IM- PROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR BORING OR TUNNELLING HORIZONTALLY BY MEANS OF COMPRESSED AIR
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Raphael Hunter Braudon, of No. 1, Rue Laffitte, Paris,
and 38, Southampton Buildings, London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR BORING OR TUNNELLING HORIZONTALLY BY
MEANS OF COMPRESSED AIR." A communication from abroad by Leopold
Taskin, Civil Engineer, of Liège, Belgium.
ealed the 29th November 1878, and dated the 15th August 1878
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Raphael Hunter Brandon at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th August 1878.
RAPHAEL HUNTER BRANDON, of No. 1, Rue Laffitte, Paris, and 38, Southampton
Buildings, London, Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR BORING OR
TUNNELLING HORIZONTALLY BY MEANS OF COMPRESSED AIR." [A communication
from abroad by Leopold Taskin, Civil Engineer, of Liège, Belgium.]
This Invention has referance to machines in actual use for boring or sinking
vertical shafts, and consists in the improvements inade to said machines for the
purpose of adapting them for boring or tunnelling horizontal galleries or passages in
ordinary mining, railway, or other works, as well as submarine works.
For this purpose I make use of air cylinder or case, which is fixed at the heading
of the horizontal gallery or tunnel to be bored, and of a shield, the front of which
faces the tunnel to be cut, and from which projects at the back a cylinder, open at
its other extremity, and of a sufficient diameter to embrace the inner extremity of
the air cylinder, the two being connected by a packed water-tight joint, so as to
exclude the escape of the compressed air, and at the same time allow of the shield
with the cylinder attached being moved forward and away from the air cylinder,
As the cutting of the tunnel progresses, I place the boring tools, which may be of the
usual description, in front of this shield, and prefer working them by means of
compressed air directed in a cylinder adapted within this shield cylinder,

page_text: In order to obtain access to the workings or material cut down by the boring
tools I make an opening in the lower part of the face of this shield, and in order
to prevent water exuding from springs encountered during the cutting from filling
the shield cylinder, I run up internally from the bottom of this opening an inclined
partition to a higher level than the top of this opening, forming thus an hydraulic
joint, which excludes the water from the remaining and by far the larger part of
this cylinder.
I also avail myself of the above-mentioned opening for the passage of a dredging
chain, which is worked by the same compressed air motor as the boring tools, takes
the material cut away by the said tools at the heading, and delivers it at the other
end of the shield cylinder in contact or in vicinity with the inner head of the
stationary air case.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Raphael Hunter Brandon in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th December 1878...
RAPHAEL HUNTER BRANDON, of No. 1, Rue Laffitte, Paris, and 38, Southampton
Buildings, London, Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR BORING OR
TUNNELLING HORIZONTALLY BY MEANS OF COMPRESSED AIR." A communication
from abroad by Leopold Taskin, Civil Engineer, of Liège, Belgium.
This Invention refers to that class of machines which are in actual use for boring
'or sinking vertical shafts, and consists in the application of certain means to such
machines for the purpose of adapting them for boring or tunnelling horizontal
galleries or passages, for mining, railway, or other works, as well as for submarine
works.
The well-known manner of boring vertical shafts is to sink a case or cylinder
open at the bottom in the shaft. Compressed air is admitted into this cylinder to
drive out the water at the bottom. The work of boring is performed by apparatus
placed in the case. As the work proceeds, and the cylinder sinks further, fresh
annular portions are added to the tube which forms the walls of the shaft, so that
this tube always projects to a certain distance into the interior of the working
cylinder or head to admit of a water-tight packing between it and the latter.
The difficulties which this method offers to its application for boring horizontal
shafts or galleries are obvious. The face of the tunnel to be bored being vertical,
the compressed air introduced in the working cylinder, instead of forcing the water
out of the cylinder, would escape at the upper portion of the end of the cylinder
in the working.
.
To overcome these difficulties the-head of the working cylinder is, according to
this Invention, closed by means of a shield divided in two parts, the one being
placed at the upper part of the same at its outer edge, and descending below the

page_text: level of its axis, the other being placed further back within the cylinder, and rising
from the bottom thereof to above the level of its axis. The result of this arrange-
ment is that any water which might collect in front of the working cylinder can
enter into the latter only, at or near the bottom line of the shaft, and to find its
way to the general interior of the cylinder would have to rise above the edge of
the lower wall, from which it is positively prevented by a sufficient pressure of the
air contained in the cylinder.
In order to make ny Invention more clearly understood, I will describe it
in connection with the accompanying two Figures of the Drawing, in which
Figure 1 is a central vertical section, and Figure 2 is a cross section on the
line A, A, Figure 1. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in
both Figures.
.
a is the working cylinder placed horizontally for the purpose of boring a hori-
zontal shaft. All the joints of the different parts constituting it should be con-
structed with a view of making them water and air tight. Also at the place where
it reaches over the already finished part of the shaft there should be provided a
suitable packing, not shown, in the manner as is done in boring vertical shafts. A
part of that end of this cylinder which faces the tunnel to be bored is closed by
a vertical wall b, leaving only near the bottom line of the cylinder free communi-
cation between the latter and the exterior space. Two vertical walls c running
parallel with the axis of the cylinder extend from the vertical edges of the wall b
inward into the cylinder, and are connected with each other by the inclined wall d,
the lower edge of which is firmly secured to the lower edge of the cylinder a, as
represented.
The shaft e of the boring tool f, which latter may be of any suitable or approved
character, extends through a stuffing box in the wall b, and by means not repre-
sented, is preferably so arranged that it can be turned and moved forward at the
same time, so that the boring tool removes a sufficient quantity of soil for the advance
of the cylinder a.
Any water which may collect in front of the cylinder, and which would have a
tendency to flow into the latter, is forced out, or kept out by the pressure of the air
in the cylinder, only a very small quantity remaining therein enclosed between the
walls c, c, and d, which will never rise to a higher lever than the lower edge of the
wall b.
Any kind of an elevator or dredging mechanism, such as the chain shown in
dotted lines in Figure 1, may be employed to remove through this opening formed
by the edges of the walls b, c, c, and d, the soil loosened by the boring tool into
the interior of the cylinder a, from whence it may be carried out of the apparatus
at intervals in the usual manner.
The usual or any suitable means may be employed to push the cylinder forward,
and to elongate or continue the cylindrical wall of the shaft.
g is the air chamber placed at the commencing of the shaft, and provided on
both its faces with openings fitted with air-tight covers, through which communi-
cation is established between the interior of the tunnel and the surface in the usual
manner.
Many modifications may be made in the details without departing from the
principle of my Invention.
The wall b would serve well if its lower edge was made to pass horizontally on
the entire transverse section of the cylinder, instead of being cut out as shown.
In this case the parts of the wall of the cylinder a between the walls b and d, and
between the lower edge of the wall 6 and the upper edge of the wall d, would serve
as substitutes for the vertical walls c, c.
The wall d may be made more or less inclined than here shown, or it may be
made also vertical, but I prefer to make it inclined, because this position offers con-
siderable advantages for the arrangement of the elevating or dredging mechanism,
if it be desired to employ such mechanism in connection with my Invention.

page_text: What I claim as my Invention is, —
First. In machines for boring horizontal galleries or tunnels, the working
cylinder a, provided at or near its head with a shield composed of two walls, viz.,
an upper one b descending vertically beyond the axis of the cylinder, and a lower
one d situated further back, and rising diagonally within the cylinder to above the
level of the axis of the latter, in conjunction with the two inner vertical walls c; c,
substantially as and for the purposes specified.
b
Second. The working cylinder a, having at or near its head a shield composed of
two walls only, viz., an upper one 6 descending vertically beyond the axis of the
cylinder, and a lower one d situated further back, and rising diagonally or vertically
within the cylinder to above the level of the axis of the latter, substantially as and
for the purposes specified.
Third. The use of compressed air in conjunction with a cylinder arranged
according to one or other of the above-described methods of construction for the
purpose of horizontal borings; as and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Raphael Hunter Brandon, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
Witnesses,
H. MÉA;
D. H. BRANDON;
1, Rue Laffitte;
Paris.
R. H. BRANDON: (L.S.)