Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century

cheapening the cost of fuel. A number of property owners and scientific men, having resolved that the matter should be tested by a bore, raised funds for the purpose, and a 9 in. bore had been carried down to a depth of 313 ft. in the ordinary manner, when a contract was entered into with the Diamond Rock-Boring Company for a 3 in. bore extracting a cylinder of rock 2 in. in diameter. The company, as a precautionary measure, lined the old hole with a 5 in. steel tube; and in spite of some delay caused by accidents, they increased the depth of the hole to 1,000 ft. in the interval from 2nd February, 1874, to 18th June, 1874–-the progress of the work being regarded with the greatest interest by the scientific world. Unfortunately, the further progress of the work has been prevented by an untoward event, namely, the breaking of the boring-rod, or rather tube; and, although the company is prepared with suitable tackle for extracting the tubes in case of accidents of this kind, and generally succeeds in lifting them by a taper tap, which, entering the hollow of the tube, lays hold of it by a few turns—yet, in this instance, where there have been special difficulties, the extraction of so great a length of tubes is, as the reader may imagine, by no means an easy task. Six attempts have been made to remove the boring-rods which have dropped down; but so difficult has this operation proved, that, all these efforts having failed, it has been decided to abandon the old work and commence a new boring on an adjacent spot. A contract has been entered into with the Diamond Boring Company, who have undertaken to complete the first 1,000 ft. for £600, which is only £200 more than it would have cost to completely line the old bore-holes with iron tubes—an operation which was contemplated by the committee in charge of the exploration. The terms agreed to by the company are very favourable to the promoters of the Sub-Wealden Exploration, although the cost of the second 1,000 ft. will be £3,000 more; and the committee are relying upon the public for contributions to enable them to carry on their enterprise. It is most probable that funds will be forthcoming, and should the boring result in the finding of coal measures beneath the Wealden strata, all the nation will be the richer and participate in the advantages resulting from an undertaking carried on by private persons. Already a totally unexpected source of 363wealth has been met with by the old bore showing the existence of considerable beds of gypsum in these strata, and the deposits of gypsum are about to be worked. Whether coal be found or not found, there is no doubt that a bore-hole going down 2,000 ft. will greatly increase our geological knowledge, and may reveal facts of which we have at present no conception. Fig. 184.—The Diamond Drill Machinery for deep Bores. The boring-tubes, it maybe remarked, are made in 6 ft. lengths, and are so contrived that the joints are nearly flush—that is, there is no projection 364at the junctions of the tubes. Fig. 184 is engraved from a photograph of the machinery used for working the diamond drill when boring a hole for “prospecting.” This looks at first sight a very complicated machine, but in reality each part is quite simple in its action, and is easily understood when its special purpose has been pointed out. We cannot, however, do more than indicate briefly the general nature of the mechanism. The reader will on reflection perceive that, although the idea of causing a rod to rotate in a vertical hole may be simple, yet in practically carrying it out a number of different movements and actions have to be provided for in the machinery. The weight of the rods cannot be thrown on the cutters, nor borne by the moving parts of the machine—hence the movable disc-shaped weights attached to the chains are to balance the weight of the boring-rods as the length of the latter is increased. There must also be a certain amount of feed given to the cutters, regulated and adjusting itself to avoid injurious excess: hence a nut which feeds the drill is encircled by a friction-strap in which it merely slips round without advancing the cutter when the proper pressure is exceeded. There must be means of throwing this into or out of gear, or advancing the tool in the work and of withdrawing it—hence the handles seen attached to the brake-straps. Water must be drawn from some convenient source, and caused to pass down the drill-tube—hence the force-pump seen in the lowest part of the figure. The rods must be raised by steam power and lowered by mechanism under perfect control—hence suitable gearing is provided for that purpose. The reader may be interested in learning what is the cost of “prospecting” with this unique machinery. The company usually undertake to bore the first 100 ft. for £40, but the next 100 ft. cost £80–-that is, for 200 ft. £120 would be charged; the third 100 ft. would cost £120–-that is to say, the first 300 ft. would cost £240, and so on—each lower 100 ft. costing £40 more than the 100 ft. above it. Some of the holes bored have been of very great depth, and have been executed in a marvellously short space of time. Thus, in 54 days, a depth of 902 ft. was reached at Girrick in a boring for ironstone; another for coal at Beeston reached 1,008 ft.; and at Walluff in Sweden 304½ ft. were put down in one week! These machines are peculiarly suitable for submarine boring, for they work as well under water as in the air; and they will no doubt be put into requisition in the preliminary experiments about to be made for that great project which bids fair to become a sober fact—the Channel Tunnel between England and France; and as, by the time these pages will be before the public, the work of the greatest and boldest rock-boring yet attempted will have commenced, and the scheme itself will be the theme of every tongue, the Author feels that the present article would be incomplete without some particulars of the great enterprise. [1875.] THE CHANNEL TUNNEL. The notion of connecting England and France by a submarine line of railways is not of the latest novelty, but has been from time to time mooted by the engineers of both countries. The most carefully prepared scheme, however, is embodied in the joint propositions of Sir J. Hawkshaw 365and Messrs. Brunlees and Low among English engineers; and those of M. Gamond on the French side, which these gentlemen have prepared at the invitation of the promoters of the scheme, give the clearest and most authentic account of the considerations on which this gigantic enterprise will be based, and from this document we draw the following passages: The undersigned engineers, some of whom have been engaged for a series of years in investigating the subject of a tunnel between France and England, having attentively considered those investigations and the facts which they have developed, beg to report thereon jointly for the information of the committee. These investigations supported the theory that the Straits of Dover were not opened by a sudden disruption of the earth at that point, but had been produced naturally and slowly by the gradual washing away of the upper chalk; that the geological formations beneath the Straits remained in the original order of their deposit, and were identical with the formations of the two shores, and were, in fact, the continuation of those formations. Mr. Low proposed to dispense entirely with shafts in the sea, and to commence the work by sinking pits on each shore, driving thence, in the first place, two small parallel driftways or galleries from each country, connected at intervals by transverse driftways. By this means the air could be made to circulate as in ordinary coal-mines, and the ventilation be kept perfect at the face of the workings. Mr. Low laid his plans before the Emperor of the French in April, 1867, and in accordance with the desire of his Majesty, a committee of French and English gentlemen was formed in furtherance of the project. For some years past Mr. Hawkshaw’s attention has been directed to this subject, and ultimately he was led to test the question, and to ascertain by elaborate investigations whether a submarine tunnel to unite the railways of Great Britain with those of France and the Continent of Europe was practicable. Accordingly, at the beginning of the year 1866, a boring was commenced at St. Margaret’s Bay, near the South Foreland; and in March, 1866, another boring was commenced on the French coast, at a point about three miles westward of Calais; and simultaneously with these borings an examination was carried on of that portion of the bottom of the Channel lying between the chalk cliffs on each shore. The principal practical and useful results that the borings have determined are that on the proposed line of the tunnel the depth of the chalk on the English coast is 470 ft. below high water, consisting of 175 ft. of upper or white chalk and 295 ft. of lower or grey chalk; and that on the French coast the depth of the chalk is 750 ft. below high water, consisting of 270 ft. of upper or white chalk and 480 ft. of lower or grey chalk; and that the position of the chalk on the bed of the Channel, ascertained from the examination, nearly corresponds with that which the geological inquiry elicited. In respect to the execution of the work itself, we consider it proper to drive preliminary driftways or headings under the Channel, the ventilation of which would be accomplished by some of the usual modes adopted in the best coal-mines. As respects the work itself, the tunnel might be of the ordinary form, and sufficiently large for two lines of railway, and to admit of being worked by locomotive engines, and artificial ventilation could be applied; or it 366might be deemed advisable, on subsequent consideration, to adopt two single lines of tunnel. The desirability of adopting other modes of traction may be left for future consideration. Such are the essential passages of the report which, in 1868, was submitted to the Government of the Emperor Louis Napoleon, and was made the subject of a special commission appointed by the Emperor to inquire into the subject in all its bearings. The commission presented its report in 1869, and these are the chief conclusions contained in it: I. The commission, after having considered the documents relative to the geology of the Straits, which agree in establishing the continuity, homogeneity, and regularity of level of the grey chalk between the two shores of the Channel, Are of opinion that driving a submarine tunnel in the lower part of this chalk is an undertaking which presents reasonable chances of success. Nevertheless they would not hide from themselves the fact that its execution is subject to contingencies which may render success impossible. II. These contingencies maybe included under two heads: either in meeting with ground particularly treacherous—a circumstance which the known character of the grey chalk renders improbable; or in an influx of water in a quantity too great to be mastered, and which might find its way in either by infiltration along the plane of the beds, or through cracks crossing the body of the chalk. Apart from these contingencies, the work of excavation in a soft rock like grey chalk appears to be relatively easy and rapid; and the execution of a tunnel, under the conditions of the project, is but a matter of time and money. III. In the actual state of things, and the preparatory investigations being too incomplete to serve as a basis of calculation, the commission will not fix on any figure of expense or the probable time which the execution of the permanent works would require. The chart, Fig. 185, and the section, Fig. 186, will give an idea of the course