AN IMPROVED HYDRAULIC APPARATUS FOR BORING THROUGH ROCK AND OTHER HARD STRATA
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Max Blumenreich, at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st November 1879.
MAX BLUMENREICH, of Berlin, in the Empire of Germany, Miner and Boring
Tecknicker. "AN IMPROVED HYDRAULIC APPARATUS FOR BORING THROUGH ROCK
AND OTHER HARD STRATA."
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the boring of rocky and other strata
without the aid of extensive auxiliary machinery, and at the same time to execute
such boring with more ease and greater dispatch.
My improved apparatus is constructed for operating the cutter or boring tool by
means of a disc or water-wheel placed directly over the part to be bored; and in:
utilizing a portion of the water used in operating the apparatus, for forcing the
bored debris to the top of the aperture made by the boring tool.
I provide a cast-iron case with a threaded opening at its upper end: to receive a
metal tube, through which water is supplied under pressure. The hollow part of
the said case, towards its lower end, debouches into two channels, at an inclination
of about 30° with the horizontal plane, and are of such shape or form that water
running from top to bottom thereof does not encounter special obstruction or loss
of pressure.
To the lower part of the said case a ring, square in cross-section, is fitted; within
this ring is a disc, which turns on a vertical axis fixed to the said case; to the rim
of this disc I so fix a number of paddles that they exactly fit the circular space
formed by the said ring. The water under pressure always strikes against two
paddles, and so drives the said disc round, and with it the boring tool secured
thereto; immediately the water falls on the next succeeding paddle, the previous
one is cut off from the waterfall, and the water collected inside the cell, formed by
the paddles, may run out through an aperture formed on each side of the said rim,
or be utilized in carrying off the bored debris, as hereinafter explained. The
driving water is kept apart by the separating paddle.
The bottom of the said case is closely fitted with a disc, and other requisite
means are taken to prevent leakage.
Or the said case may be divided into four water channels; in the lower part of
such case, instead of the said disc, a water-wheel may be fitted, which is, by
preference, formed like the running wheel of a Henschel Jonval turbine.
To the bottom of the said case, and under the water-wheel, a hollow T-shaped cap
is fitted; this cap turns on the said axis, and is tapped or threaded on its lower limb
for screwing the boring tool thereto.

page_text: Water entering the upper end of the said tube under strong pressure falls plumb
on the wheel paddles, and thereby drives the said wheel round, and with it the
boring tool attached thereto; the water may then be disposed of as before described,
or pass out below.
Further, the boring tool may be operated by a turbine of any kind driven
from within or without, the water conduits being arranged accordingly, and the
speed of the boring tool regulated by a cog-wheel arrangement, according to the
nature of the material to be bored.
The operation of boring is performed as follows:-
The apparatus is placed inside a tube, somewhat larger in diameter than the
mouth-piece of the said apparatus, which tube is provided inside with slender ribs,
so as to secure a free sliding up and down. Water now being forced down the
said water-pipe, the boring tool is set in motion, and as its diameter is a little larger
than the said external tube the strata is cut out sufficiently for the said tube to
fall as the operation proceeds; at the same time the column of water, revolving
inside the ring cylinder, sucks up the bored debris and whirls it to the upper end
of the encasing tube. The falling of this tube prevents the falling in of the
surrounding material, through which the borer has cut its way, and by continuously
screwing on fresh pieces of pipe, a great depth can be reach in a comparatively
short time.
The work thus goes on continuously, even should the direction deviate from
the perpendicular.
When the boring goes through stone or a substance of sufficient cohesion the
encasing tube may be dispensed with. The borer may be fitted with diamond
cutters set crown fashion.
By this improved method the frequent lifting out and reinsertion of the boring
tool is avoided to a great extent, though the boring goes through tenacious substances.
The boring can be effected with a tool of a very small diameter if the waterhead
is sufficiently large to keep the disc or paddle-wheel, and with it the boring tool,
rotating.
This improved process saves the application of many other auxiliary appliances
in carrying the boring work to its conclusion, and results in a considerable saving
of time and expense.