pile engine

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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Pile \Pile\, n. [AS. p[imac]l arrow, stake, L. pilum javelin; but cf. also L. pila pillar.]

1.A large stake, or piece of timber, pointed and driven into the earth, as at the bottom of a river, or in a harbor where the ground is soft, for the support of a building, a pier, or other superstructure, or to form a cofferdam, etc. [1913 Webster]

Note: Tubular iron piles are now much used. [1913 Webster]

2.[Cf. F. pile.] (Her.) One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost. [1913 Webster]

Pile bridge, a bridge of which the roadway is supported on piles.

Pile cap, a beam resting upon and connecting the heads of piles.

Pile driver, or Pile engine, an apparatus for driving down piles, consisting usually of a high frame, with suitable appliances for raising to a height (by animal or steam power, the explosion of gunpowder, etc.) a heavy mass of iron, which falls upon the pile.

Pile dwelling. See Lake dwelling, under Lake.

Pile plank (Hydraul. Eng.), a thick plank used as a pile in sheet piling. See Sheet piling, under Piling.

Pneumatic pile. See under Pneumatic.

Screw pile, one with a screw at the lower end, and sunk by rotation aided by pressure. [1913 Webster]

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