Page:Clement Fezandié - Through the Earth.djvu/62

42 power, which were kept in rapid circulation through internal passages in the machinery.

The boring auger itself was so constructed that it continually descended as the hole deepened, and it was soon working far below the surface of the earth, the power that caused it to revolve being transmitted from above by means of electrical conductors.

Fastened near the bottom of the carbonite tube, along the interior, was an endless chain of fireproof buckets, which received the loose material thrown up by the auger, and emptied it into a second chain of buckets fastened somewhat higher up in the tube; and these emptied into a third chain, and so on until the loose material finally reached the surface of the earth. A new chain of buckets was added at the top each time the length of the tube was increased.

The work of excavation progressed at an astonishing speed, for the machinery was kept in splendid running order, and was so cunningly devised that any part which broke could at once be replaced by a new one, without its being necessary to stop the machine even for an instant.

The power required for the work had been furnished by the ocean itself, whose tides were