The Robbins Company

Nicholas A Hynd

David B Sugden

David T Cass

Peter B Dowden

A shaft boring machine including a rotatable cutterwheel assembly with a horizontal axis mounted on a carriage having vertical travel. The carriage is mounted on a slewing base frame and rotates about the vertical axis of the machine. An excavating unit for muck removal is mounted opposite the cutterwheel on the slewing base frame and loads directly from the shaft bottom into a muck hopper. When the hopper is full, it is discharged into a hoist bucket which is hoisted to the surface. The machine is positioned in the shaft by upper and lower gripper systems. Walking cylinders between the two gripper rings advance the machine up or down the shaft. A method of boring vertical shafts in medium and hard rock which includes the steps of: (a) providing, radially of the shaft, a cutterwheel assembly for cutting the rock; (b) while rotating the cutterwheel assembly about its horizontal axis, plunging the rotating cutterwheel downwardly into the rock; (c) slewing the rotating cutterwheel assembly around the rock work face and about the central vertical axis of the shaft; and, (d) removing the rock cuttings from the work face.

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Tempe, AZ, United States of America

Nicholas A Hynd