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Your First Stop for Piledriving Technology News

When Linde-Griffith Construction of Newark, NJ needed a vibro to drive sheet pile near an existing bridge, they called APE Northeast for the APE 250 Variable Moment Vibro. The APE Variable Moment vibros are designed to minimize radial vibration in the soil during start up and shut down of the vibro, when these vibrations are at the highest levels during operation.

For more info call Paul Kuzik at 201-400-8356.

APE Northeast recently provided specialized equipment for two contractors faced with limited headroom issues. Simpson and Brown of Cranford, NJ is driving 12.75″ pipe piles for the Hoboken Ferry Terminal with 14′ of headroom. They vibrate the piles with the APE 150T vibro outfitted with a forklift mounted suppressor, greatly reducing the height of the unit, and a dunce clamp allowing Simpson & Brown to drive the piles without modification. They drive, splice, drive, and splice until the 150T takes the piles to bedrock. They then pick up the APE 7.5 Low Headroom Hydraulic Impact Hammer, also with a forklift mount, to proof the piles. The APE 7.5, delivering 24,000 foot pounds, is the shortest hydraulic impact hammer in the world at 7.5′.

Northeast Remsco Construction contacted APE NE to install an APE Model 7.2 Low Headroom Hydraulic Impact Hammer on a CAT 345. The job involved retrofitting the Madison, NJ train station to be ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant. The issue was live overhead lines. The APE NE service department expertly designed and fabricated a specialized leader system that pinned directly to the excavator boom. The system worked perfectly, enabling Northeast Remsco to easily drive the 24″ pipe piles.

Please contact Paul Kuzik @ 201-400-8356 for more information.

The APE 170VM vibratory hammer was called to duty recently to extract sheets in a new sewage treatment plant in Liverpool NY.

The circular cofferdam was previously driven and a concrete tank formed and built inside of the excavation.

The desire to limit the vibrations generated when pulling the sheets came not from the new structure but from the old structures nearby that are still in service until the new plant comes on line.

Since a variable moment hammer starts and stops spinning while the eccentrics are phased out of time, no low end vibrations occur. The vibrations that are generated when the hammer starts and stops at lower frequency are the ones that generate the highest peak particle velocity (ppv).

The 170VM pulled all sheets while keeping the ppv below that maximum allowable.

Bring your hammer to us and we will put it in our new test stand. We will drain out the old fuel, flush the tank, and add fresh clean fuel. We will then run the machine, checking compression and energy delivery. We can inspect the lead guides and tripping device and update any warranty issues. We will then provide a certification that your machine is ready to drive piles. We offer this service for both diesel and hydraulic impact hammers. We also offer free training while your machine is in our facility.

We can put your hammer in our state-of-the-art steam pit and clean it and paint it so that when it arrives on your job site it send an impressive message to the crew and to the owners.

When Fred MacLennan of E.I.C. Associates Inc. of Springfield, NJ needed a more powerful vibro to install AZ box piles he contacted APE northeast. An APE model 200 vibro set up with a caisson beam and clamps with a model 625 power unit was sent to the site, where it out performed the competitor’s machine.

The Minish Park Project along the Passaic Riverfront in Newark NJ is part of a massive undertaking to rebuild the long neglected banks of the river for recreation and commerce.

Please contact Paul Kuzik at 201-400-8356 for more information.

APE, the only pile driving company currently expanding in the Northeast, is set to open a new 1.8 million dollar facility on August 15, 2005. Yes, this is fully owned and operated by APE. No more leasing of property. Our success in the Northeast has paid off with a new state-of-the-art building second to none. The new facility will feature a testing machine for pile hammers and complete training facility for pilebucks. Come visit the newest and most advanced facility in the Northeast. Just one block from ICE’s leased rental yard.

APE/J&M has recently delivered 5 J&M Model 115 HIH’s to a Cleveland jobsite that is an old garbage landfill that has been capped and a new shopping mall is being constructed on it. Closed end pipe piles are being driven thru the trash to support the buildings.

One interesting feature of the piles on this job is that although 10.75″ pipe piles are being driven, a 16″ shoe is welded on the end of the pile, eliminating all wall friction and making the pile a true end bearing pile. This was designed in such a way because of a fear that splicing piles could ignite the methane gas that is released as the pile is being driven thru the decaying garbage in the ground. The oversize shoe creates a large void between the wall of the pile and the soil and allows the methane to escape.

Here is another updated photo of our new faciliy under construction in New Jersey. We plan to have an open house on June 1, 2005. Our new location, just 300 yards from where ICE is leasing a small building and yard space, will outclass all other facilities in the Northeast. We look forward to providing our Northeast customers with a first class location owned and operated by APE. For more information contact John White, President, APE.

APE, Erickson Air Crane, and Overland Contracting of Baltimore, MD are working together on Conectiv Power’s Red Lion to Dover Delaware 230kV transmission line. Due to the marshy site conditions, conventional cranes are not an option. All equipment must be flown in via Erickson’s helicopter.

First, large wooden mats are flown in. Then comes the APE Helicopter Caisson Template, which houses an APE 350 Power Unit. Next comes the APE 150T Vibro with a caisson beam and 2 clamps. The caissons measure 48″ in diameter by 37.5′ long and are 12-sided. The caisson is already clamped to the vibro using an auxilliary power unit in a yard close by, and is then rigged to the vibro as a precaution. As the chopper hovers overhead slowly lowering the pile into the template, the ground crew quickly connects the hydraulic hoses while trying not to get blown away by the huge gusts, and the pile is carefully vibrated in. As soon as the caisson is able to support its own weight and the vibro while staying plumb, the helicopter releases the vibro rigging. The caisson is then driven to elevation, while the air crane flies mats to the next site. The process is then reversed. The air crane later installs the remaining segments of the pole.

The experience of being on the ground while the air crane hovers above is remarkable. It is stressful, chaotic, and intense, but mostly exhilarating. Ultimately one finds him/herself eagerly awating the chopper’s return for the adrenaline rush from rotor wash.

The APE/J&M Northeast office was contacted recently about an alleged APE sighting in the heart of Maine. APE immediately responded with the New England APE rep visiting that quaint Maine village where the APE was last seen. Sure enough the APE was hard at work driving sheetpiles at the new Rt 23 bridge.

The APE Model 100 Vibro has established a loyal following in Maine, where a 2,200 inch/lb hammer with a 7,900 suspended weight allows contractors to use their same cranes and reach the same distances that they are used to. Yet the Model 100 Vibro greatly outperforms the little MKT’s and H&M’s that contractors have been using.