Apparatus for driving an upwardly directed shaft in rock

Apparatus for driving an upwardly directed shaft in rock, thereby providing an increasingly taller shaft having a shaft wall, comprising:

• a guide rail for mounting into the shaft wall so as to extend upwards along the shaft;
• a platform vertically adjustably mounted to the guide rail for selectabel fixation at a desired height in the shaft;
• a drilling unit including leg means which are movable between an extended position in which outer end portions thereof engage the shaft wall for supporting the drilling unit from the shaft wall substantially independently of the platform, and a retracted position in which the outer end portions of the leg means are sufficiently withdrawn from engagement with the shaft wall that the drilling unit is supported on the platform for vertical movement in the shaft as the platform is adjusted so as to become differently selectively fixed at a desired height in the shaft;
• said drilling unit further including a drilling machine for cutting rock above said platform for increasing said shaft in height, and means supporting said drilling machine on said leg means, whereby, for preventing the drilling machine, when being operated from transmitting vibrations through said supporting means and said leg means to said platform and via said platform to said guide rail, after said platform has being adjusted in height to place said drilling machine at a level suitable for a cutting operation to begin, said leg means may be moved from said retracted position to said extended position, and said platform vertically adjusted to open a gap between said platform and said drilling unit.