Abstract: Self-propelled steerable apparatus for removing material, such as sludge, from the bottom surface of a liquid storage tank for disposition elsewhere comprises a support platform and a reversely rotatable motor-driven auger mounted below the support platform and cooperating therewith to define a space for receiving sludge when the rotatable auger is engaged with the surface. A motor-driven pump mounted on the support platform is operable to receive sludge from the auger and deliver it through a discharge hose to a remote location. Rotation of the auger delivers the sludge to the pump and propels the apparatus across the surface. A remotely controllable steering mechanism on the support platform has a tail wheel which engages the surface and steers the apparatus along a desired path. A winch-controlled back-haul cable is connected to the apparatus to periodically stop forward movement of the apparatus while the auger is still rotating so that the sludge can be more efficiently removed.

Abstract: A self-propelled, sludge cleaning machine including a sludge auger, a sludge pump, crawler tracks and hydraulic motors for propulsion, steering and pumping is assembled at a job-site and inserted into the storage tank through a top access opening. A tether line is connected between the cleaning machine and a control assembly temporarily installed near the access opening to sense tether line length and angle. A sludge discharge hose, hydraulic lines, and an electric wire for an ultrasonic sludge-depth sensor on the machine extend outwardly through the access opening. The hose discharges sludge through a filter and into a sludge-collection tank on a first truck. The hydraulic lines are connected to a control valve assembly located on a second truck and controlled by a preprogrammed job-site computer located in the second truck. Length, angle and sludge-depth data from the sensors are fed to the job-site computer which provides a visual display showing cleaning machine position and sludge-depth.

Abstract: The truck has an hydraulic pump for receiving dredged mixture of solids and water from a pumping site and delivering the mixture to the truck body. A fixed partition wall is mounted transversely in the body and divides the body into first and second open compartments. The first compartment receives the mixture from the pump means to enable solids to settle at the bottom of the first compartment and the water rises towards the top of the compartment. The second compartment receives the water which rises in the first compartment and the partition wall. Drain means are selectively operable to effect removal of substantially all water from the second compartment. A one-way valve is located between the first and second compartments and is operable when the body is tilted to permit residual water in the second compartment to flow into the first compartment to effect removal of remaining solid matter from the first compartment by washing it out of the tilted body via the open tailgate.

Abstract: Dredging apparatus comprises a modular, submersible, vertically positionable crater sink mechanism operable to form a crater in a bed of material beneath a body of water. The crater sink mechanism comprises an elongated tubular housing closed at its upper end and having a dredged material intake opening at its lower end. An auger mounted within the housing is rotatable by a reversible hydraulic drive motor and is axially positionable by a linear hydraulic motor. The inner end of the auger cooperates with the closed end of the tubular housing to define a mixing chamber. A clear water inlet port and a mixture outlet port on opposite sides of the tubular housing each communicate with the mixing chamber. The auger is rotatable in one direction to dig into and ingest material (fluidized by ambient water) through the material intake opening and transport it into the mixing chamber.

Abstract: A dump truck has a tiltable dump body with a tailgate at its rear end. A partition or weir mounted in the dump body and of lesser height than the walls of the dump body divides the dump body into front and rear compartments. A siphon is connected between the two compartments and extends over the partition. The rear compartment, having a discharge opening at its rear end which is closed by a tailgate, receives dredged material in the form of a mixture of water and sand (or silt) pumped thereinto through a supply conduit on the dump body. As the rear compartment is being filled with dredged material, gravity causes the sand (silt) to settle at the bottom and the water to rise to the top and spill over the partition into the front compartment. Some water also flows through the sipon into the front compartment.