Larssen Shapes Sheet Pile

Inventors were striving to develop a sheet pile that would contain interlocks rolled into the beam during the manufacturing process, rather than attached afterwards by riveting. Gregson (USA) patented a bulb and jaw interlock in 1899, however this still resulted in production of a flat section with relatively small section modulus.

Trygve Larssen obtained a German patent in 1904 for a deep, hot rolled section that greatly increased the strength and efficiency of steel walls and represented a major advancement. Larssen’s piling wall assumed a “wave shape” when assembled and all subsequent developments for efficient sheet pile walls are based on this concept. Larssen’s section still contained a partially fabricated interlock and it was not until 1914, that a rivetless Larssen interlock appeared in Germany.

In the United States, Lackawanna Steel Co. was a flat sheet pile shape and several arched types with rolled, integral interlocks as early as 1910. Carnegie Steel Co. offered three flat sections with rolled-on interlocks and one fabricated section. By 1929, Carnegie’s catalogue illustrated four deep-arch, two shallow-arch and two straight sections.

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