AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PIERCING OR BORING HOLES IN ROCK, MINERAL, OR OTHER MATERIAL OF A SIMILAR NATURE, APPLICABLE IN TUNNEL, MINE, QUARRY, AND OTHER SUCH WORK
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Ferdinand Floran Villepigue at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th April 1869.
I, FERDINAND FLORAN VILLEPIGUE, of 16, Northumberland Street, in
the Parish of Saint Martin's-in-the-Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PIERCING OR BORING HOLES
IN ROCK, MINERAL, OR OTHER MATERIAL OF A SIMILAR NATURE, APPLICABLE IN
TUNNEL, MINE, QUARRY, AND OTHER SUCH WORK," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in certain improved machines or instruments
for piercing or boring holes in rock, mineral, or other material of a
similar nature, which instruments are applicable in tunnel, mine, quarry,
and other such work, and are capable of boring holes of any form or
dimension and in any direction. These perforators are based upon the
principle of a constant equilibrium between the motive force and the
resistance offered, that is to say, that a self-acting and incessant equi-
librium is established between the resisting forces and a regular and
constant motive force applied by means of the handle or crank of the

page_text: machine, which regular and constant force is made to produce, by the
agency of mechanical combinations designed for the purpose, a variable
differential movement, which is always proportional to the hardness of
the material that has to be pierced, the machine thus regulating auto-
matically the amount of progress it is capable of effecting with relation
to the resistance to be overcome, the amount of power exercised by
the crank or handle being uniform when set to work, but at the same
time capable of being increased or diminished at the will of the operator.
These perforators can be made to work and pierce holes in any required
direction or at any required angle, this quality resulting from the
manner of their construction, which is as follows:-The apparatus is
fixed to a hollow column which contains at one extremity a screw with
a pointed end, and at the other extremity a foot or pedestal with jointed
claws. These jointed claws, by adjusting themselves to the nature of
the surface of the ground on which they are placed, whatever be its
irregularity or slope, prevent the column from turning on its axis, and
gives at the same time a facility to the operator to incline it at any
required angle, whilst the fixing screw, placed in the interior of the
column or tube, and thus secured from outward concussion, being
surmounted by a perforated caping by which its adjustment can be
regulated, has at its extremity a sharp point capable of penetrating the
material of the rock or other material in which the operation is effected,
and can thus be fixed by a few turns of the screw and rendered stable
and immoveable. The column being thus fixed in the required position,
as already described, the boring apparatus properly so called may be
made to slide along the whole length of the column to describe a circle
in the horizontal plane by turning all round the column, and by a
special adjustment for that purpose can be made to describe likewise a
circle in the vertical plane, so that by means of these three movements
it can be made to act in any direction whatever which may be required,
and that without altering in any way the position of the first column to
which it is attached.
The perforating apparatus consists in,-1°, a double screw with
external collar acting as a moving force with its break; 2°, a friction
roller; 3°, a casing forming a butting piece whilst enclosing these
several parts; 4°, the bar in which the blade is fixed; 5°, the perforating
blade; and, 6°, a crank catch handle. The apparatus being in position
the operator proceeds as follows:-By tightening the break the screw is

page_text: set; then by turning the screw the blade advances at each revolution a
distance equal to the breadth of the interval between the thread of the
screw; but the resistance to the penetration of the instrument offered
by the material to be pierced gives rise to a back thrust or effort in the
opposite direction, which is communicated to the friction roller, which
turns with the screw by means of a fixed pin, and the result of this
action is a greater or lesser amount of resistance to the working of the
crank. The operator then regulates his break by tightening it more or
less in proportion to the motive power at his command. The break thus
regulated, say, for a motive power of 20 lbs., each time the hardness
of the material or amount of resistance increases or diminishes, the
adherence of the collar of the friction roller is proportional to this
resistance, and will increase or diminish also, and in this way the
said roller in its rotary movement carries with it the screw more or less
as the proportion of the total pressure varies relatively to the resistance
opposed by the break to the movement of the said screw, from which
there results a difference in the advance made by the one and the other
part of the double screw, and this difference gives for each turn of the
screw an amount of progress dependant on the resistance offered by the
material pierced, whilst the labour required is the same throughout,
being equalized by the pressure itself. These instruments are made of
any suitable metals or materials, of any dimensions, and of several types,
adapted to the kind of of work to be performed.
I claim as my sole and exclusive Invention and property, machines
for piercing rock and other minerals and materials of the kind herein-
before described, and which, by the agency and mechanical combinations
already detailed, possess the following properties and advantages, viz. :-
1°. Facility of being placed in position and securely fixed, no matter
what may be the conformation of the locality.
2°. The perforation of any mineral or other matter which can be acted
upon either by steel or diamond working by rotation or revolution.
3°. Perforation in any required direction, without distinction and in
any position, by means of the catch crank handle.
4°. Economy in the motive power.
5°. Regular working and maximum product in the motive power
employed by reason of the constant equilibrium of the resistance, and

page_text: the absence of friction on the sides of the hole, resulting from the
formation of the blade.
6°. Withdrawal of the pulverized material at the same rate as it is
produced. This effect, which is due to the formation of the blade, is of
the greatest importance, as without it perforation becomes all but im-
possible, since the material by clogging the blade would either lead to a
fracture of the same or render its revolution impossible.
7. Facility of installation, as it can be fixed in position in one minute
and unfixed in the same.
8. Rapidity of perforation, amounting to from 4 to 6 inches in the
slate, 6 to 8 inches in the gypsum, and 8 to 10 inches in the schist, per
minute.
9. Great durability of the motive screws, the interval between the
threads being unusually wide apart, and solidity of the apparatus, nearly
all the parts being made of steel with the greatest care.
10. Perfect connexion of the blade with the apparatus by means of a
long conical socket.
11. Power of instantaneously withdrawing the blade without force or
concussion by means of the pin.
12. Impossibility of fracturing the instruments, the progress made
being proportional to the hardness of the material to be pierced.
13. Lightness and portability of the machine, the complete apparatus
not exceeding from 40 to 50 lbs. (forty to fifty) avoirdupois each.