Drilling equipment, especially for use in underground mining

Claim 1

A drilling apparatus for use with a drilling machine having a guide and adapted to drill holes at an angle to said guide, said apparatus comprising in combination: a rotatable annular bit adapted to cut a hole in a rock and provided with high-pressure water-jet nozzles; a high-pressure pipe connected to said bit at one end thereof and connectable to a high-pressure pump, said pipe being constructed to be rigid under torsion; a rotary drive displaceable along said guide and forming part of said machine, said drive being coupled to said pipe for rotating same whereby upon rotation of said pipe, torque is applied thereto to generate a torsion which renders said pipe rigid; a nonrotatable jacket tube rotatably receiving said pipe, elastically deflectable into a bent condition from a straight condition and substantially rigid in radial direction; a deflecting means including a deflection device located at an end of said guide and adapted to be positioned in the region of a mouth of a hole to be drilled for angularly deflecting said tube and said pipe to establish an angle at which a hole is to be drilled relative to said guide; and means for axially displacing said tube and said pipe along said guide at a location remote from said bit whereby said tube and said pipe are displaced together through said deflection device in a longitudinal direction to advance drilling of said hole, said deflection devide comprising an element having an aperture through which said tube and said piep are passed and mounted to swing at an extremity of said guide, a main deflection roller disposed in said guide at said extremity, and a roller chain having a plurality of auxiliary rollers disposed opposite said main deflection roller and a coupled to said element.