Robert M. Vogel 



TUNNEL ENGINEERING- 

 A MUSEUM TREATMENT 



During the years from 1830 to 1900, extensive developments took 

 place in the field of tunneling, which today is an important, 

 firmly established branch of civil engineering. This paper offers 

 a picture of its growth from the historical standpoint, based on 



a series of models constructed for the Hall of Civil Engineering 

 in the new Museum of History and Technology. The eight 

 models described highlight the fundamental advances which have 

 occurred between primitive nun's first system. /tic use of fire for 

 excavating rock in mining, and the use in combination of com- 

 pressed air, an iron lining, and a movable shield in .1 subaqueous 

 tunnel .it the end of the 19th century. 



The Author: Robert M. Vogel is curator of heavy machinery 

 and civil engineering, in the Smithsonian Institution s Museum 

 of History and Technology. 



Introduction 



Willi FEW 1 XI I I' 1 1' '\s. civil ENG1N1 I kim. is .1 In 'K I 

 in which the ultimate goal i^ tin- assemblage of 

 materials into a useful structural form according 

 scientifically derived plan which is based on various 

 natural and man-imposed conditions. This is true 

 whether the result he. for example, a dam. a building, 

 a bridge, or even the fixed plant of a railroad. How- 

 ever, one principal branch of the field is based upon 

 an entirely different concept. In the engineering of 



tunnels the utility of the "structure" is derived not 

 from the bringing together of elements but from the 

 non of one portion of naturally existing material 

 from another to permit passaue through .1 former 

 barrier. 



In tunneling hard, firm rock, this is practically 

 the entire compass of the work: breaking away the 

 rock from the mother mass. and. coineidcntly. re- 

 moving it from the workings. The opposite extreme 

 in conditions is met in the soft-ground tunnel, driven 

 through material incapable of supporting itself above 



PAPER 41: TUNNEL ENGINEERING— A MUSEUM Tkl \l\ll\l 



203 



