US Patent Issued on June 23 for "Non-disruptive underground pipe replacement process" (Missouri Inventor)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,663,098, issued on June 23.

"Non-disruptive underground pipe replacement process" was invented by Ted R. Dimitroff (Columbia, Mo.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method of installing a new underground pipe adjacent an existing underground pipe begins with drilling a series of substantially vertical boreholes downwardly from the ground surface so as to expose a portion of the existing pipe. Then, a pilot stem is directionally bored in a first direction adjacent the existing pipe and intersecting the bottoms of the vertical boreholes. Next, a reamer head is pulled in an opposite direction to enlarge the pilot hole, while pulling the new p...