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US 12,442,251 B1Granted
Straddle seat pit launch directional drill
AssigneeRoddie, Inc.
InventorRod Herrick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed are small model pit launch horizontal direction drills suitable for drilling a substantially horizontal bore hole and laying pipe underground from within a surface dug pit. The devices comprise a stationary frame and a carriage component competent to move forward and back along the frame and drill and retrieve an attached drill stem through an aperture in the frame. The carriage components are configured to allow an operator to straddle the carriage and operate the device from a seated position within the frame component interior.
Claims17
A pit launch horizontal drilling device comprising:
- a front plate configured with an aperture to allow passage of a drill stem therethrough and a chassis extending back from said plate and, straddling said chassis and coupled thereto so as to be moveable forward and back along said chassis,
- a straddle seat dimensioned and configured to allow an operator to sit on said seat and operate said device and, connected to said seat and configured thereunder,
- a gear mechanism that couples with said chassis, said gear mechanism rotatable by a hydraulic drive motor positioned above said mechanism and connected thereto to move said straddle seat forward and back along said chassis,
- a hydraulic rotary drive for releasably coupling to a drill stem end to form a drill stem joint and rotating said coupled drill stem joint in opposing directions, and
- hydraulic controls engaged with said hydraulic rotary drive and said hydraulic drive motor for directing rotation of said coupled drill stem and traversal of said straddle sear, said controls being manipulatable by said operator when seated on said straddle seat such that said seated operator can travel forward and back at will along said chassis.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.