This invention relates to the collection of sub-surface samples of substances, and more particularly to a novel portable tool for the purpose.
Conventional drilling equipment used for penetrating and sampling sub-surface materials for geotechnical and environmental investigations suffers from many limitations. Truck mounted hollow stem auger rigs, long the standard of the industry, cannot be used in many drilling locations such as under overhead utility lines, in road-less places, or inside buildings. They are difficult to keep clean. Hollow stem auger hammer driven samplers often provide poor quality, badly disturbed samples or, in fibrous materials or very hard materials, they often collect no soil sample at all. They are not capable of reliably penetrating many commonly encountered sub-surface materials including massive rock or concrete, boulders, large, hard cobbles, or wood. Even the recently popular direct push hydraulic systems for soil and groundwater sampling, cannot penetrate or sample massive rock, boulders, or cobbles, nor can they be used in locations that are inaccessible to vehicles.