EP4267803A1

EP4267803A1 - Pile mechanical joint with grooved locking protuberance/protuberances for easy locking pin/pins installation

Info

Publication number: EP4267803A1
Application number: EP21911635.7A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kenny Tze Ken TAN
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2020-12-22
Filing date: 2021-10-07
Publication date: 2023-11-01
Also published as: JP2023553842A; KR20230122029A; AU2021410532A1; WO2022139571A1; CN116710615A

Abstract

A pile mechanical locking mechanism with screwed-on grooved locking protuberance/protuberances (3), that by virtue of the flex of the non-welded, screwed-on grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) and by the locking pin/pins (7) having a small amount of contact with the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3), enables easy to install locking pin/pins (7) even with the existence of typical debris from the piling stage or even when dimensional tolerances of the pile's joint plates (1) are not ideal due to manufacturing error or damage from external forces. The mechanical locking mechanism, being open or exposed in nature, enables debris to be easily cleaned away and visual inspection of any possible physical obtructions to successful locking pin/pins (7) installations can be conducted easily.

Description

PILE MECHANICAL JOINT WITH GROOVED LOCKING PROTUBERANCE/PROTUBERANCES FOR EASY LOCKING PIN/PINS INSTALLATION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to piles used in the foundation of structures, and in particular it relates to pile sections and their pile joints.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Generally prefabricated piles are produced in segments. In order to enable these piles to be installed deep within the ground (in excess of the depth of an individual segment of a pile), individual piles are lengthened by joining individual segments via steel joints. There are basically 2 types of steel joints, mechanical and welded type steel joints.

Essentially a conventional welded type steel joint for piles consists of the following steel components

Anchorage bars (optional for prestressed piles)

Screw hole or holes (typically for prestressed piles)

Joint plate

Skirting

A typical welded type steel joint is welded along the perimeter of the joint plate. Sometimes welded type steel joint plates are made as male (with a protruding steel bar) and female (with a pipe to receive the protruding steel bar of the male joint plate) joint plates and sometimes welded type joint plates are made identical with no protruding steel bars or with no steel pipes.

Anchorage bars that are connected to joint plates function to transfer stresses that are experienced by piles however some joint plates, usually for prestressed piles, do not have anchorage bars and the joint plates transfer stresses to the prestressed wires, strands or tendons of prestressed piles.

Currently prestressed piles conventionally attach their joint plates by hooking the joint plates onto the piles via the prestressed wires, strands or tendons that have undergone an additional process whereby the ends of the prestress wires, strands or tendons are compressed and enlarged into a mushroom shaped button and the enlarged mushroom button ends are hooked to the joint plates to secure the joint plates onto the piles.

During production of prestressed piles, joint plates are placed at both ends of a pile mould with the steel joint plates being at opposing ends. Joint plates are secured properly by being secured to the prestressed wires, strands or tendons (for prestressed piles) or by being secured to the pile mould’s doors (for non-prestressed piles).

There have been significant improvements made to such pile joints for joining pile sections generally. Example of such a joint can be found in GB2363150A - “Spigot And Socket Pile Connection”, which describes the joining of the pile sections by introducing a spigot into a socket. The socket having internal dimensions sufficient to receive the spigot without interference and joints are thereby formed without the introduction of additional material into the socket, although hot melt adhesive may be introduced within the socket. However this method is expensive and not popular.

In W02020094923 - “Pile Joint”, where each dowel/dowels possesses a machined hole to receive the locking pin/pins (where the locking pin/pins enters the machined hole of the dowel/dowels to prevent release of the dowel/dowels). The locking pin is introduced from the outside of the pile and travels through a cylindrical cavity before making contact with the dowel/dowels. This type of pile mechanical joint has been widely used and is fairly consistent in performance however a fairly thick joint plate is necessary due to the termal strain caused by the welding of the dowel/dowels onto the joint plate. A futher common issue with this type of pile mechanical joint is that the cylindrical cavity, where the locking pin travels, may become blocked or obstructed either by concrete from the pile concrete casting stage or from typical debris from the piling stage thereby making this type of pile mechanical joint be difficult to install or even rendering it inoperable.

In W02015026223 - “End Plate For Concrete Piles”, the locking pin/pins is fully hammered in to enable the full length (or a significant majority of the length) of locking pin/pins itself be contributing to the locking of the pile joints. This type of pile mechanical joint is expensive and is very sensitive to debris (that may be introduced anytime during the piling stage) and requires a very high level of machining tolerance for the fabrication of the pile mechanical joint components in order to ensure successful operation. The high cost and the need for a high degree of manufacturing quality combined with the sensitivity of this pile mechanical joint to fail due to debris or dimensional inaccuracies makes this type of pile mechanical joint unpopular.

Furthermore joint plates that need to be welded along the perimeter in order to complete the joining of piles have a common problem where the welding quality is often times questionable. Given that the welding of the joint plates’ perimeter is done outdoors and not inside a factory, the effects of the environment may adversely affect the quality of the welding. In addition, the weld quality is also directly dependent on the skill of the welder and that can be a subject of quality fluctuations and human errors that may severely affect the perfomance of welded pile joints.

There is a need to design a cheaper, more efficient and adequately strong pile joining system that is simple to execute as well as being able to fulfill any load bearing requirements while performing consistently and reliably.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention does away with the need to weld the perimeter of the joint plates which is necessary in the case of the conventional welded joint design that has been found to be time consuming wherein the quality of the final perfomance of the welded pile joints are very much dependent on the skill of the welder.

A detailed description of the present invention’s major components are as follows

(1) Grooved protuberance/protuberances

The head of the grooved protuberance/protuberances is lathe machined-formed to a mushroom-like shape with a threaded bolt base/stem. The diameter of the head is greater than the diameter of the threaded base/stem. The head of the grooved protuberance/protuberances shall be accurately lathe-machined to create uniform contact with the locking pin which may be circular in cross section and to ensure, by virtue of the accurate amount of protrusion from the joint plate, consistent working tolerance irrespective of joint plate dimensional inaccuracies.

(2) Threaded bolt hole/holes for the grooved protuberance/protuberances

The grooved protuberance/protuberances is fabricated with a threaded bolt base/stem. The pile’s joint plate shall be drilled and tapped to create threaded holes to receive the threaded bolt base/stem of the grooved protuberance/protuberances. (3) Receiving cavity/cavities to receive the opposing pile’s joint plate’s grooved protuberance/protuberances’ head.

A flat end mill cutter of a diameter that is slightly greater than the diameter of the head of the grooved protuberance/protuberances is used to mill out a round cavity/cavities that is located at a set distance beside the threaded bolt hole/holes. This cavity/cavities shall receive the grooved protuberance/protuberances from the opposing pile’s joint plate. Additionally the use of a T-slot type side mill cutter can be used to futher create a notch for the lip of the grooved protuberance/protuberances to rest on for additional locking sterngth.

(4) Milled grooves/slots for the locking pin in the pile’s joint plate

A groove/slot is milled in between the threaded bolt hole/holes and the receiving cavity/cavities using a side mill cutter instead of an end mill cutter to create a channel on which the locking pin is to traverse. The groove/slot is machined in such a way that when the two joint plates are combined, a complete channel is formed from the two grooves/slots which will allow the locking pin to be inserted from the outside of the pile to contact the grooved protuberances. Basically each groove/slot forms one half of the channel that the locking pin will traverse and two grooves/slots form a complete channel.

(5) Locking pin/pins

The locking pin/pins is a steel rod that will typically be cylindrical in shape that functions to be inserted in between two grooved protuberances (one with the head facing up and another one with the head facing down) after the two pile joint plates are in contact. The locking pin/pins is inserted into the channel created by the two grooves/slots created by the two contacting joint plates and after the locking pin/pins makes contact with the grooved protuberances, the locking pin is hammered-in to lock the pile joints together.

The present invention will essentially be a mechanical joint locking mechanism for pile joints comprising a single or a plurality of grooved protruberances with threaded base/stem and their corresponding threaded bolt hole/holes in the pile’s joint plate; a single or a plurality of receiving cavities (for receiving the opposing single or a plurality of protruberances from the opposing joint); a single or a plurality of milled grooves/slots in the pile’s joint plate and their corresponding locking pin/pins that can be of any shape in cross section. The shape of the groove in the grooved protuberance/protuberances shall depend on the shape of the cross section of the locking pin/pins. The grooved protuberance/protuberances is in partial contact with the surface of the locking pin/pins. And in addition, by virtue of the discontinuous aspect of how the grooved protuberance/protuberance is only partially surrounding the perimeter of the locking pin/pins, it allows for some flex of the grooved protuberance/protuberances thereby enabling easy locking pin/pins insertion. Load transfer (such as tensile loads) will be from the upper grooved protuberance to the lower grooved protuberance with the locking pin in between.

The present invention does not require the grooved protuberance/protuberances to be welded to the joint plates but rather the grooved protuberance/protuberances will be assembled onto the pile’s joint plates by screwing the threaded portion of the the grooved protuberance/protuberances onto the joint plates itself. Without the need for welding there will not be any thermal strain caused by welding hence no need for thick joint plates to distribute/withstand the thermal strain and also some flex/lateral movement of the grooved protuberance/protuberances is made possible due to the lack of welding between the grooved protuberance/protuberances onto the joint plate which permits easy locking pin installation.

In addition, the locking pin/pins travel and friction with the grooved protuberance/protuberances creates a tightening torque due to the grooved protuberance/protuberances’ threaded base/stem. This results in further prestressing of the locking mechanism and also serves as a form of quality assurance that the locking mechanism is properly assembled upon completion of the locking pin/pins installation/hammering. The locking pins will also experience easy installation/hammering-in due to the grooved protuberances available rotation due to it being screwed onto the joint plates and not being welded on to the joint plates. The contact of the each locking pin to two grooved protuberances (one from each side of opposing joint plates) ensures tensile loads can be catered for.

The present invention’s grooved protuberance/protuberances is screwed onto the pile’s joint plates and each grooved protuberance/protuberances, which is accurately lathe machined to within working tolerances. Joint plate inaccurate machining tolerance, damage, or deformation, to the extent that will normally result in prior art mechanical joints to be difficult or even render them inoperable, are less of an issue to the present invention given that the grooved protuberance/protuberances themselves have the required tolerances manufactured together. Once the grooved protuberance/protuberances are screwed onto the joint plates, the amount of protrusion (which is essential to the present invention’s operating tolerance) is always accurate due to the accuracy being in-built into the grooved protuberances themselves and is irrespective of the joint plate’s dimensional condition.

With the present invention, a typical execution of the pile mechanical joint operation’s process involves two opposing pile joints (with the grooved protuberances screwed on properly into their respective threaded holes), being placed together such that the grooved protuberances all enter the receiving cavities until both piles’ joint plates’ are in full contact. The locking of the pile joints is complete when the locking pin/pins is inserted (via a pathway that is created when two milled grooves/slots from two opposing joint plates meet), typically by hammering, such that the locking pin/pins will contact the groove of the protuberance/protuberances thereby preventing the separation of the two pile joints. The locking pin/pins will serve to transfer tensile loads and also to prevent separation of the joint plates after locking pin/pins installation.

The open or exposed nature of the grooved protuberance/protuberances, milled grooves/slots for the locking pin/pins and the receiving cavity/cavities means that debris are easily cleaned away and visual inspection of any possible physical obtructions to successful locking pin/pins installations can be conducted easily.

The differences between the present invention and the three cited prior art pile mechanical joints shall be elaborated and addressed as follows:-

(a) In W02020094923 - “Pile Joint”, that utilizes a locking pin/pins into a dowel/dowels with a machined hole, have the disadvantage of being expensive and requires high machining tolerance of the components to ensure the locking pin/pins be reasonably easy to install. Typical deformation onto the pile joint plates (a common occurance during typical piling practices) or out-of-tolerance machining of the components may cause the locking pin/pins be difficult or maybe even impossible to be hammered in. In addition this type of prior art will become very difficult or even impossible for the locking pin/pins to be installed when the mechanism is contaminated with debris that typically is introduced during the piling practice. The present invention does not have a machined hole but rather a groove carved (or milled) out on the protuberance/protuberances and being discontinuous in nature. To clarify, the machined hole of the prior art is a cavity with steel material existing continuously which will fully surround the perimeter of the locking pin/pins and the present invention’s grooved protuberance/protuberances does not surround the full perimeter of the locking pin/pins and is therefore described as being discountinuous. If the present invention experiences inaccurate machining tolerances or if the joint plate gets damaged and deformed slightly due to piling practices, the discontinuous nature of the grooved protuberance/protuberances of the present invention will still result in the locking pin/pins to be easier to be hammered-in/installed, by virtue of the grooved protuberance/protuberances being able to flex/bend a little which the prior art (dowel/dowels with a machined hole) does not allow this sort of flex/bend. The existance of typical debris during the piling stage in the mechanism does not affect the present invention like the prior art due to the inherent ability of the present invention to allow flex of the grooved protuberance/protuberances and therefore makes the present invention be practically debris proof as well as enabling easy locking pin/pins installation.

This type of prior art requires welding of the dowel/dowels to the joint plate and does not have the present invention’s use of a threaded base/stem for the grooved protuberance/protuberances, that does not need welding and allows for some tightening torque and additional prestressing when the locking pin/pins is fully installed. The present inventions lack of welding permits additional flex in the grooved protuberance/protuberances thereby allowing easy locking pin/pins installation.

(b) The second type of prior art, in W02015026223 - “End Plate For Concrete Piles”, is the type where the full length (or a majority of the length) of the locking pin/pins being required to participate or contribute to the locking mechanism. The problem with this type of prior art is that it requires high machining tolerance and also for significant majority or all of the length of the locking pin/pins to be wedged into the locking mechanism. Machining inaccuracies or deformation/damages due to piling practices may result in the locking pin/pins to be extrememly difficult or even impossible to be hammered-in/installed. That is not to say that in all circumstances the insertion of the locking pin/pins for this type of prior art is difficult, there would be times the locking pin/pins are easily inserted, however the probablity of difficult locking pin/pins insertion is much greater with this prior art compared to the present invention. The existance of typical debris introduced during the piling stage makes the locking pin/pins of the prior art be extremely difficult or impossible to be installed. The present invention does not require a significant majority of the length of the locking pin/pins to be wedged in place as in the prior art. The present invention only requires a small part of the locking pin/pins to be contacting the grooved protuberance/protuberances, which for the prior art it is required that a significant majority of the length of the locking pin/pins to be contributing directly to the locking mechanisms transfer of forces. The locking pin/pins of the present invention does not need to have any contact with the joint plates at all (since the grooved protuberance/protuberances transfer tension or bending forces directly to the locking pin/pins with no contribution or influence from the joint plates, which is different for the prior art where not only is the joint plate of the prior art is in contact with the locking pin/pins, the transfer of tension or bending forces is practically from the joint plates to the locking pin/pins directly. The partial contact aspect of the present invention makes the present invention practically debris proof as well as enabling easy locking pin/pins insertion.

This type of prior does not have the present invention’s use of a threaded base/stem for the grooved protuberance/protuberances, that does not need welding and allows for some tightening torque and additional prestressing when the locking pin/pins is fully installed as well as permitting some flex of the grooved protuberance/protuberances which allows for easy locking pin/pins installation.

The main objective of the present invention is that it provides for a mechanical pile joint that allows easier installation of the locking pin/pins by virtue of the discontinuous nature of the grooved protuberance/protuberances and by virtue of the partial contact of locking pin/pins to the grooved protuberance/protuberancs which will further allow easy installation of the locking pin/pins by not requiring a significant majority of the locking pin/pins to be wedged in place in order for the mechanical lock of the pile’s joint plates to work to its full capability.

Another objective of the present invention is to create a mechanical joint for piles that is inherently simple that due to its inherent simplicity it will provide or produce consistency in performance. A further objective of the present invention is to create an economical mechanical pile joint that will not compromise on its performance despite being economical.

These and other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specifications in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 shows the standard welded joint plates for a simplified typical square pile and a simplified typical spun hollow cylindrical pile.

Figure 2 show the present invention on a typical spun pile’s joint plate on a typical spun pile.

Figure 3 shows a typical embodiment of the present invention where the locking pin is square in cross sectional shape.

Figure 4 shows a typical embodiment of the present invention where the locking pin is circular in cross sectional shape.

Figure 5 shows a typical embodiment of the present invention where the grooved protuberance is on the left and the locking pin is on the right.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Figure 1 shows the conventional welded joint plates (1) for a simplified typical square pile and a simplified typical spun hollow cylindrical pile that the present invention seeks to replace. The top left is an illustration of a typical spun pile joint plate’s (1) plan view, the top right is an illustration of a typical square pile’s joint plate’s (1) plan view, the bottom left is a side view for a typical spun pile’s joint plate (1) and lastly the bottom right is a side view for a typical square pile joint plate (1). The joint plates (1) are cast/installed the ends of precast piles and the joint plates (1) enable individual sections of precast piles to be extended in length when deep piling penetration depth is required, via welding all along the perimeter of the contacting joint plates (1).

Figure 2 shows the present invention of a pile mechanical joint on a spun pile’s joint plate (1). In Figure 2(a) the spun pile’s joint plate (1) will have threaded holes (2) that is originally used during the spun pile manufacturing process to impart prestress onto the spun pile’s prestress wires, strands or tendons and also to secure the joint plates (1) onto the pile’s mould of which the present invention shall use these same threaded holes (2) to install the grooved protuberances (3), receiving cavities (4) that are meant to receive the grooved protuberances (3) of the opposing joint plates (1) of the top spun pile (5), and milled grooves/slots (6) of both the top joint plate (1) and the bottom joint plate (1), when in full contact will both form the complete pathway for the locking pins (7) that will be installed to complete the joint plate’s (1) locking process that will attach the top pile’s joint plate (1) to the bottom pile’s joint plate (1). A single milled groove/slot (6) forms one half of a complete pathway for one locking pin (7) and when both top plate (1) and bottom joint plate (1) are in full contact then the two contacting milled grooves/slots (6) from the top joint plate (1) and the bottom joint plate (1) form a single complete locking pin (7) pathway to the grooved protuberances (3). The top pile (5) and the bottom piles (8) are joined when their then locking pin/pins (7) are fully installed which can be seen in Figure 2(b) and Figure 2(c).

Figure 3 shows a typical embodiment of the present invention where the locking pin (7) is square in cross sectional shape. The top figure shows the unassembled lock of the present invention whereby the top joint plate (1) and bottom joint plate (1) each has a grooved protuberance (3), a receiving cavity (4) to receive the opposing grooved protuberance (3), and a milled groove/slot (6). The bottom figure shows the present invention with only the locking pin (7) is left uninstalled in order to make for clearer viewing of the present invention’s intricacies. The bottom diagram shows both the top joint plate (1) and the bottom joint plate (1) being in contact, the respective grooved protuberances (3) for both the top joint plate (1) and the bottom joint plates (1) is in their respective cavities (4) and all that is left is to install the locking pin (7) into the pathway created by the two milled grooves/slots (6). The installation of the locking pin (7) will prevent the escape of the two grooved protuberances (3) by virtue of the locking pin (7) obstructing the grooved protuberances’ (3) pathway of escape thereby locking together the two piles’ joint plates (1).

Figure 4 shows a typical embodiment of the present invention where the locking pin (7) is circular in cross sectional shape. The top figure shows the unassembled lock of the present invention whereby the top joint plate (1) and bottom joint plate (1) each has a grooved protuberance (3), a cavity (4) to receive the opposing grooved protuberance (3), and a milled groove/slot (6). The bottom figure shows the present invention with only the locking pin (7) is left uninstalled in order to make for clearer viewing of the present invention’s intricacies. The bottom figure shows both the top joint plate (1) and the bottom joint plate (1) being in contact, the respective grooved protuberances (3) for both the top pile’s (5) joint plate (1) and the bottom joint plate (1) is in their respective cavities (4) and all that is left is to install the locking pin (7) into the pathway created by the two milled grooves/slots (6). The installation of the locking pin (7) will prevent the escape of the two grooved protuberances (3) by virtue of the locking pin (7) obstructing the grooved protuberances’ (3) pathway of escape thereby locking together the two piles’ joint plates (1).

Figure 5 shows a typical embodiment of the present invention where the grooved protuberance (3) is on the left and the locking pin (7) is on the right.

In this disclosure there is shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention and suggested various alternatives and modifications thereof, but it is to be understood that these are not intended to be exhaustive and that other changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the invention. These suggestions herein are selected and included for purposes of illustration in order that others skilled in the art will fully understand the invention and the principles thereof and will be able to modify it, each as may be best suited in the condition of a particular case.

Claims

CLAIMS A pile mechanical joint comprising a single or a plurality of grooved protruberances

(3) with threaded base/stem and their corresponding threaded bolt hole/holes (2) in the pile’s joint plate (1); a single or a plurality of receiving cavities

(4); a single or a plurality of milled grooves/slots (6) in the pile’s joint plate (1) and their corresponding locking pin/pins (7) that can be of any shape in cross section, wherein the shape of the groove in the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) shall depend on the shape of the cross section of the locking pin/pins (7), characterized in that the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) is in partial contact with the surface of the locking pin/pins (7), hence by virtue of the discontinuous aspect of how the grooved protuberance/protuberance (3) is only partially surrounding the perimeter of the locking pin/pins (7), allowing for some flex of the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) thereby enabling easy locking pin/pins (7) insertion. A pile mechanical joint as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the said protuberance/protuberances (3), being in contact with a small part of the locking pin/pins (7), enabling easy locking pin/pins (7) installation due to the the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) being in partial contact with a small part of the locking pin/pins (7) thereby enabling easy installation of the locking pin/pins (7) even when the locking mechanism is contaminated with typical debris that is introduced during the piling stage. A pile mechanical joint as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) are accurately lathe machined with a threaded base/stem, that is to be screwed into the threaded holes (2) of the joint plates (1), that produces accurate amount of protrusion of the grooved protruberance/protuberances’ (3) head from the joint plate (1), ensures accurate operating tolerance (easy locking pin/pins (7) installation) even when the joint plates (1) are slightly deformed or damaged and/or manufactured with inaccurate tolerances. A pile mechanical joint as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3), when fabricated separately from the joint plate (1), with one end threaded and another with a grooved protuberance head (3), such that when the locking pin/pins (7) when installed, will futher torque tighten the locking mechanism due to the travel of the locking pin/pins (7) and resulting frictional contact between the locking pin/pins (7) and the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) which causes rotation of the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3).

5. A pile mechanical joint as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3), when fabricated separately from the joint plate (1), with one end threaded and another with a grooved protuberance head (3), given that the there is no welding of the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) to the joint plate (1), will allow some flex/lateral movement be available in the grooved protuberance/protuberances’ (3) thereby enabling easy locking pin/pins (7) installation.

6. A pile mechanical joint as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the separation of the two opposing joint plates (1) are prevented by the locking pin/pins (7) from being wedged in place between the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3).

7. A pile mechanical joint as claimed in Claim 1 wherein any tensile loads are transferred between the two opposing grooved protuberances (3) through the locking pin/pins (7) that are being wedged in place between the grooved protuberances (3).

8. A pile mechanical joint as claimed in Claim 1 wherein when the pile mechanical joint is fully assembled, the milled grooves/slots (6) of the locking pin/pins (7) for both the top joint plates (1) and the bottom joint plates (1) will form complete pathways for the locking pin/pins (7) to contact the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3).

9. A pile mechanical joint as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the pile mechanical joint locking mechanism, comprising grooved protuberance/protuberances (3), milled grooves/slots (6) and receiving cavity/cavities (4), are open or exposed in nature thereby debris are easily cleaned away and visual inspection of any possible physical obtructions to successful locking pin/pins (7) installations can be conducted easily. 14 A pile mechanical joint as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the receiving cavity/cavities (4), with the use of a T-slot side mill cutter, will have a lip for the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) to rest on for additional locking strength. A method of connecting segmented piles together by utilising a pile mechanical joint comprising a single or a plurality of grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) that locks the mechanical joint when their corresponding locking pin/pins (7) are installed, wherein joint plates (1) with lathe machined grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) which are accurately machined with a threaded base/stem that screws onto threaded holes (2) of the joint plates (1), with milled grooves/slots (6) for their corresponding locking pin/pins (7) and receiving cavity/cavities (4) with the following steps

(i) The top (5) and the bottom pile (8) with the grooved protuberance/protuberances (3) fully assembled in their respective threaded holes (2) are placed together such that the joint plates (1) are in contact;

(ii) The locking pin/pins (7) are placed into the pathways created by the milled grooves/slots (6);

(iii) The whole process is completed when the locking pin/pins (7) are fully installed/hammered in.