1862 London Exhibition: Catalogue: Class VIII.: Sissons and White
1990. SISSONS and WHITE, Hull.
Steam pile driver, simple, practical, economical, easily moved, and occupying small space.
This machine supplies a deficiency which has long been felt, viz.:— something more expeditious and powerful than the common hand engine, and less ponderous and costly than those to which steam has hitherto been applied.
It is easily moved, and by a contrivance in the carriage part, can be transferred to other lines at any angle with great facility; there is also an arrangement for readily altering the incline, to suit the various batters at which piles may have to be driven.
It requires 4 men to work it, and consumes 4 cwt. of coals in 10 hours.
Not least amongst its recommendations are its lightness and smallness of cost, as compared with the heavy and expensive steam drivers hitherto used; and where staging is required the advantages are very great.
The total weight of the driver and boiler is 6 tons, including the ram and mountings, which are 22 cwt.; it ordinarily falls 10 times in a minute, with a 5 ft. lift. The bottom framing of the driver is 7 ft. 3 in. square, and the boiler truck 5 ft. 6 in. square; when in work the two are bolted together, and travel on the same tramway. Its comparative lightness, and the small space it occupies, make it capable of being worked in any position or circumstances in which a common hand machine can be placed, either on land or afloat.
By a different arrangement in the upright framing, piles can be driven in a tideway, down to a depth of 30 ft. below the stage on which the machinery stands, the ram driving quite down to the ground without using a "dolly," the dispensing with which is a great advantage.
It will be perceived from the annexed drawing, that the bottom framing is in two heights — the upper part revolving turntable fashion on the lower one. The machine can thus be faced round to any of the four sides.
The travelling wheels are castors, so that by lifting up each side with a lever the castors can be turned to run on a tramway at any angle.
It is moved by fastening the end of a rope ahead, passing it over a roller under the winch, and taking a turn round the barrel.
The pile is quickly pitched by attaching with a shackle a common chain to the pitched chain.
The height of the machine in the annexed drawing is 36 ft. and will pitch a pile 30 ft. long on ground the same level as that on which the machine stands; this height is found to be sufficient for general use, but machines of greater height are made to order.
The ram is lifted by the horns passing through and projecting beyond the back of the upright guide pieces; on this projection is fixed a frame and catches, which lay hold of the shoulder links of the pitched chain in its continuous revolution. The catches are closed by hand, and released, by striking against pins fixed in the back of the guide pieces.
The machine has been worked at the Vernatt's New Sluice, near Spalding; the Harbour Works, Dublin; the North Level Sluice, near Wisbeach; at the Penarth Docks, Cardiff; by Messrs. Smith and Knight, contractors, London; at Messrs. Samuelsons New Works, Hull; the Jarrow Docks, Newcastle on Tyne, by Messrs. Jackson, Bean and Gow; at the Surrey Canal Docks, Rotherhithe, London, by Messrs. Baker and Son; at the Arsenal, Woolwich, by Mr. Lavers; the new bridge at York; the Bardney Bridge, Lincoln; the Patent Slip, Genoa; at Amsterdam, and. several other places.
Extract from a report of a paper on pile driving, read before the Society of Civil Engineers, by Mr. W. F. Bryant, of the Westminster Bridge Works, Dec. 5, 1859:— "Pile driving by steam power was next treated of, the author describing some of the principal machines which have been invented, preferring Sissons and White's, as being the most economical and practically useful."