Inventions
Tunnel Boring Machine
Mechanical Engineering
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A tunnel boring machine, sometimes called a mole, is a machine used to excavate tunnels through rock, soil or sand with a rotating cutting wheel, offering a faster alternative to drilling, blasting or hand mining. Sir Marc Isambard Brunel built the first successful tunnelling shield in 1825 for the Thames Tunnel, and the engineer Henri Maus built what is reported as the first true boring machine, the Mountain Slicer, commissioned in 1845 and constructed near Turin in 1846 with more than 100 mechanically powered percussion drills. Modern tunnel boring machines range from about 1 to over 17 meters in diameter and can advance rock tunnels more than 700 meters in a week, making them the standard tool for large modern tunnelling projects.
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Built the first successful tunnelling shield in 1825 for the Thames Tunnel, a precursor to the modern boring machine; the engineer Henri Maus built the first true boring machine, the Mountain Slicer, in 1846.
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