US1792084A

US1792084A - Method of and apparatus for tunnel construction

Info

Publication number: US1792084A
Application number: US114669A
Authority: US
Inventors: Glasser William Frederick
Original assignee: Blaw Knox Co
Current assignee: Blaw Knox Co
Priority date: 1926-06-09
Filing date: 1926-06-09
Publication date: 1931-02-10
Anticipated expiration: 1948-02-10

Description

Feb. 10, 1931'. w, F, GLASSER 1,792,084

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION Filed June 9. 1926 s Sheet-Sheet 1 & INVENTOR BY Lt I'Mu ATTORNEYS Feb. 10, 1931. w. F. GLASSER 1,792,084

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION Filed June 9. 1926 s Sheets-Sheet 2 XNVENTOR Wfi-a M ATTORNEY$ Feb. 30, 1931. w; F. GLASSER METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION Filed June 9, 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 %%&Yf2%w ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 10, 1931 UNITED-"STATE PATENT oFrlcs- WILLIAM FREDERICK. HGLASS'ER, [on r ir'rsisUnen, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIeNoR T "BLAVT-KNOX co rn Y, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION or NEW JERSEY 1 1 METHOD 03am) Arriiii'l mns re n 'rn Nnr. CONSTRUCTION f Application filed .T iiiie 9,:1926 Serial No. 114,669.

This invention relates'to the lining of turn nels with concrete and has forits principal, object the speeding up of and the simplifica tion of such work. I e r Another object is to efiectively ,correlatethe tunneling and the {liningoperations where by there ls a mlmmum of nt'erference of one with the other. 1 a

More specifically it'is vention to provide means whereby the forms,

form suppo'rts,excavating cars nd othe in-' strumentalities employed may be manipulated to the greatest advantage.

How the foregoing together with such other obje'ctsand advantages as mayhereinafter appear, or'are'incident fto my invention, are realized, is illustrated in preferred form in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section thru a tunnel with the various mechanism 1 employ shown therein.

Fig. 2 is a plan section takensubstantially the tunnel. .The supporting device C 15 of on the line 22 of Fig. "1-. 1

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken substant ally on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section thru a tunnel showing a modification of my in-:

' Referring now more particularly to Figs.

1. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the forms indicated by the reference letter A are pref-' erably offchanneled sheet inetal/ construction, and made of two half sections 6,.and 7 having the hinged wing sections '8 and 9 respectively. Forms of this general type are now extensively used in this art and'it is therefore unnecessary to describe in'detail their construction or the construction ofthe supporting device ,or travelerB used in con-.-

nection with the forms for the handling thereof. It will therefore be understood thatthe particular construction ofthe forms and the traveler does not constitute partof my invention but in carrying out my inventionI provide novel means in association with the traveler and forms whereby the w0rk of lining tunnels may be expediteiand 1t.;1s.to

annbject of the ill-,-

this and the method of carrying on the work portion on the supporting or channel device C, sultable cross ties or stringers'l l of course being provided underneath the rails.

The supporting device C is supported at the left end, as viewed in Fig. 1, on the finished concrete invert as by means of the blocking 15 and at the right end on the floor of the excavated portion by means of the wheels 15 resting'on theblocking 17.. Wedges may be employed in association with the blocking 15 and 17 whereby the device C with its rails may he brought to the proper grade with respect to the rails within the lined portion of sufficient length to span the stretch to be lined which in this particular instance is approximately 15 feet.

In this connection it is pointed out that the length of the stretch to be lined of course de pends upon theamount of heading excavated, or on the length of section of form which it is desired to shift. A. convenient length for the panels of a form is feet so that the section ofsform shifted may be 5 feet or multiples of '5 feet. 5

The method of procedure as thus far de scribed is as follows. The supporting device C is advanced into the excavated unlined portion of the tunnel and the blocking and 17 is inserted to bring it to the proper grade, then the tracks and ties are laid on the device G, then the travelerB carrying a collapsed form A is run, thru a form or forms remaining in'pla ce forthe concrete to set, onto the advancedtrackage, after whichthe form is positioned for forming the lining in the excavated section of tunnel. Having thus supportedthe'traveler and positioned the form the concrete lining is formed, the next section of tunnel excavated, the support advanced and the above procedure repeated and so on until the tunnel is completed.

lVhen a new section of lining is completed the ties 14, are supported from the invert by means of the blocking 18 afterwhich the support C may be lowered by removing the blocking 15.

It is to be noted that the work of placing the invert and of forming the arch can be carried on without imposing any strain whatever on the invert because the form and traveler are supported from the support C which in turn has its points of support beyond the extent of the lining being laid. Therefore a saving of time is effected over the methods previously followed, as itis unnecessary to wait for the invert to harden so as to :arry the arch form in the usual manner.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 2 and 3 I have shown therein a novel arrangement of trackage the outside rails 10 and 11 as above mentioned being for the traveler B. The inside rails 12 and 13 are so spaced that the gauge therebetween is the same as the gauge between them and the outside rails 10 and 11 so that by tho employement of suitable switching means a two track run, a single track run, or both may be provided for the excavating cars 19. In the drawings I have shown a switching arrangement D whereby the double track system E, E in the heading is connected into a single track system F in the finished part of the tunnel, each track E of the double track system being formed of an outer rail and an inside rail and the single track F being formed of the two inside rails.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the outer rails 10 and 11 are to be used at times as traveler tracks and at times as part of the excavating car track and in order to be enabled to readily convert them from one to the other I have provided a short removable section of curved track 20 which may be replaced by a straight section (as shown in dotted lines) when the traveler is to be-moved along its track.

By the above novel arrangement of trackage two sets of excavating cars may be used, one set to be loaded while the other set is being emptied. The arrangement is such that it will never be necessary to remove more than one section of outer track in order to" move the traveler one section toward the heading and the inner track need not be dis turbed except as may be required to shift the frog and s vitch D as the work progresses. The ties are left in place from theiti'me they are laid until the tunnel is finished. A

t will be understood that my invention is particularly useful if the tunnel is to be built in soft soil in which case the gaining of time is a very important matter.

Referring now to the modification shown in Figs. 4: and 5 it will be seen that the forms in this instance consist of lagging plates 21 which are inserted between ribs 22, successive plates being inserted as the concrete is placed. The concrete is placed from the working platform 23 by shoveling it over the last inserted plate into the space between the plate and the earth. In this case when the form is moved end rib 22 is first taken out, and then the adjoining plates 21, the ribs 22 being collapsed and carried forward toward the heading, reerected in a new position and the plates inserted between the ribs as the work is carried out.

In this modification a traveler is not employed, therefore, a two track system for the handling of the material is run from the heading as far back into the tunnel as desired the rails being supported on beams 24 stretching across from one side of the form to the other where the rails pass thru the form. As the work progr'ess'esand the forms are moved forwardly ties 25 are slipped under the rails and blocked up on the finished concrete.

The ribs 22 which in turn support the la gi-n'g plates 21 are supported in the excavated unlined portion of the tunnel by means of the needle beams or channel support C. The needle beams C are supported at one end on a bench 26 in the excavated portion of the tunnel and at the other end on one of the ribs 22 at which the concrete lining is finished. By. employing this arrangement no track shifting has to bedone and the working space is greater than wheretravelers are used.

In bad ground the distance which the needle beamsjare advanced at any onetime may be ust suflicient for placing as short a section of lining as may be desired, to keep the lining close to the end of the heading.

I claim 1. In tunnel lining apparatus, the combination of a plurality of multi-part forms collapsible in. assembled relation, a traveler for handling the forms in assembled relation to move them from one point of use to another, and trackage for said traveler in the completed portion of the tunnel and extending as a continuation thereof into an excavated portion of the tunnel in advance of the completed portion, the advance trackage resting on finished work at one end and on the floor of the excavated portion at the other end beyond the point to which the next section of invert to be laid will extend, and the forms when collapsed in assembled relation being movable with the traveler through forms in place to position for forming the lining in the advance excavated portion.

2. In apparatus for constructing concrete tunnels and'the' like, the combination of'a p'hirality'of mulZti -part form units collapsible in assembled relation, a traveler for handling said form units, and means for supporting said traveler including tra'ckage supported atone end on finished concrete work and at the other end on the excavated portion of the work, the form units when collapsed in assembled relation being movable with the maining in place into an excavated unlined portion of the tunnel, trackage for said traveler supported in the lined portion of the tunnel by the lining, advance trackage for said traveler extending as a continuation of the aforesaid trackage into the advance excavated unlined portion of the tunnel, a support for the advance trackage supported at one end on finished lining and at the other end on the excavated portion, said supporting points being separated a suilicient distance to permit of lining a stretch of the excavated portion without interference therewith, and said track support and tracks being elevated above the lining to permit of placing the lining, without interference, whereby the support'may be again readily advanced to support the next advance trackage.

l. The process of lining tunnels and the like with concrete which consists in shifting a support into an excavated unlined portion of the tunnel, in supporting said support at its end portions at points clear of the section of lining to be laid in said excavated section of the tunnel, in carrying multi-part form work collapsible in assembled units on said support, in lining said-section, in advancing the support into a newly excavated portion, meanwhile leaving the form for the section just laid until said section sets, and in advancing through said form other previously used collapsed form work to be carried on said support for the lining of the newly excavated section and in repeating'the opera tion.

5. The herein described method of constructing concrete tunnels and the like, which consists in advancing a track support into the excavated unlined portion of the tunnel, in supporting said support beyond the extent of the particular section to be laid, in laying the track, in running a form carrying traveler onto said tracks, in positioning said form for forming the lining in said sec tion, in forming the lining, in excavating a section of the tunnel in advance of said lined section, in supporting said track on finished lining, in advancing the track support and in supporting said support and in laying track as above mentioned, in collapsing a previously erected form in assembled relation onto the traveler, in carrying said form through the last erected 'form to the newly excavated section, inwpositioning said form for forming the lining in said section and in excavating a'section of tunnel in advance of said last lined section." a 6. The herein described method of'constructing concrete tunnels and the like, which consists in advancing a track supportinto the excavated unlined portion of the tunnel, in supporting said support on finished lining atone end and beyond the extent or theparticular' sectiontobellaid at the other'end,in laying thetrack, in running a form carrying raveleronto said tracks, in positioning said form for forming'the lining in said section, in formingthe lining, in excavating a section of the tunnel in advance of said lined section inadvancing a form collapsed in assembled relation and carried by the traveler through theforin ju'st positioned to the section just excavated,in positioning said form and in forming the lining for said section.

7. The hereindescribed method of constructing concrete tunnelsand the like, which consists in laying an invert section, in excavating a section of the tunnel beyond said invert section, in positioning a track support sothat one end is supported on the laid invert and the other end beyond the point where the 1 next invertto be laid will extend, in laying track on said support, in running a form carrying traveler on said track, in forming the lining in said excavated section, in excavating an advance section of the tunnel, in advancing the track support and supporting it as above in allowing the'form to remain in erected position to permit the lining to set, in collapsing in assembled relation a previously erected form and advancing it with the carrier through said remaining form to the newly excavated portion, in positioning said advanced form, and in forming the lining for said portion.

8. In apparatus for lining tunnels with concrete, the combination or a form for the interior side walls and arch of the tunnel, a

traveler adapted to support said form and to convey it longitudinally of the tunnel when collapsed away from the tunnel walls, a section of track supported on finished concrete invert of the tunnel for the support of said traveler when in position for removing forms, a second section of track for supporting said traveler when in position for placing forms to receive concrete, and a bridge, one end of which is supported upon finished concrete invert and the other end on the unconcreted tunnel floor, said second section of track being mounted on said bridge and being long enough to permit theplacing or one complete concrete invert section beneath it, and said two track sections registering with oneanother for the to and fro movement of the traveler.

9. In apparatus for lining tunnels with concrete, the combination of a form for the interior side Walls and arch of the tunnel, a traveler adapted to support said form and to convey it longitudinally of the tunnel when collapsed away from the tunnel Walls, a section of track supported on finished concrete invert of the tunnel for the support of said traveler when in position for removing forms, a second section of track for supporting said traveler when in position for placing forms to receive concrete, and a bridge, one end of which is supported upon finished concrete invert and the other end on the unconcreted tunnel floor, said second section of track being mounted on said bridge and being long enough to permit the placing of one complete concrete invert section beneath it, and said two track sections registering With one another for the to and fro movement of the traveler, together with trackage at the same elevation as that for the traveler, for the movement of cars through the traveler and beyond it toward the heading, the tracks for said cars being carried over said bridge, and a switch for rendering the trackage double tracked beyond the carrier in the direction of the heading.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

W. F. GLASSER.