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Tunnel boring machine
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=== 1800s === The [[tunnelling shield#History|first successful tunnelling shield]] was developed by Sir [[Marc Isambard Brunel]] to excavate the [[Thames Tunnel]] in 1825. However, this was only the invention of the shield concept and did not involve the construction of a complete tunnel boring machine, the digging still having to be accomplished by the then standard excavation methods.{{sfn|Bagust|2006|p=65}} The first boring machine reported to have been built was [[Henri Maus]]' ''Mountain Slicer''.{{sfn|Drinker|1883|pp=[https://archive.org/details/atreatiseonexpl00dringoog/page/n207 191-194]}}<!--Maus' Slicer makes no appearance in Bancroft! And 58 is journal volume number, not a page no. {{sfn|Bancroft|1908|p=58}}-->{{sfn|West|1988}}{{page needed|date=April 2025}}{{sfn|Maidl et al.|2008}}{{sfn|Hemphill|2013}} Commissioned by the [[Charles Albert of Sardinia|King of Sardinia]] in 1845 to dig the [[Fréjus Rail Tunnel]] between France and Italy through the [[Alps]], Maus had it built in 1846 in an arms factory near [[Turin]]. It consisted of more than 100 percussion drills mounted in the front of a locomotive-sized machine, mechanically power-driven from the entrance of the tunnel. The [[Revolutions of 1848]] affected the funding, and the tunnel was not completed until 10 years later, by using less innovative and less expensive methods such as [[Jackhammer|pneumatic drills]].<ref name="Ref_">[http://www.mindfully.org/Technology/2004/Underground-Boring-Machines1sep04.htm Hapgood, Fred, "The Underground Cutting Edge: The innovators who made digging tunnels high-tech",''Invention & Technology'' Vol.20, #2, Fall 2004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050315045158/http://www.mindfully.org/Technology/2004/Underground-Boring-Machines1sep04.htm |date=2005-03-15 }}</ref> In the United States, the first boring machine to have been built was used in 1853 during the construction of the [[Hoosac Tunnel]] in northwest Massachusetts.{{sfn|Maidl et al.|2008|p=1}} Made of cast iron, it was known as ''Wilson's Patented Stone-Cutting Machine'', after inventor Charles Wilson.<ref>{{cite web|last=Smith|first=Gary|title=FINDING AID FOR THE HOOSAC TUNNEL COLLECTION at the NORTH ADAMS PUBLIC LIBRARY|url=http://www.naplibrary.com/HTHistoricNotes.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040115130100/http://naplibrary.com/HTHistoricNotes.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 January 2004|work=Hooac Tunnel Historical Notes|publisher=North Adams Public Library|access-date=14 July 2011}}</ref> It drilled {{convert|10|ft|0|order=flip|sp=us}} into the rock before breaking down (the tunnel was eventually completed more than 20 years later, and as with the Fréjus Rail Tunnel, by using less ambitious methods).<ref>{{cite web|last=Howes|first=M|url=http://www.hoosactunnel.net/historytimeline.php|title=Hoosac Tunnel History - Abridged Timeline|access-date=14 July 2011|archive-date=21 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521001435/http://hoosactunnel.net/historytimeline.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> Wilson's machine anticipated modern TBMs in the sense that it employed cutting discs, like those of a [[disc harrow]], which were attached to the rotating head of the machine.<ref name=Bancroft65>Bancroft 1908, p. 65</ref><ref>Wilson, Charles. "Dressing stone," {{US patent|5,012}} (issued: March 13, 1847).</ref><ref>Wilson, Charles. "Machine for tunneling rocks, etc.," {{US patent|14,483}} (issued: March 18, 1856).</ref> In contrast to traditional chiseling or drilling and blasting, this innovative method of removing rock relied on simple metal wheels to apply a transient high pressure that fractured the rock.{{cn|date=April 2025}} In 1853, the American Ebenezer Talbot also patented a TBM that employed Wilson's cutting discs, although they were mounted on rotating arms, which in turn were mounted on a rotating plate.<ref>Talbot, Ebenezer. "Machine for tunnelling or boring rock," {{US patent|9,774}} (issued: June 7, 1853).</ref> In the 1870s, John D. Brunton of England built a machine employing cutting discs that were mounted eccentrically on rotating plates, which in turn were mounted eccentrically on a rotating plate, so that the cutting discs would travel over almost all of the rock face that was to be removed.{{sfn|West|1988|pp=239-242}}<ref>Brunton, John D. "Improved machine for sinking shafts," {{US patent|80,056}} (issued: July 21, 1868).</ref> The first TBM that tunneled a substantial distance was invented in 1863 and improved in 1875 by British Army officer Major [[Frederick Beaumont|Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont]] (1833–1895); Beaumont's machine was further improved in 1880 by British Army officer Major Thomas English (1843–1935).{{sfn|West|1988|pp=243-247}}<ref>David William Brunton and John Allen Davis, ''Modern Tunneling: With Special Reference to Mine and Water-supply Tunnels'' (New York, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1914), [https://books.google.com/books?id=HZ9BAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA182 p. 182.]</ref><ref>Frederick Edward Blackett Beaumont, U.K. Patent no. 1,904 (issued: July 30, 1864). (See: ''Patents for Inventions. Abridgments of Specifications relating to Mining, Quarrying, Tunnelling, and Well-sinking'' (London, England: Office of the Commissioners of Patents for Inventions, 1874), [https://books.google.com/books?id=jXNUAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA247 p. 247.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230728205702/https://books.google.com/books?id=jXNUAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA247 |date=2023-07-28 }})</ref><ref>F.E.B. Beaumont, U.K. Patent no. 4,166 (issued: Dec. 2, 1875). (See: ''Patents for Inventions. Abridgments of Specifications. Class 85, Mining, Quarrying, Tunnelling, and Well-sinking'' (London, England: Patent Office, 1904), [https://books.google.com/books?id=UdhOAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA169 p. 169.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230728205627/https://books.google.com/books?id=UdhOAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA169 |date=2023-07-28 }})</ref><ref>Thomas English, U.K. Patent no.s 4,347 (issued: October 25, 1880) and 5,317 (issued: December 5, 1881); "Tunneling-machine," {{US patent|307,278}} (filed: June 4, 1884 ; issued: October 28, 1884).</ref> In 1875, the French National Assembly approved the construction of a tunnel under the [[English Channel]] and the [[British Parliament]] supported a trial run using English's TBM. Its cutting head consisted of a conical drill bit behind which were a pair of opposing arms on which were mounted cutting discs. From June 1882 to March 1883, the machine tunneled, through chalk, a total of 1,840 m (6,036 ft).{{sfn|Hemphill|2013}} A French engineer, [[Alexandre Lavalley]], who was also a [[Suez Canal Company|Suez Canal contractor]], used a similar machine to drill 1,669 m (5,476 ft) from [[Sangatte]] on the French side.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Jeremy |last2=Spick |first2=Jérôme |title=Eurotunnel: The Illustrated Journey |date=1994 |publisher=Harper Collins |location=New York, NY, USA |isbn=0-00-255539-5 |pages=14–21}}</ref> However, despite this success, the cross-Channel tunnel project was abandoned in 1883 after the British military raised fears that the tunnel might be used as an invasion route.{{sfn|Hemphill|2013}}<ref>Terry Gourvish, ''The Official History of Britain and the Channel Tunnel'' (Abington, England: Routledge, 2006), Chapter 1, § 2: The commercial possibilities: Lord Richard Grosvenor, Sir Edward Watkin and the 'Manchester to Paris Railroad'.</ref> Nevertheless, in 1883, this TBM was used to bore a railway ventilation tunnel — {{cvt|7|ft|m|order=flip|0}} in diameter and {{cvt|6750|ft|km|order=flip}} long — between [[Birkenhead]] and [[Liverpool]], England, through sandstone under the [[River Mersey|Mersey River]].{{sfn|West|1988|p=248}} The [[North River Tunnels|Hudson River Tunnel]] was constructed from 1889 to 1904 using a Greathead shield TBM. The project used air compressed to {{cvt|35|psi|bar|order=flip}} to reduce cave-ins. However, there were many workers that died via cave-in or decompression sickness.<ref>{{Cite web |last=American Society of Civil Engineers |title=Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Tunnel |url=https://www.asce.org/about-civil-engineering/history-and-heritage/historic-landmarks/hudson-and-manhattan-railroad-tunnel |access-date=2023-10-17 |website=www.asce.org |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=ASCE Metropolitan Section - Hudson & Manhattan Tunnel |url=https://www.ascemetsection.org/committees/history-and-heritage/landmarks/hudson-manhattan-tunnel |access-date=2023-10-17 |website=www.ascemetsection.org}}</ref>{{Sfn|Potter|2023}}
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