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The Evolution of Tunnel Boring Machines (2023)
Tunneling is an important technology for modern civilization, as a tunnel is often the only reasonable way to create a direct path between two points.
Gas occasionally filled the tunnel, which caused “collapse and blindness of the workmen” (West p109), and at one point the entire shield needed to be replaced. Price’s improved machine consisted of a rotating disc with 6 bucket-shaped cutters mounted around the edge attached to a cylindrical shield 3.86 meters in diameter. With tunnel boring machines, we see gradual automation and “factoryization," where the work increasingly takes place in a highly mechanized, factory-like environment.
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