The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 12, 1992
Filed:
Nov. 08, 1990
Frank R Kinnan, Camas Valley, OR (US);
Underground Technologies, Byron, CA (US);
Abstract
A steerable subsurface soil-boring head arranged to be rotated and advanced by a pipe string operated by an above-surface drilling apparatus which also provides a supply of high-pressure fluid emitted from a nozzle in the head as an eroding jet stream. The head comprising a body portion coupled to a pipe string and a nose portion hingedly coupled to the body portion with a biasing mechanism coupled therebetween to align the head portions. The head when rotated and advanced retains the nose portion and body portion in alignment due to the rotation of the head and the effect of the biasing mechanism. When advanced without rotation, the nose portion pivots about the hinged coupling and compresses the biasing mechanism to follow the contour of the cavity ahead of the nose portion. The body portion and the nose portion return to alignment when the head is rotated due to rotation and recovery of the biasing mechanism.