Improvements in or relating to Boring Apparatus for Sinking Wells, or for analogous purposes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Feb, 1896-Accepted, 21st Mar., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Boring Apparatus for Sinking
Wells, or for analogous purposes.
I, FRIEDRICH HONIGMANN of Aix-la-Chapelle in the Empire of Germany,
Mine-owner, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In the practical application of the process, for boring shafts described in Patent
No. 15292 of 1894, a continuous stream of water was to be used for lifting from
the bottom of the shaft the sludge, arising from boring, while at the same time, the
same stream of water produced the required uniform mixing with clay of the water
column in the shaft.
That stream of water, which brings to the surface the sludge, sand and the like
scraped by the borer A, through the pipe B, after having deposited the sludge in
a receiver C returns with its contents of clay into the shaft, and is produced by the
excess in pressure of the water column in the shaft over the pressure of the water
column rising in the pipe B. In the present invention that difference of pressure
is produced by introducing compressed air into the rising water current. The use
of compressed air has the advantage over other suitable means for the same
purpose, as suction-pumps syphons etc., in being much simpler and it is effected in
such a manner, that, as shown in the accompanying drawing, the air is introduced
through the pipe a into the pipe B at a certain depth below the water level in the
shaft, which, rising and making bubbles, makes the water column in the pipe B
specifically lighter.
If the air supply is as great, as the quantity of water rising in the pipe B and if
the compressed air escapes for instance at twenty meters below the level of water
in the shaft, then the rising column of air and water of twenty meters in height
will have specific weight 0.5 and corresponds to a water column of ten meters.
The water column in the shaft has therefore an excess pressure equal to a head of
water of ten meters and produces the desired current in the pipe B, which current
lifts to the surface the sludge scraped by the action of the borer, depositing it in
the receiver C and then returns to the shaft.
Producing a current of water by the use of compressed air as compared with the
use of a suction pump or any other device for lifting the muddy and sandy water,
has the advantage, that the buoyancy of the sandy and therefore specifically
heavier liquid in the pipe B can be increased to any desired degree.
The boring is effected by means of a rotating apparatus, in which crushing of
earth is effected by rolling cast-steel or hard cast-iron rollers, which are provided
with helical or adjacent cutting edges which are placed transversally or longi-
tudinally. When the former kind of rollers are used, they are placed radially to
the borer, whereas when the latter are to be used, they are placed so, that their
axes form an angle with the radial direction of the borer, so that in all cases the
cutting edges stand under an angle to the direction of their movement and act
scrapingly.
In the accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 shows the boring apparatus with the arrangement for producing a
continuous current of water.
Figure 2 shows the arrangement of the different cutting rollers, seen from below.
Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 show rollers with helical, circular and longitudinal cutting
edges respectively.
The boring apparatus consists of a borer A with cutting rollers W W. pipe B

page_text: and an arrangement for turning of well-known construction in the wooden tower
over the boring apparatus.
The borer A running on the rollers W is tapered to the middle, so that the
sludge produced is led into the pipe B.
The regulation of the pressure of the rollers on the bottom of the shaft is
effected at the surface, by balancing more or less the weight of the pipe.
The use of rotating rollers with scraping cutting edges has the advantage, as
compared with the use of ordinary cutters, of the borer working more smoothly
and also of increasing and providing for frequent change of cutting surfaces.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is ;-
1. An apparatus for boring shafts, in which for the purpose of lifting the sludge
from the bottom of the shaft and for mixing the water in the shaft with clay, a
continuous current of water is produced by introducing compressed air into the
upper part of the rising column of water substantially as described.
2. A boring apparatus, in which in order to make it work smoothly and also to
increase the number of the cutting surfaces and to allow of their frequent change
the borer runs on rollers such as W which are provided with cutting edges and
which form an angle with the radial direction of the borer, so that they scrape the
ground substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
3. The combination with boring apparatus such as claimed in Claim 2 of rollers
with helical cutting edges placed radially to the borer substantially as described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
4. The combination with boring apparatus such as claimed in Claim 2 of rollers
with circular cutting edges transverse to their axes placed so as to form an angle
with the radial direction of the borer substantially as described and illustrated in
the accompanying drawings.
5. The combination with a boring apparatus such as claimed in Claim 2 of
rollers with longitudinal cutting edges placed so as to form an angle with the
radial direction of the borer A substantially as described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 17th day of February 1896.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.