pile engine

1 definition found

pile engine - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  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]