ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,534,963, issued on Jan. 27, was assigned to OptionX Holdings Pty Ltd (Burleigh Waters, Australia).
"Microtunneling apparatus" was invented by Albert Fourie (Burleigh Waters, Australia), Allen Henley (Burleigh Waters, Australia), Stuart Ronald Harrison (Burleigh Waters, Australia) and Gregory Alan Geldard (Mount Lofty, Australia).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "This invention relates to a drill string (32) for use with micro tunnelling apparatus (1) having a cutter (21) at a distal end of the drill string (32) and external drive mechanism (2) at a proximal end of the drill string (32). The drill string (32) being formed by a plurality of co...