US759389A - Caisson. - Google Patents

Description

PATYENTED MAY 10, 1904,

D. E. MORAN.

GAISSON.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE so. 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHBET 1.

NO MODEL.

FIG. 2.

INVENTOR 360M Jlorm WITNESSES;

THE NORRIS PETERS co, PHOTO-LITHO.WASNINDTON 0.

PATENTED MAY 10; 1904.

D. E. MORAN.

GAISSON.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE a0, 1903.

mums-411mm; 2.

N0 MODEL.

FIG. 3.

nmimui um! um INVENTOR g My,

By Altameys,

WITNESSES m: NORRIS PETERS co, FHOTO-LITHQ, WASHANGTON. n r.

Patented May 10, 1904.

UNITED STATES PPATENT ()FFICE.

DANIEL E. MORAN, OF MENDHAM, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF TVVO-g THIRDS TO EDWIN S. JARRETT, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y., AND FRANK- LIN REMlNGrTON, OF GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT.

CAISITSON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 759,389, dated May 10, 1904.

Original application filed May 24, 1902, Serial No. 108,835. Divided and this application filed June 30, 1903. Serial No. 163,7{i8- (N inodel.)

To all whom, it may concern:

sey, have invented certain new and'useful Iming is a specification.

The present application is in part a division. of my prior application, Serial No. 108,835, filed May 24, 1902, embracing certain improvements over the specific form of the invention .therein shown and claiming the inventionbroadly, so as to include all the several modifications illustrated in the two applications, as

' a structure which can be expeditiously built well as all other equivalents thereof.

The improvements are especially applica-. ,ble to pneumatic caissons and are aimed at, securing economy in construction by dispens-1 ing with the necessity'for using a great por-, tion of the steel or timber construction now' commonly used, securing a smooth outer sur face, insuring greater speed in the building .tion or the. joints presentedby. timber conand sinking of the caisson, and making possible the formation of the finished pier in an.

uninterrupted mass without the transverse division commonly occurring at the roof of the;-

working chamber.

after.

The accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention.

Figure l is a transverse section of acom-l plete pneumatic caisson embodying the lnvention, the section being taken on the line 1 1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a'horizontal section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

diately above. trating another embodiment of the invention.

The complete caisson embodying all the features of improvement is formed entirely of masonry, having a smooth masonry outer sur Fig. 3 is a central longi-' tudinal section of the working chamber and; the portion of the body of the caisson imme-f' Fig. 4 is a similar View illus- L block of concrete, or. partly in' one way and struction, whereby the sinking of the caisson Be it knownjthat I, DANIEL E;. MORAN, a citia zen of theUnited States, residing at Mendham, 3 in the county of Morris and State of New J eris greatly facilitated and the cost is also reduced. With the ordinary construction a coffer-dam of timber or steel surrounds the well in which the pier is to be built and is left in place as a shell surroundingsuch pier, but of no value after the pier is finished. My invention provides a great economy in dispensing with this coifer-dam. Certain features of the invention are of value whatever be the form of the masonry body; but preferably this body extends solidly throughout its height from the .usual or any suitable internal shaft to the outer surface of the caisson, thus providing by reason of its simplicity and the weight of which sinks the caisson very rapidly and generally without extraneous weight and which, most important of all, forms a substantially solid pier of maximum weightsupporting cross-section. The weight on such piers when used for foundations on land acts by direct compression Without appreciable transverse buckling strains, such as are present in ordinary columns, and the weight-supporting power is in substantially direct proportion to the solid cross-section. Ordinarily the internal shaft will also be filled after the caisson has been sunk to its proper depth, so as to form I prefer to use concrete as the material of which the caisson is formed, and the concrete may be mixed and molded immediately on the ground where the work is going on or at some other place, and it may be either moldedin separate .blocks or rings, in which case the caissonis up by cementing the parts together, or it may be formed by molding one section above another directly on the caisson, so

as to {form the whole i nfav substantially single to build, since I may have the successive sections of concrete molded either in place or otherwise.

I prefer to make not only the body of the caisson of masonry, but to extend this material continuously to substantially the lower edge of the caisson, so as to avoid the weakness found in the present caissons, in which a roof over the working chamber divides the body of the caisson from the lower portion immediately surrounding the working chamber and forms substantially a transverse division or cleavage plane at the plane of the roof. By forming the whole of an uninterrupted mass of masonry this weakness is avoided.

Referring to the drawings, a rectangular caisson is illustrated having its length about twice its width, but forms of circular or other cross-section are equally possible with my improvement.

A is the working chamber, providing space for one or more workmen to fill a bucket B, which is raised and lowered through a vertical shaft C, the working chamber and shaft being, as usual, kept under a greater or less pneumatic pressure, depending upon the depth of the caisson.

-D is an air-lock at the top of theshaft, provided with a lower door E and an upper door (not shown) which operates in the usual way to permit the bucket to be withdrawn without the escape of much air. 7

The working chamber is preferably formed in a single block of concrete, the side walls F and the roof G in substantially one, and the roof being preferably arched and formed in horizontal steps H to provide a flat horizontal bearing between the subsequent concretefilling and the roofof the caisson. Preferably, also, grooves J are formed in the horizontal steps to lock the filling with the Walls and roof of the chamber and prevent lateral spreading of the walls. The cutting edge K may be beveled, as shown, and formed simply of concrete, or it may:be reinforced in any suitable way with wood or metal.

The body of the caisson above the working chamber is preferably formed of concrete extending continuously from the shaft to the outer face, as explained, though it is not essential that the concrete shall extend entirely out as far as the vertical planes of the edges of the working chamber. When the concrete extends throughout the thickness, it may be either in two parts, as shown in Fig. 1, orin a single block, as shown in Fig. 3. In Fig. 1 the main blocks L extend nearly to the shaft, and internal tubular blocks M of approximately dumb-bell shape in cross-section, as shown in Fig. 2, fit within the outer blocks L and form the shaft C itself. The blocks M may be mounted in place and the blocks L molded around them, or vice versa, or each block may be separately formed and then inserted in place. The dumb-bell shape'of the shaft is of value as providing, in effect, two shafts, one for the bucket and one for the mena matter very desirable for the safety of the men. The section shown provides this feature 'in as small a space as possible, so as to keep down the quantity of air required and so as to guide the bucket on practically all four sides and to prevent it from possibly swinging over against the ladder, which may also most conveniently be formed in the narrow spacebetween the two shafts, as by means of bolts N, embedded in the concrete at this point. Preferably the joints between the working chamber and the body of the caisson and also the joints throughout the body of the caisson are cemented together, so as to form substantially the whole caisson in a monolith of concrete. Preferably, also, to economize air I propose to coat the inner face of the working chamber and also the inner wall of the shaft with a coating of air-tight material, preferably using a paint containinglime or the like, so as to insure a good union between the subsequent concrete filling and the old concrete of the caisson.

It is ordinarily necessary to connect the airlock to the shaft by means of a strong connection to prevent its being forced up from the shaft, with a consequent leakage at the top of the shaft. I propose to connect the lock by means of bolts 0, which may extend down anyv suitable distance in the concrete at the sides of theladder. They may, in fact, extend entirely down and be fastened to the roof of the working chamber. Obviously, also, these connecting bolts or rods might be run down in the open space between the two parts of the shaft adjacent to the ladder. I propose to use also, with or without the holding-down bolts 0, a device which may be very simply utilizednamely, a load carried directly by the air-lock, so as to hold it down on the shaft and at the same time assist in the sinking of the caisson. For example, I may provide brackets formed by channel or angle irons P, attached to the air-lock and carrying rings or bars or other shapes of iron Q, so as to very much increase the weight of the air-lock itself. I/Vith this construction I may provide the bottom of the air-lock with a flange R for fitting it properly in the top of the shaft and around which is placed a ring of any suitable packing S. The upper edge of the shaft may be reinforced, as by an angle-iron T. The weights Q are preferably sufficient to hold the lock down with a pressure which compacts the packing-ring S to make' a joint tight against the uplift of the compressed air.

As shown in Fig. 3, the internal portion of the caisson immediately surrounding the airshaft G is integral with the blocks L, which extend to the outer face of the caisson; otherwise this figure represents substantially the same caisson shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The caisson may also, as illustrated in Fig.

4, be provided witha metal shaft U, which may be provided with a gate V at its lower end. The entire construction may be directly molded in place without the horizontal joints indicated in the previous figures. The face of the working chamber may bepyramidal instead of arched and may be formed in steps H without the grooves previously described. A tie-rod W may be used for insuring against the spread of the walls. The cutting edge may consist of plates of metal X, to which are attached angle-irons Y, and the latter may be connected by means of rods Z to the base of the shaft U.

The advantages of the invention might of course be secured by making only a part of the height of the caisson solid or otherwise, according to the invention. Though concrete is to be preferred, I may also use stone or brick or any combination of different kinds of masonry. For example, the working chamher, with its roof, may be of concrete and. the remainder of stone or brick, or the working chamber and shaft alone may be of concrete.

The construction illustrated in Fig. 4 is not claimed in detail in this application, being the subject of specific claims in my application, Serial No. 108,835, aforesaid.

Though I have described with great particularity of detail certain embodiments of my invention, yetit is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific forms disclosed. Various modifications thereof may be made by those skilled in the art in detail and in the arrangement and combination of the parts without departure from the invention.

What I claim is 1. A pneumatic caisson having an internal vertically-extending portion of masonry and in which is a vertical shaft-opening and having a working chamber of suitable dimensions to accommodate a workman, the roof of said chamber being of masonry to form a substantially uninterrupted mass of masonry without a transverse division at the roof when the chamber is filled to form the finished pier.

2. A pneumatic caisson having an internal vertically-extending portion of concrete and in which is a vertical shaft-opening and having a working chamber of suitable dimensions to accommodate a workman, the roof of said chamber being of concrete to form a substantially uninterrupted mass of concrete without a transverse division at the roof when the chamber is filled to form the finished pier.

3. A pneumatic caisson having its outer por-- tion of masonry, having an internal verticallyextending portion of masonry and in which is a vertical shaft-opening, and having a Working chamber of suitable dimensions to accommodate a workman, the roof of said chamber being of masonry to form a substantially uninterrupted mass of masonry without a transverse division at the roof when the chamber is filled to form the finished pier.

41 A pneumatic caisson having a working chamber of suitable dimensions to accommodate a workman, the roof of said chamber being of concrete to form a substantially uninterrupted mass of concrete withouta transverse division at the roof when the chamber is filled to form the finished pier, and an internal shaft portion of concrete extending upward from said roof and molded substantially in one with said roof and having a vertical shaftopening extending therethrough.

5. A pneumatic caisson having an internal shaft-opening, having a body formed of masonry extending solidly from such opening to the outer surface of the caisson and having a working chamber of suitable dimensions to accommodate a workman, the roof of said chamber being of masonry to form a substantially uninterrupted mass of masonry without a transverse division at the roof when the chamber is filled to form the finished pier.

6. A caisson having a cutting edge of masonry.

7. A caisson having a working chamber formed of masonry and with its face formed in steps.

8. A caisson having a working chamber formed of masonry and with its face formed in steps, and grooves formed in said steps to interlock with the filling.

9. A caisson including a body and a working chamber formed together in a monolith of.

concrete.

10. A caisson having its outer portion of masonry, and a separately-formed, internal, vertically-extending portion of concrete in which is a vertical shaft-opening.

11. A pneumatic caisson having an air-lock weighted sufiiciently to hold it down against the uplift due to the compressed air.

12. A pneumatic caisson formed of masonry and having an air-lock, and holding-down rods connecting said air-lock to the masonry of the caisson.

13. A pneumatic caisson having a shaft providing two passages of suitable width with a narrower space connecting them so that the bucket is embraced and guided on substantially all sides.

14. A pneumatic caisson having a shaft of substantially dumb-bell shape, and a ladder in the narrow portion of the shaft.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my namein the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DANIEL E. MORAN.

Witnesses:

DOMINGO A. USINA, FRED WHITE.

' by mesne assignments.

Enters this disclaimer as follows:

759,389.'Dam'el E. Moran, Mendhaln, N. J. CAISSON. Patent dated May 1904. Disclaimer filed January 19, 1915, by The Foundation Company,

1. \Vhere the specification and claims of said patent refer petitioner disclaims all materials except concrete or equivalent pl 2. Where the specification and claims refer to oaissons or a pier your petitioner disclaims all caissons or piers except pneumatic caissons DISCLAIMER.

assignee,

to masonry your astic material.

or a caisson or piers and caissons or piers sunk on land. for forming foundations for building on land.

[Ofii'cz'al Gazette, January 26, 1 9151]

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