Oct. 10, 1950 FP. H.

NAST 2,525,422
ROCK DRILL
Filed Sept. 24, 1945 3. Sheets-Sheet

2 ZA
Oct. 10, 1950 P. H. NAST 2,525,422
ROCK DRILL
Filed Sept. 24, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 3
Patented Oct. 10, 1950 2,525,422

UNITED STATES PATENT of FICE 2,525,422

ROC DR,
Paul H. Nast, West Springfield, Mass., assignor to
Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company, New York,
N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey
Application September 24, 1945, serial No. 618,277
1 Claim. (Cl. 255-45)
2 . V

This invention relates to rock drill mechanisms The feed motor control valver 26 is held in any
of the drifter type and more particularly to a one of Several positions by a detent plunger 32
buffer arrangement therefor. and a spring 33, retained in the feed motor
It is an object of the present invention to housing by a spring plug. 34. The plunger, 32
provide a rock drill mechanism with a buffer air is limited in its axial movement by a pin 35
rangement to prevent Sudden shock in stopping and a cooperating slot 36 in the plunger 32.
the drillinotor at the end of its rearward travel. his feed motor control valve 26 has three large
Another object is to prevent the rock drill indentations 3A, 38 and 39 which respectively
'feed nut from being locked against reversal of retain the Valve in the off, reverse and for Ward
rotation on the next forward movement of the 10 positions. Between the indentations 3 and 39
'drill motor. is a series of small indentations 4 which, when
For other objects and for a better understand aligned with the plunger 32, hold the valve 25
ing of the invention, reference may be had to in partly opened forward positions. So that the
the following detailed description taken in con feed motor may be throttled on for Ward Speed
nection with accompanying drawings, in which: 5 from zero to maximum.
Fig. 1 is a top plan view, partly in section, of The feed motor rotor 27 has six milled slotS
a rock drill mechanism embodying the features A2 carrying radially-slidable blades 43, and is
of the invention; supported in two roller bearings 44, 45 mounted
Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the rock respectively in feed motor front and rear end
drill and mounting assembly with sections there 20 plates 46, 47. A rotor liner -48 is disposed be
of left out; tween the end plates “46, 47 and itS inner di
Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the ameter is eccentrically bored to give the rotor
rear section of the drill mechanism including blades 43 an outward and inward sliding move
the feed motor, reduction gearing, and cylinder ment. This assemblage, including rotor 27, front
back plate; 25 and rear end plates 46, 47, and rotor liner 48
Fig. 4 is a rear end view, in elevation, showing is retained in the feed motor housing against
the feed and drill motor control valve handles angular displacement by a dowel 5, which pro
and the air and cooling water inlet pipes; and jects at one end into the gear housing 8. A
Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are respectively fragmentary 'spring washer 52 holds the end plates 46, 47 and
cross-sectional views taken respectively along : ;the liner 48 tightly together to prevent any leak.
lines 5-5, 6-6, and 7-7 of Fig. 1 and looking age of air therebetween. ?' ' , ? ,
forwardly. On the forward end of the rotor 2, and eX.
Referring particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the tending into the reduction gear housing 8, is a
rock drill mechanism or assembly generally com pinion 53 adapted to mesh with an idler gear
prises a guide shell li, having a cone 12 for at 54 having a replaceable bushing 55 rotatable on
taching the shell to any suitable support and a a pin 56. Idler gear 54 has other gear teeth
stationary feed Screw 3, and a drill motor 4 car 5, which mesh. With gear teeth 58 of a feed
rying a drill steel 6. On the rear end of the screw, nut-59 on feed screw 3. This feed Screw
drill motor housing, there is stacked in order, a nut is journalled between a bearing 6 on the
cylinder back plate 7, a reduction gear housing gear housing 8 and a bearing 62 on the cylinder
8 and a feed motor housing 9. These parts back plate 7. The gear pin 56 is also sup
are secured to the drill motoi housing by ported on both the gear housing 8 and back
through-bolts 2 located respectively at opposite plate 7.
sides of the parts. On the rear of the feed motor Guide shell has a front feed screw sup
housing 9 are drill and feed motor valve handles 45 port 64, Fig. 1, for supporting the forward end
22, 23 adapted to respectively operates drill and of the feed screw 3, and a buffer Spring case
feed motor control valves 24, 26 located in the cover 65 for supporting the rear end thereof.
feed motor housing 9 at opposite sides of the The drill motor 4 is slidable in guide-ways 66,
feed motor rotor 27, FigS. 4, 5. m V Figs. 5, 6, 7. A rear handle 6 is connected to
Air enters the drill through a Single air inlet shell rods: 68 and 69 by nuts 7 l. These rods
nipple 28 on the reduction gear housing 8, and extend the full length of the shell from the
is directed through ports 29, 3 therein to the buffer spring case cover 65 and rear handle 6
drill and feed motor control valves 24, 26. AS to the front feed screw support 64. The rear
viewed in Fig. 5, these valves are in their off end of the feed screw has six splines 3 that
positions so that the drill is not in operation. 55 act as keys upon matching key-ways 74 in the
 2,525,422
3 4.
buffer spring case cover 65 to retain the feed
Screw against rotation.
If the drill is not stopped before it arrives at
the rearward end of its travel, the rear end of
the feed screw nut 59 contacts a buffer washer
75, which, in turn compresses a buffer spring
6 to ease the drill into its final Stopping position,
both surrounding the feed screw and within a
buffer spring case TT. The rearward travel is
generally at full speed of the feed motor. The
impact of the drill is cushioned thereby per
mitting the motor to stall before the axial thrust
against the feed nut becomes excessive. The
buffer arrangement thus prevents sudden shock
in stopping the feed motor and the feed nut from
being locked with a stop in Such a manner as
would prevent reversal of rotation of the feed
motor.
The reduction gear housing 8 has an oil
reservoir 78 in which the rotor pinion 53 and
idler gears 54, 57 are enclosed. This reservoir
is filled through a threaded hole closed by an
oil plug 79, Fig. 4.
In assembling the drill and feed motors, the
cylinder back plate f l is first fitted upon the rear 25 blades to turn the rotor, air is passed to two
end of the drill motor housing f4, Fig. 3. A
dowel pin 8 is passed through the cylinder back
plate 7 and extended into the drill motor hous
ing 4 whereby to prevent relative angular move
ment therebetween. The dowel pin 8 also pro 30 spective front and rear end plates 46, 47. As
jects rearwardly from the cylinder back plate
and is received by an opening 82 in the gear
housing 8 as the latter is in turn stacked upon
the back plate. The same dowel pin 8 thus pre
vents angular movement of the gear housing 8.
In turn, the feed motor housing 9, including
its rotor parts, is stacked upon the gear hous
ing 8. Relative angular movement between the
feed motor 9 and the gear housing fa is pre
vented by the dowel pin 5. It will now be ap
parent that by means of two dowel pins 5f. 8
the stacked parts are retained against relative
rotation and held in angular alignment with the
cylinder f4. These same parts are retained
against axial displacement by the through-bolts
2 extending thro11gh lugs 83, 84 on the respective
drill and feed motor housings 4, 9. . .-
The drill motor throttle valve 24 is operated by
the handle 22 and is held in its adjuster nositions
by a detent plunger 8R urged upwardly by a
spring 87 and retained in the feed motor housing
by a spring plug 88. This val-e 24 has four in
dentations 90.91, 92, 93 Fig. 7, that cooperate
with the plunger 86 to respectively retain the
Valve in off, light run, run, and hlow positions. 55
Water for the drill motor to settle dist result
ing from the drilling operation enters the rear
end of the feed motor housing 9 through a nip
ple 94 from a hose 95, Fig. 4. The water upon
entering the feed motor housing is received in 60
a chamber 96, Fig. 3, from where it passes by
Way Of a passage 9 to a threaded recess 98
adapted to be closed by a screw plug 99. A fluid
delivery tube C is inserted through the assem
bled parts by way of the threaded recess 98 and 65
is held in place by the screw plug 99. The tube
f0? enters the drill motor and delivers water to
the drill steel in the manner shown in the patent
to Lear 2,177,391. A packing gland f2 in the
cylinder back plate 7 prevents leakage of oil
from the oil reservoir 78 along the tube 0 and
toward the drill motor 4. The plug 99 forces
a flange 03 on the tube against a washer 04
that compresses sealing rubber A5 to prevent
leakage of the water in the threaded recess 98 75
to the feed motor. Any air pressure that may
be built up within the feed motor housing 19
is vented through the air vent passage 06 to the
atmosphere.
As the feed throttle valve handle 23 is turned
upwardly, air is admitted to the feed motor
blades. Air entering nipple 28 in the gear hous
ing 8 passes through passage 3, Fig. 1, central
opening fo, radially-extending valve port 08,
graduated groove 09, and finally as the valve
is turned further, housing port 0, liner groove
, circumferentially-spaced liner ports 2, to
the spaces between rotor blades, Fig. 7. Rotor
27 is rotated clockwise driving idler gears 54-57
counter-clockwise and in turn feed Screw nut 59
is driven clockwise on the stationary feed screw
3 to advance drill motor toward the work. The
graduated groove 0.9 permits limited amounts
of air to be supplied to the blades and its posi
20 tion can be altered to control the speed of the
feed motor so that the feed motor may be ad
justed to advance the drill motor at the same rate
as the drilling Speed.
At the same time that air is admitted to the
housing holes 4, Fig. 7, at the ends of the rotor
liner 48. In registry with these holes 4 are
front and rear end plate holes 5, Fig. 5, di
recting air to Segmental grooves 6 in the re
any of the six blade slots 42 register with the
segmental plate groove 6, air is directed under
the blades A3 to hold them out against the ec
centric liner bore. For a more complete descrip
tion and illustration of a conventional arrange
ment for directing live air from a segmental
groove in the end plate to the inner edge of the
blade, reference is made to Amtsberg Patent
2,037,358, April 14, 1936, and particularly to Fig.
11, thereof.
As the blades 43 pass liner exhaust holes 7
registering with housing exhaust holes 8 which
lead into a main exhaust hole 9, the air be
tween the blades is exhausted to atmosphere. In
45 addition to the liner exhaust holes if 7, there
are two exhaust holes 2, Fig. 5, one in the
front end plate and one in the rear end plate,
that also register with the housing holes 8
thereby to increase the main exhaust capacity.
50 Such air as is ahead of the blades after they
have passed the exhaust holes if , 2 f, is ex
hausted through auxiliary exhaust port 22, Fig.
7. The exhaust air leaves the blades through
liner ports 23, liner groove 24, housing port
hole 25, circular exhaust groove 26 in the valve
26, Fig. 6, straight exhaust groove 27 in the
Valve 26, and circular exhaust groove 28 in the
valve 26. -
Any live air in the slots 42 under the blades
43 is exhausted into segmental grooves 3 and
holes 32 in the front and rear end plates 46,
47, through the valve in the above manner and
out auxiliary exhaust port f 22.
When the feed motor throttle valve 26 is turned
and plunger 32 is located in indentation 38
thereof, air is admitted to the feed motor hous
ing through valve port 33, housing port 25, liner
groove. 24, liner holes 23, and rotor 27 is caused
to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction. The
idler gear 54 is driven clockwise, the feed screw
counter-clockwise and the drill is moved rear
wardly and away from the work. The main
air will be exhausted from the rotor in the same
manner as above described, through the liner
ports 7, housing ports 8 and main discharge
 2,525,422
S 6
passage 9 to the atmosphere. The use of
grooves 6 and 3 in the end plates will be re
versed. Air entering rotor slots 42 underneath
blades 43 thus passes from grooves 3 and is ex
hausted to grooves 6.
Operation of the drill motor 4 is the same
as With the conventional drifter. The difference
here is that the back head of the drill motor is
eliminated and the special back plate 7 is used.
The usual air nipple, throttle valve, and water
connections that are on the back head of the
conventional drill motor are now in the present
invention in the gear housing and feed motor
housing.
A live air chamber 36 is provided in the cyl
inder back plate 7 to supply air to the distribut
ing valve (not shown) in the drill motor. The
drill motor may be constructed generally along
the lines of the drill motor shown and described
in the above-mentioned patent to Lear 2,177.391.
Emergency blow holes 37, Fig. 3, 38, 39, Figs.
5, 6, for the drill motor, are also provided in the
cylinder back plate 7. When the drill motor
throttle valve 24 is turned to the left and toward
the running position, a valve port hole 4 regis
ters with a passage 42 in the parts, Fig. 5, that
connects with the drill motor Supply chamber 36
in the cylinder back plate 7. Live air in a valve
central hole 43 coming from the air in the nip
ple 28 by way of the passage 29 in the gear hous
ing 8, is thus directed to the drill motor supply
chamber 36 causing the drill motor automatic
valve to operate.
When the plunger 86 is in the Valve indenta
tion 9?, Fig. 7, so that holes 4 and 42 are only
partially registered with each other only a limited
amount of air is allowed to pass thereby, the drill
notor Will be run at a retarded speed. When
plunger 86 is in indentation 92 the valve 24 is
held so that holes 41 and 42 are fully registered
and the drill motor runs at full Speed.
When the plunger 86 is in the indentation 93,
the throttle valve is in the emergency blow posi
tion. Valve port hole 46 registers with a hous
ing passage 47 and Supplies air to cylinder back
plate port 37 by way of a passage 48 extend
ing through the parts, Figs. 3, 5. Also, air will
pass to blow holes 38, 39. Live air leaves cen
tral valve passage 43 and passes through valve
port hole 5, Fig. 6, valve groove 52, which will 50 2,208,751.
be in register with passage 53, and enters the
holes 38, 39.
It should now be apparent that a built-in feed
motor of simple construction has been provided
wherein the various parts, which are stacked
upon the rear end of the drill motor, are simply
retained thereon against angular and axial dis
placement. That the air supply is made by a
Single connection and the drill and feed motor
valves are located in the feed motor and their
operating handles are both on the rear end of
the feed motor. That adequate means is pro
10 vided on the guide shell to cushion the rearward
movement of the drill motor to prevent Sudden
shock in stopping the feed motor at high speed.
While various changes may be made in the
detail construction of this rock drill mechanism,
it shall be understood that such changes shall
be within the spirit and scope of the present in
vention as defined by the appended claim.
What is clained is:
In a rock drill mechanism, a guide shell, a
20 stationary feed screw having an unthreaded por
tion, a feed Screw nut rotatable on the feed
Screw, buffer means at the rear of the guide shell
comprising a casing having a central longitudinal
aperture, a cover for the casing disposed in the
25 rear thereof, an annular flange on the casing pro
jecting into the central aperture, a sleeve mem
ber mounted on the unthreaded portion of the
feed ScreW and disposed within the aperture of
the casing, an annular external flange on the
30 Sleeve to cooperate with the casing flange to pre
vent axial movement of the sleeve in one direction,
compression Spring means arranged between
the casing, the cover, and the sleeve whereby to
prevent sudden shock of the moving parts upon
35 the rear Ward terminal movement of the feed
Screw nut.
PAUL H. NAST.
REFERENCES CITED
40 The following references are of record in the
file of this patent:
UNITED STATES PATENTS
Number Name Date
45
1,586,954 Templeton ---------- June 1, 1926
2,037,358 Amtsberg ---------- Apr. 14, 1936
2,115,231 Pearson ------------ Apr. 26, 1938
2,177,391 L?ear ------------------- Oct. 24, 1939
Dicker, Sr. -------- July 23, 1940
2,221,118 Smith, Jr. et al. ---- Nov. 12, 1940
2,316,192 Sinclair ------------ Apr. 13, 1943