Abstract: Dredging apparatus including a diver-operator controlled and hand-held dredge head which permits the diver to move about freely in the water bed being dredged, and provides for continuously dredging the mixture of water and solids from a first body of water and pumping the mixture to a second solids collecting body of water. Submersible, hydraulic dredge pumps are used in the bodies of water. The conveying water is continuously reused in a quasi-closed system by being returned to the immediate vicinity of the nozzle or alternatively being returned through a sleeve concentrically mounted around the nozzle. The returned water discharges downwardly to counterbalance the weight of the operator-held dredge. The second, solids collecting area may take the form of a truck body into which the solid material is dumped and the dredge water passes through into a filter tank from which it is pumped and returned to the dredge area for reuse in transporting additional solids.

Abstract: A loop circuit method and apparatus for dredging a first area water and in which the water being used to transport the solid material (the dredging water) is continuously routed around in a loop and used repeatedly to convey the solid material from the first area to a second, solids collecting area. The loop circuit may be either quasi-closed or completely closed depending on where the returning dredge water is discharged at the first area. An improved dredge head which may be operated by a diver and in which the returning dredge water is discharged adjacent the nozzle and acts to stir up the material in that location. Alternatively, the returning dredge water can be discharged directly in the nozzle of the dredge head and acts to help convey the material picked up by the nozzle, and this constitutes a completely closed circuit.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods use a portable submersible pump to mix and fluidize waste material (sludge, liquid and floating crust) in a septic tank, to then pump it into a truck-mounted holding tank to recirculate it in the holding tank during transport, and to discharge it at a disposal site. The apparatus comprises a truck-mounted holding tank having tank inlet and outlet ports, a portable hydraulically driven submersible pump detachably mounted on the truck, and a truck-mounted motor-driven hydraulic pump for operating the portable pump. Hydraulic fluid supply lines, wound on a truck-mounted reel, are connected between the hydraulic pump and the portable pump motor. A waste hose is wound on a truck-mounted reel, several hose sections are detachably mounted on the truck, and a portable, multi-position, manually-operable selector valve is detachably mounted on the truck. In operation, the portable pump is disposed alongside or in the septic tank and pumps a stream of pressurized fluid from the septic tank.