IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHOREING OR STRUTTING EARTHWORKS TUNNELS. SHAFTS, BUILDINGS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Giardinelli Spooner Kirkman, of Battersea Rise,
New Wandsworth, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHOREING OR STRUTTING
EARTHWORKS TUNNELS. SHAFTS, BUILDINGS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES."
Sealed the 24th February 1871, and dated the 14th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Giardinelli Spooner
Kirkman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th October 1870.
I, GIARDINELLI SPOONER KIRKMAN, of Battersea Kise, New Wands-
worth, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHOREING
OR STRUTTING EARTHWORKS, TUNNELS, SHAFTS, BUILDINGS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES,"
to be as follows:-
To the end of the strut or shore I affix a simple apparatus that shall
afford increased facilities for placing such shore or strut in position,

page_text: readjustment, or removal of same without the expenditure of time,
labor, and often incurred danger to surrounding property from the
vibration that is caused by the present method of securing shores or
struts by driving wedges with a heavy maul or betle, by means of which
apparatus I impart to shores or struts a quality of extension in the i
direction of their length, exerting any required amount of pressure for
the temporary or permanent support of buildings, bridges, carthworks,
tunnels, &c.
The simple apparatus hercin-before alluded to is an application of the
screw working into or upon a metalic boss, plate, or cap, the outer end
of which screw is constructed to work freely in a bearing plate which
communicates the required pressure; or the same object may be effected
by means of a capping picce employing an ordinary gib and cotter to
effect the clongation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Giardinelli Spooner Kirkman in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 13th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GIARDINELLI
SPOONER KIRKMAN, of Shelgate Road, Battersea Rise, New Wandsworth,
in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Giardinelli Spooner Kirkman, Her special :
licence that I, the said Giardinelli Spooner Kirkman, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Giardinelli
Spooner Kirkman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHORING OR STRUTTING EARTHWORKs,
TUNNELS, SHAFTS, BUILDINGS, AND OTHER STRUCTURES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Giardinelli Spooner Kirkman, my

page_text: executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or.
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same..
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after.
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Giardinelli Spooner Kirkman, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing:
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that.
is to say:
-
My Invention for improvements in apparatus for shoring or strutting:
earthworks, tunnels, shafts, buildings, and other structures consists in.
the application of a screw at the end of the shore or strut, so applied.
that it affords increased facilities for placing such shore or strut in.
position, readjustment, or removal of same without the expenditure of
time and labor, whilst avoiding the often incurred dangers to surrounding;
property from the vibration that is caused' (under the present system:
of securing shores or struts) by driving wedges with a heavy maul or
beetle.
For excavating or mining purposes I prefer the arrangement of screw.
shewn in Figure E, which is there represented in position fixed to a
horizontal strut as applied in supporting the sides of an open cutting..
a, a, represents the earth to be retained; b, b, b, b, the vertical polling
boards; c, c, the waleing pieces; d, d, the strut; e is the screw so con-
structed as to be readily acted upon by a lever, spike, spanner, or some
such mechanical contrivance. The end of this screw behind the boss or
nut is reduced (having a shoulder), at f to such dimensions as to pass
through a hole in the plate G, at the outer side of which it is rivetted or
keyed over a washer. When placed in position the plate G is brought in
contact with the waleing c, and the toothed or outer surface causes it to
hold firmly thereto, the reduced end of screw being able to rotate freely
in the plate. The screw proper E' works in a boss on the outer face of a
plate which is made to hold firmly on to the end of the strut by means
of the toothed surface, a hole being made in the end of the strut of such
dimensions as to admit the boss and allow the screw to pass down its
entire length. Thus it is obvious that by turning the screw a quality of

page_text: $3.
elongation is imparted to the strut, as indicated by the dotted lines at
screw end, and "vice versa.' By this system great facilities are pre-
sented for sustaining earthwork or structures by shores or struts, not
only in a horizontal position but at any angle, or vertically applied
under crown bars in tunnels, especially through loose or shifting strata,
supporting the centres of large spans during construction, such as
bridges and roofs, from the facility they present for easing, striking, or
removal of the centres.
Fig. A shews an elevation, B a section of the screw fitted upon a strut
or post. The boss into which the screw works is in this instance on the
outside, stiffening plates being introduced at the angles. In other respects
the screw appliance is the same in principle, merely varied according to
the more extended requirements, a metal worm being inserted or cast
in the boss, and a washer, cap, key, or other equivalent secured on the
end of the screw to prevent its being over wrought. This form is
considered preferable for building and engineering purposes.
Fig. C represents a sectional elevation of another modification of the
same principle, having in this instance the outer case to revolve, forming
the nut which would be acted upon by a spanner or lever so constructed
as to fit over the stiffening members of the outer case. Fig. D. represents
a sectional plan of the same. Fig. F represents in diagram the appli-
cation of this principle to raking shores or struts for the support of
insecure buildings,
Having now described my improvements in shoring or 'strutting
earthworks, tunnels, shafts, buildings, and other structures, and ex-
plained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would observe
in conclusion that although, in order that my Invention may be fully
understood, I have described and shewn in the accompanying Drawing
certain well-known appliances in mining operations and the retention of
earthworks and buildings generally, I do not mean nor intend to claim
such parts under my Patent, nor do I intend to confine myself strictly
to the precise arrangement or construction of parts herein shewn and
described, as various modifications or mechanical equivalents may be
substituted for effecting the same object (such as will be readily under-
stood, and therefore unnecessary to be particularized) without departing
from the principle of what I claim to be my Invention, videlicit, a
means of imparting to shores or struts a quality of extension in the
direction of their length, exerting any required amount of pressure

page_text: .
for the temporary or permanent support of earthworks, tunnels, shafts,
buildings, bridges, and other structures.
In witness whereof, I, the said Giardinelli Spooner. Kirkman, have.
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-.
one.
Witness,
GEO. DOWNING,
8, Quality Court,
London.
GIARDINELLI S. KIRKMAN. (L.S.);