Improvements in Apparatus for Boring Tunnels and the like.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 80th Jan., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 27th Oct., 1893-Accepted, 2nd Dec., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by the Firm of R. W. DINNENDAHL, of
Kunstworkorhütte, Steele-on-the-Ruhr, in the Kingdom, of. Prussió.]
.
Improvements in Apparatus for Boring Tunnels and the like.
11
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Hasoltine Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the naturo of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved apparatus for boring mine galleries,
tunnels, pits and the like so as to obtain at once the width in the clear by boring
simultaneously an annular groove and a central blasting hole so that on exploding
in the latter an exploding or blasting substance the rocky or other material
contained between the said central blasting hole and the circumforential groove is .
loosened or blown away and a clear space produced or obtained between the outer
circumference of the said groove.
For this purpose the invention consists in arranging on a beam having the inner
width (or less) of the hole to be produced, a guide for the reception of a plate
carrying the motor for driving the boring machinery producing the said central
blasting hole and the outer circumferential, groove.. By means of the said motor
rotary motion is transmitted to a star-wheel having connected with its face, army
carrying the cutters for producing the said circumferential groove, and rotating, at
the same time, the borer or drill. producing the said central hole. The said plate
carrying the said machinery is adjustable in the said guides so that the central and
circumferential borers or tools may be advanced into the pit or the like to be bored.
The said tools are or may be exchangeable so that the hole to be bored may be
deepened by the insertion of longer boring tools for shorter-ones. The whole
machine may be arranged on a truck or car allowing the same to be advanced into
the tunnel or hole bored in proportion with the progress of the work.
Dated this 30th day of January 1893.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Boring Tunnels and the like.
I, HENRY HArris Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention relates to machines for boring mine-galleries, tunnels, pits and tho
like, and the object of the same is to provide improved means for accomplishing
this purpose in a more efficient, economical and time saving manner than has been
possible heretofore.
My invention, therefore, consists in an apparatus by means of which an annular
groove and a central blasting hole are bored into the rock, so that, upon inserting
into the said central hole an explosive and exploding the same therein, the rooky or
other material forming a core between the said central blasting hole and the
circumferential hole will be smashed or blown away and a clear space thus formed
within the outer circumference of the said groove the said clear space corresponding
to the entire sectional area of the tunnel or pit to be bored.
Before each blasting the machine or apparatus may be withdrawn from its

page_text: working position and the material blown away having been removed after the
blasting, the machine may then be again run forwarded on its truck and secured in
position, so that another boring operatiou may be begun, and so on.
The actuating mechanism of the machine is movably mounted on a cross beam
the ends of which are, by means of pressure, caused to bear against the inner sides
of the tunnel or pit to be bored or against other suitable portions of the rock or
mountain to be worked upon, the said cross beam thus providing an efficient support
for the rear end of the boring or drilling device to bear against in working its way
into the rook.
The entire machine is pivotally mounted upon a carriage or truck movable on
rails, so as to admit of being run forward into and back out of the tunnel or pit.
The machine having been run into its working position on the rails aud secured
in such position by causing the cross beam to firmly engage suitable portions of the
rock or mountain on both sides of the machine, the supporting truck may be
detached from the machine and temporarily run out of the way.
The cutters for cutting the circular groove into the rock are attached to
holders, and a number of such holders of different lengths are provided, so as to
admit of interchanging a set of shorter holders for a set of longer ones and
vice versa, as the particular character of the material worked upon or the stage of
the work may require.
In order to provide for cooling the cutting and drilling tools during their
operation and for removing the particles of rock out of tho hole and groove
worked out by the tools, a continuous flow of water is directed into the same, as
will be more fully hereinafter described.
A transverse frame bearing the cutting and drilling tools is rotably mounted
on a fixed pivot formed on the cross beam and entering a cylindrical socket in the
hub portion of the said frame, the said pivot being formed as a plunger at or
near its forward end and surrounded by a stuffing box at its point of entrance into
the cylinder or socket.
In putting the machine into operation the transverse frame is rotated on the
fixed pivot or plunger and by admitting pressure water between the said fixed
plunger and the rotable cylinder, the latter, and with it the frame carrying the
tools, are pressed forward and the latter thus fed to their work. Provision is also
made for keeping the frame continuously in engagement with the driving gear
and the motor during such feed movement, as will be more fully hereinafter
referred to.
In the accompanying drawings illustrating my invention
Figure 1 is a plan view of the machine.
Figure 2 is an elevation of the same as seen from the rear, the frame and the
tools thereon as well as the supporting bars for the same being here shown in an
inclined position and not, as in the other figures, in a horizontal position.
Figure 3 is a lateral view of the machine.
Figure 4 is a horizontal section on the line y-z of Figure 3, with certain parts
omitted, and
Figures 5 and 6 are a plan and a side elevation, respectively, of a modified form
of my improved machine, drawn to a smaller scale, the same being here shown as
provided with two cross beams, instead of one.
The
a is the oross beam having the lugs a' a², the inner edges of which form guides
for the sliding bed plate b. Upon the latter a suitable motor m is mounted, which
may be driven by steam, electricity or any other suitable power and which
transmits rotary movement to the frame ff by means of any suitable intermediate
mechanism such as the bevelled gears cc', worm d and worm wheel e.
arms ff constituting the rotable frame are rigidly attached to the worm wheel e
by means of screws or otherwise and supported at the ends by the stay bars ƒ`ƒª.
The elongated hub portion of the said worm wheel is formed as a cylinder
containing the correspondingly shaped cylindrical pivot g of the cross beam a, as
shown in Figure 4

page_text: The forward or end portion of the said pivot g is formed as a plunger g
closely fitting into the hollow cylindrical portion of the hub e. Back of the
plunger portion g¹ the diameter of the pivot g is somewhat reduced so as to leave
the intermediate hollow space between its outer surface and the inner sides of
the cylinder or hub e', the said space being alosed in the rear by a suitable stuffing
box h.
A central hole i formed in the pivot enters the intermediate space between
the plunger g' and the bottom of the hollow cylindrical portion of the hub o' and
is connected with a suitable pressure water conduit, from which water under
pressure may be admitted into the said hole and thence into the bottom portion of
the cylinder by means of a three-way cock k. This three-way cook may also bo
made to connect the water conduit with another hole provided in the pivot g,
the said hole discharging into the hollow space between the pivot g and the
inner sides of the cylinder or hub.
It is obvious that, upon the three-way cock being so turned as to admit pressure
water through the hole i into the space beyond the end of the plnnger g', the hub
or cylinder and with it the 'frame, the worm wheel and the bed plate 6 carrying
the motor and driving gear; will be fed forward, the said bed plate being held in con-
nection with the worm wheel by a suitable claw which overlaps a flange portion
formed on the hub of the worm wheel e and there engages a circular groove e³
provided thereon. It will thus be seen that the mechanism for transmitting rotary
motion to the worm wheel and frame ff are always held in engagement during
the feed movement.
Upon the water being subsequently discharged from the space beyond the end
of the plunger through the cock, and the three-way cock k being so turned as
to admit pressure water through the hole i into the hollow space, pressure will
be exerted upon the circular surface of the stuffing box A thus causing the frame ff
and the motor as well as the intermediate mechanism to be drawn back into thoir
original positions.
To the ends of the arms the curved tool holders n are attached by means of
suitable scrow bolts their curvature corresponding to the radius of the circular
groove to be cut into the rock. The said toul holders are so arranged as to admit
of being radially detached and exchanged for longer ones when the full extent
of the feed movement of the machine has been reached and the frame drawn back
into its original position.
Into the tool holders a number of steel cutting tools o are inserted which, when
the frame is rotated, will cut a circular groove into the rock. The hub
portione of the rotary frameƒƒ carries in its centre a hollow drilling tool p rigidly
secured thereto so as to rotate therewith and to thus drill the central blasting
hole already referred to above.
A canale provided with a regulating cock e extends from the hollow spaço e³
of the hub or oylinder e into the hollow portion of the drill bit Pr whilst a lateral
continuation of the said canale connects with the pipes 7 and 91 leading to the
tool holders n and connected to small discharge pipes provided on each of the
tool holders, as shown in Figure 3. Thus a continuous flow of water may be
directed into the central hole and the outer circular groove as the tools work their
way into the rock.
to is a carriage or truck adapted to move on rails wo' and supporting the entire
machine, the latter being preferably mounted thereon as shown in Figures 2 and 3.
» is a standard supported in the raised position, within a hole or socket formed in
the body of the truck, by means of a key or wedge u. The top portion of the
said standard entors a corresponding socket of a lug & formed on the lower side
of the cross beam a the entire machine thus being pivotally supported by the
said standards and resting upon a collar formed on the latter as shown.
Upon the machine having been secured in its working position, the wedge u may
|be withdrawn from the standard the latter then dropping down in its socket in the

page_text: truck, so that the latter will be detached from the machine and may then be run
back on the rails away from the machine.
I may provide in different ways for locking the cross beam against the sides of
the tunnel or pit or against other available portions of the rock or mountain to be
worked upon, but I prefer to employ water power for the purpose. To this end
the hollow cross beam a is provided with a three-way cook by means of which
water under pressure may, from any suitable source, be admitted either to one or
the other side of a plunger working within the hollow portion of the cross beam a,
and projecting therefrom at the end, as shown in Figure 4, so as to cause the said
plunger to be pressed outward against the rock and thus to lock the entire machine
in its working position or to be drawn back into the cross beam and thus to release
the machine and allow the same to be moved into another position.
Instead of a single cross beam I may provide two such beams, as shown iņ
Figures 5 and 6 of the drawings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this said inven- 1
tion and in what mauner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a tunnelling machine the combination of a frame pivotally mounted in its
centre on a support and adapted to have a drilling tool applied in its centre and
outting tools to be applied to its outer ends, a support such as a beam, adapted to
carry the said frame, means for rotating the said frame on its support, means for
moving the said frame on its support in the direction of its axis of rotation, and a
movable truck adapted to be connected with and disconnected from the said
support and to carry the same and connected parts, substantially as and for the
purpose set forth.
2. The combination of the beam a provided with the cylindrical pivot g having
the passages therein, the plunger g¹ on the end of the said pivot, means for
securing the beam a in place, the sliding bed plate 6 having a motor m mounted
thereon, the worm-wheel e having an elongated hub e' mounted on the pivot g, said
hub and pivot being separated by an intermediate space e³ communicating with the i
passage, the stuffing box h at the rear end of the said space, the cooks e¹ ª; k,
gearing intermediate the motor and wormwheel, the frame ff secured to said worm-
wheel and adapted to carry a drilling tool at its centre and cutting tools on its
outer ends, and pipes q q' leading from the space e to the tool holders, substantially
as described.
3. The combination of the truck w provided with movable standards and koy u,
the beam a having on its under side a socketed lug adapted to be engaged with
said standard, a drilling machine mounted on said beam, and means, substantially
as described, for locking said beam in position against the sides of a tunnel or pit
to support the drilling machine and permit disconnection and removal of the truck,
substantially as described.
Dated this 27th day of October 1893.