Patent ID: 8827336

Claim:
A pile clamp assembly to clamp a pile comprising: a top pile clamp device, a bottom pile clamp device, a plurality of clamp wedges and a plurality of vertical hydraulic clamps, wherein the clamp wedges have curved cylindrical contact surfaces meeting with corresponding contact surfaces of a top circular clamp housing and a bottom circular clamp housing so that it can swivel about its unique pivot point in the x-y plane and vertical z-axis to make a flat contact with the surface of a deviated and twisted pile, permitting a top adjoining pile to follow the deviation of a bottom driven pile without a kink in the pile so as to avoid bending the pile, and the opening and closing of the swiveling clamp wedges in a ring formation is controlled by a centrally located spring that can expand or contract unrestricted even if an axis of a hollow cavity is misaligned; the vertically movable top pile clamp device and the vertically movable bottom pile clamp device moving in tandem in opposite directions under an action and reaction force applied by one of the vertical hydraulic clamps while the clamp wedges remain vertically stationary with respect to the pile; and wherein the top pile clamp device and the bottom pile clamp device interact with the plurality of clamp wedges through the contact surfaces of the top circular clamp housing with the corresponding contact surface of the clamp wedges, and the contact surface of the bottom circular clamp housing with the corresponding contact surface of the clamp wedges.