Apparatus for placing pipe piling (90, 90) in the ground
including a support frame (10) and a motor (66) mounted on the support
frame (10). The motor (66) has a downwardly extending rotary output
shaft (68) which extends into an opening (70) in a drive head (76).
Rotation of the output shaft (68) by the motor (66) will rotate the
drive head (76) about a vertical axis. The drive head (76) is drivenly
connectable to the upper end portion of the pipe piling (90, 90).
A clamping apparatus is mounted on lower side portions of the support frame. The
clamping apparatus includes a pair of horizontally disposed linear hydraulic actuators
(128). Each actuator comprises a fixed outer end portion (130) and
a retractable/extendable/rotatable inner end portion (132). A pair of pipe
piling engaging clamps (148, 150) are connected to the inner end portions
(132) of the actuators (128). The clamps (148, 150) confront
each other across space between them. The clamps (148, 150) are adapted
to receive between them a section of the pipe piling (90, 90). The
actuators (128) can be retracted to move clamps (148, 150) apart
and provide between them a pipe piling receiving space. The actuators (128)
can be extended to move the clamps (148, 150) toward each other and into
clamping engagement with a pipe piling (90, 90) that has been placed
into space between the clamps (148, 150).