—The tunnels selected to illustrate the mechanical installations employed in tunneling through rock are: The Mont Cenis, Hoosac Tunnel, the Cascade Tunnel, the Niagara Falls Power Tunnel, the Palisades Tunnel, the Croton Aqueduct Tunnel, the Strickler Tunnel in America, and the Graveholz Tunnel and the Sonnstein Tunnel in Europe. In addition there will be found in another chapter of this book a description of the mechanical installations at the St. Gothard, Pennsylvania and other tunnels.
Mont Cenis Power Plant.
—The mechanical installation consisted of the Sommeilier air compressors built near the portals. The Sommeilier compressors, Mr. W. L. Saunders says, were operated as a ram, utilizing a natural head of water to force air at 80 lbs. pressure into a receiver. The column of water contained in the long pipe on the side of the hill was started and stopped automatically by valves controlled by engines. The weight and momentum of the water forced a volume of air with such a shock against the discharge valve that it was opened, and the air was discharged into the tank; the valve was then closed, the water checked; a portion of it was allowed to discharge, and the space was filled with air, which was in turn forced into the tank. Only 73% of the power of the water was available, 27% being lost by the friction of the water in the pipes, valves, bends, etc. Of the 73% of net work, 49.4 was consumed in the perforators, and 23.6 in a dummy engine for working the valves of the compressors and for special ventilation.
The compressed air was conveyed from each end through a cast-iron pipe 75⁄8 in. in diameter, up to the front of the excavation. The joints of the pipes were made with turned faces, grooved to receive a ring of oakum which was tightly screwed and compressed into the joint. To ascertain the amount of leakage of the pipes, they and the tanks were filled with air compressed to 6 atmospheres, and the machines stopped; after 12 hours the pressure was reduced to 5.7 atmospheres, or to 95% of the original pressure.
Sommeilier’s percussion drilling machines were used in the excavation of this tunnel. They were provided with 8 or 10 drills acting at the same time, and mounted on carriages running on tracks. These were withdrawn to a safe place during the blasting, and advanced again after the broken rock was removed from the front and the new tracks laid.
Machine shops were built at both ends of the tunnel for building and repairing the drilling machines, bits, tools, etc. A gas factory was built at each end for lighting purpose.
Hoosac Tunnel.
—The Hoosac tunnel on the Fitchburg R.R. in Massachusetts is 25,000 ft. long, and the longest tunnel in America. The material through which the tunnel was driven was chiefly hard granitic gneiss, conglomerate, and mica-schist rock. The excavation was conducted from the entrances and one shaft, the wide heading and single-bench method being employed, with the center-cut system of blasting which was here used for the first time. The tunnel was begun in 1854, and continued by hand until 1866, when the mechanical plant was installed. Most of the particular machines employed have now become obsolete, but as they were the first machines used for rock tunneling in America they deserve mention. The drills used were Burleigh percussion drills, operated by compressed air. Six of these drills were mounted on a single carriage, and two carriages were used at each front. The air to operate these drills was supplied by air compressors operated by water-power at the portals and steam-power at the shaft. The air compressors consisted of four horizontal single-acting air cylinders with poppet valves and water injection. The compressors were designed by Mr. Thomas Deane, the chief engineer of the tunnel.
Palisades Tunnel.
—The Palisades tunnel was constructed to carry a double track railway line through the ridge of rocks bordering the west bank of the Hudson River and known as the Palisades. It was located about opposite 116th St. in New York City. The material penetrated was a hard trap rock very full of seams in places, which caused large fragments to fall from the roof. The excavation was made by a single wide heading and bench, employing the center-cut method of blasting with eight center holes and 16 side holes for the 7 × 18 ft. heading. Ingersoll-Sergeant 21⁄2 in. drills were used, four in each heading and six on each bench, and 30 ft. per 10 hours was considered good work for one drill.