IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR TUNNELLING, AND DRIVING GALLERIES THROUGH ROCK AND OTHER STRATA
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert Newton Penrice, of Witton House, near
Norwich, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
TUNNELLING, AND DRIVING GALLERIES THROUGH ROCK AND OTHER STRATA."
Sealed the 24th June 1864, and dated the 10th March 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herbert Newton Penrice
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th March 1864.
I, HERBERT NEWTON PENRICE, of Witton House, near Norwich, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
TUNNELLING AND DRIVING GALLERIES THROUGH ROCK AND OTHER STRATA," to be as
follows:-
In constructing machinery for tunnelling and driving galleries through rock
and other strata, I have before proposed to combine a steam boiler and
machinery in a suitable manner for accomplishing these objects by a Patent
dated the 3d day of June 1861, and numbered 1886.
My present Invention relates to improvements in such classes of steam
machinery. In the present combination of a steam boiler with steam
machinery, the fore part of the engine and mechanism worked thereby are
supported on feet, and not as heretofore on wheels. The feet act as sledges,
and when the machinery is moved forward they slide along the lower portions

page_text: of the tunnel or passage; these feet are adjusted by wedges and screws, and
they are found to be more suitable for supporting the fore parts of the
machinery than the wheels or rollers before used. The hinder parts of the
machinery and the steam boiler are, as before, supported by and move on
wheels or rollers, but an additional pair of driving wheels is introduced between
the steam machinery and the boiler. The bevil wheels heretofore employed
for advancing the machinery are dispensed with, and the requisite forward
motion is obtained by a more direct action by means of screws or worms and
screw or worm wheels.
The steam engine, as in my former arrangement, gives motion to screw
shafts, which by screws thereon give motion to screw or worm wheels on
the axes of the wheels or rollers which support the steam boiler and machinery.
The surfaces of the driving wheels or rollers have small projections, and
are formed to the same radius as the tunnel or passage produced by the
machinery.
In the present combination of steam machinery there is a small single
cylinder engine with a short stroke to work the balanced valves of the driving
steam machinery; this small engine also works the driving gear when the
machinery is to be advanced up to the face of the work. In some cases it is
desirable to arrange apparatus to drill holes in the headway to be used for
blasting. The steam boiler, in addition to being covered over with felt, is
surrounded or for the most part covered with an external hollow jacket or
vessel, into which a supply of water is constantly pumped or supplied and
allowed to overflow to keep down the temperature. The boiler may be fed from
this jacket or vessel. By these means the temperature of the atmosphere of the
tunnel or passage near the steam boiler and machine will be kept as low as
may be. The ash-pit of the boiler furnace is closed and an air pipe is connected
therewith, the open end of which is at the fore end of the machinery, and as
close as may be to the face of the work, so that the fire of the steam boiler
will be constantly receiving air from that part of the tunnel or passage which
will induce air to flow into the tunnel or passage from the atmosphere at the
outer end of the tunnel or passage, and the air will flow through the tunnel or
passage up to the face or end which is being worked, by which the ventilation
of the tunnel or passage will be ensured, and the ventilation will be further
improved by the chimney of the steam boiler which is connected to the pipe
into which the exhaust steam is received, and which pipe at its outer end is
constantly exhausted by a suitable fan or exhausting apparatus, so that the air
to supply the fire will be taken from the tunnel or passage at the face of the
work, whilst the product of combustion with the exhaust steam will flow away

page_text: from the tunnel or passage through a suitable pipe which is kept exhausted.
If desired, the cutting machinery and engines may be actuated by compressed.
air in place of steam.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Herbert Newton Penrice in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HERBERT
NEWTON PENRICE, of Witton House, near Norwich, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Herbert Newton Penrice, Her special licence that I, the said
Herbert Newton Penrice, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Herbert Newton Penrice, 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 MACHINERY FOR TUNNELLING, AND
DRIVING GALLERIES THROUGH ROCK AND OTHER STRATA," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Herbert Newton Penrice, my 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 Herbert Newton Penrice, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention is applicable to machinery for tunnelling and driving
galleries in and through rock and other strata. It has before been proposed by
me to combine a steam boiler and steam machinery in such manner as to drive
a tunnel, gallery, or passage in and through rock and other strata, and my

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation of steam machinery arranged and con-
structed according to my present Invention. Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, and 12, show transverse sections of the machinery taken at the several
points in Figure 1, which are indicated by the corresponding letters of
reference marked on the several transverse sections and on Figure 1
respectively. The circumscribing circles in the several transverse sections
indicate the diameter of the tunnel or passage which the machinery is
arranged to form.
The fore parts of the engine and machinery are supported on feet a, a,
which support the weight of the front end of the machine, and they act as
sledges, and when the machinery is moved forward they slide along the lower
portions of the tunnel or passage; these feet or sledges are adjusted by wedges
and screws, and are found to be more suitable for supporting the fore parts of
the machinery than wheels or rollers. The hinder parts of the steam
machinery and the steam boiler are, as before, supported by and move on
wheels. An additional pair of driving wheels is introduced between the
machine and the boiler. No bevel wheels are now used for the advancing
gear, a more direct action being obtained by means of worms and wheels, the
steam engine in this arrangement, as in my former one, giving motion to screw
shafts, which by screws thereon give motion to screw wheels on the axes of
the wheels which support the boiler and machinery. The faces of the tyres
of the driving wheels have small projections and are formed to a like radius as
the tunnel or passage produced by the machinery, all which will readily be
understood by reference to the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In the present arrangement I employ a single small cylinder engine with a
short stroke to work the valves; this small engine also works the driving gear
when the machinery is to be advanced up to the face of the work. The
arrangement thus will readily be understood by reference to Figures 13 and 14,
which show the arrangement of the engine and mode of giving motion to the
valves and to the screw shafts and gearing for advancing the machinery. In
some cases I find it desirable to arrange apparatus so as to drill holes in the
headway to be used for blasting the same, in order thereby to enlarge the
tunnel or passage produced by the machinery. The steam boiler after being
felted is surrounded by preference in all parts with an external hollow jacket
or vessel which contains cold water constantly pumped into it and allowed to

page_text: overflow to keep down the heat radiated from the external surfaces of the
boiler. The boiler may be fed from this jacket; by these means not only will
fuel be economized, but the temperature of atmosphere of the tunnel near the
steam machinery will be as little increased as may be. The ash-pit of the
boiler furnace is closed, and an air supply pipe is connected therewith,
the open end of which is at the fore end of the machinery, and as close as
may be up to the face of the work, so that the fire of the steam boiler will be
constantly receiving air from that part of the tunnel which will induce air to
flow into the tunnel at its outer end, and to flow through the tunnel up to the
face which is being worked, whereby the ventilation of the tunnel up to the
face of the work will be ensured, and the ventilation will be further improved
by the chimney of the steam boiler being connected to the pipe into which the
exhaust steam is received, and which at its outer end is constantly exhausted
by a suitable fan or exhausting machinery, so that the air to supply the fire
will be taken from the tunnel, and the products of combustion with the
exhaust steam will flow away out from the tunnel through a suitable pipe,
which is kept continually exhausted. Compressed air may be used instead
of steam.
In witness whereof, I, the said Herbert Newton Penrice, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
IN DENDICE