CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BORING AND SINKING
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GOSTWYCK GARD, of Calstock, in the County of Cornwall, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of
October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the eleventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Gostwych Gard, my exors, admiors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
William Gostwyck Gard, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Gostwyck Gard, my exors, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BORING AND
SINKING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said William Gostwych Gard, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,

page_text: as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Gostwyck Gard, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described in
and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
My said Invention has generally for its object the improvement of boring
and sinking machinery, but more especially the improvement of the class of
machines or tools used for boring to great depths through rock, sandstone,
claystone, and other substances, in order to obtain water, or for the discovery
of coal seams, or for the ventilation of mines and other purposes, and an
improved mode of working the said machines or tools. The borers hitherto
employed are sometimes made of a fluted or half round form, like the shell bits
and nose bits used in carpentry, and have to be raised up as often as the flutes
or hollows become filled with borings. At other times they are made of a
straight chisel-like form with a hollow shaft or handle, and the borings when
they rise up around the tool to the height of the shaft pass through an orifice
into the hollow of the shaft. Sometimes also borers of the description last
herein-before mentioned have been surmounted by hollow cylinders, screwed
or otherwise fixed into them, which have served as additional receptacles for
the borings. All these forms of borers have this defect that they become
speedily encumbered by the bored out materials, which accumulate to a greater
or less extent around the cutting edges or points of the tools, and are conse-
quently difficult to work. Now the nature of my Invention, in so far as it has
reference to the form of boring tools, consists in making the cutting ends or
bits of an inverted cup-like or concave form, divided by a cross into four
segments, with apertures leading from these segments into a hollow cylinder
or shaft, screwed into the neck of the bit, whereby the bored out materials
are removed out of the way of the cutting edges almost immediately after
they are detached from the perforated strata, or, at least, much sooner than
by any other boring machine or tool now in use.
Figure 1 is an external elevation of a borer on this improved plan.
Figure 2 a sectional elevation of it. Figure 3 a bottom plan, and Figure 4
a plan on the line a, b. A is the concave boring bit. Externally this bit is
of a cylindrical form from the point c downwards, but from c upwards it is
slightly tapered, there being a difference of about half an inch in the diameters
at top and bottom. B is the cross by which the interior concave space is
divided into four segments E, E, E, E. The under or cutting edge of the

page_text: circular part of the bit is made with a single bevil inclining inwards, so as to
throw all the borings inwards, but the under edges of the four arms of the
cross are made with double bevils and convex. The body of the bit is made
of wrought iron, but all the other under or cutting edges are of steel. C is
the hollow shaft, which is screwed into the neck or tapered part of the bit;
it may be of any convenient length. C is a valve seat, which is placed at
the bottom of the recess into which the shaft C is screwed, and is kept down
by that shaft when it is fixed in its place. In the centre of this valve seat is a
circular aperture f, which communicates by four holes e, e, e, e, with the
concave segments E, E, E, E. V is a ball valve which fits the circular
aperture as the concave segments E, E, E, E, become filled with borings,
which commonly takes place at each stroke of the borer. These borings are
forced up through the holes e, e, e, e, and their common outlet f, into the
hollow interior of the shaft C (the ball valve V giving way before them, and
being kept from rising too high by a small bar across the tube), and the
quantity forced up at each stroke is prevented from returning by the descent
of the ball into its seat at the end of the stroke. On the shaft C becoming filled
the instrument is raised in the manner to be presently herein-after explained,
when it may be emptied either through the top aperture F, or (which I rather
prefer) by passing an iron rod up through one of the under holes e, and thereby
lifting the ball valve V, when the contents of the hollow shaft will flow or run
out. F is an aperture for the escape of the air expelled from the hollow
shaft C. G, G, G, G, are holes for the admission of air or water into the
concave segments E, in order to prevent any vacuum being accidentally
formed therein.
The Drawing, Figure 5, represents a side view of the improved machinery
by which the borer is lowered and raised. Figure 6 an end view of it, and
Figure 7 a plan. P, Q, is the framework which carries the machinery. The
borer (consisting of the bit and shaft, as before described) instead of being
worked as usual, by means of a series of jointed rods, continued to the entire
depth of the working, is worked by a chain or rope I, which is made fast to
a short lifting bar L immediately attached to the borer. N is a cross bar,
which is attached to the lifting bar L, and slides by two eyes at its extremities
on two parallel rods O, O, and so maintains the perpendicularity of the lifting
bar, connecting chain, and borer. R, R, are stays for the lateral support of
the parallel rods O, O. The lifting bar L passes at top, between two rollers
H2 and H2; the one, H¹, stationary (in point of position), and the other, H³,
shifting, which are made to work the bar by frictional contact (instead of by
tooth gearing as is usual in such machinery). J is a weighted lever, by the

page_text: gravitation of which, and the pressure of a spring catch K attached to it,
against the shifting roller H2, the latter is caused to approximate to the other
roller H', and the lifting bar is gripped between them. M is a clamp, which
is affixed to the lifting bar L at such a point that it strikes against the
weighted lever at the termination of the upstroke, and thereby liberates the
lifting bar L from the pressure of the rollers H¹, H³, and leaves it free
to descend with the chain and borer dependent from it. R is a stop-piece,
which is attached to the top of the lifting bar L to prevent it from falling too
far. S is a driving pulley, which may be worked by horse or any other
suitable power.
Figure 8 is a side elevation, and Figure 9 an end elevation of another
machine, by which the borer may be lowered and raised. A, A, is a frame-
work of wood by which the machinery is supported. B is the lifting bar,
which is attached at top by a moveable key c to a sliding cross head C', which
moves in grooves in the framework. Near to the bottom the bar B passes
through a fixed cross head or guide C². The moveable cross head determines
of course the length to which the lifting bar is to be raised up, and consequently
the height the boring tool, which is attached to it by the chain D, is allowed
to fall at each stroke made by the machine. E, E, are buffers composed of
caoutchouc, or some other like elastic substance, which form stops to the
further descent of the lifting bar, and prevent any injurious effects being pro-
duced upon the framework by the ends of the cross head. F is a shaft which
has its bearings in the framework and carries the fly wheel G, the drum H, the
wiper I, and the pulley K, all of which are securely keyed to it. By the
pulley K. and a belt carried over it from some prime mover the shaft itself is
put in motion. The chain D, by which the borer is connected to the lifting
bar B, requires to be somewhat longer than the depth the hole is to be bored,
the part of the chain which is not in actual use being carried over the drum
H, and then attached to some convenient part of the framework. L is a lever
having its bearings on the framework at M; this lever is connected at the S
one end by a link N to the upper end of the lifting bar B, and from its other
end there are suspended weights O, which form a counterbalance to the
encreasing weight of the chain as the hole proceeds in depth. When the
machine is to be worked the shaft is made to rotate in the direction of the
Each revolution of the shaft causes the wiper I to come in contact S
with the friction pulley P, which is attached to the side of the lifting bar, and
thereby lifts up the lifting bar, the chain, and the borer; the instant, however,
the wiper leaves its hold of the pulley P, the lifting bar, the chain, and the
borer fall by their own gravity through the space they were raised up by the
arrow.

page_text: wiper, and thus the operation is carried on continuously, as in the machine
first before described. When the borer is to be raised to the surface to be
emptied of its contents, the chain is disconnected from the lifting bar (the con-
nection being formed by means of a claw, which takes hold of any one of the
links of the chain). The lifting bar is then raised up to its highest point by
means of the wiper. The lever R now brought under the projecting pin S,
and by applying power to the lever R, the lifting bar is raised up until the
pulley P is without the range of action of the wiper, which is then held in
that position by a pin T, inserted into the framework above the outer end of
the lever R; the chain is then drawn tightly over the drum H and the shaft F
put in motion, whereby the borer is speedily brought to the surface. The
utmost length of fall given to the borer in this case is determined by the
length of the wiper I, but a shorter stroke may be given at pleasure by
bringing the cross head C¹ further down upon the lifting bar, which is accom-
plished by means of the moveable key c. In the description before given I
have represented the concave bit as divided by cross cutters into four seg-
ments (which may be either plain or serrated), and I prefer that it should be
so, but instead of four cross cutters, two or three, or any other convenient
number or shape, may be used.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the improvements which I
claim as constituting my said Invention are as follows:-
First, I claim the employment f* boring and sinking purposes of concave
bits with cross cutters attached to hollow shafts, and communicating interiorly
and directly therewith, and worked by rope, chain, or other flexible substitute
for rigid rods, as before described; and,
Second, I claim the combination for boring and sinking purposes of concave
bits aforesaid with working machinery of either of the kinds herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gostwyck Gard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of April, in
the year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid William Gostwyck Gard came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
E
Enrolled the Twentieth day April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.