Abstract: A percussive air tool with a hollow cylindrical stepped housing having air inlet and air exhaust ports. A stepped hammer reciprocates inside the housing and has an axial central bore with a tube element disposed in the bore. The tool includes, work stroke and return stroke chambers, an air supply hose pipe with an air feeding valve, and a rod-clamping device arranged in the forward portion of the housing. The smaller step of the hammer has a neck portion or groove adapted to communicate the air inlet port with the interior of the larger step of the housing, an open annular cavity being formed between the tube element and the walls of the hammer bore.

Abstract: The method of making holes in the soil includes driving a capsule into the oil by percussive action and filling the capsule with the soil. Then the driving of the capsule into the soil by percussive action is continued, with the soil passing therethrough. The capsule is then withdrawn from the hole, and the soil that has passed through the capsule is also removed from the hole, whereafter the soil is removed from the capsule itself. The apparatus for making holes, performing the disclosed method, comprises a capsule capable of receiving the soil therein, having an open soil intake end, its opposite end being a partly open one. The capsule incorporates a percussive mechanism.