Mechanical Mole

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 1, 25 November 1947, Page 3

Mechanical Mole

A piloted machine for burrowing into the earth’s crust has been invented by a Russian engineer. This mechanical mole, 162 ft. long and 4ft. wide, is worked by an electric motor, power being supplied through a cable which slowly unreels from the machine.

The machine is controlled by a pilot seated in a soil-tight chamber supplied with oxygen, and portholes enable him to see the type of earth through which he is burrowing. He transmits details to the surface by telephone.

The nose of the machine is fitted with a powerful toothed drill, and once a burrow has been started jointed legs fitted at the rear reach forward and dig into the sides. Then they stretch and push the machine forward. A revolving conveyor, wrapped spiral-wise round the body of the mole, takes up the soft earth. This conveyor presses the soil into the sides of the burrow, its screw action helping to push the machine along. Through ordinary soil it is possible for the mole to move at 30ft. an hour, and its inventor, Dr. A. I. Trebelev, dissected dozens of moles to study their structure and digging muscles before designing the machine. Also, by means of an, X-ray apparatus, he watched moles burrowing in packing cases filled with earth.