Method and apparatus for sampling coal

Abstract

A coal sampling device is provided for the efficient extraction of a core sample of coal from a container, such as a coal truck or railroad hopper car, and crushing of the extracted coal sample into particles useful for laboratory analysis. Uncrushed pieces of extracted coal are transported to a separating device that allows most of these extracted coal pieces to fall back into the container through several open windows. The separating device also includes an additional window through which extracted coal pieces fall into a crushing device, where the coal pieces are crushed to pebble-sized pieces. The crushed coal pieces are allowed to fall out of the bottom of the coal crushing device, and a portion of the crushed pieces are collected by a sample collecting receptacle, which accumulates portions of the crushed coal throughout the core extraction process so that a true representative sample of the total extracted core is collected. During or at the end of the extraction/sampling process, the crushed coal sample is removed from the receptacle by a vacuum or air pressure which is provided to propel the crushed coal pieces through a hose or pipe that directs the crushed coal sample to a laboratory or collecting work station.