Innovations / Drilling equipment / Drilling equipment
Drilling equipment
- 1898: Atlas manufactures its first drill driven by compressed air.
- 1905: Atlas introduces the first light rock drills, the Cyclops and the Rex models. These were rotated by hand and were either hand-held or mounted on a tripod or screw column.
- 1915: Introduction of the first drills in the BR series. These drills were equipped with four-cylinder single acting piston motors. The drill had a design that offered many advantages over competitors including fewer parts, reliability and well balanced.
- 1930: Launch of the first lightweight hand-held rock drill in the RH series, designed by Atlas engineer Gustaf Andersson. The RH drill was the most important element in what would later become known as the Swedish Method.
- 1935: Development of the pusher leg under the leadership of design director Erik Ryd. The pusher leg design won worldwide acceptance in only a few years.
- 1936: Atlas pioneers with a drilling machine, which is entirely fed into the drill hole, the so-called down-the-hole-machine.
- 1945: First drill steel bits made of tungsten carbide were introduced on Atlas rock drilling equipment.
- 1950: First ratchet wheel rotation drill with a funnel piston. With this machine the RH-754 Atlas could capture a large share of the coal mining market.
- 1952: First mobile rig arrangement for underground drilling, the BUK 21 K was designed for sub-level caving in Kiruna.
- 1960: Atlas Copco launches the Simba 22, a production drill rig for the underground mining method, sub level caving. The Simba 22 consisted of two screw-feed heavy drills on a rubber–tired chassis equipped with compressed-air-driven tramming.
- 1963: The first crawler drill was developed, significantly increasing the versatility of heavy drill rigs.
- 1968: Atlas introduces a drill rig for full face boring, the Fullfacer. The rig uses a new, patented principle called the under-cutting method.
- 1969: The down-the-hole hammers COP 4 and COP 6 are introduced, presenting entirely new design features operating at working pressures up to 18 bar. The new hammers drill straight holes, above 100mm diameter, for bench drilling applications and water wells.
- 1973: Atlas Copco presents the first heavy-duty impact hydraulic rock drill. The hydraulic rock drilling technique makes it possible to considerably increase the drilling output.
- 1992: Introduction of the Coprod system, a patented innovation which provided an
important increase in drilling productivity for large hole sizes. - 1995: Based on the hydraulic rock drill design concept from 1973, the COP 1838 is launched. By developing a unique system for dampening the reflecting shock waves, drilling rates have more than doubled in capacity, compared with the first generation from 1973.
- 1998: Introduction of a series of reaming shell and drill bits for the core drilling market. Advantages for the customer include faster penetration rates and longer service life of the reaming shells and drill bits.
- 1998: Launch of a new generation of underground drill rigs. Based on a modular design the concept sets new standards for automation, computerization and performance. The new features are step-by-step introduced to Boomers, Simbas and Boltec and during 2001 to ROC surface drilling rigs.
