Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
Do you need
volunteer, community service, work, military or court hours?
|
|
Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
|
|
Click here and add this page to your favorites!
|
Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BLA-BOS |
|
|
BORING . The operations of deep boring are resorted to for ascertaining the nature, thickness and extent of the various 252 geological formations underlying the surface of the earth. Among the purposes for which boring is specifically employed are: (I) prospecting or searching for mineral deposits; (2) sinking petroleum, natural gas, artesian or salt wells; (3) determining the depth below the surface of bed-rock or other firm substratum, together with the character of the overlying materials, preparatory to mining or civil engineering operations; (4) carrying on geological or other scientific explorations. Prospecting by boring is practised most successfully in the case of mineral deposits of large area, which are nearly horizontal, or at least not highly inclined; e.g. deposits of coal, iron, lead and salt. Wide, flat beds of such minerals may be pierced at any desired number of points. The depth at which each hole enters the deposit and the thickness of the mineral itself are readily ascertained, so that a map may be constructed with some degree of accuracy. Samples of the mineral are also secured, furnishing data as to the value of the deposit. While boring is sometimes adopted for prospecting irregular and steeply inclined mineral deposits of small area, the results are obviously less trustworthy than under the conditions named above, and may be actually misleading unless a large number of holes are bored. Incident-ally, bore-holes supply information as to the character and depth of the valueless depositions of earth or rock overlying the mineral deposit. Such data assist in deciding upon the appropriate method for, and in estimating the cost of, sinking shafts or driving tunnels for the development and exploitation of the deposit. In sinking petroleum wells, boring serves not only for discovering the oil-bearing strata but also for extracting the oil. This industry has become of great importance in many parts of the United States, in southern Russia and elsewhere. Rock salt deposits are sometimes worked through bore-holes, by introducing water and pumping out the solution of brine for further treatment. The sinking of artesian wells is another application of boring. They are often hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of feet in depth. A well in St Louis, Missouri, has a depth of 3843 ft. Boring is useful in mines themselves for a variety of purposes, such as exploring the deposit ahead of the workings, searching for neighbouring veins, and sounding the ground do approaching dangerous inundated workings. In the coal regions of Pennsylvania, bore-holes are often sunk for carrying steam pipes and hoisting ropes underground at points remote from a shaft. Several of the methods of boring in soft ground are employed in connexion with civil engineering operations; as for ascertaining the depth below the surface to solid rock, preparatory to excavating for and designing deep foundations for heavy structures, and for estimating the cost of large scale excavations in earth and rock. Lastly, a number of deep holes have been bored for geological exploration or for observing the increase of temperature in depth in the earth's crust; for example, at Paruschowitz, Silesia, about 6700 ft. deep; at Leipzig
There are five methods of boring, viz.: by (I) earth augers, (2) drive pipes, (3) long, jointed rods and drop drill
t. Earth augers comprise spiral and pod augers. The ordinary spiral auger resembles the wood auger commonly used by carpenters. It is attached to the rod or stem by a socket joint, successive sections of rod being added as the hole is deepened. The auger is rotated by means of horizontal levers, clamped to the rodby hand for holes of small diameter (2 to 6 in.), the larger sizes (8 to 16 in.) by horse power. Clayey, cohesive soils, containing few stones, are readily bored; stony ground with difficulty. The operation of the auger is intermittent. After a few revolutions it is raised and emptied, the soil clinging between the spirals. Depths to 50 or 6o ft. are usually bored by hand ; deeper holes by horse power. For sandy, non-cohesive soils, the auger may be encircled by a close-fitting sheet-iron cylinder to prevent the soil from falling out. Pod augers generally vary in diameter from 8 to 20 in. A common form (fig. I) consists of two curved iron plates, one attached to the rod rigidly, the other by hinge and key. By being turned through a few revolutions the pod is filled, and is then raised and emptied. For boring in sandy soils, the open sides are closed by hinged plates. Fig. 2 shows another type of pod auger. For holes of large diameter earth augers are handled with the aid of a light derrick. 2. Drive pipes are widely used, both for testing the depth and character of soft material overlying solid rock and as a necessary preliminary to rock boring, when some thickness of surface soil must first be passed through. In its simplest form the drive pipe consists of one or more lengths of wrought iron pipe, open at both ends and from z in. to 6 in. diameter. When of small size the pipe is driven by a heavy hammer
hammer
the soil, raising the debris and in- creasing the speed of driving. The " driven well " for water supply is an adaptation of the drive pipe and put down in the same way. 3. Drill
long been used in Europe and else- where for deep boring. In the United States it is rarely employed for depths greater than 200 or 300 ft. The usual form of cutting tool or drill is shown in fig. 3. The iron rods are from I to FIG. 3. 2 in. square, in long lengths with Drill Bit. screw joints (fig. 4). Wooden rods are occasionally used. For shallow holes (50 to 75 ft.) the work is done by hand, one or two cross-bars being clamped to the rod. The men alternately raise and drop the drill, meanwhile slowly walking around and around to rotate the bit and so keep the hole true. The cuttings are cleaned out by a bailer, as for drive pipes. In boring by hand, the practical limit of depth is soon reached, on account of the increasing weight of the rods. For going deeper a " spring -pole " may be used. This is a tapering pole, say 30 ft. long and 5 or 6 in. diameter at the small end. It restsin an inclined position on a fulcrum set about to ft. from the butt, the latter being firmly fixed. The rods are suspended from the end of the pole, which ex-tends at a height of several feet over the mouth of the hole. With the aid of the spring of the pole the strokes are produced by a slight effort on the part of the driller. Average speeds of 6 to lo ft. per lo hours are easily made, to depths of 200 to 250 ft.For deep boring the rod system requires a more elaborate plant. The rods are suspended from a heavy " walking beam " or lever, usually oscillated by a steam engine
sary, FIG. 5. therefore, to introduce a sliding-link joint be- tween the rods and bit. One form of link is shown sliding Link. in fig. 5. On striking its blow, the bit comes to rest, while the rods continue to descend to the end of the stroke, the upper member of the link sliding down upon the lower. Then, on the up stroke the lower link, with the bit, is raised for delivering another blow. For large holes the striking weight is, say, 800 to moo lb, length of stroke 21 to 5 ft., and speed from 20 to 30 strokes per minute. Pod Auger. Rod Joint. By using the sliding link the cross-section and weight of the rods may be greatly reduced, the only strain being that of tension. To deliver a sharp
quick
by gravity; the rod follows on its measured down stroke, and picks up the bit. Free-falling tools are of two classes: (I) those by which the bit is released automatically; (2) those operated by a sudden twist imparted to the rod by the drillman. One of the best known of the first class is the Kind free-fall (fig. 6). The shank of the bit is gripped and released by the jaws J,J, worked through a toggle joint by movements of the disk D. When the rod begins its down-ward stroke, the resistance of the water in the hole slightly raises D, thus opening the jaws and releasing the bit, which falls by gravity. On reaching the end of the stroke the jaws again catch the shank of the bit and raise it for delivering another blow. The Fabian
4. Rope and Drop Tools.This method was long ago used in China. Because of its extensive application in the oil-fields it is generally designated in the United States as the " oil-well system." In its various modifications it is often employed also in general prospecting of mineral deposits and in sinking artesian, natural gas and salt wells. One of its forms deep boring it possesses the advantage of saving the large amount of time consumed in raising and lowering the rods, as required whenever the hole is to be cleaned out, or a dull bit replaced, since the tools are rapidly run up or down by means of the rope with which they are operated while drilling. The speed of rope-boring is therefore but little affected by increase of depth, while with rod-boring it falls off rapidly. In its simplest form the so-called " string
serving a different purpose, viz. to produce a sharp
5. Diamond Drill.The methods described above are capable of boring holes vertically down-ward only. By the diamond drill, holes can be bored in any direction, from vertically downward to vertically upward. It has the further ad-vantage of making an annular hole from which is obtained a core, furnishing a practically complete cross-section of the strata penetrated; the thickness and character of each stratum are shown, together with its depth below the surface. Thus, the diamond drill is peculiarly well adapted for prospecting mineral deposits from which samples are desired. The first practical application of diamonds for drilling in rock was made in 1863 by Professor Rudolph Leschot, a civil engineer of Paris. The apparatus consists essentially of a line of hollow rods, coupled by screw joints, an annular steel bit or crown, set with diamonds, being attached to the lower end. By means of a small engine
and fed down automatically as the hole is deepened. The speed of rotation is from 300 to 800 revolut;ons per minute, depending on the character of the rock and diameter of the bit. While boring a stream of water is forced down the hollow rods by a pump, passing back to the surface through the annular space between the rods and the walls of the drill hole. The cuttings are thus carried to the surface, leaving the bottom of the hole clean and unobstructed. For recovering the core and inspecting the bit and diamonds, the rods are raised at every 3 to 8 ft. of depth. This is done by a small drum and rope, operated by the driving engine. Diamond drills of standard designs (fig. 8) bore holes from 1194 to 24 in. diameter, yielding cores of t to I; in. diameter, and are capable of reaching depths of a few hundred to 4000 ft. or more. They re-quire from 8 to 30 boiler horse-power. Large machines will bore shallower holes up to 6, 9 or even 12 in. diameter. For operating in underground workings of mines, small and compact machines are sometimes mounted on columns (fig. 9). They bore t 4 to Ike in. holes to depths of 300 to 400 ft., cores being to I in. diameter. Hand-power drills are also built. In the South African goldfields several diamond drill holes from 4500 to 5200 ft. deep have been successfully bored. Rates of advance for core-drilling to moderate depths range usually from 2 to 3 ft. per hour, including ordinary delays,though in favourable rock much higher speeds are often attained. In deep holes the speeds diminish, because of time consumed in raising and lowering the rods. If no core is desired a " solid bit " is used. The drilling then proceeds faster, as it is only necessary to raise the rods occasionally, for examining the condition of the bit. The driving engine has two inclined cylin- FIG. Io. ders, coupled to a crank-shaft, by which, Diamond Drill Bit. through gearing, the drill-rod is rotated. The rods are wrought iron or steel tubes, in 5 to 10 ft. lengths. For producing the feed two devices are employed, the differential screw and hydraulic cylinder. For the differential feed (fig. 9) the engine has a hollow left-hand threaded screw-shaft, to which the rods are coupled. This shaft is driven by a spline and bevel gearing and is supported by a threaded feed-nut, carried in the lower bearing. Geared to the screw-shaft is a light counter-shaft. By properly proportioning the number of teeth in the system of gear-wheels, the feed-nut is caused to revolve a little faster than the screw-shaft, so that the drill-rod is fed downward a small fraction of an inch for each revolution. To vary the rate of feed, as suitable for different rocks, three pairs of gears with different ratios of teeth are provided. The screw-shaft and gearing are carried by a swivel-head, which can be rotated in a vertical plane, for boring holes at an angle. The hydraulic feed is an improvement on the above, in that the rate of feed is independent of the rotative speed of the rods and can be adjusted with the utmost nicety. There are either one or two feed cylinders, supplied with water from the pump. The rod, while rotating freely, is supported by the feed cylinder piston and caused to move slowly downward by allowing the water to pass from the lower to the upper part of the cylinder. A valve regulates the passage of the water and hence the rate of feed. The bit (fig. to and fig. 11, B) is of soft FIG. II. steel, set with six to eight or more diamonds, CoreLifter and Barrel. according to its diameter. The diamonds, usually from IZ to 21 carats in size, are carefully set in the bit, projecting but slightly from its surface. Two kinds of diamonds are used, ' carbons " and " borts." The carbons are opaque, dark Temper Screw. in colour, tougher than the brilliant, and have no cleavage planes. They are therefore suitable for drilling in hard rock. Borts are rough, imperfect brilliants, and are best used for the softer rocks. As the bit wears, the stones must be reset from time to time. The wear of carbons in a well-set bit is small, though extremely variable. Above the bit are the core-lifter and core-barrel. The core-lifter (fig. A) is a device for gripping and breaking off the core and raising it to the surface. The barrel, 3 to io ft. long, fits closely in the hole and is often spirally grooved for the passage of the water and debris. It serves partly as a guide, tending to keep the hole straight, partly for holding and protecting the core. Diamond drills do not work satisfactorily in broken, fissured rock, as the carbons are liable to be injured, loosened or torn from their settings. In these circumstances, and for soft rocks, the diamond bit may be replaced by a steel toothed bit. Another apparatus for core-drilling is the Davis Calyx drill. For hard rock it has an annular bit, accompanied by a quantity of chilled steel shot; for soft rock, a toothed bit is used. Diamond drill holes are rarely straight, and usually deviate considerably from the direction in which they are started. Very deep holes have been found to vary as much as 45 and even 6o from their true direction. This is due to the fact that the rods do not fit closely in the hole and therefore bend. It is also likely to occur in drilling through inclined strata, specially when of different degrees of hardness. By using a long and closely fitting core-barrel the liability to deviation is reduced, but cannot be wholly prevented. Holes which are nearly horizontal always deflect upward, because the sag of the rods tilts up tire bit. Diamond drill holes should there-fore always be surveyed. This is done by lowering into the hole instruments for observing at a number of successive points the direction and degree of deviation.' If accurately surveyed a crooked hole may be quite as useful as a straight one. End of Article: BORING If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/BLA_BOS/BORING.html"> BORING </a> |
|
|
(Previous) BORIC ACID |
(Next) BORIS FEDOROVICH GODUNOV |
|
Sponsored Advertisements