IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRILLING ROCK AND STONE FOR BLASTING AND OTHER FURPOSES." PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Edward Blacket Beaumont, of the
Garrick Club, London, Captain in the Royal Engineers, and Charles
James Appleby, Engineer, of Emerson Street, Southwark, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRILLING ROCK AND
STONE FOR BLASTING AND OTHER FURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Edward
Blacket Beaumont and Charles James Appleby at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 21st May
1868.
We, FREDERICK EDWARD BLACKET BEAUMONT, of the Garrick Club,
London, Captain in the Royal Engineers, and CHARLES JAMES APPLEBY,
Engineer, of Emerson Street, Southwark, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRILLING ROCK
AND STONE FOR BLASTING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
1868.
We, FREDERICK EDWARD BLACKET BEAUMONT, of the Garrick Club,
London, Captain in the Royal Engineers, and CHARLES JAMES APPLEBY,
Engineer, of Emerson Street, Southwark, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRILLING ROCK
AND STONE FOR BLASTING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-

page_text: It has before been proposed to drill rock and stone by means of
diamonds or other hard gems. The diamonds or gems are mounted
in a suitable holder, and whilst firmly pressed against the rock or stone
they are carried around in a circular course corresponding with the
circumference of the hole to be produced. Heretofore such drills have
either been pressed up to their work by fluid pressure, or they have been
fed forward a certain fixed distance for each revolution of the drill.
The application of fluid pressure involves the use of cumbersome
apparatus, which is very inconvenient in the places where such machines
have to be worked, and the application of a positive forward feed motion
to the drill, although it admits of a compact and portable apparatus
being used, endangers the tool should it encounter a hard seam in the
rock or stone unless the feed motion be so small that a great deal of
time is wasted.
Now according to our Invention we secure the advantages of both of
the before-mentioned systems and avoid their disadvantages by so
arranging the apparatus that the feed may be positive so long as the
diamond or gem cutters meet with no more resistance than they can
safely be allowed to overcome, but when the resistance exceeds this
amount then a spring which forms the abutment for the drill yields
slightly, and in so doing separates the feed mechanism from the driving
gear.
The following is the arrangement we prefer :-The drill stem has a
screw thread upon it, and has also a longitudinal groove in it; it passes
through a tubular axis carried in suitable bearings and having a feather
within it entering the longitudinal groove in the screw. The tubular
axis has a pinion upon it and is driven by a corresponding pinion on an
axis actuated by a compressed air engine or other prime mover; in this
way the rotatory motion is given to the drill. There is also on the tubular
axis another pinion; it is able to turn loosely on the axis, and is driven
by another pinion on the driving axis at a slightly different speed from the
tubular axis on which it is mounted, and this pinion carries a clutching
face engaging with another similar face in connection with a nut on the
screw, so that when the clutching faces are in gear the nut is slowly
turned upon the screw and so gives the required forward feed to the
drill, the nut abutting upon a strong spring. When however the
resistance to the progress of the drill becomes greater than that which
the spring is adjusted to sustain it yields slightly and allows the nut to

page_text: recede and take its clutching face out of gear. The two pinion's on the
driving axis are rendered fast upon it by clutches. When at work both
these clutches are engaged, and by throwing one or other of them out
of gear the drill can be rapidly advanced or retired, as then in one case
the nut and in the other case the screw alone is driven. The driving
axis may be kept in motion by any power or description of motive-
power engine, either attached to the frame of and forming part of the
lever proper or detached from it, in which latter case I construct a
frame or carriage to support and transmit motion to a number of such
drills. At the back of the carriage and at a distance from the working
face are two spur wheels gearing together and driven by a compressed
air engine or otherwise. The axes of these wheels are carried in suitable
bearings on the carriage or frame, and on these axes are arms; they can
move freely around the axes, but are clamped when at work in any
position in which they may be required. Each of these arms has at its
end a pinion, and this by a jointed shaft is connected with the driving
axis of one of the drilling apparatus. The drilling apparatus are clamped
to standards in the positions in which they are required to work at the.
front of the carriage or frame.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Edward Blacket Beaumont and Charles
James Appleby in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st November
1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
EDWARD BLACKET BEAUMONT, of the Garrick Club, London, Captain in
the Royal Engineers, and CHARLES JAMES APPLEBY, Engineer, of
Emerson St., Southwark, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Frederick Edward Blacket Beaumont and
Charles James Appleby, Her special licence that we, the said Frederick
Edward Blacket Beaumont and Charles James Appleby, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Frederick

page_text: 33
Edward Blacket Beaumont and Charles James Appleby, our execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and 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 FOR DRILLING ROOK AND STONE FOR BLASTING AND OTHER PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Frederick Edward
Blacket Beaumont and Charles James Appleby, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or 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 Charles James Appleby, on behalf
of myself and the said Frederick Edward Blacket Beaumont, 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 for
drilling rock and stone for blasting and other purposes.
It has before been proposed to drill rock and stone by means of
diamonds or other hard gems. The diamonds or gems are mounted in a
suitable holder, and whilst firmly pressed against the rock or stone they
are carried around in a circular course corresponding with the circum-
ference of the hole to be produced. Heretofore such drills have either
been pressed up to their work by fluid pressure, or they have been fed
forward a certain fixed distance for each revolution of the drill. The
application of fluid pressure involves the use of cumbersome apparatus,
which is very inconvenient in the places where such machines have to
be worked, and the application of a positive forward feed motion to
the drill, although it admits of a compact and portable apparatus
being used, endangers the tool should it encounter a hard seam in the
rock or stone unless the feed motion be so small that a great deal of
time is wasted.
Now according to our Invention we secure the advantages of both of

page_text: the before-mentioned systems and avoid their disadvantages by so
arranging the apparatus that the feed may be positive so long as the
diamond or gem cutters meet with no more resistance than they can
safely be allowed to overcome, but when the resistance exceeds this
amount then a spring which forms the abutment for the drill yields
slightly, and in so doing separates the feed mechanism from the driving
gear.
The following is the arrangement we prefer :-The drill stem has
a screw thread upon it, and has also a longitudinal groove in it; it
passes through a tubular axis carried in suitable bearings, and having
a feather within it entering the longitudinal groove in the screw.
The tubular axis has a pinion upon it, and is driven by a corresponding
pinion on an axis actuated by a compressed air engine or other prime
mover; in this way the rotatory motion is given to the drill. There is
also on the tubular axis another pinion; it is able to turn loosely on the
axis, and is driven by another pinion on the driving axis at a slightly
different speed from the tubular axis on which it is mounted, and this
pinion carries a clutching face engaging with another similar face in
connection with a nut on the screw, so that when the clutching faces
are in gear the nut is slowly turned upon the screw and so gives the
required forward feed to the drill, the nut abutting upon a strong spring.
When, however, the resistance to the progress of the drill becomes
greater than that which the spring is
slightly and allows the hut to recede and
gear. The two pinions on the driving axis are rendered fast upon it by
clutches. When at work both these clutches are engaged, and by
throwing one or other of them out of gear the drill can be rapidly
advanced or retired, as then in one case the nut and in the other case
the screw alone is driven.
adjusted to sustain it yields
take its clutching face out of
Figure 1 is an elevation, and Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the
drilling apparatus constructed in the manner in which we prefer.
a is the drill consisting of a hollow cylinder of soft iron having
diamonds a¹ set at its end; both on its external and internal edges, so
that as it revolves the diamonds may cut away all the stone that is in
the path of the drill. The diamonds employed, it will be understood, are
such as from being unsuited for use in jewellery are comparatively
inexpensive. The drill a is fixed at the end of a drill stem b, having a
screw thread cut upon it nearly from end to end. The drill stem passes

page_text: through a tubular axis c, which is capable of rotating in a bearing in
the frame d fixed to a suitable support. There is a longitudinal groove in
the drill stem b, and a feather or projection centers this groove, so that
the drill stem can slide longitudinally through the tubular axis, but it
is compelled to rotate with it. c is a pinion upon the tubular axis c; it
gears with a pinion e¹ on the axis e, which is driven through an
universal joint at its end from an air engine or other suitable motor.
The pinion e¹ is when it is required to drive clutched with its axis by a
clutch worked by a hand lever e³. The drill stem b works through a
screw nut mounted so as to be able to revolve in a bearing in the
frame d. If the nuts were kept stationary whilst the drill stem b is
made to revolve by throwing in the clutch e the drill stem would, it
is evident, move rapidly forward through the tubular axis c, and it is
in this way that the drill is brought quickly up to the face against
which it is to work. When, however, the drill is cutting the forward
motion required is much slower, and the reduction of speed is obtained
by causing the nut f to revolve in the same direction as the drill
stem but at a slightly slower or quicker speed; this is effected by
connecting the nut by a friction clutch f', g', with a pinion g which
gears with a pinion e on the driving axis e. The pinion e is thrown
in and out of gear by means of a clutch es and lever handle e. The
pinion e, it will be observed, is slightly smaller than the pinion e. The
drill is in this way fed forward into the work at an uniform slow speed
until the resistance to its progress amounts to a certain amount which has
previously been fixed upon as the maximum working pressure on the
face of the drill, and then the forward feed of the drill stem stops. This
result is attained in the following manner:-The nut f which is the
abutment of the drill is able to slide a short distance in its bearing in
the frame d; it is pressed forward constantly by a spring h, by pre-
ference consisting of rings of vulcanized india-rubber separated by metal
plates. The outermost plate rests upon the end of a hollow screw h¹,
passing through a crosshead h², which by bolts h³ is fixed to the frame d.
The spring being adjusted to the desired maximum working pressure
by the screw h¹, as soon as the resistance to the progress of the
drill rises to this amount the spring yields, and the nut f slides
back through its bearing in the frame a short distance sufficient
slightly to separate the parts f, g, of the friction clutch the one from
the other, and then the nut f not being controlled it turns freely in its
bearing in the frame d, and the forward motion of the drill stem for the

page_text: arms h, h, are mounted between the standards; they carry at their outer
ends pinions i, i, gearing with the wheels f and g respectively. These
arms are able to turn upon their axes, and can be set to radiate from
them in any desired direction. Each of the arms h has a disc h¹ upon
it concentric with the axis, and in the face of this disc is a circular
groove dovetail in section; they receive the heads of screw bolts which
pass through lugs e¹ on the standards e, so that by means of clamping
nuts on these bolts the arms can be locked in any position. From the
axes of the pinions i motion is given to the borers by means of shafts k,
which are connected with these axes and also with the driving axes of
the borers by means of universal joints; the shafts k are also made
telescopic. From the fore part of the carriage a coupling bars / pass to
the axis m, which also has flanged wheels at its ends to run upon the
rails. n is a casting connected with the axis m and able to turn about it.
This casting when the machine is at work rests upon the floor in front
of the working face; it is planed on its upper surface, and a T-formed
groove runs from end to end of it. o, o, are columns standing upon this
casting; they can be clamped to it at any part of its length by bolts, the
heads of which are received into the T groove and which project through
holes in the base of the column; these holes are slotted so as to admit
of the column being turned partly round and so clamped. Each column
is made in two lengths clamped together by flanges having slotted holes
in them, so that the one part of the column can be turned partly round
upon the other part. The columns each have two slides p, one on each
of its sections or lengths, and these slides carry the borers; they can be
traversed up and down upon the columns and clamped in any desirable
position. The columns are square in section and have racks running
from end to end of them with which pinions on the slides gear; the
slides have also locking pawls taking into the teeth of the rack, and
which retain them at any elevation to which they may be raised; they
also have clamping screws rigidly to fix them to the columns when the
borers are at work. On each slide p is a face plate against which a
corresponding face on the frame of the borer is applied, and the two are
clamped together by bolts having dovetail heads entering a circular
groove in the face of the slide p. By this arrangement it will be seen
that the borers may be set to bore into the working face in any position
and in any required direction, for the position of the borer can be
adjusted in a horizontal direction by traversing the column o along the
casting n, and in a vertical direction by traversing the slide p upon the

page_text: column, whilst the inclination of the borer in a vertical plane can be
adjusted by setting the face plate of the borer frame to the desired
position upon the face plate of the slide o, and the inclination of the
borer in a horizontal plane can be adjusted by turning the column o
itself partly round upon the casting n. q, q, are screws at the upper
ends of the columns; they are pointed at their ends and are screwed out
into the roof to steady the columns in working; r, r, are stays passing
from the tops of the columns to the bed plate a. When the apparatus is
required to travel to and from the working face the stays and the
telescopic axes k are removed, and the columns o, o, are laid down till
their upper ends rest upon the bed plate a, the casting n will then be
raised off the ground and be supported on the wheels of the axis m.
Figure 5 is a side view, and Figure 6 is a plan of another arrangement
of mechanism for driving the borers; it consists of an air engine mounted
on wheels, and with a pump to supply water to the borers, as before,
except that in this case the engine is arranged horizontally and simply
drives a fly wheel, which by a driving band actuates the mechanism
from which the borers take their motion. The fore part of the carriage a
casting b, which rests on the
are in action, and
Within this base b
is by coupling bars connected with a base
floor in front of the working face when the borers
which tips upon its wheels for travelling as before.
an horizontal axis c is carried in suitable bearings at its centre and end;
it has a pulley upon it which receives the driving strap from the engine.
Upon the casting 6 two columns (or more) d, d, each made in two lengths,
stand as before, and as in the former case they can be shifted along the
surface of the base turned partly round upon it and clamped in any
position. Each column at its lower end carries in suitable bearings two
bevelled wheels gearing together, one of them is upon a vertical shaft e
passing up the centre of the column, and through the other the horizontal
axis c passes;
it is able to slide along this axis when the column is
shifted, but is compelled to rotate with it by a feather taking into a groove
formed from end to end of the axis c; in this way the vertical shaft e
is driven, whatever be the position of the column d upon the base b.
The columns d, d, are D-form in section, and upon their faces slides f,f,
are applied; the slide can be secured to the column by clamping bolts,
the heads of which traverse in T grooves, as is shown. Each of the
slides carries in bearings two bevelled wheels gearing together; one of
these wheels is upon the shaft ; it is mounted loosely upon it, but can

page_text: plates fare not formed directly upon the frame a but are separate plates
hinged to it by their under sides, and securely held to it by bolts when
the machine is at work. The axes c also are each made in three
separate pieces fitting together with sockets, so that when the machine
is to be lifted as soon as the bolts which hold the face plates fare
removed the arms d are free to hang down, and the apparatus then
occupies but a comparatively small space in the shaft.
The machine above described is applicable for pits of large dimensions;
by turning it round upon its centre pin and resetting it from time to time
every part of the bottom of the shaft is commanded by the borers.
Where the shaft is of small size a sufficient command may be obtained
at one setting by arranging the arms d to radiate from the four sides
of the frame a, as is shown by the horizontal section, Figure 10. In
this arrangement the crank shaft of the engine serves as one of the
axes e, and the others are driven from it by bevilled gear, as the
Drawing indicates; in other respects the arrangement is similar to that
already described.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, we would have it understood that
what we claim is, the arranging apparatus for drilling rock by means
of diamond or gem drills in such manner that the feed forward of the
drill may be positive so long as the drill meets with no more resistance
than it can safely overcome, but that as soon as the resistance becomes
excessive the abutment of the drill may yield slightly, and in doing so
may separate the feed mechanism from the driving gear.
We also claim the arranging apparatus for drilling rock and stone,
substantially as herein described. .
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles James Appleby, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-eight.
CHARLES JAMES APPLEBY. (L.S.)