IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY USED IN CUTTING COAL, STONE, SLATE, AND OTHER MINERALS, AND IN FORMING TUNNELS AND GALLERIES, AND FOR OTHER QUARRYING PURPOSES
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Elliott at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, , on the 28th August
1867.
I, JOHN ELLIOTT, of Southampton, in the County of Hants, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY USED IN CUTTING COAL, STONE, SLATE, AND OTHER MINERALS, AND
IN FORMING TUNNELS AND GALLERIES, AND FOR OTHER QUARRYING PURPOSES," to be
follows:-
My Invention has for its object the formation of tunnels and galleries in
coal, slate, rock, or other minerals, and the cutting into and winning of such
substances by means of improved machinery driving a circular rotating disc
or discs, either with teeth or formed to receive moveable tools of varied form
set in a slightly spiral line in the direction of the forward cut, and of facili-
tating the removal of the core produced by the forward cut by means of a
cranked arm or arms connected by a pivot joint to the disc or discs entering
the forward cut with the disc or discs and set in action in order to cut the
core at back by the portion of the cranked arm without the cut operating on
that within it, or by means of a key and spindle connected with an arm used
as a back core cutter setting such arm in action. For these purposes the
central axle (when in action), on which the cutting. disc or discs revolve and
advance rests at one end in a.bearing-in-or fixed to the substance intended-to-
be tunnelled or cut into, and-at-the other end in a bearing borne either by
wheels, or by uprights, or cross pieces, or by both, resting on or let into the

page_text: rock or substance to be operated on. When not at work or for transit the
said axle either rests at both ends on bearings borne by wheels, or the various
parts can be readily taken to pieces and transported separately. The cutting
discs revolve with the axle and advance on it, so as to penetrate into the
substance considerably beyond the forward bearing of the central axle. The
central axle, which may be hollow, is proposed to be driven by a chain, or
rope, or band over a wheel fixed on the outer end of the said axle, such rope
or band passing over wheels at right angles to the driving wheel, or by other
suitable means. The forward motion of the cutting discs on. the central axle
is produced by attaching a chain, or rope, or band to the arm of the cutting
disc or discs on each side of the central axle, and carrying such chains, ropes,
or bands over friction rollers in bearings on an arm fixed to the forward end
of the central axle, then back through the arm of the cutting dises, or through
the axle, and also through the driving wheel, and connecting such chains,
ropes, or bands at a point beyond the driving wheel with a circular plate,
through the centre of which is brought a spindle connected on the inner side.
of such plate with rollers revolving on it, and on the outer side of the same
with a rope, or band, or rod connected to a suitable descending weight or
weights. This forward motion may be otherwise produced. The forms of
the moveable cutting tools proposed to be used with the rotating discs are by
preference triangular in plan and section, disposed in sets in a slightly spiral line
in the direction of the entering cut, the advance tools being narrow in plan
and deep in section, and followed by other tools gradually widening in plan
and diminishing in section. In order to facilitate the release and removal of
the core left by the forward cut a cranked arm or arms is or are connected by
a pivot joint with the cutting disc or discs, the portion of such arm which
enters the cut having teeth or moveable tools connected to it, which are put
in operation by acting on the portion of the arm which remains without the
cut; or the same result may be produced by a spindle and key acting on an
arm carrying tools and connected to the rotating disc. The above-described
machine may be fixed so as to work at any required' angle, and two or more
machines may be arranged so as to work in combination.