This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/838,200, filed on Dec. 11, 2017.

The present invention relates to the field of dig tube attachments for vacuum trucks.

Various vacuum units and systems have been developed and used for picking up various types of material. In specific applications, for example, vacuum units have been used for excavation, for example, where removal of the excavated material was difficult to accomplish by other methods or where the excavation had to take place where damage to equipment, such as buried equipment, was a significant risk if alternative methods of excavation were used. Further, relatively large vacuum units have been mounted on a truck, and vacuum trucks have been driven to sites where excavation has been needed or where material needed to be picked up. For example, vacuum trucks have been used to excavate around buried utilities such as pipelines buried in the ground, where shutting down the pipeline would be a significant detriment, where excavation with other means, such as a back hoe, would have a greater risk of damaging the buried utility or pipeline, impose a safety risk to workers, or a combination thereof.

Still further, water has been used to break up material (e.g., earth) at an excavation site where the material is being picked up by a vacuum unit or system. Water systems have been mounted on vacuum trucks for this purpose, and have included, among other things, a water tank, water pump, water conduit that extends to the excavation site, and a water nozzle that is hand guided at the excavation site by an operator. Vacuum trucks with water systems have been referred to as hydrovac trucks, for example. Even further, air has been used to excavate material as a replacement for excavation water. Further still, excavation systems that used water often resulted in the material becoming overly wet (e.g., mud) which has made the material poorly suited to use immediately to backfill the excavation site when the work that required the excavation was completed. On the other hand, excavation systems that used air often created excessive dust and were not as effective as water at excavating certain types of material. Needs and potential for benefit or improvement exist for vacuum units and vacuum trucks that overcome these and other deficiencies of the prior art.

Current attempts have been made to address the needs of vacuum truck operators.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,422 to Crumpler describes a plastic corrugated drainage pipe comprising a handle and a flexible conduit. The handle has a connector at its one end and is removably connected with a water supply pipe by the connector.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,188 to Rinker describes an excavator for suction material, particularly for removing soil from underground pipes. The excavator has a pneumatic elephant trunk for removing the suctioned material and which issues into a storage tank for the suctioned material and to which is connected an exhaust fan.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,472 to Gipperich describes a reinforced flexible corrugated tubing comprising a plurality of corrugations and connecting members.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,439 describes a suction dredge for the planned taking up of suction material, particularly for excavating soil from underground pipes, has a pneumatic suction hose for taking up the suction material and at whose lower end is provided a suction stub. At its opposite, upper end the suction hose issues into a collecting tank. To simplify the handling of the suction stub, it is provided with a guide body fitted to the suction hose and a suction nozzle axially movable relative thereto and which by means of a drive mechanism can be retracted into and extended from the guide body.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,672,626 to Schafer describes a corrugated pipe connection stabilizing apparatus for stabilizing a joint between two sections of corrugated pipe. A first section of corrugated pipe is associated with a second section to form a joint.

EP20070107541 to Baumann describes a suction device for a handheld electrical tool and handheld electrical tool with suction device

U.S. Pat. No. 8,858,124 to Lamonte describes an excavation system which utilizes a vacuum truck having a vacuum system in combination with a small backhoe to which an excavator assembly is affixed to the backhoe extendable and articulating arm whereby manipulation of the excavator assembly can be controlled by an operator positioned in the backhoe operator cab.

PCT/NO2004/000255 to Jacobsen describes a subsea excavation and suction device comprising a suction head with an inlet opening at an outer, free end and an outlet opening connected to a suction hose arranged at a distance from the inlet opening. The suction head is mounted on a hydraulic controller arm and has at the inlet opening provided with mechanic and hydraulic means to disintegrate solid material (sediment).

The foregoing prior art does not describe the present invention.

The current invention provides numerous advantages over the prior art. This includes: (1) A reinforcement bar device with releasable clamps which maintains the corrugated tubing in elongated state during use to prevent the accordion effect; (2) A dig tip rock guard which prevents large rocks from being sucked up into the corrugated tubing; (3) A debris box with a safety valve which collects debris and prevents debris from entering the vacuum truck; and, (4) various attachable handles permit secure handling of dig tube attachment during use.

The current invention fundamentally involves a dig tube attachment that permits a vacuum truck to be used for a remote dig setup. Specifically, the attachment includes various attachable handles, corrugated tubing that connects to a reinforcement bar device with releasable clamps to maintain the corrugated tubing in an elongated state during use, a debris box with an integrated safety valve, and a dig tip.

A primary attachment at the distal end of a vacuum truck hose, consisting of

a. at least one handle,

b. a shutter relief valve,

c. a clamp,

d. at least one assembly bar, and

e. a vacuum tip.

A secondary attachment along the length of the vacuum truck hose, consisting of

a. a debris box door

b. a safety handle

c. a grate, and

d. at least one bar hook.

The foregoing, and other features and advantages of the invention, will be apparent from the following, more particular description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, the accompanying drawings, and the claims.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention and their advantages may be understood by referring to FIGS. 1-15, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements.

Embodiments of the invention are discussed below with reference to the Figures. However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the detailed description given herein with respect to these figures is for explanatory purposes as the invention extends beyond these limited embodiments. For example, it should be appreciated that those skilled in the art will, in light of the teachings of the present invention, recognize a multiplicity of alternate and suitable approaches, depending upon the needs of the particular application, to implement the functionality of any given detail described herein, beyond the particular implementation choices in the following embodiments described and shown. That is, there are numerous modifications and variations of the invention that are too numerous to be listed but that all fit within the scope of the invention. Also, singular words should be read as plural and vice versa and masculine as feminine and vice versa, where appropriate, and alternative embodiments do not necessarily imply that the two are mutually exclusive.

Reference is made to the figures of the invention included herein. A detailed description of the figures follows below.

Vacuum Truck

It is envisioned that the invention can articulate with any standard industry vacuum truck used by people of ordinary skill in the art to suction a liquid into the vacuum truck. The vacuum truck provides a pressurize liquid flow through the corrugated hoses or tubes. When articulated with the invention, this vacuum pressure suctions the liquid flow through the invention from the distal end of the primary attachment to its proximal end. In a preferred embodiment, the pressurized liquid flow would then also travel through the secondary attachment. It is also envisioned that the vacuum pressure of the invention will withstand the typical vacuum pressure utilized by people of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 1 is a general overview of the interaction between the primary attachment (1), a secondary attachment (i.e., debris box (2), and a vacuum truck (3), according to an embodiment of the present invention.

It is envisioned that the invention can articulate with any standard industry vacuum hose (5) commonly used with vacuum trucks. Such vacuum hoses vary by manufacturer but are typically corrugated tubing or pipe. They generally have an internal lumen diameter of between 6-8 inches while their outside structural diameters are generally 7-9½ inches wide.

It is envisioned that the secondary attachment (i.e., debris box) (2) would articulate with the vacuum hose at point proximal from the primary attachment (1) along the length of the vacuum hose and closer to the vacuum truck (3).

As a vacuum truck operator (4) would realize, the primary attachment articulates at the distal end of a vacuum hose (6).

Primary Attachment, as Assembled

FIG. 2 is an overview of the assembled primary attachment according to an embodiment of the present invention. This includes the adaptor (7) (also shown in detail in FIG. 3), three examples of handles (8) (also shown in FIG. 4), the shutter relief valve (9) (also shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B), the clamp (10) (also shown in FIG. 6), assembly bars (11) (also shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B), and the vacuum tip (12) (also shown in FIG. 7).

In a preferred embodiment, the primary attachment attaches to flexible, ridged tubing commonly used in vacuum excavation dig systems. Specifically, the adaptor connects with the distal end of the flexible tubing.

In a preferred embodiment, the handles are removable and can be moved up and down the device through the use of pins.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the adaptor of the primary attachment connects directly to ribbed flexible tubing or pipe.

In a preferred embodiment, the secondary attachment (i.e., debris box) (2) (also shown in FIG. 8) connects with flexible tubing proximal to the adaptor as depicted in FIG. 1.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the internal lumen of the primary attachment is about 6-8 inches while the diameter of the outside structure is about 7-9½ inches. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the internal lumen of the primary attachment is about 6 inches while the diameter of the outside structure is about 7 inches.

In a preferred embodiment, the clamps (10) can be moved up and down the device along the bar (11) by pinning it to the bar using the pins (34) shown in FIG. 6. The body of the clamp (32) locks into the ridges of the bar (11).

Assembly Bars

The invention employs a series of lengthwise bars to hold all the components of the primary attachment in place. The lengthwise bars not only enable stability of the primary attachment, but provide places for the operator to hold the primary attachment.

These bars also assist in maintaining the rigidity in the flexible tubes, otherwise at vacuum pressure, the flexible tubing would compress together, much the way an accordion does under compression.

These bars are demonstrated throughout the exemplary figures of the invention. For instance, they are exhibited as Item (11) in FIG. 2. A short segment of the assembly bar are depicted in FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B. In particular, Item (48) of FIG. 9A depicts the body of a short segment of an assembly bar and Item (49) depict holes for snap pins to secure the short segment with other assembly bars. FIG. 9B depicts the use of an assembly bar short segment. In particular, Item (50) represents a distal long segment of an assembly bar, Item (51) represents a long segment of a proximal long segment of an assembly bar, Item (52) represents a vacuum hose tube, and item 53 represents a snap pin which secures these items together.

Preferably, the lengthwise bars have evenly spaced holes so that all the components can be pinned anywhere along the bar to meet the desires of the operator. In a preferred embodiment, these lengthwise bars are 1? solid aluminum square bar or aluminum round bar with holes 1½? apart on center the entire length of the bar.

Adaptor

Reference is made to FIG. 3, which is a view of the adaptor that connects the corrugated tubing from the vacuum truck with the rest of the primary attachment.

As depicted in FIG. 3, (13) is the base of the adaptor while (14) is the inner ring, which goes inside the corrugated pipe.

In a preferred embodiment, (13) is roughly 10½? in diameter.

In a preferred embodiment, (14) is approximately 5 13/16? in diameter and 4? in height to the adaptor base (13).

Further, items (15), (16), (17), and (18) are connection assemblies that secure in place the distal of end of the corrugated pipe (6), the adaptor (7), and the assembly bars (11).

Item (15) is a right securement assembly. Item (16) is a left securement assembly. Both (15) and (16) are secured to the adaptor base plate (13), but are secured 180? apart from one another. Both items (15) and (16) are approximately 3? high and have holes corresponding to the holes in the right securement structure (17) and the left securement structure (18), respectively.

As depicted in FIG. 3, item (17) depicts an unattached securement structure while (18) depicts securement structure attached to the left securement assembly (16). Item (19) depicts the left securement pin which is a metal pin that threads the holes to secure in place the full assembly.

In a preferred embodiment, both items (17) and (18) are each about 3? long and composed of 1? tube steel.

Although not depicted in FIG. 3, it should be understood that (18) would have the same dimensions as (17), but only differ in their depicted attachment to the adaptor.

Although not depicted in 

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