Heavy duty soil sampler
United States Patent 1191 Guest 1 1 Apr. 22, 1975 1 HEAVY DUTY SOIL SAMPLER [75] Inventor: George W. Guest, Benton Township,  
 [73] Assignee: Sprague&amp;Henwood,Ine.,  
 Scranton. Pa.  
 [22] Filed: Apr. 24, 1974 [21] Appl. No.1 463.453  
 Related U.S. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 337.082. March 1,  
 1973. Pat. No 3317.338.  
 [52] U.S. Cl. 175/405; 175/20; 175/239 [51] Int. Cl E2lb 9/16 [58] Field of Search 175/20, 405, 327, 232-255 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,022,472 4/1912 France 175/240 1.552.755 9/1925 Pyron 175/253 X 1.586.415 5/1926 Duda .1 175/253 X 2195395 6/1957 Acker ct al. 175/239 3.180.438 4/1965 Dickinson et a1. .1 175/327 X 3.515.230 6/1970 Tomaine 175/405 X Primary E.ruminer-Ernest R. Purser Assistant Examiner-Richard E. Favreau Attorney. Agent. or FirmZachary T. Wobensmith, 2nd: Zachary T. Wobensmith, Ill  
 [57] ABSTRACT A heavy duty soil sampler is provided which includes a driving head that is detachably connected to a split plug which is fixedly secured to a hollow split barrel with the head and plug retained in position by set screws engaged in grooves in the plug The barrel is held together at the lower end by a hollow shoe in threaded engagement therewith, and one half of the barrel can be removed upon removal of the shoe for easy access to the sample.  
 7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures HEAVY DUTY SOIL SAMPLER CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation in part of my prior application for Letters Patent for Heavy Duty Soil Sampler. filed Mar. l. I973, Ser. No. 337.082. now U.S. Pat. No. 3,817,338 dated June l8, I974.  
 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION I. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a heavy duty soil sampler of the type having a two piece split tubular barrel construction with a lower shoe and an upper rcmovably attached driving head in threaded engagement with the barrel, one part of the barrel being separable upon removal of the shoe.  
 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Soil samplers have been in use for many many years and commonly are used whenever a large building or highway is constructed. The larger sizes of buildings and highways being constructed require deeper and more frequent soil sampling than in the past in order to obtain a more comprehensive picture of the subsurface soil conditions.  
  Hollow tube barrels of the two piece longitudinal split type have been in common use for some time but all suffer from an undesirably short service life. Typical examples are shown in the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Acker et al.. 2.795.395 and Tomaine 3,5l5.230.  
  Lipscomb, U.S. Pat. No. 2807.439 and Dickinson et al.. U.S. Pat. No. 3,l80,438 show other samplers.  
  The most common problem is failure of the driving head where the driving head joins the upper end of the split tube. The driving head may split and mushroom over the end of the tube.  
  Another common problem is wear and damage to the threads connecting the driving head to the upper end of the split tube barrel. with the result that about twice as many driving heads are used as are split tube barrels. Damage and wear of the threads at the upper end of the split tube barrel results in it having a short service life.  
  The soil sampler of the present invention incorporates the advantages of the soil sampler disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3.8l7.338. with improved access to the sample available by removal of the shoe. and without the necessity for separation of the driving head.  
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention a heavy duty soil sampler is provided which is constructed so that the forces present due to sudden driving of its shoe and barrel into soil are distributed over a large area of the driving head and upper end of the split tube barrel. The absence of a threaded connection at this point. provides a maximum driving area which results in very little likelihood of damage to either the barrel or the head. The barrel is constructed and mounted so that upon removal of the shoe access can be obtained to the soil sample without separation of the driving head.  
  The principal object of the invention is to provide a heavy duty soil sampler that has a long service life, is relatively simple and inexpensive to make, may be quickly and easily assembled and partially or wholly disassembled and which has improved and simplified access to the soil sample.  
  Other objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the description and claims.  
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The nature and characteristic features of the invention will be more readily understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part thereof, in which:  
  FIG. I is a side elevational view of the heavy duty soil sampler of the invention;  
  FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken approximately on the line 2-2 of FIG.  
  FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken approximately on the line 33 of FIG. 2;  
  FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken approximately on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2; and  
  FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken approximately on the line 5-5 of FIG. I.  
  It should, of course. be understood that the description and drawings herein are illustrative merely and that various modifications and changes can be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention. Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views.  
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularly to the drawings. the heavy duty soil sampler includes an upper head or driving portion 11, an intermediate longitudinal hollow split barrel l2 and a lower shoe 13.  
  The head II is of generally cylindrical configuration and provided with an internal bore l4 having threads which are preferably square threads and which receive a drill rod (not shown) which extends to the driving mechanism (not shown) at the surface of the ground. Approximately half the distance down the head I] from the top, a hole 18 is drilled transversely so that a pin retainer (not shown) may engage the drill rod (not shown) for retention of the drill rod in the head in a manner well known in the art.  
  Directly below the bore 14 an axial bore 20 is provided which is of lesser diameter with a vent 21 to atmosphere thereabove. The bore 20 is provided with a valve seat 22 and a bore 23 of smaller diameter extending therebelow. A valve ball 24 is provided for venting which normally rests on the valve seat 22 to prevent un desired passage of water or soil thereby. The bore 23 has an enlargement 25 extending downwardly therefrom to a driving shoulder 26 at the lower terminus of the head 11.  
  The barrel 12, at its upper end 27, is provided with a plug 30 extending upwardly within the bore 25 above a driving shoulder 37 which is engaged by the shoulder 26.  
  The plug 30 on one side has an integral upwardly extending neck portion 34a which extends substantially the height of the bore 25 and the plug 30, on the other side, has a short integral upwardly extending neck portion 34b with a separate clamping neck portion 34c thereabove. The neck portion 34c can initially be made integral with the neck portion 34b. separated therefrom along a line 34d, and welded to the neck portion 34a along the parting lines.  
  The neck portion 34a and the neck portion 34c rigid therewith have opposite transverse flat bottom grooves 32 which may be engaged by two set screws 33 in head I! for retention of plug 30 therein. The bottom of the plug 30 has its parts inertia welded to the corresponding parts of the split barrel [2. The plug 30 is provided with a longitudinal bore 35 of the same diameter as that of bore 23 which extends the length of plug 30.  
  The plug 30 is preferably formed of steel for durabil ity but may be formed of other suitable material is desired.  
  The barrel i2 is composed of two parts 36 and 360 which are retained together at the bottom portion 38 by the shoe l3.  
  The bottom portions 38 of the barrel [2 are reduced diameter and provided with continuous external threads 39 of square configuration engaged with internal threads 40 of shoe IS.  
  The barrel part 3641 is retained at the top by the engagement of neck portions 340 and 34c in the bore with the set screws 33 in a holding position. The barrel part 36 is detachably retained at the top by the engage ment of the neck portion 34!; within the bore 25, by its engagement with the barrel part 36:: and by the engagement of the shoe l3 simultaneously with the barrel parts 36 and 36a.  
  It will be noted that. upon removal of the shoe 13, the barrel part 36 can be readily removed for acess to the interior and without the necessity for complete separation of the head 11.  
  The barrel 12 has a bore 41 therein between its parts 36 and 36a to receive a core of soil {not shown) and to which access can be had by removal of the shoe l3 and barrel part 36.  
  The shoe 13 is of the same external diameter as barrel l2. and head 11 and is of cylindrical configuration with a lower beveled portion 42 to enable it to penetrate soil and additionally has an internal bore 43 to receive a core of soil (now shown) to be removed for analysis.  
  The shoe 13 has an exterior knurled portion 44 to enable it to be readily attached and detached from the barrel 12.  
  it is thus apparent that structure has been provided with which the objects of the invention are achieved.  
 I claim:  
 I. A heavy duty soil sampler which comprises a driving head having an internal longitudinally straight sided bore and a lower terminus providing a lower driving shoulder,  
 a lower shoe having an internally threaded portion.  
 a hollow tubular barrel between said head and said shoe having an upper terminus in engagement with said first mentioned terminus. said barrel having a lower threaded portion with which the internally threaded portion of said shoe is in detachable engagement. said barrel having longitudinally split portions with neck portions thereon having external longitudinally straight sides extending upwardly from said second mentioned terminus in longitudinal slidable engagement in said bore, retaining means for one of said split barrel portions carried by said head and in detachable engagement with the neck portion of said split barrel portion, the other of said split barrel portions being retained in position by the engagement of its neck portion in said bore. the interengagement of said barrel portions. and said shoe. 2. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 1 in which said bore is circular in cross section, and said neck portions are complemental in shape to said bore. 3. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 1 in which said neck portions are split in alignment with the split portions of the barrel. 4. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 3 in which the splits of said barrel portions and of said neck por tions are offset from a diametrical plane. 5. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim I in which said neck portion of said one of said split barrel portions has an external transverse groove. and said retaining means is a set screw. 6. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 5 in which the neck portion of the other of said split barrel portions extends upwardly within said bore a lesser extent than the neck portion of said one of said split barrels and is terminated below said groove of said one of said split barrels. 7. A heavy duty soil sampler as defined in claim 6 in which an additional neck portion is provided in said bore above the neck portion of the other of said split barrel portions and in secured relation to the neck portion of said other split barrel portion, and retaining means carried by said head is provided for said additional neck portion.