Upward tunneling

A cutterhead assembly which during use is progressively moved upwardly from an underground location by a sectional support column which is itself moved endwise upwardly from the underground location, and is rotated by means including a sectional drive shaft inside of said sectional support column, which includes a joint component at its upper end, said assembly comprising:

• a cutterhead support including a tail section which during use is directed downwardly;
• a cutterhead journaled for rotation on said cutterhead support and including cutter elements thereon which are directed upwardly during use;
• a joint component on said tail section usable for detachably connecting the tail section to the sectional support column;
• and
• gear reduction means carried by said cutterhead support, and drivenly connected to said cutterhead, said gear reduction means having an input shaft which during use is directed downwardly and which rotates relative to said cutterhead support, said input shaft having a joint component at its lower end connectable to the upper end of the sectional drive shaft within the sectional support column.

A section of a sectional torque carrying support and drive column that is used for supporting and applying an upward thrust to a cutterhead assembly, and for rotating a rotary cutterhead part of said assembly, said support and drive column section, comprising:

• a tubular body;
• torque transferring connector means at each end of said body for use in connecting it to an end of a similar body;
• a section of rotary drill pipe assembled with said tubular body and extending axially within said body and having a joint component at each of its ends for use in detachably connecting it to another drill pipe section;
• and
• journal means carried by said body, journaling said drill pipe section for rotation within said body.

Mechanism for boring upwardly through ground material from an underground location, comprising:

• a cutterhead assembly comprising a cutterhead support including a tail section which is directed downwardly during boring, and rotary cutterhead means rotatably mounted onto said cutterhead support including cutter means which is directed upwardly during boring;
• means for rotating said rotary cutterhead means;
• and
• means for advancing said cutterhead assembly, comprising:
• a sectional support column positionable below said cutterhead assembly, and connectable to said tail section;
• thrust ram means positionable at the underground location for forcing said sectional support column upwardly to in that manner advance the cutterhead support and the cutterhead means carried thereby, said thrust ram means including means for restraining said sectional support column against rotating during advancement of the sectional support column and the cutterhead assembly carried thereby;
• a holding table positionable at the underground location above said thrust ram means, said holding table including means for securing said sectional support column to said holding table while a section is being added to or removed from it;
• and
• said thrust ram means comprising a fixed frame including at least one guide column extending in the direction of boring, a cross frame mounted for up and down movement along said guide column, and at least one thrust cylinder interconnected between said cross frame and the fixed frame, for moving the cross frame along said guide column between an elevated position in which the cross frame is closely adjacent the holding table and a lowered position in which said cross frame is spaced below the holding table a sufficient amount that a section of the sectional support column can be inserted inbetween the cross frame and the holding table, wherein said cross frame includes means to which the lower end portion of each section of the support column may be secured, for restraining such section, and in that manner all other sections of the support column and the cutterhead support above it, against rotation.