It is the duty of the attendant to turn his dividing apparatus handle the required distance for the next hole, directly the drills are withdrawn, the amount of clearance between the drill point and the boiler shell being such as to give him proper time for this purpose, but no more. Self-acting water jets to the drills, and reflectors to enable the operator to see each drill, will be provided, but were not in action at the time views of the machine were made.
With an ordinary boiler shell formed in three plates, the three drills work simultaneously, and the one movement of the dividing apparatus, of course, applies to all. If the object to be drilled be not divisible into multiples of three, any other divisions can be produced by the dividing gear, either one, two, or three drills being used, as the circumstances may permit. Two heads can be shifted round from the angle of 120°, at which they are shown, to positions diametrically opposite, as may be desired, and the third can be used or disused as wished.
Vertical gauge rods are provided, duly marked out to the various pitches that may be needed for the vertical rows of holes, and the movement of the drill spindle saddles is so simple and steady that accurate adjustment can be made without the least difficulty. In the same way when the drill would, in its natural course, come in contact with one of the bolts by which the plates are held together, the attendant can run all the drills downwards a couple of inches or so, then turn the dividing apparatus two pitches instead of one, and on raising the three drills again he can continue the circular row as before. The entire control of the machine is governed by the attention of one man to two levers and the one dividing handle, which are all conveniently placed for the purpose.
Fig. 1696.—CAR-WHEEL BORING MACHINE.
In [Fig. 1696] is represented a machine for boring car wheels. The chuck is driven by a crown gear operated beneath by a pinion on the cone spindle. The feed motion for the boring bar is operated from the small cone shown on the cone spindle, there being three rates of automatic feed, which are communicated to the bar by a worm and worm-wheel operating a spindle carrying a pinion in gear with a rack on the back of a boring bar.
The worm-wheel is provided with a friction disk operated by the small hand-wheel shown, to start and stop the automatic feed, the large hand-wheel operating the rack spindle direct, and therefore giving a rapid hand-feed or quick return motion for the boring bar. The boring bar is counterbalanced by a weight within the frame. On the side of the frame is a small crane for handing the car wheels.
