IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN GETTING COAL, STONE, AND MINERALS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Grafton Jones, of the Blaina Iron Works,
near Newport, in the County of Monmouth, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN GETTING COAL, STONE, AND
MINERALS."
Sealed the 13th April 1869, and dated the 14th October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Grafton Jones
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th October 1868.
I, JAMES GRAFTON JONES, of the Blaina Iron Works, near Newport,
in the County of Monmouth, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN GETTING COAL,
STONE, AND MINERALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus employed
in getting coal, stone, and minerals.
It has frequently been proposed to get coal and minerals by boring
holes in the working face of the coal or mineral as when blasting with
gunpowder, but in place of charging the holes with powder to introduce

page_text: into them an apparatus similar in principle to the hydraulic press but
elongated, so that the form of the apparatus may be adapted to that of
the hole. This method of working is not however at the present time
much resorted to for two reasons, the boring a hole of a sufficient
diameter is with the present appliances laborious; and, secondly, but
mainly, because the apparatus has heretofore been adapted to work in a
straight hole, and if placed in a cracked hole or even into a hole the sides
of which yielded unequally to the pressure, the instrument became bent
to the curve of the hole, and was so rendered unserviceable.
Now according to my Invention I form the hole to receive the press-
like apparatus by means of a jumping bar having at its extremity a
chisel-like cutting edge of considerably less size than the diameter of
the hole required, and some distance up the stem of the tool, which for
lightness is made tubular, two wings are formed on opposite sides of the
stem, and having cutting edges corresponding with the portions of the
circumference of the hole required. These wing cutters following the
central cutter wedge the coal or mineral inwards and into the hole
which has been cleared by the leading chisel edge; the tool is turned
round between the blows which are struck upon it, as when an ordinary
jumping tool is employed. The press-like apparatus which is inserted
into the hole I form with a series of plungers on each side of it, so that
the bearings on the opposite sides of the hole are entirely on the
plungers, and no strain but that of the water under pressure comes on
the frame of the apparatus whatever be the form of the hole.
I prefer to form the instrument of a cylindrical bar of steel, say,
three inches in diameter. Through this bar transversely I bore a row
of holes, say, one inch and three-quarters in diameter, and as close
together as is consistent with strength. These holes all communicate
by a small passage bored along the axis or centre line of the cylindrical
'bär, and into each of them there are fitted two little rams with cup
leathers on their inner ends. The apparatus being inserted into the hole
water is forced into the small axial passage by a force pump, or by a
screw plunger or otherwise, and so the rams are forcibly expélled -from
their holes or cavities, and bearing on the sides of the hole in the coal
or mineral they force it asunder.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said James Grafton Jones in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
GRAFTON JONES, of the Blaina Iron Works, near Newport, in the County
of Monmouth, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Grafton Jones, Her special licence
that I, the said James Grafton Jones, my èxecutors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Grafton, Jones, 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 APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN GETTING COAL, STONE, AND MINERALS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Grafton Jones, 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 James Grafton Jones, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus employed
in getting coal, stone, and minerals.
It has frequently been proposed to get coal and minerals by boring
holes in the working face of the coal or mineral as when blasting with
gunpowder, but in place of charging the holes with powder to introduce
into them an apparatus similar in principle to the hydraulic press but

page_text: elongated, so that the form of the apparatus may be adapted to that of
the hole. This method of working is not however at the present time
much resorted to for two reasons, the boring a hole of a sufficient
diameter is with the present appliances laborious; and, secondly, but
mainly, because the apparatus has heretofore been adapted to work in a
straight hole, and if placed in a crooked hole or even into a hole the
sides of which yielded unequally to the pressure the instrument became
bent to the curve of the hole, and was so rendered unserviceable.
Now according to my Invention I form the hole to receive the press-
like apparatus by means of a jumping bar having at its extremity a
chisel-like cutting edge of considerably less size than the diameter of the
hole required, and some distance up the stem of the tool, which for
lightness is made tubular, two wings are formed in opposite sides of the
stem, and having outting edges corresponding with portions of the cir-
cumference of the hole required. These wing cutters following the
central cutter wedge the coal or mineral inwards and into the hole which
has been cleared by the leading chisel edge; the tool is turned round
between the blows which are struck upon it, as when an ordinary
jumping tool is employed, the press-like apparatus which is inserted into
the hole I form with a series of plungers on each side of it, so that the
bearings on the opposite sides of the hole are entirely on the plungers,
and no strain but that of the water under pressure comes on the frame of
the apparatus whatever be the form of the hole.
I prefer to form the instrument of a bar of steel, say, three or more
inches in diameter. Through this bar transversely I bore a row of holes,
Bay, one inch and three-quarters in diameter, and as close together as is
consistent with strength. These holes all communicate by a small
passage bored along the axis or centre line of the cylindrical bar, and
into each of them there are fitted two little rams with cup leathers on
their inner ends. The apparatus being inserted into the hole water is
forced into the small axial passage by a force pump, or by a screw
plunger, or otherwise, and so the rams are forcibly expelled from their
holes or cavities, and bearing on the sides of the hole in the coal or
mineral they force it asunder.
In Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shown a side
view partly in section of a tool, such as is above described for boring holes,
tools so formed are especially applicable for boring holes in stone. a is
the leading chisel edge of less size than the diameter of the hole required

page_text: to be bored; b, b, are two wing cutters at opposite ends of the leading
cutter; c is the stem of the tool made by preference of ordinary gas tubing,
and welded at one end to the outter and at the other to a block of steel c¹,
which when working is struck by a hammer as is usual when working
with ordinary jumping boring bars.
Figure 2 shews a side view partly in section, and Figure 3, a
transverse section of a hydraulic press apparatus, such as is above
described, suitable for breaking up coal, stone, or mineral. a is a
cylindrical bar of steel with six holes bored transversely through it,
but the number of holes and their diameter may be greatly varied; in
each of these holes are two rams b, b, fitted at their inner ends with
cup leathers as shown; c is a small passage bored longitudinally
through the bar a from one end of it to the other. To one end of the
bar is screwed a tube d, through which water under pressure is supplied
to the passage c, the joint between the end of the pipe d and the bar a
is made fluid-tight by a washer e of leather as shown. At the opposite
end of the bar a the passage c is closed fluid-tight by a screw plug f as
is seen more clearly on Sheet 2; the rams 6 are prevented moving too
far out by screws 9 which are screwed into the bar a, and the outer
edge of the heads of which are received in grooves in the rams; when the
rams arrive at the end of their stroke their cup leathers will have passed
beyond the small holes h, so that the fluid under pressure can escape
through these holes, and the rams will be relieved from pressure so that
no strain can come upon the screws g.
At Figures 4, 5, and 6, Sheet 2 of the Drawings, is shewn an apparatus
similar in most respects to the apparatus shewn on Sheet 1, but in this
arrangement, in place of all the rams having an equal length of stroke,
the rams on one side of the apparatus have a shorter stroke than the
rams on the opposite side, and the rams which have the shorter stroke
are not relieved from pressure when they arrive at the end of their
stroke, but an enlargement on the inner end of the ram then comes
against a flange a¹ left all around the end of the hole in which the
ram works. The opposite ram which has the longer stroke is constructed
in the same manner as the rams in the apparatus shown on Sheet 1, and
these rams are similarly relieved from pressure when they arrive at the
end of their stroke, and are also similarly retained by screws g from
moving out too far. The passage c is supplied with fluid under pressure
through the small pipe k, this pipe is surrounded by another pipe 1,

page_text: which forms a handle to the apparatus and also serves as a reservoir
of water for supplying water to the force pump employed for forcing
water through the tube k. When I employ this arrangement for
supplying water under pressure to the passage c of the apparatus I
prefer to employ a force pump generally known as Tangye's hydraulic
pump, in which the reservoir of water is contained in a closed vessel,
and is drawn therefrom by the pump and forced into the hydraulic
cylinder, a partial vacuum is thus produced in the water reservoir, so
that if the cylinders of the hydraulic press be put in communication
with this reservoir the water will be drawn back into the water reservoir
and the rams will also be drawn inwards. The length of stroke which
it is necessary to give to the shorter rams will vary with the nature
of the material which the apparatus is to he used for breaking down.
If the apparatus is to be used for breaking down a hard material, and
the holes into which the apparatus is to be inserted are bored with a
moderate amount of truth, a shorter stroke may be given to these
rams than when the apparatus is to be used for breaking down a
softer material, A sufficient length of stroke must in all cases be
given to the shorter rams to enable them to obtain a firm bearing
upon the side of the hole into which the apparatus may be placed, so
that the bar a shall not in any case be subjected to sufficient strain
to bend it.
Although apparatus such as herein-before deseribed may be supplied
with fluid under pressure from any suitable force pump, I prefer to
employ for this purpose a screw force pump, such as is shewn on Sheet 3
of the Drawings, in which the tube d, which is screwed on to the end of
the bar a, is fitted with a plunger m, which can be moved endwise along
the tubed by means of a screw n as shewn; to fill the tube d with
water the screw plug fis removed, and water is supplied to the apparatus
through the end of the passage c, the screw plug f is then again put into
its place; if the plunger by turning the screw n be then moved along
the tube d, the plungers 6 of the apparatus will he moved outwards
from their holes. Other hydraulic apparatus fitted with rams to press
against, and so break down coal, stone, or mineral may similarly be
combined with a screw force pump, such as is above described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
is.

page_text: First. Forming the cutting end of drill jumping bars as herein
described.
Secondly. The construction of apparatus for breaking down coal, stone,
and mineral with rams or plungers on opposite sides of the apparatus,
each free to adapt itself to the side of a hole into which the apparatus
may be placed.
Thirdly. I claim combining a screw force pump with hydraulic appara-
tus for breaking down coal as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Grafton Jones, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of April,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
J. GRAFTON JONES. (L.s.)