US3852970A

US3852970A - Building raising and underpinning system

Info

Publication number: US3852970A
Application number: US00379116A
Authority: US
Inventors: P Cassidy
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1973-07-13
Filing date: 1973-07-13
Publication date: 1974-12-10
Anticipated expiration: 1991-12-10

Abstract

A building raising and underpinning system wherein plates or brackets are attached to the building walls or foundation spaced generally equidistant about the perimeter of the building and hydraulic rams are operatively engaged with the wall plates to drive a plurality piles into supporting ground simultaneously. The hydraulic rams are controlled first not to exceed pressures that would develop forces that would raise the building until all of the piles attain a point of stability in the supporting ground and thereby provide uniform support at all of the piles for subsequent raising of the building under pressures then developed simultaneously in the hydraulic rams to provide the force represented by the total weight of the building structure which may be supplemented by temporarily added weight, is utilized for the initial driving of the piles by the hydraulic rams. Hydraulic power apparatus and controls are provided which require minimum labor and which incorporates equipment to perform all of the functions of driving the piles without raising the building and then simultaneously actuate all of the hydraulic rams to raise the building uniformly.

Description

United. States atent [-19] Cassidy I [111 3,852,970 Dec. 10, 1974 [54] BUILDING RAISING AND UNDERPINNING SYSTEM [76] Inventor: Paul G. Cassidy, Glen Ellyn Rd.,

Bloomingdale, 111. 601-08 22 Filed: July 13, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 379,116

52 US. Cl 6l/5l, 61/53, 52/126,.

[51] Int. Cl E02d 17/02, E02d 3/08 [58] Field of Search..l..... 61/51, 50, 465, 53, 53.52, 61/53.64, 53.66; 52/126, 122, 127; 403/292;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,322,855 6/1943 Lenahan 61/51 2,867,111 1/1959 Youtz 52/126 2,878,059 3/1959 Limle 403/292 X 2,976,693 3/1961 Showalter et al 61/46.5 2,982,103 5/1961 Revesz et al..' 61/51 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 705,891 3/1954 Great Britain 61/53 Primary Examiner-Jacob Shapiro Attorney, Agent, or FirmMann, Brown, McWilliams & Bradway 5 7 ABSTRACT A building raising and underpinning system wherein.

plates or brackets are attached to the building walls or foundation spaced generally equidistant about the perimeter of the building and hydraulic rams are operatively engaged with the wall plates to drive a plurality piles into supporting ground simultaneously. The hydraulic rams are controlled first not to exceed pressures that would develop forces that would raise the building until all of the piles attain a point of stability in the supporting ground and thereby provide uniform support at all of the piles for subsequent raising of the building under pressures then developed simultaneously in the hydraulic rams to provide the force represented by the total weight of the building structure which may be supplemented by temporarily added weight, is utilized for the initial driving of the piles by thehydraulic rams. Hydraulic power apparatus and controls are provided which require minimum labor and which incorporates equipment to perform all of the functions of driving the piles without raising the building and then simultaneously actuate all of the hydraulic rams to raise-the building uniformly.

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smear 9 N mmjmz PATENIEDBH: 10 m4 GURE 6 FIGURE PATENTEDBEBIO I974 3,852,970

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PMEME SEC 1 man ET-80F 9 lllllll PATENTED DEC 10 I974 SHEET 8 OF 9 BUILDING RAISING AND UNDERPINNING SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Heretofore where it is necessary to raise a' building, particularly, one that had sunk due to poor soil conditions the superstructure was raised off of the foundation by means of timbers, cribbing and jacking devices. This method resulted in a great deal of superstructure damage and in the case of a brick or masonry for timbers and needlebeams. After the building was raised all of these holes had to be repaired and the space between the foundation and the new elevation of the superstructure had to be patched. Usually the new materials did not match the color and texture of the old materials and this was particularly true in masonry building. In

some cases the building walls were cracked and damaged from unequal spacing of jacking devices or because of the inability to obtain necessary accessibility for application .of equal jacking force.

In early expired US. Pat. No. 435,492 a method is disclosed for raising a foundation together with the superstructure. However, the drawbacks in this system are numerous because of the mass excavation work inherent in the system, the use of needlebeams, shoring devices, the number of jacking devices required, the necessity of cutting large holes through the foundation or digging under the foundation, as a result of which, the system, like most other prior artsystems, was very destructive to the premises andaccordingly the cost of repair was very high.

US. Pat No. 3,269,] 26 discloses a method of stabilizing and raising foundations predicated upon drilling large holes around and under the outside diameter perimeter of the building in an effort to use cast-in-place eccentrically loaded concrete piles where concrete supposedly was pumped under pressure to effect the' raising of the foundation. This method too is extremely destructive to the premises and involves a great deal of dirt which is inherent in all drilling operations in mud togetherwith a pumping system where the mud and water must be displaced upon the surrounding area in order to pump concrete into the earth. The concept that open pit underpinning using pressure pumped concrete to effect any substantial raising'of a building foundation is more or less impossible of accomplishment with any degree of effectiveness. Another drawbackinherent in a system of this type utilizing drilled displacement, pressure filled pile systems, is theinability to prevent inclusion of foreign materials such as indigenous soil and water into the cast-in-place piles. A major drawback is the inability to inspect and test the pile for actual load carrying qualities.

Underpinning operations are relatively expensive and the owners ofa building are entitled to assurances, indicated from tests, that the piles can support the struc- I ture and include a necessary built-in safety, factor.

Expired US. Pat. No. 1,217,128discloses the use of hydraulically placedpiles installed'under a building of stability, the threaded pile couplings were inherently weak and larger than the pile itself, which destroyed the required skin friction values and the piles were driven one at a time which not only was a slow process but lacked the ability to maintain a level condition with equal pressure at all pile locations.

The prior art does not reveal any system for raising a building from its foundation by the application of elevating forces equally around the entire perimeter of the building either inside the building, or outside, or both and as a result relatively few concerns are engaged in this business and many will not accept undertakings of this kind particularly where a relatively larger building may be involved.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The primary purpose of the invention is to providean underpinning system for raising existing building structures together with the foundations, utilizing the reaction force of the buildings weight, against which a plurality of piles are driven about the perimeter of the building to the point where each pile reaches a condition of stability in supporting ground to provide a uni- .form supporting base for the application of increased forces to effect the raisingof the building to any desired elevation and permanently maintain the building in a level state and/or provide permanent means to monitor the building level and adjust accordingly as needed.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a building raising and underpinning structure which includes the attachment of a plurality of plates to the supporting wall structure in generally equidistant spaced relation about the perimeter of the building and apply hydraulic pressure between such plates and a corresponding plurality of piles first to drive and set the piles and then to raise the building.

-An important object of the invention provides a unified hydraulic system for raising a building having provision for controlling pressures developed to drive the piles to a point where they reach a stabilized condition without reaching a force that would raise the building and then enable increased pressures generating forces to effect the raising of the building'followed by a controlled slow lowering of the pressure to add pile sections or transfer the load to completed piles or other .foundation walls are raised exclusive of the original footings and original floor, and bracing means are provided to prevent displacement of the foundation walls.

A still further object of the invention encompasses the provision of a building raising and-underpinning system utilizing hollow pipe section pilings in end abutting relationship having internal pipe section couplings at the joints between said end abutting sections, said couplings having an outside diameter less than the inside diameter of either of the pile sections at said respective joints, and fastenings extending through the pile sections into said couplings at both sides of each joint.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a building raising and underpinning system utilizing a plurality of plates attached to the building walls in substantially equidistant relationship about the perimeter of the building wherein such attachments comprise a plurality of bolts extending through the plates into the walls with the bolts in each elongated plate arranged in spaced groups and where a crack occurs in a wall the spaced groups of bolts in a plate are disposed on opposite sides of the crack to brace the wall and avoid further damage.

A further object of the invention is to provide a building raising and underpinning-system wherein attaching plates are secured to the building walls for driving pile sections into supporting ground by means of hydraulic rams operating between such plates and the piles while using the reaction of the building structure in driving the pile sections and having valve means to control the pressure developed in the several rams not to exceed the force required to raise the building until all of the piles have reached a point of'stability in the supporting ground and then adjust the. valve means to develop the pressures in the rams required to raise the building with means to develop the last-named forces simultaneously in all of the rams.

Another object of the invention is to provide a permanent means of maintaining a building structure in a level condition where supporting subsoils may be of such unstable quality as to require continuous monitorwhich may be monitored to satisfy engineering specifications.

The foregoing and other and more specific objects of the invention are attained by the structure and arrange ment illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a general plan view of a building structure wherein the several elements of this invention have been attached to the building walls and having operative connection with the hydraulic apparatus used in this system to raise the building;

FIG. 2 is a plan view similarto FIG. 1 but to larger scale with portions broken away and showing the hydraulic apparatus in greater detail;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view through the building structure and supporting ground with portions broken awayshowing the elongated plates attached to the building walls for the attachment of hydraulic rams reacting against the attaching plates to utilize the weight of the entire building in driving piles for raising thebuilding;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary elevational view to larger scale of one of the elongated attaching plates secured to the building wall by spaced groups of'bolts wherein each group contains six bolts showing the bolt groups disposed upon opposite sides of the centrally disposed pile attaching bracket forming a part of each elongated plate assembly with a pile and hydraulic ram in operative relation;

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 5 also to larger scale through the building wall and existing footing and also showing the original base floor with the elongated plate containing the pile attaching bracket secured to the wall with the pile driving apparatus in place;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary elevational view of a finally driven pile which has been connected to the building wall by means of the attaching wall plate and associated structure;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on lines 8-8 of FIG. 7, of the finally driven pile arrangement shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a detail sectional view of a pile section initially driven into the supporting ground with a base plate secured in the foot of the pile and showing the push block secured on the lower end'of the hydraulic ram with the attached mandrel entered in the open upper end of the pipe section pile and the top end of the hydraulic ram reacting against the pile bracket on the elongated attaching plate through the medium of a self-leveling cap;

FIG. 10 is a detail cross-sectional view through the joint between adjoining pipe sections of a driven pile showing the pipe section internal coupling bridging the joint and secured at opposite sides thereof by studs driven through the pile sections into the coupling with the coupling pipe section of smaller outside diameter than the smallest inside diameter of eitherof the pile pipe sections;'

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view through an existing building foundation wall and footing showing an elongated depending hangerplate bolted to the foundation wall with a-horizontal flange on thehanger plate supporting an H-beam underlying and reinforcing a new base floor to be raised with the foundation walls;

FIG. 12 is a detail elevational view in section taken on line l212 of FIG. 11, of the hanger plate arrangement shown in FIG/11;

FIG. 13 is a detail elevational view of the guide bracket and reinforcing pier arrangement shown in FIG. 14;

FIG. 14 is a detail cross-sectional view through an existing building foundation wall and footing similar to FIG. 11 butillustrating an arrangementwhere the foundation wall is raised independently of the base floor and wherein a bracing guide bracket provides an upstanding flange that engages a face of the foundation wall and is rigidly secured'to the footing and to a reinforcing pier installed at one side of the footing to prevent the foundation from shifting laterally when the foundation israised therefrom;

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view through a building floor beam and ceiling beam and intervening Lally column with hydraulic ram and pile driving arrangement attached for raising this structure; and

,FIG. 16 is an elevational view of the beam and Lally column raising apparatus shown in FIG. 15.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a system which en-' ables the raising and/or underpinning of existing building structures without the necessity-for digging and removing any dirt from around the foundation either on the outside of the building or from the inside. The system utilizes a plurality of piles generally equally spaced around the perimeter of the building'and driven into supporting ground alongside the foundation with the piles driven uniformly until each pile reaches a point of stability in the ground to provide a plurality of uniform support points around the building for the unitary support and/or raising of the building structure. The entire building including the footings, foundation, superstructure, beams, columns and the basement floor, if desired, may be raised without the use of timbers, crib?- bing and beams which are used normally and which cause extensive damage -to portions of any building where such apparatus is used to raise an existing building. The apparatus utilized in this system is lightweight and readily portable and may be used universally to raise buildings placing a heavy load on the apparatus or in buildings placing only a relatively light load on the equipment. The lightweight equipment enables access to build-' ings where heavy cumbersome apparatus could not be used and in addition to raising buildings may be used also for the separate and distinct operation of underpinning a building without raising it by driving new pile sections into the supporting ground to provide uniform support for the building around its perimeter. Thus, the one system may be used to perform either of the separate and distinct functions of underpinning a building or for raising the building with the entire structure uniformly supported about the perimeter thereof in the performance of either function. It is important to note in the present system that all piles can be driven at the same time uniformly about the buildings perimeter with the elevating forces distributed over large areas of the building walls through the use of elongated attaching plates and pile brackets secured to the walls at a plurality of locations thus avoiding concentration of forces in localized areas that would have the effect of creating stresses which might cause damage to the building structure during the raising or underpinning operation or at some later time.

While the system herein disclosed utilizes lightweight equipment to accomplish the combined functions ofcreased by the addition of a new floor and reinforcing structure which is attached to and raised with the building when that function is performed after driving the piles to the point where they are set in the supporting ground.

Additional weight transfer can be obtained through the utilization of precast concrete blocks suitably loaded onto the building structure to add weight and thereby increase the reaction force of the building structure against the driving forces on the piles. This weight transfer has also been obtained by pumping water into the building basement to provide the additional weight for driving thepiles. With either such type of weight transfer the additional weight was maintained for a predetermined period of time to provide a pretest underpinning load condition which is maintained for a prescribed period of time as a test installation to determine the load supporting capacity and-the stability of the piles, after which the added weight of the concrete blocks, or water, is removed and the piles permanently connected to the building structure.

The piles used herein are all of standarized diameter and comprise hollow pipe sections and at the joint between such sections utilize a hollow pipe section coupling secured within the piles by fastenings driven through the pile sections at opposite sides of the joint into the coupling. The inside diameter of such pile sections have been found not to be uniform and therefore the internal coupling has an outside diameter which is less than the smallest inside diameter of either of the two pile sections at opposite sides of the joint. The pile sections are of uniform outside diameter and by the use of the internal coupling thismaintains a smooth unbroken outer surface of all of the pile sections without any outward projections thereby providing for the more efficient driving of the piles and the development of the effective skin frictionin the supporting ground necessary to stabilize the piles without disrupting the surrounding soil as by projections that would produce an inherently weaker pile condition. Piles having outward projections, such as that created by pipe sections having screw type couplings, cause'such disruption ofthe surrounding soil, particularly in clay, that a time factor becomes involved before testing for a stable condition of the piles such that undue delay is encountered because the remolding of the soil around such piles after this disruption may take as much as several weeks before the skin friction value is restored sufficiently to provide proper support around the pile. The abutting ends of the pile sections are squared so-that a column of end abutting pile sections will stand perfectly plumb and thereby avoid any tendency to bend or be diverted from an absolutely vertical condition. The internal coupling may be provided with an external collar about its outside surface, disposed intermediate the ends thereof and with the coupling disposed within the adjacent pile sections the collar will be disposed between the ends of the pile sections with the outer perimeter of the collar flush with the outer perimeter of the pile sections to continue the effect of the smooth outer face of the pile for the purpose of enabling the pile to be driven without disruption of the surrounding soil..

- With this system a building to be raised is simply 'pushed out of the ground with equal forces applied all I about the perimeter thereof without damage to the building and Without disturbing adjoining properties.

This is accomplished through application of properly applied hydraulics involving a hydraulic ram driving each of the plurality of piles with the rams all functioning simultaneously, driven from a central motor-driven pump system with'suitable controls including gauges, gate valves and pressure relief valves whereby the pressures developed in the hydraulic rams can be held below the forces required to raise the buildinguntil all of the piles are stabilized in the ground. After this the porting means or for shimming under the building foun,--

dation walls.

The pressure relief valves referred to enable the workman operating the system to preset a maximum pressure to be developed in each hydraulic ram so that all of the piles can be driven simultaneously until every pile has reached a stabile condition uniform with all other piles before any raising operation can take place. The forces required to raise the building are calculated and then the pressure relief valves are set at the maximum pressure that will develop total forces that are less than that required to raise the building.

The reaction forces of the building structure thus can be utilized in driving the piles to the point of stability for each pile without exertingsufficient force at any pile location that would raise a portion of the building unequally with other portions. Accordingly all piles can be driven to their point of stabilityin the supporting ground so that no raising action of the building can take place until after the maximum preset pressure has been attained in the rams. This insures uniformity in the raising of the building when that function is to beperformed and affords the safety factor against possible fractures of the building structure by unequal forces. As an example, if one or more piles because of soil conditions can be driven easily the pressure developed in the associated ram will be relatively low whereas the pressure developed in one or more hydraulic rams associated with piles which may be more difficult-to drive may build up relatively higher forces and in the absence of the pressure relief valves could build up excessively and possibly to the point where cracking of the building might occur because of the additional building reaction force on those rams. l

The new base floor reinforcing structure of this system involves H-beams under the new floor which are raised simultaneously with the entire building structure. This affords an additional advantage. The usual building has a central beam extending the length of the basement ceiling andsupported at its ends on the building walls. One or more Lally columns support this beam intermediate its ends. When the original basement floor is removed the new H-beam is installed and a new base floor is constructed over the H-beam with the floor and H-beam becoming more or less integrated so that the 8. these findingsrThe entire group of driven piles under a building may be used to determine the pretest underpinning load. The piles are driven in accordance withthis invention and the given load is maintained for a prescribed period of time, which, as practiced in thefield, has been for a period of approximately 48 hours. This has been found adequate to determine the stability of the piles and their capacity to maintain the raised building structure in a level condition and at the desired elevation. I

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawings 10 represents a building having the various apparatus of this invention attached and associated therewith for raising the buildingThe building illustrated is approximately 80 feet long by 40-wight feet in width and a number of hydraulic rams 11 are shown spaced at intervals around the inside perimeter of the building walls such as to exert equal and uniform lifting forces on the building through the medium of wall plates 12 each of which has a pile bracket 13 rigidly secured thereto. The pile brackets 13, as best shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7 are adapted for the attachment of piles 14 thereto and also are cooperatively engaged by the hydraulic rams 11.

PILE CONSTRUCTION tion coupling 20 bridges the joint for example between the pipe sections 16 and 17 as shown in FIG. 9 and secured therein at opposite sides of the joint by studs 19. The studs are driven through the respective pipe sections 16 and 17 and into the pipe-section internal coupling securely to retain the pile sections operatively connected and in end abutting squarerelationship.

The pipe section piles 15, 16 and 17 are of uniform outside diameter but as manufactured, the inside diameter of these pipe sections is not controlled and are not made to any uniform internal dimension. Consequently the inside diameter varies considerably from one pipe H-beam thus reinforces the floor. In addition this H- beam is disposed in vertical alignment with the over- I head central beam so that the Lally columns. then find support from the underlying H-beam. When the building is raised or underpinning installed the H-beam and consequently the overhead beam supported thereon by the Lally columns, are raised simultaneously with the rest of the building structure by means of piles and hydraulic rams connected with the H-beam at spaced intervals asrequired by the length of the beam.

The invention contemplates that the building site.

may be tested as to soil conditions and for this purpose any number of piles may first be driven as pre-test underpinpiles and test loaded for any given length of time and monitored to ascertain the conditions and satisfy exact engineering requirements in accordance with section to the next and therefore the internal coupling 20 must compensate for these variations and accommodate adjoining pipe sections of varying inside diameter while maintaining the in square end abutting relationship of the secured sections. The internal coupling 20 is constructed from a pipe section having an outside -diameter that is less than the insidediameter of the smallest diameter found in any pile section and this is such as to provide a maximum clearance around the coupling within the'pile section of largest inside diameter and graduated as to the clearance provided in various pile sections down to a snug fit in a pile section having the smallest inside diameter. The manner of attachment of the coupling 20 within the 'pipe sections 16 and 17 insures centering of the coupling therein with the pile sections concentric therewith. An internal coupling having the intermediate external collar hereinbefore referred to. would center itself in the piles by the disposition of the collar between the endsof the pile sections flush with the external surfaces of'the pile sections.

The first driven pile section is provided with a bottom end closure gap comprised of an end plate 21 of the same diameter as the outside diameter of the pile section and a sleeve 22 welded to the end closure plate 21 by means of an internal weld 23 thereby providing an integrated base for the first or bottom-most pile. The sleeve 22 is of an outside diameter similar to that of the coupling so that the end closure member can be fitted into any pile section and secured by studs 24 similarly to the manner in which the coupling is secured. The studs 24 are driven through the pipe section 15 into the sleeve 22 with the end closure disposed concentrically in the pile section to avoid any outward projection beyond the outside diameter of the pile. The flat bottom face of this end closure cap is of the greatest importance in practicing this invention since this flat surface lends greater stability to the driven pile both during the driving operation and in thefinal supporting position. With this flat faced bottom member it has been found that there is less likelihood of the pile being deflected from its driven path during the driving operation and it contributes materially to the successful utilization of this system for the unitized driving of the entire group of piles under a building by the controlled hydraulic pressures applied as described herein.

HYDRAULIC RAM.

The uppermost end of each pile driven is engaged by a push block 25 mounted on the lower end of the cylinbenefit from the reaction force of the building structure 10 is obtained in driving the piles. The bracket 13 is rigidly secured to the elongated attaching plate 12 by means of bolts or rivets 41, as shown, or the brackets might be integrated with the attaching wall plates by welding, if desired. The brackets 13 comprise relatively heavy channel shaped structures'with the back plate section forming the web of the channel secured to the wall plate 12 and having outstanding side flanges projecting outwardly which provide spaced apart attachments for a pair of vertically disposed relatively heavy bolts 42 securely attached respectively to the outstanding flanges by welding. The bolts 42 extend above the brackets 13 and through spaced holes in a reaction block which is secured on the bolts by heavy nuts43 threaded on the bolts. It is this reactionlblock 40, that is engaged by the upper end of the piles 14 when the ram is removed after the final position of the building has been reached. The threaded bolts enable a final adjustment to be made in the positioning of the block 40 with respect to the last driven pile so that the same degree of support is obtained at all piles. A collar 32.is'

welded on the underside of the push plate 87 and'serves to confine the jack in proper place.

the interposition of the attaching plates 12. With an installation of this type a greater number of piles may be attached to the building foundation wall and disposed at more closely spaced intervals to obtain the greater lifting capacity thus afforded and the fully'equalized forces applied at all these additional lifting points in plied force. The upper end of the ram portion of the hydra ulic ram 11 is provided with a self-leveling cap 30 having a generally rounded face 31 slidably engageable with a corresponding similar face on the upper end of the ram portion and function cooperatively to provide for a laterally shiftable relationship therebetween to compensate automatically for any applied load which for any reason may not be directed in a true vertical line of applied'force. A stud bolt 29, recessed into the top face of the cap 30 retains the self-leveling cap in operative relationship with the opposing face of the ram portion. This attachment between thecap 30 and the ram portion includes provision for accommodating the automatically shifting relationship of the selfleveling cap and ram portion to permit approximately 10 of relative lateral shifting movements therebetween on the rounded face 31. The recessed area of the cap 30 receiving the stud 29 and the opening through the cap, by means of which the stud bolt is secured into the threaded opening in the ram portion, and elongated in the vlateral direction to permit the cap to slide on the concavely rounded surface of the ram portion within the range of ten degrees of. relative movement required to compensate for possible misalignment-in the vertically applied forces.

PILE'BRACKETS a The upper face of the self-leveling cap 30 is designed for operative engagement with the pile bracket 13, 'as best shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and by means of which the ing capacity of a large number of piles and hydraulic rams may be required.

ELONGATED WALL PLATES The elongated plates 12 to which the pile brackets 13 are attached distribute the forces on the respectively associated brackets over extended areas of the building walls thus avoiding the concentration of heavy loads in localized areas which otherwise might induce excessive stresses in the building structure "and possibly result in fractures of the walls. The plates 12 are mounted on the structuralwalls 45 by widely spaced bolts 44 that are driven through the plate 12 and into the wall 45. The bolts 44 are of a size that affords sufficient section to avoid any possibilityof their shearing under the applied loads and are arranged in spacedgroups in sufficient numbers to transfer the forces involved. without shearing. As best shown in FIGS/3 and 6, it has been found that the loads thus transferred to the walls are readily handled by bolts arranged in groups of six bolts at each of the spaced locations but this is subject to variations be uniformly applied in this area simultaneously with other areas of the wall structure thus enabling the application of raising forces on the building walls about i the entire perimeter of the building. The elongated plate 12 thus provides a wide base for the application of raising forces to the building walls and thereby avoids high concentration of loads locally and actually increases the permissible span between supporting piles so that the costs involved are reduced to effect greater economy in the use of the system.

CORNER WALL PLATE CONSTRUCTION As shown in FIGS. '1, 2 and 3 the wall attaching plates are also adapted for use in the corners of the building where they are designed to distribute the raising forces on both sides of the corner. The corner plates '50 have plate portions 51 extending respectively substantially at right angles to each other and each of which is secured to a building wall portion 45 disposed at a substantially right angle to another wall portion 45 which together form an inside corner of the building 10. The plate portions 51 are secured to the right angular wall portions 45 by means of the spaced groups of six bolts in a manner similar to the attachment of the wall plates 12 to the walls in other areas of the building. The groups of bolts 44 securing the corner brackets are the same as the bolts securing plates 12 and may be utilized to secure the several corner plate portions 51 to the wall portions 45. The corner plates 50 are each provided with separate pile brackets 13 rigidly mounted on the plate portions 51- which are-utilized in the same manner as on the wall plates 12 to drive the piles by means of hydraulic rams 11. This ram and pile arrangement thus can raise both sides of the building corner; optionally, 2 or more piles can be used, if desired.

A separate pile bracket 13 may be mounted on each plate portion 51 to provide for driving a pile at each side of the building corner by means ofa hydraulic ram 11 at each location thus supporting and/or raising the corner of the building on two piles driven by two hydraulic rams. Similarly, while but one pile bracket 13.

has been shown in association with each wall plate 12 for driving one pile by a single hydraulic ram, the wall plates may be made in any desired length and two or more pile brackets provided on each such longer plate for driving two or more piles by means of an equal number of hydraulic rams 11 operating from the pile brackets 13.

The plate portions 51 of the corner plates 50 are illustrated as extending substantially at right angles to each other, which approximates 90, but in practice it has been found that this angularity may vary and may be more or less than 90. The varying angles depend upon .the conditions developed in the building as the structure settles and while some corners of the building.

may remain substantially square and level the building,

structure may'settle more or less at other corners so eration where it will be seen that the piles extend I dictate otherwise the arrangement of the bolt holes and attaching bolts may be varied since. the six hole pattern is not the only attaching arrangement that can be utilized but is subject to variation in accordance with the conditions of the foundation walls to which .the attaching plates are to be secured.

. With this type of pile construction as used with this system and apparatus for driving the piles, a series of squared end pipe sections can be driven vertically through soil to any depth necessary to obtain the supporting capacity required as provided by the supporting ground to the full tonnage supporting capacity of the pipe section used. Unless driven to bed rock or hard pan the piles are supported in the soil by skin friction and after. the piles are driven they may be filled inplace by poured concrete. An observation (see FIG. 7) provided in the load plate 40 may be utilized as a concrete pumping port intoeach pile so that a continuously loaded series of piles can be simultaneously pumped full of concrete to provide increased pile strength and rigidity while inspection can be made during any phase of the operations prior to filling of the pile with the concrete. The stacked series of pipe sections will act as a single column under vertical load when accurately driven as afforded by this system. The alignment of the stacked pipe sections can readily be determined before the concrete filling is poured by merely sighting down the length of the pile assembly with the aid of a light on a length of extension cord.

SYSTEM OF RAISING The building disclosed herein is provided with a full basement and the foundation extends approximately l 0 feet into. the ground, In some cases the building may be totally surrounded by other buildings so that outside accessibility is impossible and prevents installation of apparatus on the outer side of the building for raising or underpinning it' to correct a condition where the building has sunk several or more inches into the supporting ground at various locations such that cracks have developed in the foundation wall (see FIG. 3). Also the building tenant may need the use of the basement space to the full extent possible during the operations on the building because of the necessity for business as usual to continue without interruption. Therefore, the building is raised, leveled and stabilized with the least possible interruption of the going business and because of soil conditions new underpinning might be required to a depth of up to feet, or more. All of these conditions can be met by thepresent systems without the necessity for digging around the building foundation either on the inside or on the outside, which of course, may be impossible-because .of adjacent buildmgs. g

The wall plates 12 are brought into the building basement and secured to the walls 45, as hereinvefore described, and the existing basement floor and underlying footing 56 are core drilled around the inside of the foundation to provide openings 52 for passage of the pile sections. The wall plates including the pile brackets 13 and the hydraulic rams 11 are installed to I drive the successive pipe sections 15, 16 and 17 comprising the piles 14, this operationbeing performed as hereinbefore disclosed. FIGS. 4and 5 illustrate this opthrough the openings 52 in the basement floor 55 and the footing 56 into the supporting ground therebeneath where they are driven to the point of stability, as described. After all of the piles have been driving the building may be secured thereon by engagement of the bearing block 40 with the top end of each pile and drawing down the nuts 43 on the bolts 42 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Suitable supporting shims as herein referred to may be installed between the foundation wall and the footing if desired.

Where conditions permit, the installation can be made on the exterior perimeter of the building foundation and the underpinning or raising operations performed entirely from the outside of the building or, if indicated, installation of the equipment can be made both inside the building as well as outside so that the operations can be performed simultaneously at both locations. In this latter case one of the. hydraulic systems may be remotely controlled. so that one person can operate the entire system.

After the operation of driving a pile, a bulb of pressure develops at the base of the pile and the unitized hydraulic system of this invention enables the continuous maintenance of this bulb throughout the testing of the pile. This is accomplished by the continuous applipressure afforded by this system the bulb of pressure is maintained throughout the test operation of each pile.

H-BEAM FLOOR SUPPORT Where a new base floor is to be installed, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the old basement floor 55 is broken up so that in this event the building basement must be clear. The footing 56 is cut off at the inside face of the foundation wall as indicated in FIG. 11 and when the old floor 55 is removed an H-beam 57 is installed which extends continuously across the basement from wall to wall. The H beam 57 finds support at itsopposite ends on wall brackets 54, which may be extensions of wall plates 12, and include gusseted hanger plate portions 58 secured to the walls 45 by means of bolts 59 similar to the bolts 44 attaching the plates 12 to the wall. The gusseted hanger plate 58 has a horizontal flange 60 forming a shelf upon which the H-beam 57 is supported and thereby raised with the building walls 45. Gussets 53 brace the shelf 60 relative to the hanger plate portion 58. A new base floor 61 is poured on top of the installed H-beam which reinforces and supports the new floor as a newly integrated component in the building.- As shown in FIGS. 14 and one or more Lally columns 62 support a ceiling beam 63 at suitably spaced intervals in the basement. The H-beam 57 is located under the new floor 61 in a position to underlie the Lally columns 62 which thus find support on the H- beam beneath the new floor 61. The entire structure including the H-beam 57 supporting the floor 61 and carrying the Lally columns 62 supporting the ceiling beam 63 may all becarried by the foundation walls 45 while the underpinning operation is taking place and during the subsequent raising of the entire building structure. This support on the foundation walls is obtained through the hanger plates .58'suspending the H- beam and new floor and everything supported thereby from the brackets 54 and wall plates 12 on the foundation.

INTERMEDIATE PILES similar hydraulic rams. Thus, with the piles 14 all around the inner perimeter of the building 10 and the piles at the position of the Lally columns, all hydraulically driven simultaneously and the pressures controlledto predetermined maximum developed forces,

'the entire building may be leveled and underpinned or raised without adversely affecting the structure. The

hydraulic rams 11 at the Lally column positions may require the development of forces differing from that developed at any of the other pile locations but this may readily be regulated by controlling the maximum hydraulic pressure developed in these rams by means of the pressure relief valves provided for that purpose and which may be set in accordance with calculations made to determine the forces to be developed in all of the hydraulic rams 11.

As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the piles 14 at the positions of the Lally columns 62 are driven upon opposite sides of the I-I-beam 57 and for this purpose a supporting structure is provided which engages under the I-I- beam and enables the piles and driving apparatus to be attached thereto similarly to the attachments to the v foundation walls. A section of H-beam 64 is disposed under the H-beam 57 and side wall plates 65, secured to the H-beam section 64, extend upwardly upon respectively oppositesides of the H-beam 57 so that the beam 57 is guided or braced therebetween. The plates ,7 65 are bolted or welded as shown to brackets 72,

welded between the flanges of the H-beam 57, to provide a rigid structure and if used, these bolts like the bolts 44, must be of such size and in sufficient number ing flanges similar to brackets 13, to which the large vertical bolts 42 are securely attached by welding.

As shown in FIGS. 5, 6, l5 and 16, the same arrangement may be utilized for driving the piles 14'at the foundation wall positions and at the Lally column positions and operating in the same way so that the raising operation may be uniformly effected throughout the building 10. The threaded bolts 42 provide forthe attachment of pipe sections which are screwed onto the bolts with sufficient threaded engagement therebetween to take the applied load of the pile driving operation. The pipe sections are each provided with a series of holes 86 at regularly spaced vertical intervals to provide increments of adjustment in addition to that afforded by the threaded attachment of the pipe sections on bolts 42. A reaction block 87 bridges the pipe sec tions 85 which are entered through openings provided therefor in the block so that the block is adjustable up and'down on the pipe sections and secured by removable pins 88. The hydraulic. ram 11 is maintained centered with respect to the reaction block 87 during the pile driving operation by the concentric collar 32 on It will be seen that the ram 11 is of relatively long I stroke so that adjustment of the reaction block 87 on the pipe sections 85 is made with the least frequency possible during the operation of raising the building. This is accomplished by means of the pins 88 in the holes 86 and when the last adjustment of the block downwardly, with the pins 88 in the lowermost of the holes,'has been made, the block 87 may be adjusted upwardly again to permit the insertion of an additional pile section. The threaded connection of the pipe sections 85 on the bolts 42 affords a means of fine adjustment supplementing the pin adjustment in the holes 86. When the final pile section has been driven at each wall location the load plate 40 is secured, on the bolts 42 overlying the pile sections and drawn down by nuts 43, as best shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, and hydraulic rain 11 set thereon to provide a permament means of monitoring the level conditions of the building and to adjust such level, as needed. The final piles driven at the Lally column positions as shown in FIGS. and 16 may be permanently secured in a similar manner.

NEW FLOOR INSTALLATION It should be noted that when the new floor 61 is installed, the reinforced concrete floor provides the necessary shoring to prevent the foundation wall 45 from .lateral movement while the building with the new floor is being raised. In this case the piles 14 around the inside perimeter of the wall 45, are driven before the-H- beam 57 and new floor 61 are installed. If driven after, the poured concrete floor must be cured to proper hardness. The reinforced concrete floor would then provide the necessary lateral stability for the foundation walls. In fact, the added weight of the reinforced floor structure lends the further advantage of increasing the building reaction to the pile driving operation. Holes are provided through the new floor for the piles and sleeves lining these holes permit the floor to, move up on the piles when .the building is raised. In this con-- struction the hanger 58 may be supported from and carried by the wall plates 12 as well as being secured directly to the wall 45 by bolts 59. This causes a greater upward force on the bolts 59 due to the force of driving the piles, which is transmitted from the plate 12 to the hanger plate 58 by means of the connection thereto, so that the bolts are prevented from pulling through the bottom of the concrete foundation wall.

CONCRETE PIER ARRANGEMENT The construction illustrated in FIG. 11 comprises a structure where the original floor 55 is to remain in place without being secured so that in this case the floor cannot provide the leteral stability needed for the foundation walls during the raising of the building,'if

the raising is'higher than the floor thickness. For this I type of raising operation lateral stability is provided by pouring a concrete pier 66 in adjoining'relation to the inner side of the footing 56 to prevent the footing from shifting laterally. A heavy angle plate 67 is then secured in position to act as a guide to the foundation wall and on the footing 56 and the adjoining pier 66. The hori-' zontal flange'69 of the angle. plate is secured respectively to the footing and to the stabilizing pier by meansof bolts and 71. This arrangement provides the required stability while dispensing with cumbersome timber shoring or cribbing braced at angles against the foundation walls and which, in previous systems, needed constant attention and adjustment during the raising of the building as the foundation moved upwardly. The upstanding guide flange 68 on the angle plate 67 holds the foundation wall 45 against lateral displacement as the foundation slides upwardly bearing against the guide flange all the while. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 an angle 'member having a horizontal flange under the floor 55 may extend continuously along the edges of the floor adjacent the wall 45. The wall guiding arrangement does not require any attention while the raising operation progresses,-and can be permanently left in place.

The invention obtains the greater weight transfer secured by attaching the footing to the foundation and also captures the weight of the earthbank holding the building foundation in the surrounding ground, thus obtaining additional transfer tonnage .and reaction force on the piles and enables the application of greater hydraulic driving forces on the piles through this temporary weight transfer.- This captured weight of the earthbank is later separated from the raised building but the benefits of this additional resistance is had before the separation occurs. The various arrangements for obtaining this greater transfer of tonnages enables the piles to be driven to maximum depth and thereby increase the stability factor.

Where the building superstructure may not yet be built in the foundation is sinkingin new ground, suitable shoring may be installed on the foundation and heavy bulldozers or other mobile equipment may be driven onto the shoring and thereby provide portable means for obtaining the additional weight transfer of these heavy machines whereby new and sinking foundations can economically be restored to level conditions, fully supported by the piles driven against this greater reaction force into the more stable lower ground. i

HYDRAULIC SYSTEM observe the operations at the various locations and adjust or regulate the system in accordance with conditions as they are developing so that simultaneous driving of the piles can be maintained without exceeding maximum developed forces at any one or more of the hydraulic rams and then to operate all of the rams simultaneously to raise the building uniformly with equally applied forces at the several pile locations. The necessity for adding pile sections at the respective locations from time to time is readily observable from the central location of the operating position.

The hydraulic rams ll driving the piles 14 are located about the building foundation in accordance with calculations made to determine thetonnages involved in raising the building and the pressure relief valves, by means of which the maximum pressure to be developed in each of the hydraulic rams, are also adjusted and preset in accordance with these calculations. These relief valves, once set, limit the maximum pressures and the man in control does not have to concern himself about excessive pressure once the correct setting has been made in accrodance with the calculations. The ports provided in the load plates 40 enable the operator to obtain visual inspection of the piles under time-test loading conditions so that pile reaction to loading can be observed throughout the entire length of the assembled pile.

The hydraulic apparatus and circuitry are used in an arrangement where the elements are disposed in dual interconnected relationship utilizing twin hydraulic pumps, motors, reservoirs and dual manifolds for each motor driven pump and reservoir assembly. Individual high pressure hydraulic lines extend from the manifold to the several hydraulic rams and gauges, gate valves and the pressure relief valves which can be provided for each line or one valve can be placed on the main line to control all rams. Twin controls would be accessible to the one man operator so that the entire system may be operated and controlled from the central location. This is true whether the equipment is used inside a building, or outside and/or with one hydraulic system controlled remotely where the equipment is utilized at both the inside and outside of the building.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the two reservoirs 75, for hydraulic fluid, with the associated electric motor driven hydraulic pump 76, are shown as disposed generally centrally of the building basement. The control 77 for each such pump comprises a three way control valve'having up, down", and neutral positiona. High pressure hydraulic lines 78 extend from the three way control valve to the manifold blocks 79 and 80 associated with each of the twin installations. The manifold distributor blocks 79 and 80 have hydraulic discharge lines 81 leading to the several hydraulic rams 11. A gate valve 82 is provided at the manifold for each discharge line 81 and a pressure gauge 83 is provided desired option. Sometimes the walls are not accessible inside, yet may be accessible outside and sometimes piles are driven from both inside and outside. With this system the hydraulic pressure not only can be pre-set but the pressure developed is constant, the gauges can all be observed by the operator from a central position, movement of the piles and the necessity for adding pile sections can be seen from that position,'as can be rising movement of the building and foundation with the operator being able to apply any required variations in the operating procedures necessary to correct any developing condition not in accordance with specifications.

After the raising of the building has been completed to the desired level, the adjustable pressure relief valve 84 may be utilized to slowly release the pressure on any one or more of the hydraulic rams 11 to permit the connection of the pile brackets 13 with the piles to support the building thereon, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 and can also be used for the insertion and connection of additional pile sections during the pile driving operation. This valve also permits the operator to lower the building very slowly'onto permanent shims when they have been inserted between the foundation and the footing. When the building is to be lowered onto the shims the pressureis gradually reduced while the pumps 76 continue to pump fluid to the hydraulic rams 11 allowing the load represented by the weightof the building to overcome the pressure very slowly so that the operator has ample time .to observe how the procedure is developing and make adjustments as necessary.

All of the advantages described and many others are made possible by the present system while effecting for each line. An adjustable pressure relief valve 84 for 1 each of the twin systems is located generally inside the tank or the main hydraulic line with external controls on the front side of the tank box and located between each of the three way control valves 77 and the manifold blocks 79 and 81 and in operation functions to.

control all feeder lines and to divert hydraulic fluid back to the reservoirs 75 through the relief valve or through the three way control valve in maintaining the pre-set pressure. The pressure relief valve is manually controlled and may be pre-set by the operator to obtain any maximum pressure desired as determined in accordance with the calculations made and indicated by the gauges 83. The relief valve controls the pre-set pressure automatically and bypasses the excess flow of hydraulic fluid whenever the pre-set pressure is reached.

As hereinbefore described the piles 14 at the several locations about the perimeter 'of the building foundation whether inside, or outside, or both, are driven si- 6 multaneously, developing hydraulic forces to a pre-set maximum developed pressure under the reaction of the building to uniformly stable conditions at each pile economies of equipment, personnel and labor that cannot be equalled by prior art or competing techniques.

The embodiments of this invention in which an exclus ive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

said hydraulic rams. and a-hydraulic pressure relief I valve controlling a preset maximum pressure developed in each of said hydraulic rams whereby all of said piles are driven into the supporting ground to a point of stability to provide uniform support at all pile locations around the entire perimeter of said building structure.

2. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein additional weight transfer onto said piles is obtained by the application of removable weight means on said building structure.

3. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein said wall plates, pile brackets, and piles are located about the inside perimeter of l. A building raising or underpinning structure com- I prising a series of attaching wall plates secured to a wall said building structure and the wall plates are secured to, the inside face of said wall.

4. The building raising or underpinning structure, as set forth in claim 1 wherein said wall plates, pile brackets, and piles are located about the outside perimeter of said build-structure and the wall plates are secured to the outside face of said wall.

5. Thebuilding raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein said wall plates, pile brackets, and piles are located about the perimeter of said building structure inside and outside of said wall and the wall plates are secured to the inside and outside faces of the wall.

6. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 4 wherein a reinforced base floor is secured to said wallstructureabout-the inside perimeter of the wall and raised with the wall structure by said hydraulic rams.

7. A building raising or underpinning structure comprising a series of elongated wall plates secured to the face of a wallabout the inside perimeter of a building structure, a pile bracket secured to each said wall plate, a series of piles driven into supporting ground and respectively engaged one with each said pile brackets, a series of hydraulic rams operable between the several said pile brackets and the respective piles to drive said piles into the supporting ground, said hydraulic rams being operable simultaneously, hydraulic power means actuating said hydraulic rams, a reinforced base floor structure secured to said wall structure about the inside perimeter of the wall and raised with the wall structure by said hydraulic rams, and a hanger plate having a horizontal shelf portion secured to said wall and said reinforced base floor is supported on said horizontal shelf portions.

8. A building raising or underpinning structure comprising a series of elongated wall plates secured to the inside face of a wall about the inside perimeter of a building structure, a pile bracket secured to each said wall plate, a series of piles driven into supporting ground and engaged at least one with each said pile brackets, a series of hydraulic rams operable between the several said pile brackets and the respective piles to drive said piles into the supporting ground, said hydraulic rams being operable simultaneously, hydraulic power means actuating said hydraulic rams, a reinforced base floor structure secured to said wall structure about the inside perimeter of the wall and raised with the wall structure by said hydraulic rams, a hanger plate having a horizontal shelf portion secured to said wall, and one or more horizontal beams extending between opposite inside faces of said wall beneath said base floor and supported on said horizontal shelf portion of said hanger plate to support and reinforce said base floor.

9. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 6 wherein said piles are driven through holes provided in said reinforced base floor.

10. A building raising or underpinning structure comprising a series of attaching wall plates secured to the inside face of a wall about the inside perimeter of a building structure, a pile bracket secured to each said wall plate, a series of piles driven into supporting ground and respectively engaged one with each said pile brackets, a series of hydraulic rams operable between the several said pile brackets and the respective piles to drive said piles into the supporting ground, said hydraulic rams being operable simultaneously, hydraulic power means actuating said hydraulic rams, a reinforced base floor secured to said wall structure about the inside perimeter of the wall, a hanger plate having a horizontal shelf portion secured to said wall, one or more horizontal beams extending between opposite inside faces of said wall beneath said base floor and supported on said horizontal shelf portion of said hanger plate to support and reinforce said base floor, one or more piles driven into supporting ground adjacenteach of said horizontal beams, and hydraulic rams operating between said last-named piles and said beams to raise the beams and base floor simultaneously with said wall and buildingstructure.

11'. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein said wall is supported upon a footing and having means for attaching the footing to the wall, and said hydraulic rams raise the wall and building structure and the attached footing.

12. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 3 wherein said wall is supported upon a footing and said hydraulic rams raise the wall and building structure off of the footing as the building .structure is-raised, an upstanding angle plate having a prising a pipe section of less outside diameter than the inside diameter of either of said pile pipe sections at said joint, and stud fastenings extending through the pile pipe sections into said coupling pipe section at both sides of said joint.

14. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth inclaim 13 wherein said hollow pipe section piles have squared ends and the bottommost pile section has a base closure member secured in the bottom end thereof, a nd all of said hollow pipe sections having substantially the same outside diameter and free of projections extending outwardly such outside diameter.

15. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein said piles comprise hollow pipe sections in end to end relationship, a coupling inside said pipe sections bridging the joint between the ends of the pipe sections, and a base closure member secured in the bottom end of the bottommost pile section, said base closure member having a generally horizontal flat bottom face.

16. The building raising or underpinning structureas set forth in claim 2 wherein certain of said wall plates comprise corner plates having portions extending re spectively generally at an angle to each other and secured respectively to portions of said wall disposed at

Claims

1. A building raising or underpinning structure comprising a series of attaching wall plates secured to a wall about the perimeter of a building structure, a pile bracket secured to each said wall plate, a series of piles driven into supporting ground and respectively engaged one with each said pile brackets, a series of hydraulic rams operable between the several said pile brackets and the respective piles to drive said piles into the supporting ground, said hydraulic rams being operable simultaneously, hydraulic power means actuating said hydraulic rams, and a hydraulic pressure relief valve controlling a preset maximum pressure developed in each of said hydraulic rams whereby all of said piles are driven into the supporting ground to a point of stability to provide uniform support at all pile locations around the entire perimeter of said building structure.

3. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein said wall plates, pile brackets, and piles are located about the inside perimeter of said building structure and the wall plates are secured to the inside face of said wall.

5. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein said wall plates, pile brackets, and piles are located about the perimeter of said building structure inside and outside of said wall and the wall plates are secured to the inside and outside faces of the wall.

6. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 4 wherein a reinforced base floor is secured to said wall structure about the inside perimeter of the wall and raised with the wall structure by said hydraulic rams.

7. A building raising or underpinning structure comprising a series of elongated wall plates secured to the face of a wall about the inside perimeter of a building structure, a pile bracket secured to each said wall plate, a series of piles driven into supporting ground and respectively engaged one with each said pile brackets, a series of hydraulic rams operable between the several said pile brackets and the respective piles to drive said piles into the supporting ground, said hydraulic rams being operable simultaneously, hydraulic power means actuating said hydraulic rams, a reinforced base floor structure secured to said wall structure about the inside perimeter of the wall and raised with the wall structure by said hydraulic rams, and a hanger plate having a horizontal shelf portion secured to said wall and said reinforced base floor is supported on said horizontal shelf portions.

10. A building raising or underpinning structure comprising a series of attaching wall plates secured to the inside face of a wall about the inside perimeter of a building structure, a pile bracket secured to each said wall plate, a series of piles driven into supporting ground and respectively engaged one with each said pile brackets, a series of hydraulic rams operable between the several said pile brackets and the respective piles to drive said piles into the supporting ground, said hydraulic rams being operable simultaneously, hydraulic power means actuating said hydraulic rams, a reinforced base floor secured to said wall structure about the inside perimeter of the wall, a hanger plate having a horizontal shelf portion secured to said wall, one or more horizontal beams extending between opposite inside faces of said wall beneath said base floor and supported on said horizontal shelf portion of said hanger plate to support and reinforce said base floor, one or more piles driven into supporting ground adjacent each of said horizontal beams, and hydraulic rams operating between said last-named piles and said beams to raise the beams and base floor simultaneously with said wall and building structure.

11. The building raising or underpinning structure As set forth in claim 1 wherein said wall is supported upon a footing and having means for attaching the footing to the wall, and said hydraulic rams raise the wall and building structure and the attached footing.

12. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 3 wherein said wall is supported upon a footing and said hydraulic rams raise the wall and building structure off of the footing as the building structure is raised, an upstanding angle plate having a horizontal portion secured to said footing with a vertical portion thereof in engagement with an inside face of said wall, and a bracing pier at the inner side of said footing, said horizontal portion of said upstanding angle plate being secured to said pier.

13. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 1 wherein said piles comprise hollow pipe sections in end abutting relationship, a coupling inside said pipe sections bridging the joint between abutting ends of the pipe sections, said coupling comprising a pipe section of less outside diameter than the inside diameter of either of said pile pipe sections at said joint, and stud fastenings extending through the pile pipe sections into said coupling pipe section at both sides of said joint.

14. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 13 wherein said hollow pipe section piles have squared ends and the bottommost pile section has a base closure member secured in the bottom end thereof, and all of said hollow pipe sections having substantially the same outside diameter and free of projections extending outwardly such outside diameter.

16. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 2 wherein certain of said wall plates comprise corner plates having portions extending respectively generally at an angle to each other and secured respectively to portions of said wall disposed at similar angles.

17. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 16 wherein said corner plates include one or more pile brackets secured to one of said portions whereby one or more hydraulic rams raise both said plate portions and the respectively associated wall portions simultaneously with the raising of said building structure.

18. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 3 wherein said elongated wall plates are secured to said wall by bolts extending through the plates and into the wall, said bolts being arranged in spaced groups and said groups being disposed at respectively opposite sides of said piles and hydraulic rams.

19. The building raising or underpinning structure as set forth in claim 8 wherein said wall plates are spaced apart substantially equidistant about said inside or outside perimeter and where a crack defines a weak point in said wall said spaced groups of bolts in a wall plate are disposed upon opposite sides of said point to brace the wall on both sides of such weakness.

20. The method of underpinning and raising a building which comprises attaching a series of pile brackets about the perimeter of a building wall structure in substantially equidistant spaced relation, driving a pile section from each of the pile brackets into supporting ground by means of a hydraulic ram disposed between each such bracket and the associated pile, controlling the pressure developed in the hydraulic rams not to exceed a force necessary to raise the building until all of the piles are driven to a point of stability in the supporting ground, then adjusting the pressure developed in the hydraulic rams to develop the force necessAry for raising the building structure, and then actuating all of said hydraulic rams simultaneously to raise the building structure uniformly about the entire perimeter thereof.

21. The method of raising a building which comprises accurately and exactly determining the force required to raise said building, attaching a series of pile brackets about the perimeter of a building wall structure in substantially equidistant spaced relation, driving pile sections from each of the pile brackets into supporting ground by means of a hydraulic ram disposed between each such bracket and the associated pile, exactly controlling the pressure developed in the hydraulic rams not to exceed the determined force necessary to raise the building until all of the piles are driven to a point of stability in the supporting ground while utilizing the reaction force of the building to drive the piles, then adjusting the pressure developed in the hydraulic rams to develop the force determined to raise the building, actuating all of the hydraulic rams simultaneously to raise the building uniformly about the entire perimeter thereof, and slowly reducing the pressure in the hydraulic rams and making attachment of each pile to the respectively associated pile bracket.

22. The method of underpinning a building which comprises determining the force required that would raise said building, attaching a series of pile brackets about the perimeter of the building wall structure in substantially equidistant spaced relation, simultaneously driving pile sections from each of the pile brackets into supporting ground by means of a hydraulic ram disposed between each such bracket and the respectively associated pile while controlling the pressure developed in the hydraulic rams not to exceed the determined force necessary to raise the building, said piles all being driven into the supporting ground until each pile reaches a point of stability, and then slowly reducing the pressure in the hydraulic rams and making attachment of each pile to the respectively associated pile bracket.

23. The method of underpinning and raising a building as set forth in claim 20 wherein wall plates are secured to the building wall structure and said pile brackets are secured to the wall plates.

24. The method of raising a building as set forth in claim 21 wherein wall plates are secured to said building wall structure and said pile brackets are secured to the wall plates.

25. The method of underpinning a building as set forth in claim 22 wherein wall plates are secured to said building wall structure and said pile brackets are secured to the wall plates.

26. The method of raising a building as set forth in claim 21 wherein said rams are permanently disposed between each said pile and the respectively associated pile bracket.

27. The method of underpinning a building as set forth in claim 22 wherein said rams are permanently disposed between each said pile and the respectively associated pile bracket.

28. The method of underpinning and raising a building as set forth in claim 20 wherein added weight is loaded onto said building before driving said piles and the added weight is removed after driving the piles.

29. The method of underpinning and raising a building as set forth in claim 21 wherein added weight is loaded onto said building before driving said piles and the added weight is removed after driving the piles.

30. The method of underpinning and raising a building as set forth in claim 22 wherein added weight is loaded onto said building before driving said piles and the added weight is removed after driving the piles.

31. The method of underpinning and raising a building as set forth in claim 26 wherein added weight is loaded onto said building before driving said piles and the added weight is removed after driving the piles.

32. The method of underpinning and raising a building as set forth in claim 27 wherein added weight is loaded onto said building before driving said piles and the added weight is removed after driving the piles.