IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY USED IN CUTTING STONE, SLATE, AND OTHER MINERALS, AND IN FORMING TUNNELS, GALLERIES, AND ROADS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Fothergill Cooke, of Aberia, near Carnarvon,
North Wales, and George Hunter, of Maentwrog, Merionethshire, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY USED IN CUTTING STONE,
SLATE, AND OTHER MINERALS, AND IN FORMING TUNNELS, GALLERIES, AND
ROADS."
Sealed the 24th July 1866, and dated the 12th February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Fothergill Cooke
and George Hunter at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 12th February 1866.
We, WILLIAM FOTHERGILL COOKE, of Aberia, near Carnarvon, North Wales,
and GEORGE HUNTER, of Maentwrog, Merionethshire, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY USED IN CUTTING
STONE, SLATE, AND OTHER MINERALS, AND IN FORMING TUNNELS, GALLERIES, AND
ROADS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery used in cutting
stone, slate, and other minerals, and in forming tunnels, galleries, and roads,
and is applicable (when using for such purposes) to circular rotating discs or

page_text: wheels, which are formed to receive cutters or cutting teeth or tools at and
near their peripheries; such cutters, cutting teeth, or tools being specially
adapted to the peculiar mineral to be operated upon.
According to our Invention the axles on which the frames of these circular
rotating cutters are carried are fixed to and are supported by arms or projec-
tions in front of the carriage employed in such manner that the circular
cutters or wheels may, together with the outer ends of such arms or projecting
framing, penetrate into the cuts in the slate or other rock or mineral as the
carriage is advanced, and the combinations or arrangements of the machinery
according to this Invention are such that each rotating circular cutter may, in
some cases, be caused to penetrate into the slate or other rock or mineral
considerably beyond their centres of rotation. And further, in some cases the'
arrangements and combinations of the mechanism are such that the circular
rotating cutters having been caused to penetrate into slate or other rock or
mineral to a desired distance by the advance of the carriage and machinery
carried thereby, the onward progress of the carriage and machinery may be
stopped, and the cutting teeth or tools of the rotating cutters or wheels may
then be set to extend the cuts at or nearly at right angles to the previous cut, so
as to detach or partly to detach the parts of the rock which have been cut into
by the forward cuts of the rotating circular cutters or wheels. And further,
where desired, the arrangements and combinations are such that the wheels of
the carriage enter, and are guided by the grooves or cuts in the bottom or lower
parts of the workings produced by some of the circular discs or wheels, and in
such cases provision is made in front of the wheels for removing the dust and
broken rock from within such cuts or grooves by suitable scrapers or ploughs
formed to raise the dust and broken rock out of the cuts or grooves, and to
deposit the same on one or other side of such grooves or cuts. The forms of
the cutting edges or teeth or tools used on the discs or wheels and the mode
of fixing and adjusting them to the rotatory discs or wheels may be varied,
but for stone, slate, or rock it is preferred to employ a conical form, the
cutting edge being formed at the base or largest diameter of cach conical
cutter, and the stems of these cutters are when making forward cuts fixed in
suitable sockets or holders on the peripheries of the discs or wheels, but when
these or other cutters or teeth or tools are to extend the original or onward
cuts on each side of the discs or wheels, so as to detach or partly to detach
the parts of the slate or other rock which have been cut into, then the stems
of the conical or other cutters or teeth or tools are to be received and fixed in
suitable sockets or holders at the sides of the circular rotating discs or wheels,
and such cutters or teeth when applied to the sides of the rotating circular

page_text: discs or wheels are arranged to be set out from such sides to a greater and a
greater extent as the work proceeds. The outer ends of the projecting frames
or arms which carry the axes on which the circular rotating discs or wheels
revolve are housed within the width of the peripheries of such discs or wheels,
and rotatory motion is communicated to such discs or wheels by means of
pinions on suitable driving shafts, the teeth of which take into and drive
rings of teeth formed or applied to the discs or wheels near their peripheries;
and such rings of teeth and the central portions of the discs or wheels are
covered to prevent dust and grit getting to the rings of teeth, or if the rings
of teeth are not covered then water may be used constantly to wash such
teeth and also the cutters, teeth, or tools carried by the rotating circular discs
or wheels.
In some cases when using rotating cutters such as above described, in
place of making a complete disc or wheel, particularly when of large diameter,
we form a rotating cutter of a cross-like form, and apply the tools or cutters
at the outer circumference, as above described, and the limbs of the cross are
tied together by ties. When using circular cutters or wheels with cutting
tools at their peripheries it is in some cases desirable that the fixed circular
axis on which such a cutter turns should be of comparatively large diameter,
and that it should be supported by an arm or projecting frame affixed to the
circular axis at a distance from its centre, and then to give motion to the
rotating cutter by a pinion taking into a toothed ring forming part of
the rotating cutter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Fothergill Cooke and George Hunter in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 11th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
FOTHERGILL COOKE of Aberia, near Carnarvon, North Wales, and GEORGE
HUNTER, of Maentwrog, Merionethshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said William Fothergill Cooke and George Hunter, Her special licence
that we, the said William Fothergill Cooke and George Hunter, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Fothergill

page_text: Cooke and George Hunter, our 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 MACHINERY USED IN CUTTING STONE, SLATE, AND. OTHER
.MINERALS, AND IN FORMING TUNNELS, GALLERIES, AND ROADS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said William Fothergill Cooke and George
Hunter, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, or under the hand, and seal of
one of us or them, 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 William Fothergill Cooke, on behalf
of myself and the said George Hunter, 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 machinery used in
cutting stone, slate, and, other minerals, and in forming tunnels, galleries, and
roads, and is applicable when using for such purposes circular rotating discs
or wheels, which are formed to receive cutters or cutting teeth or tools at and
near their peripheries.
According to one part of our Invention the axles on which the circular
rotating discs or wheels are carried are supported by arms or projections in
front of the carriage employed in such manner that the circular discs or wheels
may, together with the outer ends of such arms or projecting framing, penetrate
into the cuts in the rock or mineral as the carriage is advanced; thus the
rotating circular discs or wheels may be caused to penetrate into the rock or
mineral considerably beyond their centres of rotation. The outer ends of the
projecting frames or arms which carry the axes on which the circular rotating
discs or wheels revolve are housed within the width of the peripheries of such
discs or wheels, and rotatory motion is communicated to such discs or wheels
by means of pinions on suitable driving shafts, the teeth of which take into
and drive rings of teeth formed or applied to the discs or wheels near their
peripheries.
Figure 1 is a plan partly in section, and Figure 2 an elevation of a machine

page_text: arranged as above described and intended for cutting a single tunnel by
pulverizing the rock which comes in its path. A is the carriage having
projecting arms A' for supporting the axis of the cutting discs or wheels
which consist of cast drums B', B', B, B, on the outside of which the tool
holders are formed or fitted. The drums B', B¹, have internal toothed
rings G', G', either cast with them or afterwards fixed. The drums as shown
at B, B', need not be complete circles outside, but may, for convenience, be
made as shown by the dotted lines in Figure 2, and the drums B', B', may
also have manholes in their circumferences at the sides of the toothed rings,
so that a person can get inside and pass through the spaces betwixt the arms
to get when necessary to the front of the machine. T, T, are carriage rollers
running on the bottoms of the road cut by the tools on the drums B³; S*, S**,
are top rollers bearing against the roof cut by the teeth on the drums B.
When the machine revolves, and the tools or teeth are set so as to cut down-
wards, then the dotted roller S* will be used. When, however, the drum
moves the opposite way, then the other roller S** will be used; this roller
may be mounted as described in our Specification dated. December 20th 1865,
No. 3297, see Figure 7, or it may be mounted in any other convenient way.
S, S, in plan are side guide rollers; J, J, is the train of gearing for giving
the proper speed to the cutter; and K is either a pulley or a wheel for
another pinion as the case may require. The power is by preference taken
from a small turbine, as is described in our former Specification, or other
suitable power may be applied; if a turbine is used the water discharged from
it is directed on to the cutting teeth or tools to assist in removing the debris.
P is a worm and worm wheel for driving the feed gear and feed screw P
working in the feed nut Ps; this nut is fixed to the cross anchor a in such a
way that it will swivel so as not to bend the feed screw; the anchor has bolts
at its end which shoot into holes cut for them in the rock, and so the anchor
is secured. R is a clutch for throwing the feed screw in and out of gear.
In the arrangement shown in the Drawing the cutting wheels or drums
are of such a size that the whole machine is able to follow continuously in
their track; this, however, is not essential to the principle of the Invention, so
long as the arms A1, A1, are housed within the periphery of the drum or
drums in such manner as to allow the drum or drums to penetrate beyond their
centre of motion.
Another feature of the Invention, which is also illustrated by other Figures
herein-after described, is the driving the circular discs or wheels which carry
the cutters by pinions gearing with teeth formed at their peripheries, as is

page_text: shown. The forms of the cutting edges or teeth or tools used on the discs
or wheels, and the mode of fixing and adjusting them to the rotatory discs or
wheels, may be varied, but for stone, slate, or rock it is preferred to employ a
conical form, the cutting edge being formed at the base or largest diameter
of each conical cutter, and the sockets for these cutters are fitted in grooves
in the surface of the disc or wheel; such cutters with the mode of mounting
them are shown on a small scale in these Drawings; they are fully described
in the Specification of a former Patent granted to George Hunter, and dated
17th day of May 1864, No. 1244. The cutters are steel bolts with conical
heads forged to shape; the heads are turned to a sharp edge all round and
are then hardened. The stems of the cutters enter sockets either let into or
formed for them in the periphery of the drum, and bored at or nearly at a
tangent to the surface.
Also, according to our Invention when employing circular rotating discs or
wheels cutting endways into the rock as just described, after such rotating
cutters have been caused to penetrate into the rock to a desired distance by the
of
advance of the carriage and machinery carried thereby, the onward progress
the carriage and machinery may be stopped, and then other teeth on the rotating
cutters may be employed in such manner as to extend the cuts at or nearly at
right angles to the previous cut, so as to detach or partly to detach the parts
of the rock which have been cut into by the forward cuts of the rotating
circular cutters or wheels. Undercutting tools of this sort may be used in
combination with a machine such as is shown at Figures 1 and 2, and if such
tools are to be employed the main cutting drums B', B', in place of cutting close
up the one to the other as the machine travels forward will be made in two much
narrower cutting drums, that is to say, the portions between the points 1, 1, may
be omitted so as to leave a band of rock uncut between them, and then
when this band projects nearly up to the axis of the cutting drums the forward
motion of the machine will be stopped, and the undercuting tools applied to
remove the said projecting band. Figure 3 is a side view, and Figure 4 an
end view of such an undercutting tool; it consists of a slide e capable of
traversing in a dovetail groove on the face of the drum B', in a direction
parallel to the axis; it is set in position by a screw b which passes through
web c formed on the drum; in this web the screw is able to turn, but by it is
restrained from endway motion by a small key 6' driven through it. The
screw b works into a hole with a screw thread within it formed in the slide e
d, d, are the teeth, which drop into sockets at the end of the slide. There
may be any convenient number of slides on the circumference of the drum

page_text: say four or eight, and they are set so as not to interfere with the forward cut
of the machine. When the forward cut has been stopped the teeth d, d, are
caused to project slightly from the inner sides of the drums B', B', and then
as the drum continues to rotate they make a lateral cut at the back of the cut
already made. At each revolution the teeth d are advanced slightly by
turning the screws 6 by hand or otherwiso. Both of the drums B' are
furnished with these undercutting teeth, which continue to act until the band
of rock left between the two drums B' is detached. The slides e may be
changed during the operation for others of greater length if desired. When
using circular cutters or wheels with cutting tools at their peripheries, it is
desirable in cases where a deep cut of comparatively small width is to be
made that the circular cutter should be arranged to turn on a fixed circular
axis or disc of comparatively large diameter, and that the rotating cutter
should receive motion by a pinion taking into a toothed ring forming part of
the rotating cutter. Where a straight cut is required the said fixed axis or
disc should be supported by an arm or projecting frame affixed to the circular
axis or disc at a distance from its centre. Figure 5 is a plan partly in section
of a machine for cutting a straight or nearly straight vertical slit in horizontal
or oblique lying rock; in this case the cutter is in the middle of the carriage
and supported on both sides. A is the carriage or frame; A 2 is the disc of
large diameter, round which the ring or cutter frame B' with the cutters D
upon it revolves; the ring is driven by a pinion H. The disc A² is formed
eccentrically upon a strong hollow shaft turning on bearings on the frame,
and having on it a worm segment Z³, by which it can be partly turned for
lowering or raising the cutter ring with its axis or central disc, as is required.
Z is the worm; P, P, are feed wheels; P' the feed screw; and P³ the feed
nut. If the machine is going down hill a chain is made fast to the rock
behind the machine, and at the other end is attached to the nut; the machine
keeps to its work by its own weight, the feed nut traversing on the screw
pays out the chain as is required; but on level rock the chain should be
secured to the rock in front, so that the nut may pull the machine forward.
Figure 6 is an elevation of the same machine, shewing the cutter ring B¹
depressed and cutting into the rock, the dotted lines show the cutter ring
elevated; Figure 7 is a section through the pinion H. J, J, are a train of
wheels for driving this pinion and giving motion to the cutters as in the
machine already described; the ring B' as the Drawing shows is retained in
a groove in the periphery of its disc or axis A³, and to admit it into its place
one side of this groove is moveable and is secured by bolts; T, T, are carrying

page_text: wheels, on which the machine runs. The cutting tools, as will be seen, are
not applied to the cutter ring immediately the one behind the other, but so
distributed as to clear a track exceeding the width of the cutter ring.
Machines arranged in this manner can, as will be observed, produce a cut
considerably exceeding in depth the radius of the circle in which the cutters
travel. It is obvious that in a similar way machines can be arranged to
produce two vertical cuts, one on each side of the machine; or they may be
arranged to make horizontal or inclined cuts, as the circumstances of the case
may require.
In all these modifications the essential feature of this part of our Invention
will be retained, which is the employment of a cutter ring mounted on an
axis or disc of comparatively large diameter, such axis or disc being carried
from the carriage or frame by an arm or arms eccentric to it, and the cutter
ring being driven by a pinion gearing with teeth on the ring. The system of
mounting the cutter ring on a stationary axis or disc of comparatively large
diameter, and driving the said ring by a pinion gearing with teeth on the ring,
is also applicable to machines for making a circular or ring cut so as partially
to detach a portion of rock which is afterwards broken down by blasting or
otherwise.
Figure 8 is an end view of a portion of such a machine arranged suitably
for producing a double tunnel; Figure 9 is a section of the front supporting
ring or frame and revolving ring; Figure 10 is a similar view with the
supporting ring removed; Figure 11 is half size section of the supporting
ring and revolving ring with part of the cutter. The framing of this machine
consists of two supporting rings A 2 at each end, and at such distances apart
as to leave space for the train of wheels J, any number of which will be used
as is necessary to reduce the speed and give power; each pair of rings are
fastened together sideways by the brackets A³ cast on them, and the whole
four rings bound together by hollow longitudinal beams, shown in section
at A 4 (Figure 8). Through the hollow of these beams four shafts H 1 run
carrying the pinions H on one end, and the bevil wheels J on the other; a
set of side rollers S are also supported in these beams, and carriage rollers T
for supporting the whole machine are shewn in Figures 8 and 9. X and X 1
are friction rollers for supporting the revolving rings, these rollers revolve on
slightly eccentric studs, which allow of the rollers being tightened up at will;
G1 shows the teeth in rovolving ring; Y1 (Figures 9 and 10) are pieces screwed
in front to keep the revolving ring in position and exclude the dirt; O is the
cutter plate as described in the Specification No. 1244, 17th May 1864.

page_text: This machine can be fed up to its work as shown by the anchor A, Figure 1,
or as shewn in Specification 3297, December 20th 1865.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Fothergill Cooke, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
WILL". FOTHERGILL COOKE. (L.S.)