IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE AND FIXED DRILLING MACHINES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Carnegie Kirk, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE AND
FIXED DRILLING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd April 1880.
ALEXANDER CARNEGIE KIRK, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE AND FIXED DRILLING MACHINES."
This Invention has principally for its object the construction of an efficient and
satisfactory portable drilling machine, but a part of the improvements is also
advantageously applicable to fixed drilling machines. An important part of the
Invention consists in the provision of special means of firmly grasping the plate or
plates whilst being drilled, in order, more particularly when drilling through two
or more thicknesses, as in making boilers, for example, to have the thicknesses in
close contact with cach other during the drilling operation. In this way the
separation of the plates by raised edges and drillings will be prevented, and solid
and satisfactory work will be secured when subsequently rivetting the plates
together.
An hydraulic cylinder is employed for grasping the plate or plates, and hydraulic
motor apparatus is used for working the drill, water or other suitable liquid under
pressure being conveyed to the apparatus, and also from it if desired, by flexible or
jointed tubing.
The machine consists, according to one modification, of a strong U-shaped frame
with a gap deep enough to reach over the plate to the part where the holes are to
be drilled, the hydraulic cylinder being at the extremity of one arm, and arranged to
grasp the plate or plates between the ram of the cylinder and the end of the other
arm, to which latter the drilling apparatus is attached. In another modification
there is substituted for the rigid frame a pair of strong levers jointed to each other
and having the hydraulic cylinder applied in a position clear of the gap. A small
hydraulic cylinder or a spring may be employed to insure the separation of the
grasping parts when required, the water being then allowed to escape from the
grasping cylinder.

page_text: The details of the drilling apparatus may be like any suitable known arrangement,
but in a preferred modification the drill or its spindle is fitted to slide through the
eye of a wheel which makes it rotate, and is pressed forward by a screw or other
feed appliance acting on the end of it, the object being to render the parts more
compact. Each machine may have two or more drills.
The apparatus may be arranged to be moved from place to place by incans of a
crane or other hoisting and traversing gear, or it may be provided with a sole
admitting of its being shifted about on a stationary bench or rail or on the thing to
be drilled, and of its being clamped or bolted at any part thereof.
The hydraulic grasping apparatus may be applied to fixed drilling machinery,
and in that case the drilling spindle or spindles may be driven by hydraulic
apparatus or in-the-ordinary way..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st October 1880.
ALEXANDER CARNEGIE KIRK, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain. 'IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE AND FIXED DRILLING MACHINES.'
"
My said Invention has principally for its object the construction of an efficient
and satisfactory portable drilling machine, but a part of my improvements is also
advantageously applicable to fixed drilling machines. An important part of my
Invention consists in the provision of special means for firmly grasping the plate or
plates whilst being drilled, in order, more particularly when drilling through two
or more thicknesses, as in making boilers, for example, to have the thicknesses in
close contact with each other during the drilling operation. In this way the
separation of the plates by raised edges and drillings will be, prevented, and solid
and satisfactory work will be secured when subsequently riveting the plates
together.
An hydraulic cylinder is employed for grasping the plate or plates, and hydraulic
motor apparatus is used for working the drill, water or other suitable liquid under
pressure being conveyed to the apparatus, and also from it if desired, by Hexible or
jointed tubing.
My improved portable drilling machine consists, according to one modification,
of a strong U-shaped frame with a gap deep enough to reach over the plate to the
part where the holes are to be drilled, the hydraulic cylinder being at the extremity
of one arm, and arranged to grasp the plate or plates between the ram of the
cylinder and the end of the other arm, to which latter the drilling apparatus is
attached. In another modification there is substituted for the rigid frame a pair
of strong levers jointed to each other, and having the hydraulic cylinder applied in
a position clear of the gap. A small hydraulic cylinder or a spring may be

page_text: employed to insure the separation of the grasping parts when required, the water
being then allowed to escape from the grasping cylinder.
The details of the drilling apparatus may be like any suitable known arrange-
ment, but a modification which I prefer is hereinafter particularly described. Each
machine may be fitted with one or more drills.
The apparatus may be arranged to be moved from place to place by means of a
crane or other hoisting and traversing gear, or it may be provided with a solo
admitting of its being shifted about on a stationary bench or rail, or on the thing
to be drilled, and of its being clamped or fixed at any part thereof.
The hydraulic grasping apparatus may be applied to fixed drilling machinery,
and in that case the drilling spindle may be driven by hydraulic apparatus or in
the ordinary way.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings
to be hereinafter referred to, and representing a portable drilling machine as
constructed according to one modification of my improvements.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a plan or edge view of the machine,
and Figure 2 is a sectional side clevation; Figure 3 is an end elevation of the jaw
or lever end carrying the drilling details; and Figure 4 is an elevation and Figure 5
is a plan of the other jaw or lever end; Figure G is a cross section of details for
reversing the grasping action; and Figure 7 is a cross section as taken near the
middles of the levers or jaw pieces. In these Figures the same reference numerals
are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
The machine comprises a pair of strong levers 8, 9, each in the form of an open
frame, and by preference made of cast steel. The two levers 8, 9, are connected or
hinged together by means of a pair of steel plates 10 which are fitted on bosses or
studs formed on the lower lever 9, and are fixed to that lever by bolts, whilst their
upper or projecting parts are fitted to turn on bosses 11 formed on the upper lever 8.
At the acting ends (the left-hand end in Figure 2) cach lever 8, 9, is formed with two
teeth or studs 12, 13, projecting towards each other, and it is between these pairs
of teeth that the plate or plates to be drilled is or are grasped, the drill acting on
the plate or plates in the space between the individuals of each pair of teeth.
The levers 8, 9, aro made to grasp the plate or plates by means of an hydraulic
cylinder 14 at the ends opposite to those having the teeth 12, 13, such cylinder
being formed in the lower lever 9, and its ram or plunger 15 acting on the other
lever 8 through a strut or pin 16. For the purpose of separating the grasping
teeth 12, 13, and moving together the opposite ends of tho levers 8, 9, the lower
lever 9 has formed on its end a born 17 which extends between forked parts 18
formed at the end of the upper lever S, and a small hydraulic cylinder 19 is
fixed on the horn 17, its ram or plunger 20 having jointed to it a cranked or
double link 21 which is jointed to the ends 18 of the upper lever S.
When
water under pressure is admitted into the larger hydraulic cylinder 14 it tends to
separate the levers 8, 9, at that end and to force the grasping teeth 12, 13, at
the other end towards each other, but when the water is allowed to escape from
the larger cylinder 14, the pressure in the smaller one 19 being always on in
this cylinder brings the levers together at that end and separates them at the
other end.
For working the drilling spindle the upper lever 8 carries a small hydraulic
motor 22 (represented as being of the three-cylinder type, but which may be of any
suitable kind), this motor being placed near the middle of the lever and its shaft 23
extending thence towards the acting end of the lever. On the outer end of the
motor shaft 23 there is fixed a bevil wheel 24 gearing with a bevil wheel 25 fixed
on a short tubular shaft 26, and through this last passes the drill spindle or drill 27
which is square (and is shown as partly broken away). A box-like recess is formed
in the end of the lever 8 for the drill details, and is partly closed by an end plate 28
and a top plate 29. In the top plate 29 there is fitted so as to turn an internally
screwed bush 30 having spur teeth round its bottom and gearing with a pinion on

page_text: a spindle 31, to which the feed motion for the drill is imparted through wheels 32
from a tooth or tappet on the tubular shaft 26. A short externally screwed
spindle 33 works in the bush 30, and as that bush turns presses the spindle or
drill 27 to its work, and draws the latter back by means of a swivel connection
when it is turned by hand in the proper direction. When feeding the drill forward
the spindle 33 is prevented from turning by a crosspin 34 fixed in its end and
connected by a cord to any convenient part of the lever 8, this cross pin also serving
for turning the spindle by when drawing back the drill.
When the machine is made with a rigid U-shaped frame and also in other cases, as
when the drilling machine is fixed or stationary, the hydraulic cylinder (14) for 1
applying the grasping pressure is arranged to face the drill details and to act
directly on the grasping teeth (13), or it might be placed on the same side as the
drill details and act through a lever or otherwise on the grasping teeth (12) on that
side, the teeth (13) on the other side being in that case rigidly fixed.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise details
herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and original,
and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the hereinbefore in
part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The constructing of portable or fixed drilling machines with parts for grasping 2
the plate or plates that is or are being drilled, such parts being arranged and acting
substantially as and for the purposes herein before described.
2. The arranging or combining together of the drill and actuating details of
portable drilling machinery, substantially in the improved manner herein before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Carnegie Kirk, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
ALEXANDER C. KIRK. (L.S.)