chainn, n, for raising the monkey; but in this instance I pass the chains over
three tension points, the driving wheel and the two pullies b, c. The leading
rails I form each of two vertical beams f, f, with plates d, d, on their edges
to produce rebated grooves, as shewn at Fig. 9, for conducting the chain which
lifts the monkey. The lower ends of the leading rails are supported by bolts
or axles passed through bracket frames, and when the leading frames are
required to incline from the perpendicular, they are made to fall back by
sliding down the back ladders, which are then fixed by pins e, as shewn in
Fig. 8. In the event of using a steam-engine for giving the driving power
of this machine as exhibited, I regulate the velocity of the travelling endless

page_text: chain n. n, on the fall of the monkey by a break / bearing on the periphery
of the flywheel g of the steam-engine, as shown in Fig. 8. When the
monkey is rising up the leading rail, its weight causes the endless chain n, n,
to be drawn straight with considerable tension between the peripheries of the
pulley C above and the driving wheel a below, and, in moving in the direction
shewn in Fig. 8 by an arrow, the tight chain will be thus made to bear
laterally against the roller mounted on the lever arm of the break, and,
hence, to force it back and raise the break off the periphery of the flywheel.
But on the monkey falling the tension becomes instantly taken off the chain,
and consequently the arm i is allowed to fall into the position shewn by dots,
by which the break comes into operation upon the flywheel and regulates the
speed of the machine. In the event of its being necessary to drive a pile
to any considerable distance below the base of the machine, the leading
rails f,, are to be removed from their jointed bearings in the bracket frame.
represented in Figs. 8 and 9, and after having been lowered to the required
depth are to be attached by bolts, or otherwise, to the front of the framework,
as shewn in the partial view of this part of the machine at Fig. 11. When
a series of piles have been driven into the ground, it is necessary to connect
them by a horizontal piece of timber; and, to make them secure, sockets or
holes are required to be bored through the piles and beams in a horizontal
direction. This effect by means of a peculiarly-constructed auger or
boring piece k, shewn in Figs. 8 and 10. This auger is held by and turns
in two brackets 1, 1, under the framework, and is made to revolve by a band
passed from the flywheel to a pulley m on the shaft of the auger. If it should
be necessary to draw out a pile after it has been driven into the ground, I
employ a pair of jointed clips, represented at n, n, in Figs. 8, 9, and 10,
which are connected by chains to a rope p passed over a pulley q at the top of
the leading rails, and having brought the points of these clips to take hold
of the head of the pile, I then to the reverse end of the rope attach the
monkey, the weight of which will tend to draw up the pile. Whilst the monkey
is thus suspended, in order to loosen the pile from its hold in the ground, I
strike it with repeated lateral blows by a hammer or hammers r pendant by
long arms s, s, from the leading rail, as shewn in Figs. 8, 9, and 10. To this
hammer or hammers I give vibratory movements by means of a crank upon
its axle t worked by a rod u attached to a lever e, the end of which lever is
occasionally depressed by tappets on the side of the revolving wheel c. By
the successive blows of the hammer or hammers the pile becomes loosened
in the earth, and the weight of the monkey, or any other heavy weight
appended in a similar way to the rope, gradually draws it up from its seat.
In order to prevent the piles being driven out of their required position, that

page_text: is, with such irregularity as to cause them not to coincide with each other
on their faces, which is very important in constructing coffer dams. I place a
rib of wood down one side of the pile and form a deep recess in the side of
the next pile of the same width as the rib to correspond, as shewn in the
horizontal view of several piles at Fig. 12; and in order to render the points
water-tight, I fill up the recesses with clay well rammed.
Having now described my Improvements Applicable to Machinery for
Driving Piles, I desire it to be understood that I do not intend to claim all
the parts of such machine represented in the Drawings as new and of my
Invention. But those parts which I do claim under the above in part recited
Letters Patent are.-
Firstly, the endless chain, as described for raising the monkey of a pile-
driving machine.
Secondly, the mode described of supporting and conducting the chain in a
groove formed in the leading rail.
Thirdly, the peculiar construction of the monkey and its appendages.
Fourthly, the means of turning round, inclining, and lowering the driving
part of the apparatus without the necessity of shifting the situation of the
engine and its framework.
Fifthly, the adaptation of the boring apparatus.
Sixthly, the contrivance for loosening and drawing up a pile. And,
Lastly, the mode of guiding a series of piles, and packing or caulking
them to form water-tight joints.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Vernon Physick, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
H. V. (L.S.) PHYSICK.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-ninth day of July,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Henry Vernon Physick, came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of July, in the year above written.