IMPROVEMENTS IN BORING APPARATUSES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Paulin Etienne Gay, of No. 5, Rue do Grenelle
St. Honoré, in the City of Paris, in the Empire of France, Contractor
of Public Works, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BORING
APPARATUSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Paulin Etienne Gay
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th July 1863.
I, PAULIN ETIENNE GAY, of No. 5, Rue de Grenelle St. Honoré, in the
City of Paris, in the Empire of France, Contractor of Public Works, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BORING
APPARATUSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to improvements in boring and tunelling, and is
equally applicable whatever be the nature of the ground or purpose for which
the excavation is to be made.
The apparatuses or instruments which I employ in carrying out my Invention
consist of a cylindrical tube, the dimensions of which may vary, and to which
rotatory motion is imparted by means of a steam engine. One end of this tube
is furnished with cutting tools of tempered steel for acting on the harder rocks;

page_text: the cutting tools are kept cool and freed from whatever might tend to clog
them by means of a supply of water which is furnished by a pump, the water
passing through the shaft of the apparatus, which is hollow for that purpose.
Working with and in the centre of the large tube is a much smaller one
furnished with teeth at the end next in contact with the rock which it cuts
away to permit of a charge of powder being used for breaking up the rock
between it and the outer circular cutting.
In order to prevent inconvenience from smoke or steam which would other-
wise result from tho use of a steam engine for putting in motion the boring
tools, I cause the smoke and steam to pass off through a chimney tube joined
to the machine by means of an elbow piece. When the hole made by the
centre boring fube is sufficiently advanced I make use of a second instrument
for forming a pocket in place of employing muriatic acid; this instrument
consists of two saws, the teeth of which are made of the substance most
suitable for acting on the rock in which the pocket is to be made; the saws
aro made to pass to the end of the centro hole by means of a rod, to which
they are attached by connecting eccentric pieces; a semicircular motion is
communicated to the saws by forcing down the rod above mentioned; a crank
handle is adapted for the purpose of giving a rotatory movement to the instru-
ment. To prevent the earth falling in I make use of a tube, which encircles
the large boring tube, and to which it is attached by iron braces; this outer
tube is in several pieces, the joints being protected by sheet iron, and where
from the nature of the soil water is likely to filter through, I make use of a
packing of india-rubber or other suitable material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Paulin Etienne Gay in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PAULIN
ETIENNE GAY, of No. 5, Rue de Grenelle St. Honoré, in the City of Paris, in
the Empire of France, Contractor of Public Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of July, 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 me,
the said Paulin Etienne Gay, Her special licence that I, the said Paulin
Etienne Gay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others

page_text: as I, the said Paulin Etienne Gay, 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 BORING APPARATUSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Paulin Etienne Gay, 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 Paulin Etienne Gay, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to improved apparatuses for boring & tunnelling, the
united action of which is, firstly, to make a circular cutting round that portion
of rock or other matter to be removed; and, secondly, to open out a centre
hole in which a charge of powder is introduced, the explosion of which breaks
up the rock lying between it and the outer circular cutting.
The apparatuses which I employ in carrying out my Invention will be
readily understood by aid of the following description, reference being made
to the accompanying Drawings.
Fig. shows a side view of the principal machine, of which A is a cylin-
drical tube or drum of 6 feet 8 inches, more or less, in diameter, and 2 feet
4 inches in depth, on the face of which are fixed at short distances the cutting
tools B, mado of hardened steel (see a, a, Fig. 2,) for acting on chalk, marl,
or gypsum soils, or of prisms of flint, quartz, agate, carnaline, or rock crystal
for the harder calcareous rocks, and of diamond prisms for granite, porphyry,
and other similar rocks.
Figs. 2 represent a, a, the steel cutting tools, and b, b, the diamond prismis
of natural size and fixed in their holders. The drum or cylindrical tube is
made to revolve by means of the driving shaft D, to which it is securely bolted
at the bearings C. F is a guiding bar for maintaining the drum in a straight
or fixed direction, and also for the purpose of introducing the charge for
exploding, and thus breaking up the rock when a sufficient circular cutting
has been made. To give greater power and steadiness to the machine it is

page_text: furnished with jack screws G, which can be forced into the roof of the tunnel,
and the wheels of the carriage H are steadied by wedges. I and I' are cog
wheels gearing with each other; J and K are pinion wheels giving movement
to the driving shaft A. The cables 1 and 2 regulate the pressure of the drum
by means of the weights L, so that any degree of pressure can be given. The
cutting tools can be kept cool and free from whatever might tend to clog them
by a stream of water made to pass through the shaft or otherwise. In order
to prevent inconvenience from smoke or steam resulting from the use of a
steam engine, which I employ for putting the machine in motion, I make use
of a long chimney tube joined to the engine by an elbow picce.
When the circular and centre cuttings are sufficiently advanced I make use
of a second machine, see Fig. 3, instead of employing muriatic acid to form a
pocket for containing the charge of powder; it consists of two saws A, B, and
A, B, the teeth of which may vary according to the rock on which they are to
work; from the centre D they describe an are A, C, on turning the screw V
against the centre rod Y, which, as will be seen on referring to the Drawings
Fig. 3, is forced towards the eccentric pieces B, which connect the rod and
saws together, and thus forces the latter towards E, causing the end of the
saw A to describe an arc A, G; N, N, is a hollow tube, in which the rod Y
moves. The movable steel wedges S, S, give steadiness to the machine; they
driven in by a small hammer, and withdrawn easily by pressing down the
collar piece P towards the ends M, M, of the wedges by means of the screw
V, V, the wedges can then be removed through the openings of the wheel R, R,
and the whole machine withdrawn. The crank Z of the screw V com-
inunicates a rotatory movement to the apparatus. In order to prevent falling
in of the earth as the excavation proceeds I shore up the sides of the tunnel by
planking having sheet iron joints, and where there is much water a packing of
india-rubber or other suitable substance, which may be pressed out against the
sides by spiral or other springs, can be employed.
Having thus described my Invention, I wish it to be clearly understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise details above mentioned as regards
dimensions or construction, both of which must greatly depend on the nature
and extent of the work to be undertaken; I also reserve to myself the right
of employing any suitable substance, whether stone, metal, or a combination
of both for the cutting tools of of the principal machine and for the teeth of
the saws of the secondary machine; what I claim as my Invention is,-
Firstly, a machine, substantially as above described and shown in the
accompanying Drawings, of which the drum or cylindrical tube A furnished
with cutting tools B is the principal feature.

page_text: And, lastly, the secondary machine, Fig. 3, herein-before described, for
opening out the centre hole when the outer circular cutting is sufficiently
advanced.
In witness whereof, I, the said Paulin Etienne Gay, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
P. E. GAY. (L.S.)