A drifter drill, sometimes called a rock drill, is a tool used in mining and civil engineering to drill into rock. Rock drills are used for making holes for placing dynamite or other explosives in rock blasting, and holes for plug and feather quarrying.[1]
While a rock drill may be as simple as a specialized form of chisel, it may also take the form of a powered machine. The mechanism may be worked or powered by hand, by steam, by compressed air (pneumatics), by hydraulics, or by electricity.
Machine rock drills come in two basic forms: those that operate by percussion (using a reciprocating motion), and those that are abrasive (using a rotary motion).[2][3] A smaller, hand-held percussion rock drill is considered a type of jackhammer.
- ^ Sullivan Machinery Company (1903). The Excavation of Rock by Machinery. New York: Chasmar-Winchell Press. pp. 39, 41.
- ^ Davies, E. Henry (1902). Machinery for Metalliferous Mines. London: Crosby Lockwood. pp. 151–152.
- ^ Raymond, R.W. (1881). "rock-drill". Glossary of Mining and Metallurgical Terms. Easton, Pa.: American Institute of Mining Engineers.