Method and apparatus for removing sediment or other flowable solid material from a bed underlying a body of water
OwnerCurtis D. Blackburn, Randall L. Blackburn +1inventors
InventorsCurtis D. Blackburn, Randall L. Blackburn, Dewey L. Adkins
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Abstract
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing settled sediment from a water-covered bed such as a silt pond. It also relates to a method and apparatus for the transfer of the removed sediment to a disposal site.
Claims18
A method of utilizing a material extraction device for extracting a flowable solid material from a bed underlying a body of water wherein said device comprises a rotatable auger-like helix or spiralled material pick-up unit positioned longitudinally in a casing and having an exposed material pick-up end portion projecting longitudinally beyond a forward open end of said casing, said method comprising the step of inserting said device endwise into said bed to a depth where said end portion and at least the forward end of said casing are buried in said bed, and rotating said auger-like unit (a) to engage and pick up the material in said bed at a region spaced below the surface of said bed and (b) to feed it through said casing to an outlet opening in said casing without cutting away the surface layer of said bed and without entraining the picked-up material in said body of water before the picked-up material enters said casing.
An apparatus providing for the removal of flowable solid material, such as mud or sediment, in a bed underlying a body of water, said apparatus comprising a material extraction device including (a) a casing (b) a rotatably mounted shaft, and (c) a spiralled element mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith, the assembly of said shaft and said spiralled element being positioned in and extending longitudinally of said casing, said casing have a forward open end, said assembly of said shaft and said spiralled element extending through said open end and having an exposed lead end portion projecting forwardly beyond said casing for insertion into said bed, means mounting said material extraction device for selective displacement to an operational position where at least said lead end portion is buried in said bed and the rearward portion of said extraction device lies above said bed such that said extraction device extends endwise into said bed and projects upwardly from said bed at an angle thereto, and power means for rotating said assembly to provide for the extraction of said material from said bed at a region spaced below the surface of the bed and to further provide for the delivery of the extracted material through said casing to an outlet of said casing without cutting away the surface layer of said bed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.