IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR TUNNELLING,
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Huntriss, Colliery Proprietor, and John
Swinburn, Mechanical Engineer, the former of Doncaster, in the
County of York, the latter of Wombwell, in the same County,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR TUNNELLING,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Huntriss and
John Swinburn at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 13th August 1874.
We, GEORGE HUNTRISS, Colliery Proprietor, and JOHN SWINBURN,
Mechanical Engineer, the former of Doncaster, in the County of York,
the latter of Wombwell, in the same County, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR TUN-
NELLING, HOLING, CUTTING, DRILLING, AND GETTING COAL OR OTHER MINERALS,”
to be as follows :-
This Invention consists in constructing a machine for the above
purpose in the following manner:-In suitable framing we mount

page_text: longitudinally or transversely a central rotary cutter bar and one or
more outer rotary cutter bars. The bars may be of iron, steel, or
other hard or rigid substance of any desired form, and either fluted
or containing knives, knibs, teeth, or cutting instruments, dovetailed
or otherwise attached to or formed on the said bar or bars in a longi-
tudinal direction, or spirally, or helically, or otherwise. The shape
of such said cutting instruments will depend upon the hardness of
the coal or other mineral to be cut, drilled, holed, or operated upon;
and this Invention further consists in combining a rotary and lateral
or circular motion of the outer cutter bar or bars with a longitudinal
forward or backward movement of the machine or framing containing
the said cutter bar or bars; the said framing also contains the motive
power, or machinery, or appliances necessary for propelling the frame
and cutter bar or bars. The outer bar or bars cut not only at their ends
but likewise along the faces thereof simultaneously and at one operation
for the full depth required for the tunnelling, or holing, or cutting, and
may be worked horizontally, or at any angle or at any part of the bed
of coal or other mineral.
The machine is mounted on wheels and is intended to travel up to
the coal or other minerals, and each tool or cutter bar to drill or imbed
itself in the coal or other mineral by rotary motion only, after which
a circular or sweeping motion is given to the arms or framing carrying
the outer cutter bars until they intersect each other, when there is
thus cut a complete circle in the coal or other minerals the full height
of the seam of coal or other minerals; at the same time a hole is drilled
in the centre by the central cutter bar for the purpose of blasting or
wedging the coal or other minerals down. The centre drill spindle may
be connected to the other drill spindles by wheel gearing.
For cutting or holing long wall work the machine is intended to have
one or more cutter bars so arranged that after fixing the tool to drill
or imbed itself at the top of the seam it can be made to cut a circular
groove from the top to the bottom, or any part of the seam, and then
to travel along the face, and at the other end to travel round to the
top of the bed and back again to the other end, making a complete
groove top and bottom from end to end; or a tool may be fixed at top
and bottom and cut, the two grooves at one and the same time, so that
it is not necessary to have a loose end,

page_text: The wheels on which the apparatus is mounted may be provided with
side rods, and the whole apparatus may be propelled back or forward,
as may be desired, along the tramway.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Huntriss and John Swinburn in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 13th February 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
HUNTRISS, Colliery Proprietor, and JOHN SWINBURN, Mechanical
Engineer, the former of Doncaster, in the County of York, the latter of
Wombwell, in the same County, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said George Huntriss and
John Swinburn, Her special licence that we, the said George Huntriss
and John Swinburn, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said George Huntriss and John Swinburn,
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 FOR TUNNELLING, HOLING, CUTTING, DRILLING,
AND GETTING COAL OR OTHER MINERALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said George Huntriss and John Swinburn, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said George Huntriss and John
Swinburn, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This Invention consists in constructing a machine for the above
purpose in the following manner :-In suitable framing we mount
longitudinally or transversely a central rotary cutter bar and one or
more outer rotary cutter bars. The bars may be of iron, steel, or
other hard or rigid substance of any desired form, and either fluted
or containing knives, knibs, teeth, or cutting instruments, dovetailed
or otherwise attached to or formed on the said bar or bars in a longi-
tudinal direction, or spirally, or helically, or otherwise. The shape
of such said cutting instruments will depend upon the hardness of
the coal or other mineral to be cut, drilled, holed, or operated upon;
and this Invention further consists in combining a rotary, and lateral,
and circular motion of the outer cutter bar or bars with a longitudinal
forward or backward movement of the machine or framing containing
the said cutter bar or bars; the said framing also contains the motive
power, or machinery, or appliances necessary for propelling or working
the cutter bar or bars. The outer bar or bars cut not only at their
ends but likewise along the faces thereof simultaneously and at one
operation for the full depth required for the tunnelling, or holing, or
cutting, and may be worked horizontally, or at any angle, or at any
part of the bed of coal or other mineral.
The machine is mounted on wheels and is intended to travel up to
the coal or other minerals, and each tool or cutter bar to drill or embed
itself in the coal or other mineral by rotary motion only, after which
a circular or sweeping motion is given to the arms or framing carrying
the outer cutter bars until they intersect each other, when there is
thus cut a complete circle, or nearly so, in the coal or other minerals
the full height of the seam of coal or other minerals; at the same time
a hole is or may be drilled in the centre by the central cutter bar for
the purpose of blasting or wedging the coal or other minerals down.
The centre drill spindle may be connected to the other drill spindles by
wheel gearing.
For cutting or holing long wall work the machine is intended to have
one or more cutter bars so arranged that after fixing the tool to drill

page_text: or embed itself at the top of the seam it can be made to cut a circular
groove from the top to the bottom or any part of the seam, and then
to travel along the face, and at the other end to travel round to the
top of the bed and back again to the other end, making a complete
groove, top and bottom, from end to end; or a tool may be fixed at top
and bottom and cut the two grooves at one and the same time, so that
it is not necessary to have a loose end.

page_text: a horizontal traversing motion for the drill and drill shaft, thus causing
the drill to move and to cut in a horizontal direction for the length of
the racks on the frame.
Instead of only having a drill on shaft P there may be two or more
such drills Q mounted on arms or frames R and R', and a central drill Q¹
on shaft L may be employed, as shown in dotted lines, to be worked
separately from or in combination with the other drill or drills Q.
The operation is as follows:-We run the drill Q up to the coal to be
cut by driving the frame A on its wheels B up to the coal, or until the
drill Q touches the seam of coal; the engine is then started which drives
the mitre wheels I and K, and communicates a rotary motion to shaft L.
The toothed wheel M is thus rotated, which gearing into the inter-
mediate wheel N drives the pinion O, thus communicating a quick
rotary motion to drill shaft F and the drill Q; the latter then enters the
seam of coal, having sufficiently embedded itself in the seam the pinion I
is turned by the hand of the operator through a crank handle which
slowly rotates the wheel S, and communicates a slow rotary motion to
frame R, sleeve R¹, outer frame R³, drill shaft P, and drill S, whereby
the latter (the drill) is caused to move in a circular or semicircular
direction; as soon as the semicircle is completed the rotary motion of
the pinion I is arrested, and a similar rotary motion is imparted also
by a hand crank handle to the traverse shaft W, which causes the wheels
V, V, to revolve and to travel along the racks X, X, thus causing the
drill Q to travel in a corresponding horizontal direction so long as the
said wheels V, V, move as aforesaid. When this horizontal motion is
completed the pinion T is again rotated, and the semicircular movement
of the drill Q is again repeated; that motion completed a horizontal
movement is again imparted by means of the wheels V, V, and racks
X, X, as before; when the drill has completed its course a block of coal
is thus completely cut through. To divide this block a drill on the shaft
may be sent through the centre if desired, or if deemed necessary to split
it up, or in other ways to facilitate its division.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we do not limit
ourselves in any way to the particular form or description of cutter
employed, as the same must be necessarily varied according to the
nature of the material operated on; neither do we limit ourselves to

page_text: the exact machinery or apparatus employed for communicating the
circular, or semicircular, or traversing motion as aforesaid to the said
drill, as the same may be varied in and by the employment of mechanical
equivalents for effecting semicircular results without departing from the
essential features of our Invention; but we claim,-
First. The tunnelling, holing, cutting, drilling, and getting coal for
forming or cutting in same an aperture or groove first in a circular or
semicircular, and then in a horizontal direction until the whole block
required to be cut out is surrounded by said aperture or groove, as well
as with or without another aperture or apertures or grooves through
in the body or at or near the centre of block, all substantially as herein-
before described.
Second. The tunnelling, holing, cutting, drilling, and getting coal and
other minerals in and by the employment of machinery producing a
circular or partially circular motion and a horizontal motion, all con-
structed and acting substantially in the manner herein-before described,
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, together with any mere
modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Swinburn, for myself and
on behalf of the said George Huntriss, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.