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:
Jun. 17, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 24, 2001
Applicant:
Inventors:
Assignee:
Lattice Intellectual Property Limited, London, GB;
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
E02F 3/92 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
E02F 3/92 ;
Abstract
A suction excavator including an air pump for generating a flow of air and a nozzle through which air is drawn under the influence of the air pump, the nozzle being arranged when in use to suck up spoil from an excavation, and a mechanism for separating spoil from the air drawn through the nozzle. The excavator is provided with a fuel gas detector to detect for the presence of fuel gas in the flow of air drawn up through the nozzle. When fuel gas is detected a valve may be actuated to interrupt the flow of air up through the nozzle and instead to admit air from a substantially fuel gas free source to flush any fuel gas out of the system reducing the risk of an explosion.