Shoring system and components therefor

Claim 1

A shoring system and method for excavation operations at building sites where loose materials may be encountered comprising the steps of drilling a plurality of caisson holes of depth greater than the depth of the intended excavation at spaced separated and aligned positions about the site to be excavated, inserting intermixed main and intermediate piles in said caisson holes with the vertical positioning of paired main piles being regulated, establishing footings of consolidated materials placed about the ends of said pile elements at the bottom of said caisson holes for resisting the transversely directed forces exerted by the unexcavated loose materials, initiating excavation operations to progressively reduce the operating level inwardly of said shoring system to expose the in-place pile elements, applying regularly spaced free standing cribbing supports disposed vertically along said main pile elements and extending inwardly therefrom, placing and supporting horizontally oriented cribbing members on and between the cribbing supports of paired main pile elements in an inverted order with the in-place cribbing supports thereby providing slot openings between adjacent cribbing members, extending additional clamping members through said slot openings to engage intermediate piles disposed between the paired main piles for the added support of said cribbing members, and, after excavation operations are completed, removing said cribbing members and supports in a bottom to top order, and subsequently removing said pile elements while leaving said footings in place.