Patent ID: 6416134
Filing Date: 2002-07-09
Classification: E21C

Abstract:
In an underground mine augering apparatus where a series of relatively deep parallel horizontal holes are drilled and when the drilling of one hole is completed the apparatus is moved over the mine floor to a next adjacent position for drilling an adjacent parallel hole, and a string of auger flights in the drilled hole is detached from the apparatus until needed prior to the shifting of the apparatus to its new drilling position, and the auger flights are transferred one at a time for connection to the drill string during drilling of the adjacent hole wherein the improvement is an underground auger system and comprises:a drill unit disposed with a drive, a frame, a carriage moveable on the frame, a propulsion unit with drive chuck and means on said frame and carriage for rotating a cutting head driven by a string of auger flights, a crowd mechanism to move the carriage on the frame and advance the cutting head driven by a string of auger flights for drilling a parallel horizontal hole, a front delatch mechanism disposed on said drill unit to engage the latch pin lever of an auger flight to disengage the auger flight from the string of auger flights in the drilled horizontal parallel hole, a belly pan disposed in the drill unit adapted to cooperate with a transfer arm and to accept and receive auger flights for the connection and addition of the auger flights to the string of auger flights, leveling jacks, skids and roof jacks disposed on the drill unit to facilitate moving and stabilizing the unit and setting the angle for drilling the horizontal parallel hole, a conveyor means disposed at the operation end of the drill unit to remove the mined substance away from the drill unit; and activating means to actuate the drill unit; a retrieval unit disposed with a drive, a frame, a moveable carriage on the frame, a propulsion unit with drive chuck and means on said frame and carriage for rotating a cutting head driven by a string of auger flights from a drilled parallel horizontal hole, a crowd mechanism to move the carriage on the frame and remove the cutting head driven by the string of auger flights from the parallel horizontal drilled hole, a front delatch mechanism disposed on said retrieval unit to engage the latch pin lever of an auger flight to disengage the auger flight from the string of auger flights in the drilled horizontal parallel hole, a belly pan disposed on the retrieval unit adapted to cooperate with a transfer arm, a transfer arm mechanism to move auger flights to and from a belly pan disposed on the retrieval unit to the belly pan disposed on the drill unit or to and from an auger staging rack disposed on the retrieval unit, an auger staging rack, disposed to accept loading, storage, and unloading of auger flights and adapted to cooperate with the transfer arm mechanism to transfer auger flights, leveling jacks, skids, and roofjacks disposed on the retrieval unit to facilitate moving and stabilizing the retrieval unit and adjusting the angle for extracting flights from a string of auger flights in the drilled parallel horizontal hole; and activating means to activate the retrieval unit; interchangeable connecting links disposed between the drive end of the drill unit and the drive end of the retrieval unit and disposed between the operation end of the drill unit and the operation end of the retrieval unit to provide consistent widths between the center to center distance of the parallel horizontal drilled holes and adapted to adjust and change the center to center distance of said holes and to reduce stress in the event that either the drill unit or the retrieval unit are raised in an uneven manner, and to couple the drill unit and retrieval unit to provide for the simultaneous drilling of an additional parallel horizontal hole by the drill unit and the simultaneous retrieval of the auger flights from the string of auger flights by the retrieval unit from a previously drilled parallel horizontal hole.