ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,442,251, issued on Oct. 14, was assigned to RODDIE INC. (Columbia Falls, Mont.).
"Straddle seat pit launch directional drill" was invented by Rod Herrick (Kalispell, Mont.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Disclosed are small model pit launch horizontal direction drills suitable for drilling a substantially horizontal bore hole and laying pipe underground from within a surface dug pit. The devices comprise a stationary frame and a carriage component competent to move forward and back along the frame and drill and retrieve an attached drill stem through an aperture in the frame. The carriage components are configured to allow an operator to ...