1845.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



73 



PILE DRIVING MACHINE. 



"Detcription of the Piling Machiue used al lie Montrose Harbour 

 Works." By James Milne. Communicated by Geouge Thomas 

 Page, Assoc. Inst. C. E. Read at the Institution of Cirit Engineers. 



The method of applying a portion of the powi-r of a steam-engini-, 

 io driving piles, was successfully employed by Mr. James Milne, in 

 the progress of the Montrose Harbour works. 



The upright guides are of tlie ordinary construction. The ram, 

 which weighed 12 cwt., was first worked by eiglit men, with a crab 

 fastened to the base. The clipper, or clutch, with its slider, is similar 

 to those ordinarily used, except that the upper extremities of the 

 clipper, are made of sulTieient length to allow the slider to rise 15 

 inches, after the ram has been disengaged by the slips ; the ram chain, 

 which is shackled to the clipper, passes over a pulley at the top 

 of the guides, and is led oft" to the other part of the machine by 

 another pulley in the base of the- guides. The hoisting machinery, 

 figs. 1 and 2, which is substituted for the usual crab winch, is 

 fixed upon a framing, which is placed at a given distance behind tho 

 guide frames. 



Fig. 2.— Plan. 



A pulley A, figs. 1 and 2, runs slack upon the shaft B, and is driven 

 by a rope connected to the steam-engine. In a seat turned in the 

 centre block of the pulley A, is a friction strap C, the extremities of 

 which embr.ice the prongs of the clutch D, when it is engaged as 

 shown in the wood-cuts ; this clutch slides laterally on keys sunk in 

 the shaft, and is engaged and disengaged by the lever, E. The cone, 

 F, is also keyed to the shaft ; the ram chain passes through the double 

 part of the lever, E, and through the aperture in the flange of the 

 cone (as shown in fig. 2), where it is fixed by a pinching screw at G ; 

 the ball I, slips along the chain, and is fastened by a pinching screw at 

 any part, giving the required length. 



In working the macliine, the pulley, A, figs. 1 and 2, revolves in the 

 direction shown by the arrow ; the' clutch having been engaged by 

 thy lever, the shaft and the cone, on which the ram-chain is coiled, 

 will revolve also, and raise the ram by the clipper, until it is disen- 

 gaged by the slips on the guides. The ball, I, which is fixed to the 

 chain, is at the same instant nearly close to the lever, and as the clipper 

 with its slider is allowed to rise about 15 inches further, the ball then 

 strikes the lever, pulls it back, and thus disengages the clutch ; the 

 shaft and cone being then at libi'rly, the vi'eight of the clipper and 

 slides (nearly J cwt.J uncoils the chain from the cone, the clipper 

 therefore immeiliately descends again, and catches the staple in the 

 top of the ram, when the man in attendance pushes forward the lever, 

 and engages the clutch for another stroke, by a slight addition to its 

 present gearing, the machine itself might be made to perform this re- 

 engaging operation also. 



The crank on the end of the shaft, B, figs. 1 and 2, and the ratchet 

 wheel and pall on the large end of the cone, are used for coiling the 

 ram-chain on the cone, in order to fix the ball, I, to its proper place. 

 The cone is preferred to a cylinder, as it increases the velocity of the 

 ram as it ascends, and thereby, considerably frees the machine from 

 any jerk in starting ; and also when working a lighter ram, the chain 

 can be coiled upon a larger diameter of the cone, and the speed is in- 

 creased, in the same ratio as the weight is diminished. 



When piling in a straight line, the plate for the bottom guide pul- 

 ley, fig. 3, is fastened to the base of the upright guide frame and is 

 moved round the bolt at A, as a centre to the dillerent angles in which 

 the ram-chain is led from the engine. 



Figr. 3.— Swivel guide pulley. 



The machine is driven from the steam-engine, by a pulley of 4 feet 

 10 inches diameter, making 35 revolutions per minute, which gives 

 motion to the pulley. A, figs. 1 and 2, of 3 feet 6 inches diameter, 

 causing the shaft and cone to revolve with a velocity of 4S-33 revo- 

 lutions per minute ; this, with the 12 cwt. ram, which is worked from 

 the smallest end of the cone, gives about seven strokes per minute 

 from the height of between 10 feet and 12 feet; or six or seven times 

 as much work as could be accomplished by manual labour. 



COCKERELL AND COLONNA. 



Sir — What could Professor Cockerell possibly mean by recommend- 

 ing with such outrageous admiration as he did in one of his Lectures, 

 the strangely fantastical performance of the old Dominican — he lived 

 to the age of ninety-four — Fra Francesco Colonna, surnamed Potifilo ? 

 Does the Professor meditate an English version of it with a commen- 

 tary of his own ? Curious it certainly is, highly curious ; but in my 

 poor opinion it is any thing but calculated to promote an intelligent 

 study of architecture. In order to give some idea of the learned 

 Dominican's acuteness and reasoning, it will be sufficient to instance 

 the reason he assigns for the lower part of the flutings of columns 

 being sometimes filled up with what is called "cabling;" — a reason 

 so marvellously monstrous that I should feel some scruple as to no- 

 ticing it, did I suppose that your Journal circulates among lady readers. 

 By the cabling or rods inserted in the flutes, the learned ancients, he 

 gravely tells us intended to express or symbolize the male sex, the 

 flutes themselves plainly answering to the recipient parts of the other 

 sex, and they are continued to so much greater extent " perche quilla 

 lubrica natura excede la virile in lasciria" 1.'! Was there ever such 

 monstrous extravagance, and gross bestiality of imagination! 



Pity that Wren was so ill-inforined as to the real meaning and sig- 

 nification of cabled columns, for had he been properly enlightened as 

 to it, he would not have introduced such profane and scandalous things 

 into St. Paul's. Yours, &c., 



Piccadilly, Feb, 17 Ih. Co.m.mon Sense. 



10 



