US2192508A - Interlocking pile construction - Google Patents

Description

March 5,1940. ,4, SIMPSON 2,192,508

INTERLOCKING PILE CONSTRUCTION Filed April 12, 1937 S Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Herman 1V. Simpson BY 7? Mi ATTOREEYS March 1940- H. N. SIMPSON 2,1 ,508.

INTERLOCKING FILE CONSTRUCTION Filed April 12, 1937 s She ets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR Herman .N.U61'mpso12 BY M QJAJZ l I ATTO NEYS March 1940- H. N. SIMPSON INTERLOCKING FILE CONSTRUCTION s sheets-sheet s Filed April 12, 1937 INVENTO'R Hszman 1):? Simpson BY Mg ATTIOR EYS Patented Mar. 5, 1940 UNITED STATES 2 Claims.

My invention relates generally to piling and piling elements, and particularly to reinforced, pre-cast or pre-molded concrete piles which are individually or separately driven adjacent to each other so as to constitute a continuous wall in such structures as coffer dams, bridge piers, breakwaters, bulkheads, docks, sea. walls, river walls, retaining walls and foundations for buildings-this type of piling being commonly known as sheet piling.

More specifically, my invention relates to an improved means'of combining the interlocking and reinforcing features essential in such concrete piling, and to an improved method of fabricating such interlockable reinforcing elements.

A: particular object of my invention is to provide a practical, simple, inexpensive but efficient interlockable reinforcement for concrete piles.

. A further object is to provide a method of fabricating interlockable reinforcements for concrete piles from ordinary railroad rails, I-beams, or other common rolled iron or steel shapes, or from existing forms of steel sheet piling.

The different modes in which my invention may be carried into practice are hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 (Sheet 1) is a side elevational view of one type of concrete pile of the shape commonly used for sheet piling, in which any of the types of interlockable reinforcements of my invention may be incorporated;

Fig. 2 (Sheet 3) is a side elevational view of a steel shape or rail from which one of the combined reinforcing and interlocking members of my invention may be made;

Fig. 3 (Sheet 4) is a side elevational view of =the portion of the same member shown in Fig. 2, but illustrating such member stretched laterally; Figs. 2 and 3 thus illustrating one method of fabricating one of the combined reinforcing and interlocking members employed in one modification of my invention;

Fig. 4 (Sheet 3) is a side elevational view of a portion of a steel shape similar to that shown in Fig.2; but with'the central web slitted obliquely in preparation for lateral stretching of this steel shape;

Fig. 5 (Sheet 3) is a transversesectional View taken on the line 55 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 6 (Sheet 4) is a sideelevational View of the same portion of the steel shape shown'by Fig. l, but showing such shape stretched laterally and illustrating a preferred method of fabricating one of the combined reinforcing and interlocking members utilized in one embodiment of my pile construction;

Fig. 7 (Sheet 3) is a transverse sectional View 5' takenon the line 'l'l of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 (Sheet 2) is a perspective View of a por-- tion of the inte'rlockingfand reinforcing member of Fig. 6 with certain ribs cut so as to be laterally offset,

Fig. 9 (Sheet 2) is a partial longitudinal sectional view of a modified construction of my piling in' which the member illustrated in Fig. 8 is employed, this sectional view being taken on the line l t-i l of Fig. 10; g

Fig. 16 (Sheet 3) is a transverse sectional view of the same modified construction taken on the line m m of Fig. 9, which latter for the" purposes of this section, is assumed to bean elevae tionalview;. s j I Fig. 11 (Sheet 1) is a perspective view of a portion of a crib-like interlocking and reinforcing member fabricated from the member illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7;

Fig. '12 (Sheet 1) isa partial elevational view at illustrating a concrete pile in which the member shown in Fig, 11 is employed; and

Fig. 13 (Sheet 3) is a transverse sectionalfview takenflbn the line l3-i3 of Fig..12. Q

In order to facilitate the reading of the draw.-

ings I will describeflrst the features common to piles of the type referred to. The concrete pile illustrated in Fig. 1 (Sheet 1) is of the type designed for use in continuous structures such as sea-walls, river walls,freta'ining walls, coffer dams, bridge piers, breakwaters and the like, where comparatively great strength is required to resistthe lateral pressure of earth, 'water, etc. With such piling. it is essential that interlocking means he provided for locking each 40" pile to the adjacent piles-as, for example, a tongue 3i! prejectingfrom one side and a slotted channel it in the opposite side. Concrete piles of the I typeillustrated by Fig. 1 are customarily manufactur'ed with their cross-section approximately rectangular, but these can be made with other desirable cross sectional shapes. The base 2| of the pile is preferably bevelled or wedge-shaped so that when the pile is driven into the ground it will penetrate the ground more. easily and the 5 wedge end may also be used to force the driven pileagainst adjacent piles already in place. The tip of the wedge shaped base 2! is generally prctected from-fracture by a metal shoe 22 which is held in place by anchors extending into the concrete body 29 (such anchors not being shown). The concrete pile may be made with a pipe 23 extending downward to the bottom, as indicated in Fig. 1, such pipe being provided at its upper end with a suitable threaded fitting 24 extending at right angles to the pipe and thru the side surface of the pile. At its lower end the pipe 23 is tapered to form a nozzle 25 passing thru the metal shoe 22. A hose or pipe lineis attached to the fitting 24 when the piling is being driven into place and water at high pressure is forced thru the pipe 23 and nozzle 25 causing the jetting away of sand and soil from the tip of the pile and thus facilitating the driving of the pile into the ground. As a convenience for handling such piles, a metal tube or pipe 26 is provided which passes laterally thru the concrete body of the pile near the top. This tube or pipe 26 facilitates the lifting of the pile by tongs or a chain, and reinforcing stirrups or straps 21 embedded in the concrete prevent possible tearing of the pipe 26- loose from the concrete and. the fracturing of the upper portion of the pile when the entire weight of the pile is carried by the tube or pipe 26. A short metal rod 28 may also be set in the top surface of the pile, to form a dowel as an aid in centering the follower of the pile driver in the usualmethod of the driving of the pile by the pile driver. Concrete piles of this type are generally reinforced by longitudinal rods and lateral hoops or tie straps embedded in the concrete, such reinforcements, however, not being shown in Fig. 1.

I shall now describe the novel features of my invention, the essential feature of which is the strengthening of the concrete piles by reinforcements which may be pro-made as units, thus simplifying the construction of the piles and dispensing with the necessity of otherwise arranging and securing in place the reinforcements at the time the pile is to be formed.

For these interlocking and reinforcing members I have found it both practical and economical to utilize ordinary steel rails that have been dis- .cardedas unsatisfactory for. further use as railroad-rails. Such discarded rails may be secured very cheaply and, because of their I-shape and structure, lend themselves most satisfactorily for the carrying out of mypurposein the ways here,- inafter described.

In Fig. 2 the rail 34, has the flanges of its base formed into a slotted channel d, and has a plurality of parallel longitudinal slits 35, 36, 3'1, 38, .39, ll), l! and 42 cut into the web, the location and extent of each of these slits being as shown in Fig. 2. After these slits have been cut the rail is heated and stretched transversely to the desired width for the pile. The expanded web is thus rendered of lattice form, as shown in Fig. 3, the numerals designating the openings in the latticed web of Fig. 3 for convenience being the sameas those designating the slits in Fig. 2 which form the openings.

The method of slitting the web and expanding rail's'and similar structural shapes may be used to produce various patterns in the extended web.

For example, the slitsmay be made obliquely in the web, as shown in Fig. 4 (Sheet 3), the rail of Fig-4 otherwise being similar to that shown in Fig. 2. The oblique slits 45, 46, 41, 48, 49 and 553 shown in Fig. i are parallel, equallyspaced, and-of equal length, the length of the slits determining largely the extent to which the web of the rail may be stretched. After these oblique slits have been cut the rail is heated and, in the expanding, the rail head and base flange sections a, d are moved in opposite directions-that is to say, referring to Fig. 4, the base section (1 would be moved to the right while the head section a would be moved to the left, or held stationary. The result of such operation is to cause the heated rail of Fig. 4 to assume the shape shown in Fig. 6, the slits i5, 46, 41, 48, 49 and 50 of Fig. 4 being widened into the openings designated by the same numbers in Fig. 6, the head and base sections being connected by transverse ribs 53, 54', 55, etc.

Certain of the ribs of the lattice web of the reinforcement member shown in Fig. 6, may be out close to the head a and others close to the slotted channel base 01, and such cut ribs laterally offsct as illustrated in Fig. 8 (Sheet 2); the cut and deformed bars being designated by 54, 55, 57 and 58 in Fig. 8, while the remaining ribs, for example 53, 56 and 59 are left intact and constitute the tie between the headed tongue a and the slotted channel (1 of the expanded rail. The manner in which the member illustrated by 8 (Sheet 2) is used-in one construction of my pile is shown clearly in Fig. 10 (Sheet 3) and Fig. 9 (Sheet 2). Referring further to Figs. 8,

and 10, it will be noted that the cut and laterally offset transverse bars or ribs 54, 55 51 and may be bent outwardly and oppositely to any convenient shape, leaving a portion of each of such bars parallel to the remaining uncut transverse bars 53, 5G, 59. The laterally offset bar is shown in Fig. 10 (Sheet 3) in section.

As will be noted, the cut and laterally offset bar 54- of my interlockable reinforcing member of the construction shown by Fig 10 is arranged so that the longitudinal reinforcing rods 3! may be fastened thereto.

A further method of utilizing an expanded I-beam or rail as illustrated in Fig. 6 (Sheet 3) to form interlockable reinforcing members will now be described with. reference to Figs. 11 and 12 (Sheet 1) and Fig. 13 (Sheet 3). A length of such expanded rail is cut longitudinally thru the center of the head a, and of the connecting strips 53, 54, 55, etc., of the web, as far as the base or flange section d, the latter not being cut. The two halves-are then bent outwardly to produce laterally offset ribs arranged in crate or crib-like form. shown by Fig. 11 (Sheet 1), connected to the slotted channel base d. Another section of the expanded rail, similar to Fig. 6 (Sheet 3) is cut longitudinally thru the center of the base flange and the connecting strips of the web, but the tongued head is left uncut. The two halves of this latter section are also bent outwardly to produce ribs arranged in crib-like form similar to Fig. 11 (Sheet 1). These two out and bent sections, designated as members 62, 53 in Fig. 13 (Sheet 3) have their extremities overlapped and welded or tied together so as to form the rectangular basket like structure shown in Fig. 13 and also in. Fig. 12 (Sheet 1). It will be apparent from Fig. 17, that when this construction is used no further reinforcing longitudinal rods are needed in the concrete pile. Thus in this embodiment of my invention, the slitted stretched and. preformed rail sections furnish all the reinforcement necessary in a concrete pile.

There are, of course, several variations possible in the method by which a rail, I-beam, or a shape such as a steel sheet pile as now made, may be utilized, but the example which I have given are sufficient for illustrating how my invention may be'carried into practice.

The extent to which the headed tongues of the interlocking members protrude beyond the faces of the pile and the extent to which the co-acting slotted channels of the interlocking members are embedded in the concrete may be varied as illustrated in Figs. 10 and 13 of Sheet 3. Also, instead of making the concrete pile. exactly of rectangular cross section this may be varied and the concrete body of the pile itself might be made with oppositely located bevelled projection and corresponding recess, lessening the strain on the steel interlocking members and resisting lateral shearing of the steel tongue. The edges of the piles and the extent to which the steel tongue protrudes may be arranged to permit such piles to be set in a curved line, as well as in a straight line. The corner edges of the concrete pile may be rounded as in Fig. 13 (Sheet 3) or bevelled as in Fig. 10 (Sheet 3).

Other variations might be made in the manner in which interlocking members and reinforcements are provided without departing from the principles of my invention. While I have described the practical use of my invention as applied to concrete piles to be placed in juxtaposition and interlocked with each other to form.

tion units, as, for example; for constructing the walls of a bin or other inclosure.

I claim:

1. A unitary reinforcement for concrete pile comprising parallel longitudinally extending membersconnected by an intermediate integral latticeweb having spaced ribs, one member including a coupling head connected to the reinforcement by a neck 'of smaller cross section than that of the coupling head, the other member including a coupling channel adapted to receive and interlock with a complementary coupling head, certain ribs of the lattice section beingdiscontinuous and laterally offset.

2. In combination with a concrete pile of a unitary reinforcement comprising parallel longitudinally extending membersconnected by an intermediate integral lattice web having spaced ribs, one member including acoupling head connected to the reinforcement by a neck of smaller cross section than that'of the head, the neck being embedded in the pile and the head extending beyond the surface of the pile, the other member including a coupling channel with such channel member embedded in the material of the pileand formed to receive and interlock with a complementary coupling head, certain ribs of the lattice section being discontinuous and laterally ofiset.

HERMAN N. SIMPSON.

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