BORE HEAD FOR MICROBORE OPERATION
First Claim
1. A boring apparatus for drilling laser guided microbore tunnels using a liquid stream to remove soil, and an airstream to remove the soil and liquid mix having a bore head, comprising, a substantially cylindrical body with a leading end wall and a trailing end wall, an axial wall dividing the body into a component compartment and a flow compartment, a passage through the flow compartment for liquid and soil mix, a passage through the flow compartment for air, the component compartment housing a steerable boring shaft which projects through the leading end wall to support a cutter, a shaft bearing fixed to the axial wall near the trailing end, a liquid path through at least part of the shaft which exits beyond the leading end wall, a laser target mounted on the shaft close to the leading end wall and the cutter and a camera mounted on the axial wall for shooting the target, the shaft being steered by rams mounted on the axial wall and acting at 90°
- to each other, up and down steering being provided by a first ram acting substantially parallel to the shaft and side to side steering being provided by a second ram acting transversely to the shaft.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Boring apparatus for drilling laser guided microbore tunnels uses a liquid stream to remove soil as slurry and an airstream to conduct the slurry away from the bore head. The cylindrical head houses a drill shaft steered by a pair of remotely controlled rams according to the position of a laser spot on a target fixed close to the end of the drill shaft. Small arcuate steering movements shift the cutter up and down through a first ram alongside the shaft working through a linkage. Side to side steering is provided by a second ram acting directly on the shaft. The components are mounted on an axial base wall which gives repair access and camera view of the target. A drilling platform has rams for advancing the cylindrical head.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A boring apparatus for drilling laser guided microbore tunnels using a liquid stream to remove soil, and
an airstream to remove the soil and liquid mix having a bore head, comprising, a substantially cylindrical body with a leading end wall and a trailing end wall, an axial wall dividing the body into a component compartment and a flow compartment, a passage through the flow compartment for liquid and soil mix, a passage through the flow compartment for air, the component compartment housing a steerable boring shaft which projects through the leading end wall to support a cutter, a shaft bearing fixed to the axial wall near the trailing end, a liquid path through at least part of the shaft which exits beyond the leading end wall, a laser target mounted on the shaft close to the leading end wall and the cutter and a camera mounted on the axial wall for shooting the target, the shaft being steered by rams mounted on the axial wall and acting at 90° - to each other, up and down steering being provided by a first ram acting substantially parallel to the shaft and side to side steering being provided by a second ram acting transversely to the shaft.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Specification