IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND IN MACHINERY FOR SPLITTING ROCKS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan, of 54,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND IN MACHINERY FOR
SPLITTING ROCKS."-A communication from abroad by John Robb,
residing in the City of New York, in the United States of America.
Scaled the 19th August 1870, and dated the 24th February 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Primerose
Howard Vaughan at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 24th February 1870.
I, EDWARD PRIMEROSE HOWARD Vaughan, of 54, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND IN MACHINERY FOR
SPLITTING ROCKS," being a communication to me from abroad by John
Robb, residing in the City of New York, in the United States of
America, to be as follows:-
Any desired number of holes are bored in the rock to be split, the
same being similar to those made when gunpowder is to be employed as

page_text: the disruptive agent. The hole or holes is or are nearly filled with
water, on which pressure is exerted by means of pistons capable of
working in the holes in a water-tight manner, and which are arranged in
suitable framing, and actuated by any suitable motive power, as will be
well understood. The pistons are formed of steel of sufficient strength,
the lower parts thereof being constructed of a smaller diameter than the
shaft, and on which smaller portion is fixed a piece of cork or other
packing material, at the top and bottom of which are placed washers,
the whole being screwed on to the end of the piston by means of a nut.
The pistons may also be made with a washer of about the diameter of
the hole bored in the rock, such washer-resting on the top of a solid
-piece-of-cork, wood, or india-rubber, which is attached to the piston.
By means of these arrangements rocks can be split with greater safety
and economy than by the methods previously in use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan in the Great
Scal Patent Office on the 23rd August 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
PRIMEROSE HOWARD VAUGHAN, F.C.S., of 54, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan,
Her special licence that I, the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan, 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 THE MODE OF AND IN MACHINERY
FOR SPLITTING ROCкs," being a communication to me from abroad by John
Robb, residing in the City of New York, in the United States of America,

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Primerose
Howard Vaughan, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 montlis next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan,
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, that is to say:
This Invention consists in certain improvements whereby rocks can
be split or separated in a less dangerous and more economical manner
than by the ordinary mode of blasting with gunpowder.
Any desired number of holes are bored in the rock which is to be
split, the same being similar to those made when gunpowder is to be
employed as the disruptive agent. The hole or holes is or are nearly
filled with water, on which pressure is exerted by means of pistons or
plungers capable of working in the holes in a water-tight manner, and
which pistons or plungers are arranged in suitable framing, and actuated
by any suitable motion power, as will be well understood. The pistons
or plungers are formed of steel of sufficient strength, the lower parts
thereof being constructed of a smaller diameter than the shaft, and on
which smaller portion is fixed a piece of cork or other packing material,
at the top and bottom of which are placed washers, the whole being
secured on to the end of the piston or plunger by means of a nut or nuts.
The pistons may also be made with washer of about the diameter of
the hole bored in the rock, such washer resting on the top of a solid
piece of cork, wood, india-rubber, or other suitable material which is
attached to the piston. It is obvious that the pistons or plungers may
be employed either singly or collectively.
A modification of this Invention consists in employing the pressure of
water to act upon that contained in the holes bored in the rock, so as to
produce the requisite disruptive force. A hole is bored in the rock in
the ordinary manner, but the upper part thereof is made of a conical
form, the base thereof being of greater diameter than that of the hole
and tapering upwards. Through this conical part of the hole is inserted
a pipe, the space in the conc surrounding it being filled with packing,

page_text: which is tightened by means of a washer and nut, such packing thus
forming a conical stopper above the hole. The lower end of the pipe
enters the blast hole, which is filled with water, and the upper end
thereof communicates with a hydraulic pump or other source of power
by which water is forced through the pipe, thus exerting pressure upon
that contained in the hole, and producing great disruptive force in
accordance with hydrostatic principles, as well understood. The hole in
the rock need not necessarily be perpendicular, but may be made angular,
and the other arrangements adapted thereto.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I-would-observe-
-in-conclusion that what I consider novel and original and therefore
claim as constituting the Invention secured by the said herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent are, the mode of and combination and
arrangement of machinery for splitting rocks, substantially as herein-
before described and set forth, or any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Primerose Howard Vaughan,
have hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-third day of
August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.