Improvements in Apparatus for Drilling, Excavating, and Breaking up Submarine Rock.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Dec., 1897-Accepted, 5th Feb., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Drilling, Excavating, and Breaking
up Submarine Rock.
-We, ROBERT MELVILLE SCOTT, of Strathfield, near Sydney, New South Wales,
and ALEXANDER GOODSIR, of Balmain, near Sydney, aforesaid, both Contractors,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to apparatus for excavating and breaking up submerged
reck, and usable also as a drill. It consists essentially of a tool connected directly
to a piston acted on by steam or air pressure, reciprocating in a cylinder of con-
siderable length which is carried on a vertical slide on a tower on a scow or other
floating structure, whereon it may be varied in vertical position to start and follow
up the work. The sliding carrier on the tower may be made capable of being set
at an angle to facilitate operations on inclined faces of rock which might deflect
vertical blows of the tool. When the situation and nature of the work makes it
desirable or convenient, as in the case of a reef under rough water, a scow with
lifting spuds or a decked structure built on the rock may be used to carry the tower.
It would not be possible to use a steam cylinder with simple valves or with jump
drill or steam hammer valves to operate tools used in the manner hereinafter
described, for reasons which will be evident to any experienced engineer.
65
"
By reciprocating a rod of some tous weight through a stroke of several feet at
considerable velocity by the positive action of a piston acted on by steam or air
pressure, the work of speedily breaking up large bodies of submerged rock is very
greatly facilitated. We are aware that "Jump" and Percussion drills oper-
ated by fluid pressure have been used in submarine drilling work; the blows
struck by these apparatus is however only a miniature of the blow struck by our
apparatus, which latter is designed to mechanically break, split, excavate, and dis-
integrate the rock, and not merely to prepare it for blasting out. We are also
aware that apparatus mounted on a punt has been used in which a number of long
rods terminating in chisel points are operated by cams in the same manner as ore
stamps, and that a series of ordinary percussion drills have been used on a scow
for drilling a line of holes in submerged rock. In the interpretation of the claims
following, the expression a heavy rod" is to be taken to mean a rod of say half
a ton or more in weight as distinguished from reciprocating drill rods of the kind
now in use, the weight of which does not usually exceed one hundred pounds;
and the expression a "long stroke" to indicate a stroke of say three feet or more.
We would have it understood, however, that an apparatus would be within the
principle of our invention if the remaining features were substantially retained
but the length of stroke materially shortened. We find in practice that an appa-
ratus constructed according to the present invention is capable of completing an
excavation in a fraction of the time which is necessary when drilling and blasting
is resorted to. Not only so, but clean and regular work may be done and the
excavation finished to a flat or inclined bed as may be necessary. When the mov-
ing parts weigh about 2 tons, and the stroke is about 65 inches, we have found
that we are able to remove over 30 cubic yards of average sandstone per day. In

page_text: many cases it is found convenient to pulverize the debris in situ by means of a
hammer-head substituted for the chisel or cutter, and to raise the reduced stuff
by means of a sand pump.
Referring to the annexed sheets of explanatory drawings, Figure 1' is a side
elevation of a punt fitted with apparatus in which the present invention consists;
Figure 2 a plan thereof; Figure 3 an end elevation; Figure 4 a fragment side
elevation illustrating the apparatus with cylinder carrier dropped to its lowest
position for deep work; Figure 5 a side elevation of the apparatus mounted on
rails on a pile wharf erected on the site of the excavation; Figure 6 a sectional
elevation of the cylinder and rod and parts connected therewith; Figure 7 sectional
elevation of cylinder shewing an alternative design of valves; and Figure 8 a
fragment section on an enlarged scale of main valve shown in Figure 6.
The punt is fitted at one end with a frame tower A having its outer side vertical
and made to form a slide or way B to receive a carriage B on which the cylinder
is mounted. The slide and the carriage may be conveniently made of wood and
iron; the detail of the design being immaterial, so long as it is such that the
carriage cannot move out of the slide but may move vertically in it. The carriage
is supported by tackle C depending from the tower above the slide and worked by
a windlass D), whereby the position of the cylinder may be conveniently adjusted
as to vertical height from time to time during the working. A steam boiler E
is provided, and steam is conveyed therefrom to the cylinder by a jointed pipe F
whose articulated parts are guided by a runner working on a quadrant f. The
piston G of the cylinder H is rigidly connected to the rod I by a suitable chuck,
though an intermediate rod of suitable weight and strength may be interposed
between them when the work is being done in a considerable depth of water.
Guides are provided on continuations of the carriage or of the way or slide to
keep the piston and rods in line.
In some cases the slide is made complete in itself and is hung to the tower by a
king-bolt at its top end in such a way that it can be set at any desired angle to the
vertical by traversing its lower end, in order that blows.may be struck in an
angular direction.
The rod I may be forged to a chisel, X, or sharp point, or tools such as chisels
with wide faces, or hammer-heads, may be fitted to its lower end. Rock may be
drilled or split or broken into pieces by using appropriate tools on the end of the
rod to operate on it. Where there are large masses of soft rock or large lumps of
rock intermixed with clay, the whole body may be excavated by digging out with
.wide pointed chisels or other suitable tools fitted on the end of the rod.
J is an out-rigger from which the punt is moored.
Figure 5 illustrates the method of operating the apparatus from a fixed struc-
ture, for which purpose traversing and advancing carriages are used to carry the
tower. We do not restrict ourselves to the arrangement of the carriage shewn,
which may be varied in any convenient way having regard to the circumstances of
cach case.
On a deck built on piles U rails, T are laid in the direction in which
the excavation is required to be made. On these rails a carriage V runs. The
tower runs on transverse rails on the carriage V. As the excavation is advanced,
new piles are driven, footings being made for them with a drilling tool, and on the
new piles the decking is extended. The decking may also be extended temporarily
as shewn by dotted lines.
V
...
In other cases we provide the scow with spuds and gear by means of which its
weight may be thrown onto the spuds, each of which is acted upon independently
in order to provide for an irregular bottom in this way the weight of the scow
fixes it in position. There is no novelty in employing a lifting scow of this kind
to carry on drilling operations.
Referring to Figures 6 and 8, KK, K'K' are respectively main and auxiliary
ports leading from the valve chamber to the ends of the cylinder. L is the steam
pipe, L' the steam chest, and M M exhaust ports. The valve consists of five heads,
of which the central one k is cored out in order to allow steam to pass from end to
....

page_text: end of it. The two heads k¹³ at each end' of the valve 'form practically only one
head with a ring turned out of it, so that in effect the valve consists of three heads
or pistons whereof the middle one is a ring through which steam may pass from
end to end. The valve is operated through a rod M¹ extending from each end of it
and actuated by a hand lever and by tappets on the piston rod or connected parts.
The end valve-pistons are made longer than the port faces in order to lap the ports.
In the middle position of the valve, as shewn, the ports from the valve chamber
into the cylinder are all closed. Upon moving the valve upward, the upper port K
is opened to admit pressure to the top end of the cylinder, whereupon the piston
commences to descend; a double port area may be obtained by raising the valve
sufficiently to open both upper ports K and K. When sufficient steam to effect
the stroke has been admitted, the valve is moved downward, all the ports closing at
the same moment so that the last portion of the stroke is cushioned. When a
sufficient stroke has been made, the valve is again lowered to admit steam to the
lower port K, whereupon the piston is raised by the pressure which enters below it.
If, however, the piston should overrun, the tappet N will strike the nut N on the
valve stem and cause the valve to move further. When the outer head of the valve
is brought beyond the port K-which will occur shortly before the piston passes
that port pressure will be admitted; if such pressure be insufficient to check the
movement of the piston, the valve will still continue to be moved and the port K
will again be closed by the middle head of the valve lapping it, dead cushioning.
being thus obtained. Finally when the piston is approaching the cylinder cover
which it is prevented from touching by the dead cushioning, the port K becomes
open to pressure, and the movement of the piston is reversed. By means of the
hand-lever the valve may be moved at will into any desired position to admit
pressure or provide cushioning; but in all cases the tappet device operates the
valve to prevent overrunning of the piston and consequent accident.
In the arrangement shewn in Figure 7, the hand valve 0 and the automatic
valves are separate. The former is a simple two-head piston-valve. The latter
are balanced pistons maintained in normal closed position by springs Q, and
moved by tappets on the piston rod and tail rod. If the operator should not
reverse the hand valve in sufficient time to check the piston before it touches the
cylinder cover, one of the automatic valves will be opened by its tappet and admit
pressure at the proper moment, but the pressure thus admitted will be cut off by
the return of the valve by the action of the spring after the piston has reversed
slightly; pressure to make the stroke must then be admitted by the hand valve.
The piston is provided with a tail rod S (solid or hollow) of very large diameter
to reduce the effective area of its top side. The action of the apparatus is auto-
matic. The piston cannot bump on the cylinder heads, as it becomes reversed by
the valve motion before it overruns. The sound and vibration will indicate
whether or not an effective blow has been struck, and the workmen must use their
judgment in fixing the vertical position of the cylinder in order that effective
strokes may be made.
The mode of operation is as follows:
The scow or carriage is moved up until the tool is above the place at which the
work is to commenced. If it is required to drill a hole or well in the rock the
apparatus is manipulated in such a way that the tool may suitably approach its
work. When excavating, the scow or carriage is traversed across the line of the
excavation and the rock stoped out, the lower tables being advanced in turn by
breaking down the tables above them in order. It is clear, however, that the most
advantageous method of working in any particular case will depend upon its
circumstances. We usually form the tables a little less in depth than the piston
stroke, in order that the full available length of stroke may be taken advantage of,
and a long line of cuts made without altering the position of the cylinder carriage
in the slide. In working ordinary sandstone, we find that we are able to advance
about one foot at every cut, a cut requiring from two to six blows to complete it to
its full depth of say five feet.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is:-
1. Apparatus for the purposes described, consisting of a heavy rod terminated
in an appropriate tool and reciprocated through a long stroke by the direct action
of a piston which is connected rigidly to it and is operated by steam or air pressure,
substantially as described.
2. Apparatus substantially as described consisting of a heavy rod terminating
in an appropriate tool, and a piston connected rigidly thereto acted on by steam or
air pressure and working in a long cylinder which is mounted on a carriage
movable in a slide or way fixed on a tower on a scow or piled structure.
3. The combination of a scow or piled decking, a tower thereon, a slide or way
on the tower, a carriage movable in said slide or way, a long steam or air cylinder
on said carriage with pipe connections to a source of pressure, means for adjusting
the position of the carriage relatively to the slide or way, valves for the cylinder
worked from the piston by tappets, a heavy rod connected directly to the piston
and terminated in a chisel or other tool, and guides for said rod, substantially as
described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
4. The combination of the triple head piston valve with middle head cored, double
ports, valve spindle, and hand lever and automatic tappets for operating said valve,
substantially as shewn in Figures and S of the accompanying drawings.
5. The combination of hand controlled balanced valve and automatic cushioning
and returning valves operated by tappets and springs, substantially as shewn in
Figure 7 of the accompanying drawings.