US131995A

US131995A - Improvement in methods of blasting rock

Info

Publication number: US131995A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1872-10-08
Anticipated expiration: 1889-10-08

Description

lJ. BRODIE &'S. H. WHEELER.

lmprovemeht in Method f Blasting Rock.

N0. 131,995. Patented Oct. 8, 1872.*

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

JAMES EnoDIEl AND sAMUEL E. WHEELER, or SAN EEANcIsco, GAL.

l IMPROVEMENT IN MErIHoDsfoF BLAsTlNc-s RocK.r

Specilcation forming part of Letters Patent No. 131,995, dated October 8, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES BRoDLE and SAMUEL H WHEELEInV of the city of San Francisco, county of San Francisco, and State of California, have Vinvented an Improvedoriginalface ofthe rock is reached. This plan is expensive, in consequence of thetime spent in removing and replacing the drilling apparatus and the excavating incident to each step ofthe work. It has, hence, been proposed to drill the hole at the outset to the depth of a hundred` feet ormore, or to the whole depth to which it is proposed to excavate, and' to fill it with iron bolts or -plugs up to the point where itis proposed to locate the iirst charge.

` For the second charge the plugs are removed to aI cert-ain additional depth, and so on until the work of blastin g is'eomplete, the dbris or broken rock being removed subsequent to each explosion. But serious objections lie against this method, so that, as far as We are aware, its practicability has not been established.

Our invention obviates these objections; and

to this end it consists mainly in the employment-of sand, or equivalent loose material, to constitute a lilling for the drill-hole.

In practice we drill holes in a shaft toa depth of one hundred feet from the face of the rock and lill them up to within three feet from the face with loose sand, and place the charges of explosive material in the holes on the top of the sand. After the charges have been ex ploded and the detached rock cleared away we remove the sand from the holes to a depth of three feet and insert other charges, which We explode, and continue thus until the rock has been excavated tothe bottom of the holes. We then make other holes to a depth of one :hundred feet and proceed as before, and so on to any depth required, until we have excavated to the bottom-of the shaft.

The use of sand is highly advantageous, mainly for the following reasons: First, it is readily accessible in nearly all localities, and costs little more than the labor involved in digging it; second, it forms a solid, impene trable bed upon which to rest the charge, so that the explosive force of the latter may be 'expended at the desired point with the greatest eiect; third, it is easily placed in or removed from the drill-hole by simple means, or without the aid of tongs, grappling-irons, or any other peculiar apparatus. H

We claim as our-as invention- The method of `blastingrock by means of sand as a filling material for the drill-hole,

said hole being first bored to a depth requisite for insertion and explosion of several charges,

and the sand, or other equivalent material, be-

ing removed therefrom subsequent to each exi plosion to enable the succeeding charge to be placed in the hole to the depth required for the next explosion, the sand in every instance forming a bed for the charge, as specied.

' J AMES BRODIE. i

SAMUEL H. WHEELER. Witnesses:

WILLIAM MOODY, 'Wt Z. BROMLEY.