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US 2006/0213689 A1Published application
Method and apparatus for introducing elongate members into the ground
AssigneeGlobal Innovations, LLC
InventorRoger Bullivant
Life of this patent
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AssigneeGlobal Innovations, LLC
InventorRoger Bullivant
Estimating the term…
A drill head is domed at and carries cutting teeth. A tubular drill string can be used to drive the head into the ground. An off-center aperture communicates with the bore of the string, by means of a connecting passage, which defines an oblique cone. During drilling, a flushing medium can be pumped down the bore and out through the aperture. As the drill string and head are withdrawn, an elongate member can be introduced down the bore, out through the aperture, to be left in the passage drilled by the head. The form of the mouths and connecting passage avoid the elongate member encountering any discontinuities which would prevent it leaving the head, as described. The elongate member could be reinforcing bar for a cast-in-situ pile, or part of a ground loop for a ground heat energy system.
A method of introducing an elongate member into the ground, in which a drill head is drilled into the ground to provide a passage from the surface, the drill head being driven by a tubular drive arrangement and having an aperture through which the bore of the tubular drive arrangement is in communication with the passage, and in which the elongate member is introduced to the passage through the bore and the aperture, the elongate member passing substantially unobstructed through the aperture into the passage as the tubular drive arrangement and drill head are withdrawn from the passage.
A drill head operable to drill a passage into the ground, and having an aperture through which an elongate member may pass through the drill head as the drill head is removed from the passage, thereby leaving the elongate member in the passage after the drill head is removed, the aperture having a mouth for receiving the elongate member, which is sufficiently large to substantially prevent any discontinuity around the mouth from engaging the end of the elongate member to block the elongate member from entering the mouth.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.