Submarine sand sampler

Patent · Tue Aug 19 00:00:00 EDT 1980

OSTI ID:7081998

Casciano, F M

A subsurface sampler which obtains samples of sand from offshore deposits is described. A 27-foot tube within a tube is lowered to the ocean floor while suspended from flotation tanks. The sampler is free of suspension cables and thus is detached from boat motions. Surface sand is sucked up through the suction tube and pumped to a container on deck by a jet pump. A jet pump is actuated by high pressure drive water sent down a three inch hose to the top of the sampler, through the void between the two pipes, and to an annular jet nozzle. The nozzle directs the flow upward in the two-inch center pipe through a venturi-shaped throat piece. The throat piece causes sand to be sucked up the suction tube and transported in a slurry through the inner pipe and a two-inch slurry hose to the surface. A manifold valve in the inner pipe shuts off upward flow, jetting water from the lower intake and flowing away sand to let the sampler drop deeper into a deposit. Upward pointing nozzles on the outer pipe provide an upward flow of water around the periphery of the sampler, preventing sand from collapsing around the sampler embedding it in the sand. A sharpened cutting tip helps break up compacted sand. A mercury switch senses deviation from vertical, and a sonar device measures distance of the tip of the sampler pipe from the sand surface.

• Assignee: Research Corp of the University of Hawaii
• Patent Number(s): US 4217709
• OSTI ID: 7081998
• Resource Relation: Patent File Date: Filed date 24 Feb 1978
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
OFFSHORE OPERATIONS
SAMPLERS
DESIGN
SAND
SAMPLING
UNDERWATER OPERATIONS
NOZZLES
PUMPS
SONAR
TUBES
VALVES
WATER
CONTROL EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
FLOW REGULATORS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RANGE FINDERS
423000* - Engineering- Marine Engineering- (1980-)