IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR BORING AND CLEAVING STONE
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Polglase, of Bodmin, in the County of
Cornwall, Mine Agent, and Jonathan Cox, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
BORING AND CLEAVING STONE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Polglase and
Jonathan Cox at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 16th October 1863.
We, JAMES POLGLASE, of Bodmin, in the County of Cornwall, Mine
Agent, and JONATHAN Cox, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR BORING AND CLEAVING STONE," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain arrangements of machinery whereby the
operations of boring and cleaving stone may be performed with great facility
and rapidity.
The machine consists of a frame, in which are arranged any desired
number of jumpers similar to those used in stamping machines, steel drills
being attached to the lower ends thereof. The jumpers and drills are
actuated by means of a horizontal shaft provided with bevelled cams or
tappets. Upon the shaft being caused to revolve, the cams or tappets act
upon corresponding projections on the jumpers or drill stems, which, by
reason of the bevel of the cams or tappets, are partially turned round, and

page_text: are thus caused at each depression to strike upon a different spot of the block
of stone, the latter being placed beneath the drills. The cam shaft is actuated
by steam or any other motive power, and the drills can be elevated and
depressed at any required speed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Polglase and Jonathan Cox in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
POLGLASE, of Bodmin, in the County of Cornwall, Mine Agent, and
JONATHAN Cox, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
ns, the said James Polglase and Jonathan Cox, Her special licence that we,
the said James Polglase and Jonathan Cox, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Polglase and Jonathan Cox,
our 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR BORING
AND CLEAVING STONE," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said James Polglase and Jonathan Cox, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their bands 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 we, the said James Polglase and Jonathan Cox,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manuer the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
Our said Invention relates to certain arrangements of machinery, whereby

page_text: the operations of boring and cleaving stone for building, paving, and other.
purposes can be performed with great facility and rapidity, and in a much
more economical manner than by hand labor, such arrangements being
especially applicable to the boring and cleaving hard varieties of stone, such
as granite, porphyry, greenstone, and basalt.
In carrying out our Invention we employ a machine consisting of a frame,
in which are arranged in a perpendicular position any desired number of
jumpers or stocks, somewhat similar to those used in stamping machines,
and which may be constructed of wood or iron, as may be preferred. The
lower end of each of such perpendicular jumpers or stocks is constructed with
a screw socket, in which is fixed a drill or borer of cast steel capable of being
readily replaced by another drill or borer, should it become blunted or other-
wise unfit for use. The jumpers or drill stocks pass through two guides or
bars constructed with suitable holes or apertures through the same, one of
such bars being at the lower part of the framing of the machine and the other
at the upper part thereof. The upper guide bar is so arranged as to be
capable of being raised by a lever adapted for that purpose in such manner as
to lift the drills out of action when required, and also to regulate the same to
the required depth of the holes, an india-rubber bed, or india-rubber rings,
being placed upon the last-mentioned guide bar, upon which the projecting
shoulders with which the jumpers or drill stocks are provided beat when the
holes are deep enough, so as to prevent any injury. On each jumper or drill
stock is keyed or screwed a circular tongue or collar which is kept in position,
and prevented from unscrewing, when in action, by a jam burr or nut on the
top thereof. As the hole is sunk deeper the tongue is lowered, the jau burr
or nut being also moved to keep the tongue from shifting.
The jumpers or drill stocks are actuated by means of a horizontal shaft
mounted in suitable bearings in the frame of the machine, such shaft being
furnished with a series of cams or tappetts which are constructed with long
curved and bevelled points. The cam shaft is caused to revolve by means of
steam or any other motive power, the cams or tappetts during its revolution
raising the jumpers with the drills or borers by coming in contact with the
tongues or collars, the result being that each jumper is partially turned round
at each elevation, so that the drill point changes its position upon the stone
under treatment.
For the purpose of keeping any desired number of drills out of gear, a cou-
trivance which we call a "crochet hook" is used, and whereby the drills. are
held so that the-tongues are not touched by the cams or tappetts.
We have, in the foregoing description, spoken of the apparatus which is the

page_text: 'subject of our Invention as being employed only for drilling or boring stone,
but it is equally applicable to the operation of cleaving stone into slabs of any
desired size or thickness. For this purpose, instead of using the drill or boring
bit at the end of the jumper or drill stock, a head or mass of steel which we
call a hammer is fixed to the end of the jumper or stock. Wedges are
placed in the holes which have been previously drilled or bored and the
hammers are lifted, as before described with reference to the drilling or boring
operation, the cams or tappetts being so arranged that the hammers do not fall
on all the wedges at the same time.
The block of stone to be operated upon is placed upon a railway waggon
or other suitable moveable platform, and put under the drilling or boring
machine, the number of drills employed being entirely at the will of the
operator, as the machine is capable of drilling or boring any number of holes
at the same time, the position of the stone being changed as may be
necessary. The desired number of holes having been drilled or bored, the
stone is then placed under the cleaving machine, and the wedges having been
placed in the holes are submitted to the action of the hammers, as before
described. It should be mentioned, however, that the same machine can be used,
if desired, for the two operations of drilling and cleaving, by simply removing
the drills and replacing them with the before-mentioned hammers. The speed
of the machine can be, as is evident, regulated at pleasure so as to make any
desired number of strokes, say sixty or seventy per minute, and the holes may
also be drilled to any required depth.
It is obvious that our said Invention, although principally applicable to the
boring and cleaving of stone, is also capable of being adapted to drilling holes
for blasting rock in a perpendicular direction, and also to boring for coals and
other minerals, and to boring for water for the supply of artesian wells.
It should especially be observed, that one main excellence of the apparatus
herein described consists in the fact that no separate machinery or contrivance
is needed for turning or shifting the position of the drill during the process of
percussion, the long-pointed bevelled cams or tappetts effecting this object, as
herein-before mentioned.
We may here remark, that an important feature connected with our
said Invention is the great rapidity and economy with which the several
operations to which it is adaptable can be effected, as compared with hand
labor.
We will now proceed to describe the annexed Drawings, from which the
In Sheet I.,
nature of our said Invention will be more clearly understood.
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of the machine, and Figure 2 a side

page_text: view thereof. A is the lever for lifting the drills out of gear; B is a pin
which is employed for keeping the lever down; C are the wrought-iron cams
or tappetts; D, jumpers with screwed tongues and nuts; E, bits for boring;
F, crochet hook; G, india-rubber rings, before mentioned; H, bar for heaving
jumpers out of gear; I, stone on carriage; J, carriage for supporting stone.
In Sheet II., Figure I. is the tongue and nut; Figure 2 is the cam; Figures 3
and 4 represent the crochet hook, and Figure 5 the hammer.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and also the manner in which it is to be performed, we would
observe, in conclusion, that we do not claim all the separate and distinct parts
of the apparatus herein-before described, as being of our Invention, neither
do we confine or restrict ourselves to the precise details herein-before men-
tioned in the construction or arrangement of the said apparatus, inasmuch as
variations may be made therefrom without departing from the principles or
main features of our Invention; but what we consider novel and original, and
therefore claim as being our Invention, are,―
First, the construction, arrangement, and combination of the long-pointed
bevelled cams or tappetts, and the round tongues or collars by which the
revolving motion is given to the drills, without additional gearing, as herein-
before mentioned and described.
Secondly, the construction and arrangement of the crochet hook for
throwing one or more drills out of gear, as herein-before mentioned and
described.
And, thirdly, the general combination and arrangement of mechanism for
drilling or boring and cleaving stone, as herein-before substantially described
and set forth, or any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Polglase and Jonathan Cox,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
DALOT LO