IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRILLING, BORING, OR EXCAVATING ROCK OR OTHER EARTHY SUBSTANCES.
Year: 1863

page_text: of Devon, Mining Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR DRILLING, BORING, OR EXCAVATING ROCK OR OTHER EARTHY
SUBSTANCES.
Sealed the 19th April 1864, and dated the 24th October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Smith Crease
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th October 1863.
I, EDWARD SMITH CREASE, of Tavistock, in the County of Devon, Mining
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY POR DRILLING, BORING, OR EXCAVATING ROCK OR OTHER
EARTHY SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
In boring or perforating rock or other earthy substances by machinery
actuated by steam, compressed air, or other motive power, instead of using a
cylinder with ordinary inlet and outlet valves worked by the intervention of
levers, I employ two cylinders side by side, one being of greater diameter than
the other. The pistons working in these cylinders and the passages connecting
the two cylinders together are so arranged that each one acts as a piston
valve to the other thereby giving a reciprocating motion the one to the other
without the use of tappits or levers of any kind. This is effected in the following
manner: The piston in the larger cylinder is made of sufficient length to
admit of a recess being turned in it which at each end of the stroke comes

page_text: opposite a small port or passage connected to each end of the smaller cylinder
so that when the larger piston is at one extremity of its stroke the steam or
compressed air or whatever motive power is used in the same end of the
smaller cylinder is exhausted into the recess turned in the larger piston; at the
same time the steam or other motive power on the other side of the larger
piston passes through a port which is now open (from the larger piston having
passed it) to the other end of the small cylinder, this of course drives the
piston contained in the smaller cylinder to the opposite end to which it was
occupying before, and thus by recesses turned in the small piston transforming
the inlet port to the larger cylinder to the exhaust alternately. The steam
and exhaust pipes are of course connected to the smaller cylinder or piston
valve, with the exception of a small exhaust port which is connected with the
larger cylinder for the purpose of exhausting each end of the smaller cylinder
or piston valve. This arrangement can be used for any other purpose as well
as boring where it is not expedient to make use of levers or tappits to effect
the necessary reciprocating motion in the feed and exbaust valves. To the
piston rod of the larger cylinder the borer is attached, and in addition to turning
the borer by the usual means of a spindle inserted through the end of the
cylinder into a hollow in the end of the piston and worked from the smaller
cylinder or piston valve, I impart a simultaneous feed motion to the borer by
connecting the separate feed screw already in use to the spindle by fixing on
the screw at the same end of the cylinder a ratchet wheel with lever and pall
working loose on the same and connecting this lever with an eccentric fixed
on the spindle. I vary the feed at pleasure according to the distance at which I
connect the eccentric to the lever from the centre of the ratchet wheel and
feed screw, so that with every complete turn of the spindle and eccentric I turn
the ratchet wheel as far as is commanded and regulated by the lever, or I turn
the spindle and screw connected as herein described by hand.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Smith Crease in the Great Seal Patent Office on 3
the 23rd April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
SMITH CREASE, of Tavistock, in the County of Devon, Mining Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Edward Smith Crease, Her special licence that I, 'the
said Edward Smith Crease, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Edward Smith Crease, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the terin 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 DRILLING, BORING,
OR EXCAVATING ROCK OR OTHER EARTHY SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Smith Crease, 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 Edward Smith Crease, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
In boring or perforating rock or other earthy substances by machinery
actuated by steam, compressed air, or other motive power, instead of using a
cylinder with ordinary inlet and outlet valves worked by the intervention of
levers, I employ two cylinders side by side, one being of greater diameter
than the other. The pistons working in these cylinders and the passages cou-
necting the two cylinders together are so arranged that each one acts as a
piston valve to the other, thereby giving a recriprocating motion the one to the
other without the use of tappets or levers of any kind. This is effected in
the following manner :-The piston in the larger cylinder is made of sufficient
length to admit of a recess being turned in it, which at each end of the
stroke comes opposite a port or passage conuccted to each end of the smaller
cylinder, so that when the larger piston is at one extremity of its stroke the
stoam, or compressed air, or whatever motive power is used in the same end of
the smaller cylinder is exhausted into the recess turned in the larger piston, at
the same time the steam or other motive power on the other side of the larger
piston passes through a port which is now open (from the larger piston having
passed it) to the other end of the small cylinder, this of course drives the

page_text: piston contained in the smaller cylinder to the opposite end to which it was
occupying before, and thus by recesses turned in the small piston transforming
the inlet port to the larger cylinder to the exhaust alternately. The steam
and exhaust pipes are of course connected to the smaller cylinder or piston
valve, with the exception of a small exhaust port which is connected with the
larger cylinder for the purpose of exhausting each end of the smaller cylinder
or piston valve. This arrangement can be used for any other purposes as well
as boring where it is not expedient to make use of levers or tappets to effect
the necessary reciprocating motion in the feed and exhaust valves. To the
piston rod of the large cylinder the borer is attached, and in addition to turning
the borer by the usual means of a spindle inserted through the end of the
cylinder into a hollow in the end of the piston and worked from the smaller
cylinder or piston valve, I impart a simultaneous feed motion to the borer by
connecting the separate feed screw already in use to the spindle by fixing on
the screw at the same end of the cylinder a ratchet wheel with lever and paul
working loose on the same and connecting this lever with an eccentric fixed on
the spindle. I vary the feed at pleasure, according to the distance at which I
connect the eccentric to the lever from the centre of the ratchet wheel and feed
screw, so that with every complete turn of the spindle and eccentric I turn the
ratchet wheel as far as is commanded and regulated by the lever, or I turn
the spindle and screw connected as herein described by paul or otherwise.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal elevation; Figure
2 a longitudinal section; Figure 3 a view of the back end; and Figure 4 a
transverse section taken through the cylinders of a machine for drilling,
boring, and excavating, constructed according to my Invention.
A, B, are two cylinders placed side by side, the cylinder A being of larger
diameter than the cylinder B. The pistons C, D, of these cylinders, and the
ports or passages connecting the cylinders, are, as before stated, so arranged that
each piston acts as a piston valve to the other, whereby reciprocating motion is
imparted thereto. The piston C is formed with a recess E, which at each end
of the stroke comes opposite one of two ports or passages F, F, in connection
one with each end of the cylinder B, so that when the piston C is at one
extremity of its stroke the steam or other motive power in the same end of
the cylinder B is exhausted through the port F¹ into the recess E in the piston
C, at the same time the steam or other fluid on the other side of the piston C
passes through the other port F, which is now open to the other end of the
cylinder B, and drives the piston D to the other end thereof. The piston D is
also formed with recesses G, G, so as to alternately open and close ports or
passages H, H', leading to the cylinder A.

page_text: The steam or other motive power acts as follows:-In the position of the
parts shown in the Drawings the steam, or other motive power enters the
smaller cylinder B by the port a, passes through the port to the end. 6 of
the cylinder A behind the piston C, which it drives to the other end of its
course. In its passage the piston C opens the port F leading to the end c of
the cylinder B into which the steam passes and drives the piston D, which in the
meantime has reached that end of its course to the other end d of the cylinder
B. The piston C in passing from the position indicated in the Drawings to
the other end of its course also drives the steam from the end e of the cylinder
through the port H into the middle of the cylinder B from whence it makes
its exit through the exhaust f.. In the return stroke of the piston C the
steam enters by the port 9 instead of by the port a and the action of the ports
H and His reversed, that is to say, the port H acts as the feed to the cylinder
C and the port H as the exhaust of the same. In the position shewn in the
Drawings the steam passes from the end c of the cylinder B through the port
F into the recess E and passes off by the exhaust I, when the piston C
is at the other end of its course the steam from the end d of the cylinder B
passes through the port F into the recess E and thence into the exhaust I.
I attach the borer or boring tool to the piston rod of the cylinder A. In
addition to turning the borer by the usual means of a spindle h inserted through
the end of the cylinder into a hollow in the end of the piston and worked from
the smaller cylinder or piston valve, I impart, as before stated, a simultaneous
feed motion to the borer by connecting the separate feed screw i to the spindle h
by fixing on the screw at the same end of the cylinder a ratchet wheel j with
lever and paul k working loose thereon and connecting this lever with an
eccentric fixed on the spindle h. The feed may be varied at pleasure by
varying the distance from the centre of the rachet wheel and feed screw at
which the lever is connected to the excentric.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, constructing engines for working tools and apparatus for drilling,
boring, and excavating with two cylinders placed side by side, one cylinder
being of greater diameter than the other, the pistons which work in these
cylinders and the ports or passages which connect the cylinders being arranged
in such manner that each piston acts as a piston valve to the other, substan-
tially as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Second, imparting feed motion to the borer or boring tool by connecting
the feed screw to the spindle inserted through the end of the cylinder by fixing
on the screw at the same end of the cylinder a ratchet wheel with lever and

page_text: paul working loose on the same and connecting this lever with an excentric
fixed on the spindle, substantially as berein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Smith Crease, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
EDW. S. CREASE. (L.S.)