The handle ([fig. 28.]) having a female screw in the bottom of its iron shank, with a wooden bar or rail passing through the socket of the shank, and a ring at top, is the general agent to which all the boring implements are to be attached. A chisel ([fig. 29.]) is first employed, and connected to this handle by its screw at top. If the ground is tolerably soft, the weight of the two workmen bearing upon the cross bar, and occasionally forcing it round, will soon cause the chisel to penetrate; but if the ground is hard or strong, the workmen strike the chisel down with repeated blows, so as to peck their way, often changing their situation by walking round, which breaks the stones, or other hard substances, that may happen to obstruct its progress.
The labour is very considerably reduced, by means of an elastic wooden pole, placed horizontally over the well, from which a chain is brought down, and attached to the ring of the handle. This pole is usually made fast at one end, as a fulcrum, by being set into a heap of heavy loose stones; at the other end the labourer above gives it a slight up and down vibrating motion, corresponding to the beating motion of the workmen below, by which means the elasticity of the pole in rising lifts the handle and pecker, and thereby very considerably diminishes the labour of the workmen. See [fig. 27.]
When the hole has been thus opened by a chisel, as far as its strength would permit, the chisel is withdrawn, and a sort of cylindrical auger ([fig. 30.]) attached to the handle ([fig. 28.]), for the purpose of drawing up the dirt or broken stones which have been disturbed by the chisel. A section of this auger is shown in [fig. 31.], by which the internal valve will be seen. The auger being introduced into the hole, and turned round by the workman, the dirt or broken stones will pass through the aperture at bottom (shown at [fig. 32.]), and fill the cylinder, which is then drawn up, and discharged at the top of the auger, the valve preventing its escape at bottom.
In order to penetrate deeper into the ground, an iron rod, as a, [fig. 33.], is now to be attached to the chisel, [fig. 29.], by screwing on to its upper end, and the rod is also fastened to the handle, [fig. 28.], by screwing into its socket. The chisel having thus become lengthened, by the addition of the rod, it is again introduced into the hole; and the operation of pecking or forcing it down, is carried on by the workmen as before. When the ground has been thus perforated, as far as the chisel and its rod will reach, they must be withdrawn, in order again to introduce the auger, [fig. 30.], to collect and bring up the rubbish; which is done by attaching it to the iron rod, in place of the chisel. Thus as the hole becomes deepened, other lengths of iron rods are added, by connecting them together, as a b are in [fig. 34.] The necessity of frequently withdrawing the rods from the holes, in order to collect the mud, stones, or rubbish, and the great friction produced by the rubbing of the tools against its sides, as well as the lengths of rods augmenting in the progress of the operation, sometimes to the extent of several hundred feet, render it extremely inconvenient, if not impossible, to raise them by hand. A tripedal standard is, therefore, generally constructed by three scaffolding poles tied together, over the hole, as shown [fig. 27.], from the centre of which a wheel and axle, or a pair of pully blocks is suspended, for the purpose of hauling up the rods, and from which hangs the fork, [fig. 35.] This fork is to be brought down under the shoulder, near the top of each rod, and made fast to it by passing a pin through two little holes in the claws. The rods are thus drawn up, about seven feet at a time, which is the usual distance between each joint, and at every haul a fork, [fig. 36.], is laid horizontally over the hole, with the shoulders of the lower rod resting between its claws, by which means the rods are prevented from sinking down into the hole again, while the upper length is unscrewed and removed. In attaching and detaching these lengths of rod, a wrench, [fig. 37.], is employed, by which they are turned round, and the screws forced up to their firm bearing.