Tunnelling machine
OwnerRichard Lovatinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for tunnelling through soil, of the type in which a conical cutting head is rotatably mounted coaxially on a cylindrical housing and a toothed cutter bar is mounted radially on the cutting head adjacent an aperture in the cutting head. A flood door is mounted on the cutting head and is movable to open or close the aperture. Preferably a pair of doors are individually operable to converge or diverge in varying the size of the aperture. The cutter bar may be movable radially outward beyond the circumference of the cutting head to describe an arcuate path eccentric to the face of the cutting head.
Claims14
An apparatus for tunnelling through soil, comprising:
- a cylindrical housing;
- a cutting head rotatably mounted on one end of the housing coaxial therewith and closing said one end, the cutting head having an outwardly projecting conical face with at least one aperture therein opening into the housing;
- at least one toothed cutter bar mounted radially on the cutting head adjacent the face thereof and in front of the aperture;
- at least one flood door mounted on the cutting head and slidable laterally on the conical face thereof to open or close the aperture or to vary the size thereof;
- means mounted on the cutting head to move the flood door;
- and
- means mounted in the housing to rotate the cutting head to advance the housing, and to convey soil rearwardly from the cutting head.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.