IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR BORING OR PIERCING ROCKS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE DRESSING OR WORKING OF STONE, AND AS A POWER HAMMER GENERALLY
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR BORING OR PIERCING ROCKS, APPLICABLE
ALSO TO THE DRESSING OR WORKING OF STONE, AND AS A POWER HAMMER
GENERALLY." A communication from Monsieur Germain Sommeiller,
residing at Turin in the Kingdom of Sardinia Encino
Sealed the 4th March 1859, and dated the 6th January 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th January 1859.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North.
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR BORING OR PIERCING ROCKS,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE DRESSING OR WORKING OF STONE, AND AS A POWER HAMMER
GENERALLY," a communication from Monsieur Germain Sommeiller, residing
at Turin, in the Kingdom of Sardinia, Engineer, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of self-
acting mechanism for boring the blasting holes in rocks, and applicable also,

page_text: by slight modifications, to the dressing or working of stone, or as a power
hammer generally.
The peculiar machine which forms the subject matter of this Invention is
composed of two principal and distinct parts, namely, the fixed portion and
the moveable portion. The former consists, first, of a steam engine, driving
a shaft in the ordinary manner; second, of two parallel beams, upon which the
moving parts slide, and which are formed with portions of screw threads or
racks on their inner faces; third, a square-sectioned second-motion driving
shaft for transmitting the requisite movements. The moveable portion com-
prises, first, a cylinder, within which works a piston or plunger, actuated by
any fluid or aeriform body, and carrying the boring tool; second, a rod, which
enters the piston or plunger longitudinally, and extends behind the cylinder
for the purpose of carrying a suitable mechanism for imparting a rotatory
motion to the tool holder independant of its percussive motion; third, a
hinged or jointed sliding rod, embracing at one end a clutch, which throws
into gear an endless screw working in the threads formed in the inner faces
of the fixed parallel beams, and thereby traversing the entire apparatus
forward or backward, whilst at its other end this jointed rod carries a pall,
which takes into rack teeth formed on the under faces of the beams; fourth,
the boring tool or piercer, intended to act upon the rock by percussion.
The percussive piston or plunger has an indefinite or undetermined course
or stroke, and is independant of the actuating fluid, which is properly dis-
tributed into the cylinder by a slide valve, which works altogether indepen-
dantly of the piston. A counteracting pressure is constantly maintained
against the piston or plunger for effecting the return or back stroke. The
self-acting advancing motion or feeding of the tool up to its work is regulated
entirely by the hardness of the rock operated upon.
The construction and arrangement of the machine may be modified by
attaching the fixed part to the moveable part, that is, by connecting the
steam engine cylinder with the percussive cylinder, and dispensing with the
second motion shaft. The constant pressure employed for moving the piston
back may be applied for driving it forward by adding a piston to. the per-
cussive piston or plunger, whilst the periodical pressure may be used for
bringing the piston back, or the pressure may be exerted alternately on both
sides of the piston. The apparatus may be greatly simplified by using only.
the percussive cylinder, and having a winch handle worked by hand, for
actuating the valve and rotating the tool.. This boring machine may be
mounted in a frame or on a pivot, so as to be. capable of working in. any
direction. By substituting a stone cutting. or. dressing tool or chisel for the

page_text: boring tool, the machine may be applied to the dressing of stone, and by
replacing this again by a hammer head the machine will serve as a power
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and
of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting. :
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and 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 OR APPARATUS FOR BORING OR
PIERCING ROCKS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE DRESSING OR WORKING OF STONE, AND
AS A POWER HAMMER GENERALLY," a communication from Monsieur Sommeiller,
residing at Turin, in the Kingdom of Sardinia, Engineer, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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 John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say: - .

page_text: The said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
self-acting mechanism for boring the blasting holes in rocks, and applicable
also, by slight modifications, to the dressing or working of stone, or as a
power hammer generally.
The peculiar machine which forms the subject matter of this Invention is
composed of two principal and distinct parts, namely, the fixed portion and
the moveable portion. The former consists, first, of a steam engine driving.
a shaft in the ordinary manner; second, of two parallel beams, upon which
the moving parts slide, and which are formed with portions of screw threads
or racks on their inner faces; third, a square-sectioned second-motion driving
shaft for transmitting all the requisite movements. The moveable portion
comprises, first, a cylinder, within which works a piston or plunger, actuated
by any fluid or aeriform body, and carrying the boring tool; second, a rod,
which enters the piston or plunger longitudinally, and extends behind the
cylinder for the purpose of carrying suitable mechanism for imparting a
rotatory motion to the tool holder, independant of its percussive motion;
third, a hinged or jointed sliding rod, embracing at one end a clutch, which
throws into gear an endless screw, working in the threads formed in the
inner faces of the fixed parallel beams, and thereby traversing the entire
apparatus forward or backward, whilst at its other end this jointed rod
carries a pall, which takes into rack teeth formed on the under faces of the
beams; fourth, the boring tool- or piercer, intended to act upon the rock by
percussion. The percussion piston or plunger has an indefinite or undeter-
mined course or stroke, and is independant of the actuating fluid, which is
properly distributed into the cylinder by a slide valve, which works altogether
independantly, of the piston. A counteracting pressure is constantly main-
tained against the piston or plunger for effecting the return or back stroke.
The self-acting advancing motion or feeding of the tool up to its work is.
regulated entirely by the hardness of the rock operated upon.
The construction and arrangement of the machine may be modified by
attaching the fixed part to the moveable part, that is, by connecting the steam
engine cylinder with the percussive cylinder, and dispensing with the second
motion shaft. The constant pressure employed for moving the piston back
may be applied for driving it forward by adding a piston to the percussion
piston or plunger, whilst the periodical pressure may be used for bringing the
piston back, or the pressure may be exerted alternately on both sides of the
piston. The apparatus may be greatly simplified by using only the percussive.
cylinder, and having a winch handle worked by hand for actuating the valve
and rotating the tool. This boring machine may be mounted in a frame or on-

page_text: a pivot, so as to be capable of working in any direction. By substituting a
stone cutting or dressing tool or chisle for the boring tool, the machine may-
be applied to the dressing of stone, and by replacing this again by a hammer
head, the machine will serve as a power hammer, applicable in all cases where
such instruments are employed.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I. shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a longitudinal
vertical section of my boring apparatus; Figure 2 in a corresponding plan of
the same;
and Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 represent transverse sections taken
along the lines 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8, respectively of the Figures previously
referred to.
On the central rod Q is keyed the collar F', and is mounted the
screw G, with which gears at pleasure the clutch M, keyed upon the said
collar F. Upon the same rod Q, and on the other side of the separating
washer V', is keyed the ratchet wheel h, actuated by the pall d for the purpose
of imparting a rotatory motion to the rod Q. An intermediate toothed wheel
L, the spindle of which turns in the support D of the shaft C, gears with the
wheel I', also keyed upon the shaft or rod Q. Another toothed wheel B¹
carried by the shaft C, is engageable with the wheel L for reversing the move-
inents, as will be herein-after described. The various parts are held against
the actuating cylinder by the screw Z. The reciprocating motion of the
striking piston P is derived either from the force of compressed air, water, or
other suitable fluid, which acts intermittantly upon the back of the piston,'
whilst it exerts a constant pressure against the front of the piston. This
constant pressure is produced through the passage 4, which establishes a
constant communication between the front of the cylinder and the valve chest.
In this condition, if the fluid be admitted by the port 1 upon the back end of
the piston, the latter will be forced forward with considerable power according
to the pressure of the fluid, and to the difference between the areas of the
front and back of the piston. If the valve is now moved over the escape ports
2 and 3, the fluid which has forced the piston forward will escape into the
atmosphere, and the constant pressure exerted upon the face of the piston will
force back the same to its original position, when a fresh stroke will be made
by again moving the valve into the position indicated in the Drawing. Thus
by imparting a reciprocating motion to the slide valve T, a similar motion will
be imparted to the piston P. The stroke or travel of the piston is regulated

page_text: at will between a state of rest and a maximum course equal to the space
between the front of the piston and the end of the cylinder within which it
works. The general working of the machine is easily understood. By means
of the ratchet h and pall d, the shaft C imparts motion to the bar Q, which
carries round the collar F', and consequently the clutch M. Each time that
the catch K, disengaged from the teeth of the rack formed underneath the
beam E, permits the spring F to push the clutch into gear with the screw G,
this latter is carried round with the rest, and gearing into internal teeth
or partial screw threads formed on the inner sides of the beams E causes the
whole tool bearing apparatus to advance. To effect the retrograde movement
of the machine, the pall d is disengaged, and the wheel B' slid forward
so as to gear with the wheel L, when the tool holder will return, having a
continuous rotatory motion imparted to it by the gearing. During this return
the catch K, following the backward motion of the apparatus, and the clutch
M gears constantly with the screw G, which consequently turns in the reverse
direction, whilst the shaft C rotates always in the same direction. Supposing
it is intended to work the machine with a traverse or stroke æ, the piston Pat
the beginning of its stroke, the machine is so adjusted as to have the end S of
the boring tool at a distance a from the surface of the rock. The machine is
then put in operation, and the tool S will pierce a hole or cavity in the rock;
its traverse increases in proportion to its entrance into the rock, and when this
is equal to the length of one tooth of the rack, the tappet R on the piston
rod strikes the stop v of the catch K, and disengages it from the rack; the
helical spring F, surrounding the clutch M, then pushes forward the clutch,
and causes it to gear with the screw G; the ratchet h, which receives its
movement from the shaft C, causes the screw G to rotate, which imparts to the
whole of the travelling portion of the machine a forward movement by gearing
with the teeth or threads inside the beams E. This advance is much more
rapid than that of the tool in the rock, whilst the stroke of the piston, which
was equal to xxz, diminishes again until the catch K, encountering the next
tooth of the rack, again pushes back the clutch M, and throws it out of gear
with the screw G, which then ceases to turn and to move forward the moveable
part of the machine. The piston will increase its stroke again as the boring
proceeds until it disengages the catch K again from the rack, when the
movements above described recommence. This movement will be repeated
the oftener the quicker the tool enters the rock, so that the hardness
of the rock will regulate the advance of the tool quite independantly of the
workman..
The machine may also be regulated by means of a tappet, which will close

page_text: the admission of the fluid into the cylinder, whereby a hole of a given depth
will be perforated, and the machine will then stop itself. Independantly of
the rectilinear movement or striking action of the tool S, a circular motion
is imparted to it by the ratchet h and pall d, which slides along the shaft c;
and accompanies the moving part of the machine during its advance. As the
ratchet h is keyed on the central bar Q, at each stroke of the tool Q¹ it will
be caused to turn to the extent of one tooth of the ratchet. The parts above
particularly described constitute the moving or travelling portion of the
machine, but I shall now proceed to describe the fixed or stationary part
thereof.
The actuating cylinder A of the prime mover fixed upon the beams E.
drives the crank shaft a, by means of bevel gearing B, rotates the shaft C.
Upon this shaft C, which is of a square section; slides an eccentric E', which
imparts to the slide valve T its rectilinear motion in one direction, the reverse.
movement being derived from a helical spring f. The pall d, which drives
the ratchet h, is worked by another eccentric, which also slides along the
shaft C. These eccentrics are drawn along, the shaft C by straps fixed to the
travelling portion of the machine. The fixed portion of the machine may be
combined with the moving part. By placing the cylinder of the prime mover
upon, or at the side of, or in front, or behind the striking cylinder B, and
dispensing with the shaft C, a new arrangement of machine will be obtained
without changing the principle. The constant pressure which effects. the.
return of the striking piston might also serve, by combining another piston
with the striking piston, to force it forward, the intermittant counterpressure
then serving to move it back; or the compressed air or other fluid might be
caused to operate upon the striking piston by an ultimate admission and
emission upon both sides of the piston, without changing the nature of the
machine.
:
By dispensing with the prime moving cylinder A, the beams E, and shaft C,
making the striking cylinder B of suitable form, and substituting for the
cylinder A, a crank handle for working the slide T, and giving to the striking
piston a rotatory motion, a much lighter and more portable machine will-be
obtained, based upon the same principles as the former, with this difference,
that the advance of the cylinder will be intervals, and effected by hand,
but this advance may be dispensed with by allowing to the piston a convenient
length of stroke. This modification may be mounted upon pivots or upon a
frame, so as to work in all directions.
By substituting a suitable tool for the borer S, the machine may be

page_text: applied to the various operations of stone cutting now effected by manual
labor.
Lastly, by substituting a hammer head for the tool S; and suitably arranging.
the machine accordingly, it might be so modified as to form a hammer for
the working of metals, and applicable in general to all purposes where per-
cussion is required.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that, what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general constructions, arrangements, and combinations of apparatus
applicable to the boring or piercing of rocks, cutting and dressing of stone, or
as a power hammer generally, as herein-before described.
Second, the application and use of a striking piston, the stroke or travel of
which is uncontrolled and independant of the action of the operating fluid,
such fluid being.supplied thereto by a slide valve, which is independant of the
piston for its motion, in the modes and for the purposes herein-before
described.
Third, the application and use of a constant counterpressure for effecting
the return.or back stroke of the piston, as herein-before described...
Fourth, the self-acting advance of the boring or cutting tool, regulated by
the hardness of the substance operated upon, as herein-before described.
Fifth, the peculiar constructions and arrangements of the various modi-
fications of the apparatus herein-before described, and the applications of such a
modifications to the several purposes or uses herein-before referred.to.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, One thousand eight hundred:
and fifty-nine.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.B.)