THE 



CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S 



JOURNAL, 



e 



». 



r 



B 



e 



-•» 



t 



THE AMERICAN STEAM PILE DRIVING MACHINE. , 



( Willi an Engraving, Plate I.) j 



In our last number we gave a brief account of this machine, which 

 has been exhibited fur the last two months at Smith's Wharf, Tedlar's 

 Acre, Lambeth. Our information was principally obtained from the en- 

 gineer, but since then we have had an opportunity of more carefully 

 examining the machine, and obtaining some accurate particulars, to- j 

 gether with a correct drawing of the machine, taken expressly for 

 the Journal. The machine was imported into this country from the 

 United Slates, by Colonel Cowdin, and some other parties, and con- 

 sists simply of a locomotive engine, similar in principle to those used 

 on our railways, having two inclined cylinders with their connecting 

 rods, working upon cruiks attached to the axes of two crab engines, 

 instead of the wheels of the locomotive engine. The two crab engines 

 perform the operation of driving the pile with a ran. of the s.ime 

 weight, and in the same manner as those generally adopted fur all the 

 large works in this country, such as the coHVr d.m to the new Houses 

 of Farlian.cnt and the bridges. With this machin,- two piles are 

 driven at the same time. 



In America the steam machine has been generally adopted fur the 

 constraclion of railways on piles, for which purpose it is well adapted, 

 for as sMon as the machine has driven a pair of piles, it cuts ofl'the 

 Iieads to a level, or with a slight inclination according to the grade 

 required for the r.ulway, ami then rails are laitl upon the top either 

 with cross sleepeis or' not as may be desired ; the engine advances 

 forward another length and performs the operation again ; thus one 

 engine is enabled to drive two rows of piles at about live feet apart, 

 one mile in a month. 



The i.rinoii)ai object of inquiry is to see how far this machine 

 is superior to those in ordinary use, and as we just si.il-d, in the steam 

 N.'. 52.— Vol.. v.— Janiary, 1812. 



machine we have simiily engine power applied instead of manual 

 labour, for the working of two pile driving machines of the same mag- 

 nitude and power as those in ordinary use. For this purpose it is ob- 

 solutely necessary to make a series of obser\-ations and ascertain the 

 number of piles that can be driven in one day by the steam machine, 

 and the cost of labour, fuel and expenditure of capital, in comparison 

 widi the labour consumed in driving the same number of piles by the 

 ordinary machine. At present, our materials do not warrant us inoft'er- 

 ing any opinion, but we shall hereafter attempt to obtain some infor- 

 mation regarding this very important part of the inquiry. 



For the steam machine, it requires to work the engine and apparatus 

 for driving two piles at one time, with a ram weighing h'> cwt. the 

 following men;— an engine-tender, one man fur throwing each appa- 

 ratus in and out of gear, aud one man to attend to each pile, making 

 altogether live men for driving tieo piles. For the ordinary machine 

 it requires four men to work the crab engine for lifting a ram of the 

 same weight, and one man to attend to the driving of the pile, making 

 fiv; mc.i for tiicA pile, or 10 men for two piles. With the steam ma- 

 chine the ram is lifted four or tis e times in a minute, thereby the opera- 

 tion of driving the piles is very short in comparison with the ordinary 

 machine. The coat of the steam machine with an engine of ten horse 

 power, tubular boiler aud apparatus is about 70 J.'., and the co>t of tlw 

 ordinary pile driving machine with crab engine is about 70/. 



The following is a description of the American steam pile driving 

 machine, and the o|ierations for which it is applicable. 



The machine consists of two pairs of leaders, similar to the common 

 iiand machine, placed Oft. from centra to centre, (the common Ameri- 

 can railway gauge), and firmly bulled to a strong horizontal framing, 

 and supported bv two oblique' la<lders. The frame is 9 feet wide to 

 the outside of the framing, and 2s> feet long, it carries at one end a 

 locomotive boiler 1 1 feet lung and 2 ft. in. diameter, calculated to 

 bear 120 lb. per square inch pressure, but generally worked at hu lb. 



