1. Field of the Invention
The invention broadly relates to devices for taking material samples from the ground for storage prior to analysis.
2. Prior Art
Testing for volatile contaminants in the ground typically involves taking soil samples prior to analysis. Ground material is extracted by forcing a tubular core sample liner into the ground by a drilling rig, hand auger, percussion technique, or pushing by hand. As the liner is forced into the ground, ground material is forced into the hollow liner. After the liner is retrieved, ground material samples are taken from inside the liner.
Due to inadequate soil collection and handling techniques commonly used in the environmental industry that produce inaccurate and irreproducible results, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed EPA method 5035 to outline proper ground material sampling protocols for volatile organic compounds. For each volatile soil test, the EPA method requires a minimum of two samples to be taken at each geographic sampling point, one for high level contamination and one for low level contamination, and recommends a third sample as a low level replicate. Air cannot be introduced into the samples during collection. The samples cannot be parsed or subdivided during or after collection. The low level sample is considered xe2x80x9cspentxe2x80x9d by its laboratory analysis, therefore a replicate sample is recommended. If a second volatile test is desired, at least one additional sample is required and a duplicate is recommended. Therefore, for each geographic sampling point, two to five samples may be collected.
Sampling devices known in the industry cannot provide true replicate samples (samples as identical to each other as nature allows), nor can they provide duplicate samples (samples from the same geographical proximity) simultaneously with a single coring motion.
A sampler sold under the trademark xe2x80x9cENCORExe2x80x9d by EnNovative Technologies in Green Bay, Wis., takes only one sample. SoilCore in Wyoming sells a sampler that takes two samples at same geographic proximity. However, each sample requires a separate coring action because the samples fill opposite ends of a divided coring tube. The two samples are not replicates because their coring tubes are of different lengths. The EnNovative Technologies and SoilCore samplers are made of a tough glass-filled plastic, but they are still not strong enough to be pounded into dry, compacted soils for taking samples. Their walls are also too thick for penetrating the hard materials.
Another sampler made by US Oil Company in Kimberly, Wis., is comprised of a plastic syringe for taking soft samples. The samples are ejected into collection vials after being extracted from the ground. Each sampler can only take one sample, which must be weighed in the field. The syringes cannot take samples from dry and hard soils.
Accordingly, the objects of the present core sampler apparatus are:
to simultaneously take a plurality of substantially identical ground material samples from the same geographic proximity;
to simultaneously take plural samples from a conventional core sample liner;
to be able to take samples from hard materials, such as dry and compacted soil;
to avoid introducing air into the samples during the collection process;
to seal the samples inside a storage container; and
to dispense the samples from the storage container into collection vials with reduce air exposure.
The present core sampling apparatus is comprised of a tubular punch, a storage container, and a press. The punch is comprised of a plurality of parallel metal sample tubes for being forced by into a ground material. The storage container is comprised of a plurality of parallel storage tubes, a cap, and a lock nut. The filled punch is pushed into the storage tubes by the press for encapsulation, and cap is secured against the open end of the storage container by the lock nut. The material samples are ejected from the storage container with an extraction tool with prongs attached to the press. Prongs on the extraction tool are inserted into the punch through breakable ends of the storage tubes, and the material samples are pushed out through breakable ends of the cap by the prongs.