Striker head for a pile driving hydraulic hammer

Abstract

tool joint (14) at one end for connecting it to a box joint portion (12) of a vibratory hydraulic hammer (10). The second end of the striker head (16) is adapted to engage an end of a H-beam pile (20) which is composed of spaced apart, substantially parallel flanges (22, 24) and an interconnecting web (26) that extends perpendicular to the flanges (22, 24). The striker section (30) of the striker head (16) includes a slot (38) in which a portion of the web (26) is received and recesses (40, 42) at the opposite ends of the slot (38) in which the flanges (22, 24) are received.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001]This invention relates to pile driving hydraulic hammers. More particularly, it relates to a striker head for adapting a hydraulic hammer to drive an H-beam pile that is composed of a pair of spaced apart, parallel flanges interconnected by a web that is perpendicular to the flanges.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002]U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,664, granted Dec. 27, 1994, to Michael M. McDowell and Eugene A. Matthews, relates to a pile driving machine and method. The pile driving machine includes a hydraulic hammer that engages and delivers blows to a pile for driving the pile into the ground. The entire contents of U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,664 are incorporated herein by this specific reference.

[0003]There is a need for a striker head for adapting a hydraulic hammer so that it can engage and drive a H-beam pile. A principal object of the present invention is to fill this need.

[0004]Herein the term H-beam pile includes piles made from I-beams and piles made from wide flange beams.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005]A striker head constructed according to the present invention has a first end adapted to connect to a hydraulic hammer and a second end adapted to engage the upper end of a H-beam pile. The second end of the striker head includes a slot that receives an end portion of the pile web and opposite side portions which fit between the two pile flanges on opposite sides of the pile web when the pile web is within the slot. The opposite side portions have recesses at opposite ends of the slot in which end portions of the flanges of the H-beam are received. The recesses and slot have substantially co-planar base surfaces which confront an end of the H-beam pile.

[0006]Preferably, the opposite side portions of the second end of the striker head have substantially parallel confronting slot forming surfaces between which the pile web receiving slot is formed. The slot forming surfaces are substantially parallel to the base surfaces.

[0007]Preferably also, the opposite side portions of the second end of the striker head have substantially planar faces that are a parallel to each other and perpendicular to the base surfaces and the slot forming surfaces.

[0008]In preferred form, the striker head comprises a stem section that includes the first end of the striker head, a striker section that includes the second end of the striker head, and a transition section between the stem section and the striker section. The stem section has a first diameter. The striker section has a larger second diameter. The transition section progressively increases in diameter from the stem section to the striker section.

[0009]In preferred form, the striker head has a cylindrical pin at its first end that is adapted to mate with a box that is a part of the hydraulic hammer. The stem includes side flats adapted to receive lock bars, that are provided for connecting the striker head to the hammer.

[0010]In one embodiment, the pile contacting end of the striker head comprises four projections that are separated by perpendicular slots. The projections have four substantially flat sides. This construction allows a single striker head to be connected to a pile by rotating it no more than 90°. When the striker head is positioned to receive the web of the pile in a first of the two slots, the striker head need only be rotated another 90° in order to put the web in the second slot in the second end of the striker head.

[0011]Other features and advantages of the present invention can be seen and understood by examination of the drawings, the description of the illustrated embodiment, the claims, and the principles that are exemplified by the structure that is illustrated and described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012]Like reference numerals are used throughout the several views of the drawing, and:

[0013]FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a striker head taken from above and looking down towards the top and one side of the striker head, such view including a schematic showing of a hydraulic hammer and a box joint component which it includes, and further showing an end portion of an H-beam pile which is adapted to be engaged by the lower end of the striker head;

[0014]FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the striker head shown by FIG. 1, FIG. 2 looking toward one end of a pile web receiving slot that is formed in the striker section of the striker head;

[0015]FIG. 3 is a view like FIG. 2, but looking perpendicular to FIG. 2;

[0016]FIG. 4 is a somewhat schematic longitudinal sectional view of the portion of the housing for the hammer that receives the upper end portion of the striker head, such view showing the upper end portion of the striker head in elevation and showing two lock blocks positioned between flats on the upper end portion of the striker head and confronting portions of the housing;

[0017]FIG. 5 is an end view looking toward the end of the striker section of the striker head;

[0018]FIG. 6 is a view like FIG. 5, including a solid line showing of a first pile and a broken line showing of a second pile;

[0019]FIG. 7 is a view like FIG. 1 of a modified form of the striker head;

[0020]FIG. 8 is a view like FIG. 3 of the modified striker head shown by FIG. 7;

[0021]FIG. 9 is a view like FIG. 4, but of the striker head shown by FIGS. 7 and 8; and

[0022]FIG. 10 is a view like FIG. 6, but of the striker head shown by FIGS. 7-9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT

[0023]Referring to FIG. 1, a vibratory hydraulic hammer 10 is shown schematically and is shown to include a box 12 that is adapted for receiving a pin 14 that is at a first end of a striker head 16. The striker head 16 includes flats 18 provided for receiving lock bars 19 that connect the striker head 16 to the output portion of the hydraulic hammer 10. The hydraulic hammer may be of a type that is manufactured by BTIC and disclosed at www.rockbreaker.com. This hydraulic hammer 10 may be supported in any number of ways, including by a mast structure such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,664. What is important is that the hydraulic hammer 10 be adapted to engage an end of an H-beam pile 20 and be positionable for driving the pile 20 into the ground.

[0024]As shown by FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, the H-beam pile has a pair of spaced apart, substantially parallel flanges 22, and an interconnecting web 26. Flanges 22, 24 are substantially parallel to each other and are substantially perpendicular to the web 26. The flanges 22, 24 and the web 26 may vary in thickness and width. The striker head of the present invention is adapted to be used with a range of sizes of H-beam 20.

[0025]As shown by FIGS. 1-3 and 5, the striker head 16 has a stem section 28 and striker section 30. The pin 14 is a part of the stem section 28 and the striker section 30 includes a slot and side recesses for receiving an end portion of the H-beam 20. As illustrated, the stem section 28 has a first diameter and the striker section 30 has a larger second diameter. A transition section 32 between the stem section 28 and the striker section 30 progressively increases in diameter from the stem section 28 to the striker section 30.

[0026]Referring to FIGS. 1-6, the striker section 30 has a pair of spaced apart side portions 34, 36 which define a web receiving slot 38 between them. Side portions 34, 36 have side faces 40, 42 and 44, 46 outwardly of which are defined recesses 48, 50. The side faces 40, 42 are in co-planar parallelism and the side faces 44, 46 are in co-planar parallelism. The side faces 40, 42 are in spaced parallelism with side faces 44, 46. The side portions 34, 36 includes confronting slot forming surfaces 52, 54 which are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the side faces 40, 42 and 44, 46. The striker section 30 has a substantially flat base 56 that includes the bottoms of the recesses 48, 50 and the bottom of the slot 38. Base surface 56 is in a radial plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the striker head.

[0027]In FIG. 5, the width dimension of the side portions 34, 36 is labeled l. The diameter of the striker section 30 is labeled d. The width of the slot 38 is labeled w. All of these dimensions may vary. For a given striker, the dimensions d, l, w may be chosen so that the striker head 16 can be used for a plurality of sizes of H-beam piles 20. This is shown by FIG. 6 in which a first pile 20 is shown in solid lines and a second pile 20' is shown in broken lines. As can be seen, the second pile 20' has a wider web 26 and narrower flanges 22, 24 than the second pile 20'. Also, several sizes of striker head 16 may be provided for increasing the number of sizes of H-beam piles 20 that can be driven by the pile driver.

[0028]By way of typical and therefore non-limitive example, the total length dimension of the illustrated striker head 16 may be twenty-four inches. The diameter of the striker section 30 may be eight inches. The depth of the slot 38 may be two and one half inches and the width of the slot may be one and one quarter inches. The stem section diameter may be about four inches.

[0029]A modified embodiment of the striker head 16' it is substantially like striker head 16 except for the construction of the lower portion that engages the piling. As best shown by FIGS. 9 and 10, two slots 60, 62 are provided. This divides the projecting portions of the striker section 30' which project below the base surface 56' into four parts 64, 66, 68, 70. Part 64 has outer surfaces 72, 74 and inner surfaces 76, 78. Part 66 has outer surfaces 80, 82 and inner surfaces 84, 86. Part 68 has outer surfaces 88, 90 and inner surfaces 92, 94. Part 70 has outer surfaces 94, 96 and inner surfaces 98, 100. The surfaces 78, 100 and 84, 92 define the slot 60. The surfaces 76, 86 and 94, 98 form the second slot 62. As shown by FIG. 10, this construction allows the placement of the striker head 30' in two positions relative to the piling 20. In one position, the web 26 is within the slot 60 and the flanges 22, 24 are outwardly of the surfaces 90, 96 and 74, 80, respectively. In the second position, the web 26 is in the slot 62 and the flanges 22, 24 are outwardly of the surfaces 72, 94 and 82, 88 respectively.

[0030]The advantage of the striker head 16' is that it generally requires a movement of the machine that supports the hydraulic hammer 10 and the striker head 16' by no more than about 45° about the longitudinal axis of the striker 16'. When the striker 16 is used, the machine may sometimes have to be moved in position about 90° along the longitudinal axis of the striker head 16. In both designs, when the striker head 16, 16' is setting on the pile 20, the hydraulic hammer 10 is operated to impose a driving force on the upper end of the pile 20, which moves the pile 20 downwardly into the ground.

[0031]FIG. 4 shows the upper end portion of a striker head 16, 16' positioned within a lower housing portion 102 of the hydraulic hammer 10. Lock bars are positioned between the flats 18 and confronting surfaces 106 on inner portions of the housing part 102. As can be seen by FIG. 4, the placement of the lock bars 104 in the recesses formed outwardly of the surfaces 18 serves to lock the striker head 16, 16' against both rotation and endwise movement out from the housing 102. Additional information about this manner of holding the striker head 16, 16' inside the housing of the hammer 10 can be obtained from Breaker Technology, Inc., having a West Coast address at 3464 Dupanart Street, Riverside, Calif. 92507 and a East Coast address at 30625 Solon Industrious Parkway, Coinno, Ohio 44139. The hydraulic hammer 10 is pushed downwardly by its supporting mast and it in turn pushes the base surfaces against the upper end surfaces of the piling while the internal mechanism in the hydraulic hammer 10 is operating to apply a driving force on the piling 20, 20'.

[0032]The illustrated embodiment is only an example of the present invention and, therefore, is non-limitive. It is to be understood that many changes in the particular structure, materials and features of the invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is my intention that my patent rights not be limited by the particular embodiments that are illustrated and described herein, but rather are to be determined by the following claims, interpreted according to accepted doctrines of patent claim interpretation.

Claims

1. A striker head for a hydraulic hammer that is adapted to engage an end of an H-beam pile that is composed of a pair of spaced apart, parallel flanges interconnected by a web that is perpendicular to the flanges, said striker head comprising:a first end adapted to connect to a hydraulic hammer and a second end adapted to engage an end of the H-beam pile;said second end of the striker head having a slot that receives an end portion of the pile web and opposite side portions which fit between the two pile flanges on opposite sides of the pile web when the pile web is within the slot, said opposite side portions having recesses at opposite ends of the slot in which end portions of the flanges of the H-beam are received; andsaid recesses and said slot having substantially co-planar base surfaces which confront the upper end surface of the H-beam pile.

2. The striker head of claim 1, wherein the opposite side portions of the second end of the head have substantially parallel confronting slot forming surfaces between which the pile web receiving slot is formed, said slot forming surfaces being substantially perpendicular to the base surfaces.

3. The striker head of claim 2, wherein the opposite side portions of the second end of the striker head have substantially planar faces that are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the base surfaces and the slot forming surfaces.

4. The striker head of claim 1, comprising a stem section that includes the first and of the striker head and a striker section that includes the second end of the striker head and a transition section between the stem section and the striker section.

5. The striker head of claim 4, wherein the stem section has a first diameter, the striker section has a larger second diameter and the transition section progressively increases in diameter from the stem section to the striker section.

6. The striker head of claim 1, comprising a pin at the first end of the striker head adapted to mate with a complementary box joint that is a part of the hammer.

7. The striker head of claim 7, comprising a stem section that includes a first end of the striker head and a striker section that includes the second end of the striker head and a transition section between the stem section and the striker section.

8. The striker head of claim 7, wherein the stem section has a first diameter, the striker section has a larger second diameter and the transition section progressively increases in diameter from the stem section to the striker section.

9. The striker head of claim 6, wherein the opposite side portions of the second end of the striker head have substantially parallel confronting slot forming surfaces between which the pile web receiving slot is formed, said slot forming surfaces being substantially perpendicular to the base surfaces.

10. The striker head of claim 9, wherein the opposite side portions of the second end of the striker head have substantially planar faces that are parallel to each other and are perpendicular to the base surfaces and the slot forming surfaces.

11. The striker head of claim 1, wherein said second end has a pair of slots that cross each other, each said slot being constructed to receive the web of the H-beam piling, said second end of the striker head having opposite side recesses at the opposite ends of both slots in which end portions of the flanges of the H-beam are received, said recesses and said slots having substantially co-planar base surfaces which confront the upper end surface of the H-beam pile.

Images