HOF _proof 26/04/2016 16:29 Page 6
INTERNATIONAL MINING HALL OF FAME
Underground Development inductee, the late
Jim Robbins, was responsible for the hard rock
tunnel boring machine (TBM)
TBM for Mitry Constructors who were working on
the Oahe Dam diversion project near Pierre,
South Dakota, USA. The major breakthrough in
the design of hard rock TBMs occurred in 1956
when disc cutters were first used exclusively to
cut rock.
That first machine utilised a dual counterrotating cutterhead fitted with rows of drag bits
and dumbbell