US1600081A - Wall construction - Google Patents

Description

R. B. TUFTS WAL'Z CONSTRUCTION Filed July 1..

Sept. 14 1926.-

Patented Sept. 14, 1926.

UNITED STATES ROBERT n. TUFTS, OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA.

WALL CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed July 1,

This invention relates to wall construction and has special reference to seawalls. The objects of the invention are to produce a wall which will have a wider base, per unit of material used, than'walls heretofore constructed thereby increasing the resistance to overturning forces, to reduce the form work employed, and to minimize the delays ordinarily due to storms and waves. One embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be hereinafter fully described, the novel features being particularly pointedout in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a seawall showing different stages in the development;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same;

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section;

Figure 4 is a detail perspective of a bottom cross tie Figure 5 is a similar view of an upper cross tie;

Figure 6 is a similar view of a longitudinal beam.

In the practice of the invention, a row of interlocking sheet piling 1 is driven along the line of the toe of the contemplated wall to a depth below the low water line and located where it will be likely to remain submerged in the sand. A capping wall 2 of concrete is then cast in place alon the top edge of the piling and embedding the same, as shown in Fig. 3. At the proper distance back of the capping wall and at equal intervals along the length of the proposed wall or embankment, concrete footings 3 are cast to form the base supports for the back of the wall. Previous to or simultaneous with the described operations, beams, as shown at 5 and 6, of reenforced concrete are cast in molds so that by the time the capping Wall 2 and the footings 3 have set, the ties and beams will be thoroughly hardened and ready to be placed in position. The lowest tie, 5, is formed with a recess 7 in its under side at its front end whereby it is adapted to rest on the capping wall and abut the rear side thereof, and a tie is placed in position at each footing 3 with its rear end resting centrally upon the footing and its front supported by the capping wall, as shown in Figure 3, the proportions of the parts preferably being such that the topof the capping wall is below the mean low tide such as shown at 4, and cross ties, such 1925. Serial No. 40,859. I

level while tops of the cross tiesare above such level. In the upper side of the cross tie 1 overhanging the sides of the ties, it being economically advantageous to have the rear beams bridge only the alternate bays definedv V by the ties. After the beams 4 are in place,

the cross ties 6 are placed upon the beams in vertical alinement with the ties 5 and itwill be noted that the ties 6 are identical with the ties 5 in construction except that a recess 9 is formed in the underside of the tie 6 adjacent its rear end in order to engage over and lock with the rear beam. A second row of beams is then placed in position and this alternate arrangement of beams and ties is repeated until a crib of the desired height has been formed. It will be noted that the cross ties successively decrease in length upwardly and while the rear ends of the ties are in the same vertical plane, in any cross section of the crib, the front ends are in stepped relation, the structure thus far described presenting open spaces between the successive risers in the stepped front of the crib.

With a suflicient length of the crib or skeleton wall completed, forms of false work are placed in position at the front ends of the ties and concrete is poured into the same to form the intermediate steps 10 and the top pair of steps 11, earth being filled in back of the steps, after the poured steps have set, to cover from view all the back beams and all the cross ties except the stepped ends that project through the front. The poured steps automatically key themselves to and between the precast steps and completely close the spaces in the front of the wall between the beams and cross ties. Inasmuch as the successive sets of cross ties decrease in length by equal amounts, the front face of the finished wall has the effect of ordinary concrete steps.

It will be readily seen that this construction gives a wider base than is obtainable from the same amount of material with the Letters-Patent, is

1. A retaining wall comprising transverse crossties of precast concrete arranged in vertical series, precast concrete longitudinally extending beams resting on lower ties and supporting upper ties whereby both beams and ties will be spaced vertically, and

longitudinally extending beams poured between the first-mentioned beams adjacent the front ends of the ties whereby to close the spaces in the front of the Wall and intimately unite the beams and ties therein.

2. A retaining Wall comprising vertical series of concrete cross ties having their front ends in stepped relation, concrete beams supported by lower cross ties near the ends of the ties and supporting upper cross ties, and bonding members uniting the front ends of the cross ties and the front beams in stepped form and closing the spaces between the front beams.

3. A retaining Wall comprising a submerged line of sheet piling, a capping wall extending along and embedding the top of the piling, footings at the rear of the capping wall, concrete cross ties resting at their front ends upon the capping wall and at their rear ends upon the respective footings, longitudinal concrete beams resting upon the cross ties, series of alternating ties and beams of concrete superposed upon the firstmentioned beams, the ties regularly decreasing in length upwardly whereby their front ends and the front beams are disposed in stepped relation, and bonding members closing the spaces between the front ends :of the tics and the front beams and integrally connecting said beams and ties.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

ROBERT B, rUFT-sf

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