IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING COAL AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES, AND IN THE MODE OR METHOD OF USING AND WORKING THE SAME
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William John Clapp, of the Nant-y-glo Iron
Works, Nant-y-glo, Monmouthshire, Surgeon, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING COAL AND FOR
OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES, AND IN THE MODE OR METHOD OF USING AND
WORKING THE SAME.”
"
Sealed the 8th August 1873, and dated the 27th May 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William John Clapp
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th May 1873.
I, WILLIAM JOHN CLAPP, of the Nant-y-glo Iron Works, Nant-y-glo,
Monmouthshire, Surgeon, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING
COAL AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES, AND IN THE MODE OR METHOD OF USING
AND WORKING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
I mount on or within a frame a number of cutting or cutting and
boring instruments of different lengths or projecting to different degrees
from the face of the machine or apparatus in a curved or double angled

page_text: or other form, by which they are gradually presented to the face of the
work to be done, one or two or more at a time.
These instruments may be drills, or pointed or other shaped augers,
or twisted borers, or similarly acting or operating instruments, suitably
formed to free themselves and the holes made from cuttings.
These instruments are geared together and caused to rotate either all
in the same direction or some in one direction and others in the opposite
direction by means of spur or bevil wheel gear, and depending upon how
they are geared together and driven; and by their difference in length,
if they be so arranged and disposed, they may form a semi-circular or
curved cut, which will be advanced into the material operated upon in
like manner. The frame in which they are mounted may be horizontally
or angularly supported upon trunnions sliding upon and down on
standards or an upright frame, or it may be supported by or upon
another frame, upon which it slides or traverses back and forth upon it
horizontally or at an angle, but (parallel with); and this second frame
may be mounted upon or be supported upon, or by trunnions or carriages
moving up and down and capable of being adjusted on standards verti-
cally or at any suitable angle, according to the work to be performed;
and the second frame, whilst admitting of the forward and transverse
motion of the first with its cutters or tools, also permits of various
angles and compound motions being given to the cutting apparatus.
The forward motion or feed of the instruments may be effected by
self-acting gear through the rotary action of the driving apparatus
whether driven by hand or other motive power, and either by worm and
wheel gear acting through a pinion upon a rack on each side of the
instrument frame or upon the second frame carrying the first frame, or
by other suitable and equivalent means; and the speed of the feed and
forward motion may be varied in relation to the movement of the rotary
or cutting action.
The whole of the instruments with their frame or frames may be
supported between vertical (or angularly placed) standards, which may
have jack screws and struts at the top to secure the apparatus for
working as between the roof and floor of the scam or working of a coal
measure, and the lower part of the frame or standards may be guided on
rails. By means of jointed parallel bars any suitable angulated or
angular position may be given to the apparatus so as to be nearly

page_text: universal in its application, and it may be brought to bear upon its work
or the work to be performed in the most convenient manner, whilst the
requisite motions or movements for cutting, drilling, or boring, and
advancing and retreating or withdrawing the instruments under regu-
lation may be performed by a crank handle, if by hand, or by a crank
arm or equivalent means if driven by the continuous circular or recipro-
cating motion of any motive power machine, such as a compressed air
engine and other such means, or by motion transmitted through an
endless chain or rope, in which case a pulley wheel or drum may be
substituted for the crank, and by one movement or connection the whole
of the cutting instruments are set in rotary motion, whether they be all
right-handed or all left-handed twist, or alternately right and left-handed
as they would have to be, when they are directly geared together by
pinions taking into one and other in the same line without the interven-
tion of intermediate pinions.
Instead of propelling forward the frame containing the cutting instru-
ments by means of a worm on the two outside spindles, taking into worm
wheels and pinions and rack gearing, there may be a fine rack on each
side and a pawl taking thereinto, actuated by a cam or other similar
arrangement.
For the purpose of removing the divisions of material left between
the drilled or bored holes, and for making and also for deepening the
cut, I propose to employ a rotary cutting instrument or pair of rotary
cutters or circular saw-like apparatus, having the centre or eye of each
circular saw or cutter formed with an internal toothed surface like an
internally toothed wheel or ring, into which is geared (or taking there-
into) two pinions mounted upon the one end of the lever arm so as to turn
freely, and which when the arm is pressed forward produces rotation in
the circular cutting apparatus and a cutting action upon the material
against which it is pressed and moved back and forth.
Although this last described part of the apparatus may be employed
for cutting slits or groves or making cuts in the coal, either by hand or
in connection with a reciprocating machine, I propose to use or employ
it chiefly as a further or after action upon the body of coal which has
been operated upon by the instruments first described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William John Clapp in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOHN CLAPP, of the Nant-y-glo Iron Works, Nant-y-glo, Monmouthshire,
Surgeon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the twenty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William John Clapp, Her special licence that
I, the said William John Clapp, my executors, administrators, and
assigns or such others as I, the said William John Clapp, my
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 AND APPARATUS FOR CUTTING COAL AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR
PURPOSES, AND IN THE MODE OR METHOD OF USING AND WORKING THE SAME,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William John
Clapp, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William John Clapp, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement and accompanying 4 Sheets of Drawings :-
I mount on or within a frame a number of cutting or cutting and
boring instruments of different lengths or projecting to different degrees
from the face of the machine or apparatus in a curved or double-angled
or other form by which they are gradually presented to the face of the
work to be done, one or two or more at a time.

page_text: These instruments may be drills, or pointed or other shaped augers or
twisted borers, or similarly acting or operating instruments suitably
formed to free themselves (and the holes made) from the cuttings or
borings.
These instruments are geared together, and caused to rotate either all
in the same direction, or some or one direction and others in the opposite
direction, by means of spur or bevil wheel gear, and depending upon
how they are geared together and driven, and by their difference in
lengths, if they be so arranged and disposed they may form a semi-
O circular or curved cut, which will be advanced into the material operated
upon in like manner. The frame in which they are mounted may be
horizontally or angularly supported upon trunnions or other bearings or
projections sliding upon or up and down on standards or an upright
frame, or it may be supported by or upon another frame, upon which it
slides or traverses back and forth upon it horizontally or at an angle (but
parallel with it), and this second frame may be mounted upon or be
supported upon, or by trunnions or carriages moving up and down and
capable of being adjusted on standards vertically or at any suitable angle,
according to the work to be performed, and the second frame, whilst
admitting of the forward and transverse motion of the first frame with
its cutters or tools, also permits of various angles and compound motions
being given to the cutting apparatus in relation to the material to be
operated on.
The forward motion or feed of the instruments may be effected by self-
acting gear through the rotary action of the driving apparatus, whether
driven by hand or other motive power, and either by worm and wheel
gear acting through a pinion upon a rack on each side of the instrument
frame, or upon the second frame carrying the first frame, or by other
suitable and equivalent means, and the speed of the feed and forward
motion may be varied in relation to the movement of the rotary or
cutting action.
The whole of the instruments, with their frame or frames, may be
supported between vertical (or angularly placed) standards, which may
have jack screws and struts at the top to secure the apparatus for working,
as between the roof and floor of the seam or working of a coal measure,
and the lower part of the frame or standards may be guided on rails. By
means of suitable jointed parallel bars any suitable angulated or angular

page_text: position may be given to the apparatus so as to be nearly universal in its
application, and it may be brought to bear upon its work, or the work to
be performed in the most convenient manner, whilst the requisite
motions or movements for cutting, drilling, or boring, and advancing
and retreating or withdrawing the instruments under regulation may be
performed by a crank handle, if by hand, or by a crank arm, or equiva-
lent means, if driven by the continuous circular or reciprocating motion
of any motive-power machine, such as a compressed air engine or other
such means, or by motion transmitted through an endless chain or rope,
in which case a pulley wheel or drum may be substituted for the crank,
and by one movement or connection the whole of the cutting instru-
ments are set in rotary motion, whether they be all right-handed or all
left-handed twist, or alternately right and left handed, as they would
have to be when they are directly geared together by pinions taken into
one another in the same line without the intervention of intermediate
pinions.
Instead of propelling forward the frame containing the cutting instru-
ments by means of a worm on the two outside spindles taking into worm
wheels and pinions and rack gearing, there may be a fine rack on each
side, and a pawl taking thereinto, actuated by a cam or other similar
arrangement.
For the purpose of removing the divisions of material left between the
drilled or bored holes, and for making and also for deepening the cut, I
propose to employ a rotary cutting instrument or pair of rotary cutters,
or a double circular saw-like apparatus, having the centre or eye of cach
circular saw or cutter formed with an internal toothed surface like an
internally toothed wheel or ring, into which is geared (or taking there-
into) two loose and one fixed central pinion, the pinions being mounted
upon one end of the lever arm, and which when the arm is pressed
forward, and vibrated back or forth, produces rotation in the circular
cutting apparatus, and a cutting action upon the material against which
it is pressed and moved back and forth.
Although this last described part of the apparatus may be employed
for cutting slits or grooves, or for making cuts in the coal either by
hand or in connection with a reciprocating machine, I propose to use or
employ it chiefly as a further or after action upon the body of coal
which has been operated upon by the instruments first described.

page_text: Where the roof or the parting is hard stone or shale the wedge may
be employed to bring down or detach the coal, but where the roof is soft
or sticky holes of 1 inch or 1 inch may be drilled about every three yards
along the length the face of the work, and small charges of powder, say
about half a pound each, or any other suitable explosive may be employed
to detach the block of coal previously operated on by the drills; but I do
not intend to make any claim for this mode of detaching, as it would
naturally occur to any experienced miner who would be intrusted with
the management and working of my universal coal cutting machine.
I prefer to employ as the cutting instruments in my said machines
drills of suitable breadth of palm with their cutting edges bevilled and
angled suitably and in accordance with the nature or degree of hardness
of the material to be operated upon and by their pitch or distance apart
which may be regulated by the diameters of the spur pinions (where spur
pinions are used) so that the thickness of each web, feather, or division
between each hole may be only such as may be readily broken away after
the holes have been bored or cut and the cutting instruments withdrawn ;
but where the drills or cutting instruments so proportioned as just
described are rotated alternately in opposite directions, i.e., the central
drill being rotated to the right hand and the drill on each side of it being
rotated to the left hand the division between the holes is wholly or
nearly entirely broken up.
By mounting or placing the cutting portion of the instruments
alternately one in advance of the other, as herein-before described, they
can be made wider or of the same width as the diameter of the spur
pinions when they are geared together directly and worked into one
another; or by mounting them so that the one palm or cutting portion
of the drill is at right angles with and to the next adjoining drills to the
right and left of it little or no material need be left between the holes
drilled or bored by the instruments. The shanks of the drills may have
a twist of half a turn or more in their length so as to discharge the
cuttings.
In working coal along a face of considerable length I prefer to so con-
struct and arrange the apparatus that the drills may cut, say, a width of
three feet to a depth of three feet at each shift or advance of the
machine; and in many cases I prefer for working in average degrees of
hardness or qualities of coal, and under favorable circumstances to

page_text: employ, say, thirteen drills of a working length, varying from 2 feet
9 inches to 3 feet 3 inches, so as to hole-in to that extent, though, of
course, they need not be so long, nor need there be as many as thirteen
drills in the width of the machine.
Instead of gearing the drills together for the purpose of rotating them
by means of spur pinions, taking the one into the other direct, inter-
mediate pinions mounted upon studs on which they work freely may be
introduced between each pair of pinions mounted upon the back ends of
the drills, or the drill sockets, or the drill spindles, and so they may
communicate motion to the whole of the drills in the same direction.
Instead of employing spur pinions at all, either as last or as previously
described, a number of bevil wheels may be mounted upon a shaft
running along the back of the drill frame, and a bevil pinion be fitted on
to the back end of each drill and take into its corresponding bevil wheel
fitted on the common driving shaft.
For working into or "holing-in" the coal between the floor line and
the roof along a face the level at which the drills may have to work
may be changed readily by the arrangements provided for raising and
lowering the frame or table containing and supporting the traversing
and sliding frame which in turn contains the drills; and the vertical
angle of working may be readily changed so as to drill downward or
upward at a greater or lesser angle by reason of the frame or table being
mounted on trunnions or carriages within the standards or upright
frame, which in turn is mounted upon a carriage having wheels or rollers
to admit of its being readily moved along the face of the work.
Where a further combination or angular movement or change of
position of the line of drills is required, beyond or in addition to the
horizontally level line of slot making in the coal, the horizontal frame or
bed with its sliding carriage containing the drills may be mounted
within a frame, the ends of which each are made to the radius of a
circle, so that a variation from the horizontal line, of, say, 22 degrees,
in either direction from the horizontal line, may be given to the line of
drills, and the frame having the curved ends may be mounted in
trunnions or carriages free to slide up and down the vertical standards
or upright frame of the machine, where they can be secured according
to the level at which and in the position in which the work has to bo
carried on.

page_text: For smaller machines to be worked by hand I prefer to construct them
by erecting or setting up the standards or upright frame carrying the
horizontal frame or table on which the frame carrying the drills slides
back and forth on or upon the middle of the carriage frame so as to
render the whole machine more portable and easily moved and worked,
as when the table with the drills is drawn back the machine would then
be balanced and more stable.
In the accompanying 3 large Sheets and 1 small Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed I have shewn some of the modes or methods by which
I prefer to put my Invention into practice, and as the several working
parts are so clearly shewn in the several views it is unnecessary to
indicate them and their action by means of letters of reference thereon.
In Sheet 1, Figure 1 is a plan view of one modification of my machine
or apparatus (suitable for being worked by an endless rope or by a
compressed air engine) in which 9 drills are shewn mounted within a
sliding frame which is supported within a horizontal fixed or non-
travelling carriage or bed which in turn is carried or held in the required
position as to height and angle by means of trunnions or carriages
within two upright frames or standards supported upon a horizontal
carriage or frame having rollers or wheels for running upon rails. In
this arrangement the feed motion for advancing the sliding frame
containing the drills is by means of two screws one on each side of the
frame working in nuts, and each drill is rotated by means of a spur
pinion. The height of the line of drills can be varied by means of the
gearing fitted to the upright standards as shewn, and the horizontal
frame and the drill frame and the drills therein can be made to work
horizontally, as is shewn in the Drawing, or caused to drill upward or
downward by raising or depressing the back end of the frame and the
apparatus carried by the trunnions or carriages between the upright
standards.

page_text: position of and in the line of drilling around the vertical centre line or
axis, the whole apparatus being contained within a square vertical
frame.
Figure 6 is a side elevation of Figure 5 and shows a mode of actuating
or giving motion to the drills.
Figure 7 is a plan of the square lower frame of Figures 5 and 6.
Figure 8 is a general plan of the machine, Figures 5 and 6, and shews
the mode of traversing the horizontal angles.
In Sheet 3, Figure 9 is a front elevation of a standard machine for
drilling upward, having a horizontal angular motion on its base plate;
Figure 10 is a side elevation of Figure 9; Figure 11 is a plan of
Figures 9 and 10.
Figure 12 (Sheet 3) is a vertical sectional view of a modification of
the arrangement of machinery shewn in Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 1, in
which a worm and rack motion for the movement of the drills is
substituted for the screws and nuts employed in Figures 1 and 2,
Sheet 1. In this machine the frame or bed supports the moveable frame
containing the drills on its upper surface as in the slide rest of a lathe,
and the horizontal angle of drilling can be varied within limits by
reason of the drills and the sliding bed containing them, and the carriage
upon which the drills and sliding bed slides being all mounted within a
frame having circular ends, the frame forming a portion of a circle as
herein-before described, the said last mentioned frame being mounted on
trunnions or in carriages projecting in advance of and sliding up and
down the vertical columns or standards of the machine, these admit of
a much greater range of angles being given upwards or downwards to
the drills, and moreover these mechanical arrangements enable the
greater variety of positions and range of action of the machine for
operating on the materials to be cut. Figure 13 is a front elevation
partly in section of Figure 12.
Figure 14 is a plan view of Figures 12 and 13 illustrating one of the

page_text: Figures 15 and 16 are views of circular cutters to be employed for
removing the partitions, webs, or feathers when left by the drills between
the holes or for cutting slots in the coal by the horizontal vibratory
movement and pressure upon the handle.
Figures 15 and 16 are views of circular cutters to be employed for
removing the partitions, webs, or feathers when left by the drills between
the holes or for cutting slots in the coal by the horizontal vibratory
movement and pressure upon the handle.
In the small Sheet, No. 4, Figure 17 is a front elevation of another
modification of the hand drilling machine.
Figure 18 is a side elevation of a machine somewhat similar to
Fig. 17, showing the drills rotated by bevil gearing.
Figure 19 is a plan of a somewhat similar hand drilling machine, the
drills being rotated alternately to the right, and left-hand by means of
spur pinions gearing directly into one another as in the larger machines.
Figure 20 is a plan of a machine similar to Figure 18. In both
Figures 19 and 20 the drill frame and the drills are moved forward by
means of the worm and rack movement.
I prefer to drive, rotate, and work the machines constructed according
to my Invention, particularly those illustrated on Sheet 1, and by
Figure 4 on Sheet 2, and Figures 12, 13, and 14 on Sheet 3, by means
of compressed air engines or motors placed close to the cutting machines
in the workings, and to transmit the power to such motors by means of
connecting pipes carried down the shaft and up to the face of the
workings from the surface by means of iron pipes with the intervention
of receivers or air vessels at suitable intervals, by which means the water
contained in the air is deposited and collected before reaching the motor,
the air condensing pumps and general air receiver being at the surface
and worked by a steam engine. The compressed air after it has done
its work in the engine or motor should be discharged as close to the
working face as possible to aid the ventilation.
:
I am aware that for the purpose of rock boring and such like purposes,
single drills, whether rotating only or with a rotating and jumping
motion combined, have been employed for drilling or boring holes, and
I am also aware that "multiple drills" have been used for drilling a
series of holes at the same time in metals, I do not therefore intend to
claim the use of single drills for rock boring or for the drilling of coal,
neither do I intend to claim multiple drilling machines generally and
irrespective of the manner in which they are constructed and arranged,

page_text: mounted, geared, and worked; but what I do claim as my Inven-
tion is,―
First. The "Improvements in Machinery and Apparatus for Cutting
Coal and for other Similar Purposes, and in the Mode or Method of
Using and Working the same," as herein described.
Secondly. The modes or methods herein described and as illustrated
by Figures 1 to 3 on Sheet 1, and by Figures 4 in Sheet 2, and by
Figures 12, 13, and 14, Sheet 3, in the accompanying Drawings of
combining and working drills so as to drill lines of holes at various
angles and in various positions in seams or beds of coal, as herein
described and set forth.
Thirdly. The mechanical arrangements herein described and set forth
in connection with and in relation to the machines or apparatus
illustrated by the several Figures on Sheets 1, 2, 3, and 4, of the
accompanying Drawings for the purpose of drilling lines or rows of holes
in beds or seams of coal, or in the partings or divisions between coal
seams.
Fourthly. The apparatus herein described with reference to Figures
15 and 16 (Sheet 3), for cutting slots in coal seams and for removing
the divisions, ribs, or webs of coal, left between the holes drilled in beds
or seams of coal, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William John Clapp, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
WILLIAM JOHN CLAPP. (L.8.)
WILLIAM HENRY SMITH,
19, Salisbury Street,
Strand, London,
W. O.