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station rang an electric bell to signal its reception; and the sender
then touched another knob marked “cut off,” which caused the
supply of compressed air to be cut off, and the slide to be withdrawn
from the end of the tube, which was then ready either to receive or
send carriers. By this arrangement there was no waste of power, for
the reservoirs of compressed air or of vacuum were only drawn upon
when the work was actually required to be done.
The tubes laid down by the Telegraph Company are still in active
operation; but at the new Central Telegraph Station the automatic
valves of Messrs. Clark and Varley appear to be dispensed with, and
the attendants perform the work of closing the tube, shutting off the
compressed air, &c., by a few simple movements.
In December, 1869, Messrs. Siemens were commissioned by the
Postmaster-General to lay tubes on their system from the General
Post Office to the Central Telegraph Station; and the work having
been accomplished in February, 1870, and proving perfectly
satisfactory after six weeks’ trial, it was decided to connect in the
same manner Fleet Street and the West Strand office at Charing
Cross with the Central Station. The system proposed by the Messrs.
Siemens consisted in forming a circuit of tubes, through which the
carriers might be continually passing in one direction. The diagram,
Fig. 175, will give an idea of the manner in which it was designed to
arrange the tubes between the Central Telegraph Station and
Charing Cross. The arrows indicate the direction in which the air
rushes through the tubes; A is the piston in the cylinder, and valves
are so arranged as to pump air out of the chamber V, and compress
it into the chamber P. This plan has been departed from, so far as
regards the Charing Cross Station, for want of space there prevented
the tube being curved with a radius large enough to convey the
carriers without their being liable to stick, and consequently, these
are not carried round in the tube. The passage of carriers being
stopped here, there are, in point of fact, two tubes: an “up” tube
and a “down” tube. But these are connected by a sharp bend, so
that though the tube is continuous as regards the air current, it is
interrupted as regards the circulation of the carriers. The tubes are
of iron, 3 in. internal diameter, made in lengths of about 19 ft.; and
for the turns and bends, pieces are curved with a radius of 12 ft.
Both lines are laid side by side in a trench at about a foot depth
below the streets. The ends of the adjacent lengths form butt joints,
so that the internal surface is interrupted as little as possible, and
there is a double collar to fasten the lengths together. Arrangements
are also made for removing from the inside of the tubes water or
dirt, or matter which may in any manner have got in.

Fig. 175.—Diagram of Tubes, &c.

Fig. 176.—Sending and

Receiving Apparatus.—
Transverse Section.
One special feature of Messrs. Siemens’ invention is the plan by
which the carriers are introduced into and removed from the tube at
any required station without the circulation of the air being
interfered with. The simple yet ingenious mechanism by which this is
effected will be understood from the sections shown in Figs. 176 and
177. The figures represent the position of the apparatus when
placed to receive a carrier; A´ is the receptacle into which the carrier
is shot by the air rushing from A towards A´´. This receptacle is ᗜ-
shaped, the curve of the Ⅾ corresponding with that of the tube, and
the upper flat part admitting of a piece of plate glass being inserted,
through which the attendant may perceive when a carrier arrives.
The progress of the carrier is arrested by a perforated plate, B, which
allows the air to pass. The ends of this receptacle are fixed in two
parallel plates, F F´, which also receive the ends of the plain cylinder,
having precisely the same diameter as the tube, A. These plates are
connected also by cross-pieces, D E, the whole forming a sort of
frame, which turns upon E as a centre; and according as it is put in
the position shown by the plain line in Fig. 176, or in that indicated
by the dotted lines, causes the receiving tube or the hollow cylinder
to form part of the main tube, the cross-piece, D, serving as a handle
for moving the apparatus. It should be remarked that the plates are
made to fit the space cut out of the main tube with great nicety,
otherwise much loss of power would result from leakage. When the
hollow cylinder is in a line with the main tube, it is plain that the
carrier will not be stopped, as the tube is then continuous and
uninterrupted. In this hollow cylinder also the carrier to be sent is
deposited after the rocking frame has been placed on it, Fig. 177;
then, on drawing the handle, the hollow cylinder is brought into the
circuit, and the carrier at once shoots off. To stop a carrier, the
receiving-tube is put in by another movement of the handle, and
when the carrier arrives, it is removed by bringing the open cylinder,
or through tube, into the circuit, and thus making the receiver ready
for having the carrier pushed out of it by a rod which is made to
slide out by moving a handle. In order to avoid the obstruction to
the movement of the air which would be caused by the carrier while
in the receiving-tube, a pipe, G, is provided, through which the air
chiefly passes when the perforations of the plate, B, are closed by
the presence of a carrier. In this pipe at H is a throttle-valve, which is
opened by tappets, K, on the rocking frames when the receiver is in
circuit, and again closed when the open tube is substituted. The
current thus suffers no interruption by the action of the apparatus.

Fig. 177.—Receiving Apparatus.—

Longitudinal Section.

The carriers are small cylinders of gutta-percha, or papier maché,

closed at one end, and provided with a lid at the other. They are
covered with felt or leather, and at the front they are furnished with
a thick disc of drugget or leather, like the leathers of a common
water-pump, but fitting quite loosely in the tube. Such a carrier,
being placed in the tube at the Central Station, Fig. 175, will be
carried by the current in the direction of the arrows to the Charing
Cross Station, where its progress will be interrupted; but according
to the original plan it would continue its journey until it again
reached the Central Station, where it would be intercepted by the
diaphragm, Fig. 175. But the carrier is stopped, if at any station the
receiving-tube is placed in circuit, and this is done when an electric
signal indicates to the station that a carrier intended for it has been
dispatched. The tubes are worked on the “block system,” that is,
each section is known to be clear before a carrier is allowed to enter
it, and a bell is provided, which is struck by a little lever, moved by
each carrier in its passage through, so that the attendant at each
station knows when a carrier has shot along the “through tube” of
the station. This mode of working the tubes renders the liability to
accidents much less, but their carrying power might be increased by
dispatching carriers at regular and very short intervals of time, when
the limit would be only in the ability of the attendants to receive a
carrier and open the circuit in sufficient time to allow the next
following one to proceed without stoppage. The length of the lines
of tube laid down on this system, with the times required for the
carriers to traverse them, are stated below, the pressure and the
vacuum being respectively equal to the absolute pressures of 22 lbs.
and 5½ lbs. on each square inch of the reservoirs during the
experiments:
Yards. M. S.
Telegraph Station to General Post Office 852 1 54
General Post Office to Temple Bar 1,206 2 28
Temple Bar to General Post Office 1,206 2 10
General Post Office to Telegraph Station 852 1 13

4,116 7 45
When the air was not compressed, but the vacuum only was used,
the air being allowed to enter the other end of the tube at the
ordinary atmospheric pressure, the time required for the carrier to
traverse the circuit was 10 minutes 23 seconds. In this case the
vacuum was maintained, so that the air was constantly in
movement; but when the experiment was tried by allowing the air in
the tube to become stationary, placing a carrier at one end, and then
opening communication with the vacuum reservoir at the other, the
carrier required 13½ minutes to complete the journey. This is
explained by the fact of the greater part of the air having to be
exhausted from the tube before the carrier could be set in motion.
The utility and advantage of the pneumatic system is well seen when
its powers are compared with the wires. Thus, a single carrier, which
may contain, say, twenty-seven messages, can be sent every eight
minutes; and since not more than one message per minute could be
transmitted by telegraph wire, even by the smartest clerks, the real
average being about two minutes for each message, it follows that
only four messages could be sent in the time required for a single
carrier to traverse the up tube, and to do the work which could be
done by the tube seven wires and fourteen clerks would be required.
Mr. R. S. Culley, the official telegraph engineer, states as his
experience of the relative wear and tear of the carriers in these iron
tubes and in the smooth lead tubes, that it had been found
necessary to renew the felt covering of eighty-two dozen of the
carriers used for three months in the iron tubes, while in the same
period only thirty-eight dozen of those used in the lead tubes
required to be recovered. The numbers of carriers sent and received
by the pneumatic tubes on the 21st of November, 1871, between 11
a.m. and 4 p.m., were:
Iron tubes 135

2¼ in. lead tubes 1,170

1,697
1½ in. lead tubes 527
The mileage of the carriers sent was much greater in the lead than
in the iron pipes, although the total lengths of each kind were
respectively 5,974 yards and 6,826 yards. The result is remarkable,
as showing the effect of apparently slight differences when their
operation is summed up by numerous repetitions.
The circuit at Charing Cross having been divided on account of the
difficulty mentioned above, the tubes act as separate pipes—one for
“up” traffic (i.e., to Central Telegraph Station), the other for “down”
(i.e., from the Central Station). The air, however, still accomplishes a
circuit, being exhausted at one end and compressed at the other. A
very noticeable and curious difference is found between the times
required by the carriers to perform the “up” and the “down”
journeys:
 An “up” carrier requires 6·5 minutes
A “down” carrier requires 12·5 minutes

Together 19·0 minutes

When two pipes were separated at Charing Cross so that the air no
longer circulated from one to the other, but both were left open to
the atmosphere, while the “up” pipe was worked by a vacuum only
and the “down” pipe by pressure only, the times were for
An “up” carrier 8·5 minutes
A “down” carrier 11·3 minutes

Together 19·8 minutes

The time, therefore, for the whole circuit was practically the same—
whether the tubes were worked by a continuous current of air or
separated, and one worked by the vacuum and the other by
pressure. It was also seen that when the tubes were connected so
that the air current was continuous, and the pump producing a
vacuum at one end and a compression at the other, the neutral point
where the pressure was equal to that of the atmosphere was not
found midway between the two extremities—that is, at Charing
Cross Station—but much nearer the vacuum end. When the tubes
were disconnected, it appeared, as already shown by the figures
given above, that there was a gain of speed on the down journey,
and a loss of speed on the up journey; and as the requirements of
the traffic happened to require greater dispatch for the down
journeys, the tubes have been worked in this manner.
It has been proposed to convey letters by pneumatic dispatch
between the General and Suburban Post Offices, and the Post Office
authorities have even consulted engineers on the practicability of
sending the Irish mails from London to Holyhead by this system. It
was calculated, however, that although the scheme could be carried
out, the proportion of expense for great speeds and long distances
would be enormously increased. A speed of 130 miles per hour was
considered attainable, but the wear and tear of the carriers would be
extremely great at this high velocity, and it was considered doubtful
whether this circumstance might not operate seriously against the
practical carrying out of the plan. The prime cost would be very
great, for the steam power alone which would be requisite would
amount to 390 horse-power for every four miles. We thus see that
very high velocities would introduce a new order of difficulties in the
practical working. The case as regards the velocity with which
electric signals can be sent round the world is very different.
An amusing hoax appears to have been perpetrated by some
waggish telegraph clerk on an American gentleman at Glasgow, with
regard to the pneumatic system of sending messages; for the
gentleman sent to the “Boston Transcript” a letter, in which he
relates that having sent a telegraphic message from Glasgow to
London, he received in a few minutes a reply which indicated a
mistake somewhere, and then he went to the Glasgow telegraph
office, and asked to see his message.
“The clerk said, ‘We can’t show it to you, as we have sent it to
London.’ ‘But,’ I replied, ‘you must have my original paper here. I
wish to see that.’ He again said, ‘No, we have not got it: it is in the
post office at London.’ ‘What do you mean?’ I asked. ‘Pray, let me
see the paper I left here half an hour ago.’ ‘Well,’ said he, ‘if you
must see it, we will get it back in a few minutes, but it is now in
London.’ He rang a bell, and in five minutes or so produced my
message, rolled up in pasteboard.... I inquired if I might see a
message sent. ‘Oh, yes; come round here.’ He slipped a number of
messages into the pasteboard scroll, popped it into the tube, and
made a signal. I put my ear to the tube and heard a slight rumbling
noise for seventeen seconds, when a bell rang beside me, indicating
that the scroll had arrived at the General Post Office, 400 miles off.
It almost took my breath away to think of it.”
In the journal called “Engineering,” into which this curious letter was
copied, it is pointed out that to travel from London to Glasgow, a
distance of 405 miles, in seventeen seconds, the carrier must have
moved at the rate of 24 miles per second, or 5 miles a second faster
than the earth moves in its orbit, and the carrier would have in such
a case become red hot by its friction against the tube before it had
travelled a single second.
A plan of conveying, not telegraph messages, but parcels, was
proposed and carried into effect some time ago, and more recently
has been applied to lines of tubes in connection with the General
Post Office. These tubes pass from Euston Station down Drummond
Street, Hampstead Road, Tottenham Court Road, to Broad Street, St.
Giles’s, whence, with a sharp bend, they proceed to the Engine
Station at Holborn, and then to the Post Office. The tube is formed
⌓
chiefly of cast iron pipes of a -shaped section, 4 ft. 6 in. wide and
4 ft. high, in 9 ft. lengths. There are curves with radii of 70 ft. and
upwards, and at these parts the tube is made of brickwork and not
of iron. The carriages run on four wheels, and are so constructed
that the ends fit the tubes nearly, and the interval left is partly
closed by a projecting sheet of india-rubber all round. The carriages
are usually sent through the tube in trains of two or three, and the
trains are drawn forward by an exhausting apparatus formed by a
fan, 22 ft. in diameter, worked by two horizontal steam engines
having cylinders 24 in. in diameter and a stroke of 20 in. The air
rushes by centrifugal force from the circumference of the fan, and is
drawn in at the centre, where the exhaust effect is produced. The
tubes which convey the air from the main tube open into the latter
at some distance from its extremities, which are closed by doors, so
that after the carriage passes the entrance of the suction tube, its
momentum is checked by the air included between it and the doors,
which air is, of course, compressed by the forward movement of the
carriage. At the proper moment the doors are opened by a self-
acting arrangement, and the carriage emerges from the tube. There
are two lines of tube—an “up” and a “down” line—and means are
provided for rapidly transferring the carriages from one to the other
at the termini. The time occupied in the transit is about 12 minutes.
Some of the inclines have as much slope as 1 in 14, yet loads of 10
or 12 tons weight are drawn up these gradients without difficulty.
The mails are sent between Euston Station and the Post Office by
means of these tubes. Passengers have also made the journey as an
experiment by lying down in the carriages. Fig. 174 shows one of
the carriages and the entrance to the tubes.
Great expectations have been formed by some persons of the
applications of pneumatic force. Some have suggested its use for
moving the trains in the proposed tunnel between England and
France. But calculations show that for long distances and large areas
such modes of imparting motion are enormously wasteful of power.
Thus, in the tunnel alluded to it must be remembered that not only
the train, but the whole mass of air in the tunnel would have to be
drawn or pushed forward. The drawing of a train through by
exhausting the air would be very similar to drawing it through by a
rope; in fact, the mass of air may be regarded as a very elastic rope,
but by no means a very light one, or one that could be drawn
through without some opposing force which has a certain
resemblance to friction coming into operation. Indeed, it has been
calculated that in the case named, only five per cent. of the total
power exerted by the engines in exhausting the air could possibly
produce a useful effect in moving the train.
Air has also been made the medium for conveying intelligence in
another manner than by shooting written messages through tubes,
for its property of transmitting pressure has been applied to produce
at a distance signals like those made use of in the electric telegraph
system. A few years ago, an apparatus for this object was contrived
by Signor Guattari, whose invention is known as the “Guattari
Atmospheric Telegraph.” In this there is a vessel charged with
compressed air by a compression-pump, and the pressure is
maintained by the same means, while the reservoir is being drawn
upon. A valve is so arranged that the manipulator can readily admit
the compressed air to a tube extending to the station where the
signals are received, at which the pressure is made to move a piston
as often as the sender opens the valve. This movement is made to
convey intelligence when a duly regulated succession of impulses is
sent into the tube—the receiving apparatus being arranged either to
give visible or audible signals, or to print them on slips of paper,
according to any of the methods in use with the electric telegraph.
Certain advantages over the electric system are claimed for this
pneumatic telegraph—as, for example, greater simplicity and less
liability to derangement. The tubes, which are merely leaden piping
of small bore, are also exempt from the inconvenient interruptions
which electric communication sometimes suffers from electrical
disturbances in the atmosphere. The pneumatic system is easily
arranged, and from its great simplicity any person can in a few hours
learn to use the whole apparatus, while it is calculated that the
expense of construction and working would not be above half of that
incurred for the electric system. For telegraphs in houses, ships,
warehouses, and short lines, this invention will doubtless prove very
serviceable; but for long lines a much greater force of compression
would be required, and the time needed for the production of an
impulse at the distant ends of the tubes would be considerably
increased. [1875].
Fig. 178.—The Sommeiller Boring
Machines.
 ROCK BORING.

A llusion has already been made to one great characteristic of our

age, namely, the replacement, in every department of industry,
of manual labour by machines. A brief notice of even the main
features of the various contrivances which have been made to take
the place of men’s hands would more than occupy this volume.
Accordingly, we must omit all reference to many branches of
manufacture, although the products may be of very great utility, and
the processes of very high interest; and in taking one example here
and another there, we must be guided mainly by the extent and
depth of the influence which the new invention appears destined to
exert. This consideration has, with scarcely an exception, decided
the selection of the topics already discussed, and it has also
determined the introduction of the present article, which relates to
machines of no less general importance than the rest, although at
first sight it might seem to enter upon the details of merely a special
branch of industry. But so general are the interests connected with
the subject we are about to lay before our readers, that we are not
sure it would not have been more logical to have placed the present
article before all the rest. For whence comes the iron of which our
steam engines, tools, rails, ships, cannon, bridges, and printing
presses are made?—whence comes the fuel which supplies force to
the engines?—whence come, in fine, the substances which form the
matériel of every art? Plainly from the earth—the nurse and the
mother of all, and in most cases from the bowels of the earth, for
her treasures are hidden far below the surface—the coal, and the
ores of iron and other metals, are not ready to our hand, exposed to
the light of day. The railways also, and the canals, can be made only
on condition that we cut roads through the solid rocks, and pierce
with tunnels the towering mountains. Hence the tools which enable
us to penetrate into the substance of the earth present the highest
general interest from a practical point of view, and this interest is
enhanced by the knowledge of the structure and past history of our
planet acquired in such operations.
The operations by which solid rocks are penetrated in the sinking of
shafts for mines, or in the driving of tunnels, drifts, headings,
galleries, or cuttings for railways, mines, or other works, are easily
understood. In the first place a number of holes—perhaps 3 ft. or 4
ft. deep and 2 in. or 3 in. in diameter—are formed in the rock. The
holes are then charged with gunpowder or other explosive materials,
a slow-burning match is adjusted, the miners retire to a safe
distance, the explosion takes place—detaching, shattering, and
loosening masses of the rock more or less considerable; and then
gangs of workmen clear away the stones and débris which have
been detached by the explosion, and the same series of operations
is renewed. The holes for the blasting charges are formed by giving
repeated blows on the rock with a kind of chisel called a jumper—
the end of which is formed of very hard steel, so that the rock is in
reality chipped away. The débris resulting from this operation is
cleared away from time to time by a kind of auger or some similar
contrivance. But for many purposes it is necessary to drill holes in
rocks to great depths, hundreds of feet perhaps, as for example, in
order to ascertain the nature of underlying strata, or to verify the
presence of coal or other minerals before the expense of sinking a
shaft is incurred. These bore-holes were commonly formed in exactly
the same manner as the blast-holes already mentioned, by repeated
blows of a chisel or jumper, which was attached to the end of a rod;
and as the hole deepened, additional lengths of rod were joined on,
and the rods were withdrawn from time to time to admit of the
removal of the débris by augers, or by cylinders having a valve at
the bottom. The reciprocating movement is given to the chisels and
rods either by hand or by steam or water power. When the length of
the rods becomes considerable, of course the difficulty of giving the
requisite blows in rapid succession is greatly increased, for the whole
length of rods has to be lifted each time, and if allowed to fall with
too much violence, the breaking of the chisel or the rods is the
inevitable result. The time requisite for drawing out the rods,
removing the fragments chipped out, and again attaching the rods
and lowering, also increases very much as the bore gets deeper.
Messrs. Mather and Platt, the Manchester engineers, have, in order
to obviate these difficulties, constructed machines in which the
chipping or cutting is done by the fall of a tool suspended from a
rope, the great advantage resulting from the arrangement being the
facility and rapidity with which the tools used for the cutting and for
the removal of the débris are lowered to their work and drawn up. It
is necessary in using the jumper, whether in cutting blast-holes or
bore-holes, to give the tool a slight turn after each blow, in order
that the rock may be chipped off all round, and the action of the tool
equalized. Many attempts have been made to drill rocks after the
fashion in which iron is drilled—that is, by drilling properly so called,
in which the tool has a rapid rotary motion. But even in
comparatively soft rock, it is found that no steel can sufficiently
withstand the abrading action of the rock, for the tool becomes
quickly worn, and makes extremely slow progress. We shall have
presently to return to the subject of bore-holes; but now let us turn
our attention to an example which will illustrate the nature and
advantages of the machinery which has in recent times been applied
to work the jumpers by which the holes for blasting are formed.
 THE MONT CENIS TUNNEL.

T he successful construction, by the direction of Napoleon, of a

broad and easy highway from Switzerland into Italy, crossing the
lofty Alps amid the snows and glaciers of the Simplon, has justly
been considered a feat of skill redounding to the glory of its
designers. But we have recently witnessed a greater feat of
engineering skill, for we have seen the Alps conquered by the
stupendous work known as the Mont Cenis Tunnel. This tunnel is 7½
English miles in length; but it is not the mere length which has made
the undertaking remarkable. The mountain which is pierced by the
tunnel is formed entirely of hard rock, and what added still more to
the apparently impracticable character of the proposal when first
announced was the circumstance that it was quite impossible to sink
vertical shafts, so that the work could not, as in the usual process,
be carried on at several points simultaneously, but must necessarily
be continued from the two extremities only, a restriction which
would occasion a vast loss of time and much expense, to say
nothing of the difficulties of ventilating galleries of more than three
miles in length. The reader must bear in mind that the importance of
this question of ventilation depends not simply on the renewing of
the air contaminated by the respiration of the workmen, but on the
quick removal of the noxious gases produced in the explosions of the
blasting charges. A work surrounded by such difficulties would
probably have never been attempted had not Messrs. Sommeiller
and Co. invited the attention of engineers to an engine of their
invention, worked by compressed air, and capable of automatically
working “jumpers” which could penetrate the hardest rock. These
rock-boring machines, having been examined by competent
authorities in the year 1857, were pronounced so efficient that the
execution of the long-spoken-of Alpine tunnel was at once resolved
upon, and before the close of that year the work had actually been
commenced, after a skilful and accurate survey of the proposed
locality had been made, and the direction of the tunnel set out. The
tunnel does not pass through Mont Cenis, although the post road
from St. Michel to Susa passes over part of Mont Cenis, which gives
its name to the pass. The mountain really pierced by the tunnel is
known as the Grand Vallon, and the tunnel passes almost exactly
below its summit, but at a depth the perpendicular distance of which
is as nearly as possible one mile. The northern end of the tunnel is
near a village named Fourneaux.
Pending the construction of the Sommeiller machines, and other
machinery which was to supply the motive force, the work of
excavation was commenced at both ends, in 1857, in the ordinary
manner, that is, by hand labour, and in 1858 surveys of the greatest
possible accuracy were meanwhile made, in order that the two
tunnels might be directed so that they would meet each other in the
heart of the mountain. The reader will at once perceive that the
smallest error in fixing on the direction of the two straight lines
which ought to meet each other would entail very serious
consequences. The difficulties of doing this may be conceived when
we remember that the stations were nearly 8 miles apart, separated
by rugged mountains, in a region of snows, mists, clouds, and
winds, over which the levels had to be taken, and a very precise
triangulation effected. So successfully were these difficulties
overcome, and so accurately were the measurements and
calculations made, that the junction of the centre lines of the
completed tunnel failed by only a few inches, a length utterly
insignificant under the conditions.
The work was carried on by manual labour only, until the beginning
of 1861, for it was found, on practically testing the machinery, that
many important modifications had to be made before it could be
successfully employed in the great work for which it was designed.
After the machinery had been set to work, at the Bardonnêche end,
breakages and imperfections of various parts of the apparatus, or
the contrivances for driving it, caused delay and trouble, so that
during the whole of 1861 the machines were in actual operation for
only 209 days, and the progress made averaged only 18 in. per day,
an advance much less than could have been effected by manual
labour. The engineers, not disheartened or deterred by these
difficulties and disappointments, encountered them by making
improvement after improvement in the machinery as experience
accumulated, so that a wonderful difference in the rate of progress
showed itself in 1862, when the working days numbered 325, and
the average rate of advance was three feet nine inches per day.
At the Fourneaux extremity more time was required for the
preparation of the air-compressing machinery, and the machines had
been at work in the other extremity, with more or less interruption,
for nearly two years before the preparations at Fourneaux were
completed.
The illustration at the head of this article, Fig. 178, represents the
Sommeiller machines at work, the motive power being compressed
air, conveyed by tubes from receivers, into which it is forced until the
pressure becomes equal to that of six atmospheres, or 90 lbs. per
square inch. The compression was effected by taking advantage of
the natural heads of water, which were made to act directly in
compressing the air; the pressure due to a column of water 160 ft.
high being made to act upwards, to compress air, and force it
through valves into the receivers; then the supply of water was cut
off, and that which had risen up into the vessel previously containing
air was allowed to flow out, drawing in after it through another valve
a fresh supply of air; and then the operations were repeated by the
water being again permitted to compress the air, and so on, the
whole of the movements being performed by the machinery itself.
The compressed air, after doing its work in the cylinders of the
boring tools, escaped into the atmosphere, and in its outrush
became greatly cooled, a circumstance of the greatest possible
advantage to the workmen, for otherwise, from the internal warmth
of the earth, and that produced by the burning of lights, explosions
of gunpowder, and respiration, the heat would have been intolerable.
At the same time, the escaping air afforded a perfect ventilation of
the workings while the machines were in action. At other times, as
after the explosion of the charges, it was found desirable to allow a
jet of air to stream out, in order that the smoke and carbonic acid
gas should be quickly cleared away. Even had the work been done
by manual labour alone, a plentiful supply of compressed air would
have been required merely for ventilation, so that there was
manifest advantage in utilizing it as the motive power of the
machines.

Fig. 179.—Transit by Diligence over Mont

Cenis.

The experience gained in the progress of the work suggested from

time to time many improvements in the machinery and appliances,
which finally proved so effectual that the progress was accelerated
beyond expectation. At the end of 1864, when the machines had
been in work about four years, it was calculated that the opening of
the tunnel might be looked for in the course of the year 1875. But in
point of fact it happened that on the 25th December, 1870,
perforator No. 45 bored a hole from Italy into France, by piercing the
wall of rock, about 4 yards thick, which then separated the workings
from each other. The centre lines of the two workings, as set out
from the different sides of the mountain, failed to coincide by only a
foot, that set out on the Fourneaux side being this much higher than
the other, but their horizontal directions exactly agreeing. The actual
length of the tunnel was found to be some 15 yards longer than the
calculated length, the calculation having given 7·5932 miles for the
length, whereas by actual measurement it was found to be 7·6017
miles. The heights above the sea-level of the principal points are
these:
Feet.
Fourneaux, or northern entrance 3,801
Bardonnêche, or southern entrance 4,236
Summit of tunnel 4,246
Highest point of mountain vertically over the tunnel 9,527
The tunnel is lined with excellent brick and stone arching, and it is
connected with the railways on either side by inclined lines, which
are in part tunnelled out of the mountain, so that the extremities of
the tunnel referred to above are not really entered by the trains at
all; but these lateral tunnels join the other and increase the total
distance traversed underground to very nearly 8 miles, or more
accurately, 7·9806 miles. The time required by a train to pass from
one side to the other is about 25 minutes. What a contrast is this to
the old transit over the Mont Cenis pass by “diligence”! We have the
scene depicted in Fig. 179, where we perceive, sliding down or
toiling up the steep zigzag ascents, a series of curious vehicles
drawn by horses with perpetually jingling bells.
The cost of the Mont Cenis Tunnel was about £3,000,000 sterling, or
upwards of £200 per yard; but as a result of the experience gained
in this gigantic work, engineers consider that a similar undertaking
could now be carried out for half this cost. It is supposed that the
profit to the contractors for the Mont Cenis Tunnel was not much
less than £100 per yard. The greatest number of men directly
employed on the tunnel at one time was 4,000, and the total horse-
power of the machinery amounted to 860. From 1857 to 1860, by
hand labour alone, 1,646 metres were excavated; from 1861 to 1870
the remaining 10,587 metres were completed by the machines. The
most rapid progress made was in May, 1865, in which month the
tunnel was driven forward at one end the length of 400 feet. When
the workings were being carried through quartz, a very hard rock,
the speed was greatly reduced—as, for example, during the month
of April, 1866, when the machines could not accomplish more than
35 ft.
The perforators used in the Mont Cenis Tunnel were worked by
compressed air, conveyed to a small cylinder, in which it works a
piston, to the rod of which the jumper is directly attached. The air,
being admitted behind the piston, impels the jumper against the
rock, and the tool is then immediately brought back by the opening
of a valve, which admits compressed air in front of the piston, at the
same time that the air which has driven it forward is allowed to
escape, communication with the reservoir of compressed air having
previously been closed behind it. The whole of these movements are
automatic, and they are effected in the most rapid manner, four or
five blows being struck in every second, or between two and three
hundred in one minute. Water was constantly forced into the holes,
so as to remove the débris as quickly as it was formed. A number of
these machines were mounted on one frame, supported on wheels,
running on the tramway which was laid along the gallery. The
perforators had no connection with each other, for each one had its
own tube for the conveyance of compressed air, and its own tube to
carry the water used for clearing out the hole, and the cylinders
were so fixed on the frames that the jumpers could be directed in
any desired manner against any selected portion of the rock. They
were driven to an average depth of about 2½ ft., and the process
occupied from forty to fifty minutes. When a set of holes had thus
been formed, the cylinders were shifted and another series
commenced, until about eighty holes had been bored, the formation
of the whole number occupying about six or seven hours, and the
holes being so arranged that the next operation would detach the
rock to the required extent. The flexible tubes, which conveyed the
air and water to the machines from the entrances, were then
removed from the machines and stowed away, the frame bearing the
perforators was drawn back along the tramway, workmen advanced
whose duty it was to wipe out the holes, charge them with powder,
and fix the fuses ready for the explosion. When the slow-burning
match was ignited, all retired behind strong wooden barricades, at a
safe distance, until the explosion had taken place; and after the
compressed air had been allowed to stream into the working, so as
to clear away all the smoke and gas generated by the explosion, the
workmen ran up on a special tramway the waggons which were to
carry away all the detached stones; and when this had been done,
the floor was levelled, the tramways were lengthened, and the frame
bearing the drilling machines was brought up to begin a fresh series
of operations, which were usually repeated about twice in the course
of every twenty-four hours. A great part of the rock consists of very
hard calcareous schist, interspersed with veins of quartz, one of the
hardest of all rocks, which severely tries the temper of the steel
tools, for a few blows on quartz will not unfrequently cause the point
of a jumper to snap off.
 ROCK-DRILLING MACHINES.

S everal forms of rock-drills, or perforators, have been constructed

on the same principle as that used in the Mont Cenis Tunnel, and
a description of one of them will give a good notion of the general
principle of all. We select a form devised by Mr. C. Burleigh, and
much used in America, where it has been very successfully employed
in driving the Hoosac Tunnel, effecting a saving in the cost of the
drilling amounting to one-third of the expense of that operation, and
effecting also a still greater saving of time, for the tunnel, which is 5
miles in length, is to be completed in four years, instead of twelve,
as the machines make an advance of 150 ft. per month, whereas the
rate by hand labour was only 49 ft. per month. These machines are
known as the “Burleigh Rock Drills,” and have been patented in
England for certain improvements by Mr. T. Brown, who has kindly
supplied us with the following particulars:
 Fig. 180.—Burleigh
Rock Drill on Tripod.

The Burleigh perforator acts by repeated blows, like Bartlett and

Sommeiller’s, but its construction is more simple, and the machine is
lighter and not half the size, while its action is even superior in
rapidity and force. The Burleigh machines are composed of a single
cylinder, the compressed air or steam acting directly on the piston,
without the necessity of flywheel, gearing, or shafting. The regular
rotation of the drills is obtained by means of a remarkably simple
mechanical contrivance. This consists of two grooves, one rectilinear,
the other in the form of a spiral cut into the piston-rod. In each of
these channels, or grooves, is a pin, which works freely in their
interior: these pins are respectively fixed to a concentric ring on the
piston-rod. A ratchet wheel holds the ring, and the pin slides into the
curve, causing it to turn always in the same direction, without being
able to go back. By this eminently simple piece of mechanism, the
regular rotation of the drill-holder is secured. The slide-valve is put
into motion by the action of a projection, or ball-headed piston-rod,
on a double curved momentum-piece, or trigger, which is attached
to the slide-rod or spindle by a fork, thus opening and shutting the
valve in the ascent and descent of the piston. Fig. 180 represents
one of the machines attached in this instance by a clamp to the
frame of a tripod. The principal parts of the machine are the cylinder,
with its piston, and the cradle with guide-ways, in which the cylinder
travels. The action of the piston is similar to that of the ordinary
steam hammer, with this difference, that, in addition to the
reciprocating, it has also a rotary, motion. The drill-point is held in a
slip-socket, or clamp, at the end of the piston-rod, by means of bolts
and nuts. The drill-point rotates regularly at each stroke of the
piston, making a complete revolution in every eighteen strokes. For
hard rocks it is generally made with four cutting edges, in the form
of a St. Andrew’s cross, thus striking the rock in seventy-two places
in one revolution, each cutting edge chipping off a little of the stone
at each stroke in advance of the one preceding. The jumper makes,
on an average, 300 blows per minute, and such is the construction
of the machine, that the blows are of an elastic, and not of a rigid,
nature, thus preventing the drill-point from being soon blunted. It
has been found in practice, that a drill-point used in the Burleigh
machine can bore on an average 20 ft. of Aberdeen granite without
re-sharpening. As the drill pierces the rock, the machine is fed down
the guide-ways of the cradle by means of the feed-screw (see Fig.
180), according to the nature of the rock and the progress made.
When the cylinder has been fed down the entire length of the feed-
screw, and if a greater depth of hole is required, the cylinder is run
back, and a longer drill is inserted in the socket at the end of the
piston-rod. The universal clamp may be attached to any form of
tripod, carriage, or frame, according to the requirements of the work
to be done; it enables the machines to work vertically, horizontally,
or at any angle.
The following advantages are claimed for this machine: Any labourer
can work it; it combines strength, lightness, and compactness in a
remarkable degree, is easily handled, and is not liable to get out of
order. No part of the mechanism is exposed; it is all enclosed within
the cylinder, so there is no risk of its being broken. It is applicable to
every form of rockwork, such as tunnelling, mining, quarrying, open
cutting, shaft-sinking, or submarine drilling; and in hard rock, like
granite, gneiss, ironstone, or quartz, the machine will, according to
size, progress at the incredible rate of four inches to twelve inches
per minute, and bore holes from ¾ in. up to 5 in. diameter. It will,
on an average, go through 120 ft. of rock per day, making forty
holes, each from 2 ft. to 3 ft. deep, and it can be used at any angle
and in any direction, and will drill and clear itself to any depth up to
20 ft.
The following extract from the “Times,” September 24th, 1873, gives
an account of some experiments with the machine, made at the
meeting of the British Association in that year, before the members
of the Section of Mechanical Science:
“Yesterday, considerable interest was taken in this section, as it had
been announced that a ‘Burleigh Rock Drilling Machine’ would be
working during the reading of a paper by Mr. John Plant. The
machine was not, however, in the room, but was placed in the
grounds outside, where it was closely examined by the members
after the adjournment, and seen in full operation, boring into an
enormous block of granite. The aspect of the machine cannot be
called formidable in any respect, for it looks like a big garden
syringe, supported upon a splendid tripod; but when at work, under
about 80 lbs. pressure of compressed air, it would be deemed a very
revolutionary agent indeed, against whose future power the
advocates for manual labour in the open quarry, the tunnel, and
even the deep mine, may well look aghast. Placed upon a block of
granite a yard deep, the machine was handled and its parts moved
by the fair hands of many of the lady associates of scientific
proclivities; but once the source of power was turned on, the drill
began its poundings, eating holes 2 in. in diameter in the block of
granite, and making a honeycomb of it as easily as a schoolboy
would demolish a sponge cake. It pounds away at the rate of 300
strokes, and progresses forward about 12 in., in the minute, making
a complete revolution of the drill in eighteen strokes, and keeping
the hole free of the pounded rock. The machine was fixed to work at
any angle, almost as readily as a fireman can work his hose; and its
adaptation to a wide range of stone-getting, by drilling for blasting,
and cutting large blocks for building and engineering, with a saving
of capital and labour, was admitted by many members of the
section. The tool is called the ‘Burleigh Rock Drill,’ invented by Mr.
Charles Burleigh, a gentleman hailing from Massachusetts, United
States. The patent is the property of Messrs. T. Brown and Co., of
London. The principal feature of this new machine is, that it imitates
in every way the action of the quarryman in boring a hole in the
rock.”