Patent ID: 8360260

Claim:
A mobile digging and backfill system for removing and collecting material, comprising: a wheeled vehicle chassis; a collection tank mounted to the chassis and comprising a body having a closed end, an open end opposite the closed end, a central section extending between the closed end and the open end, and a door having a generally circular periphery that is movable to seat against a generally circular periphery of the open end; a vacuum pump mounted to the chassis and connected to the collection tank that draws an air stream through the collection tank that carries material into the collection tank; a cross-member connected to the door on a side of the door opposite the collection tank's open end at a center of the door's generally circular periphery so that application of force to the cross-member in a direction toward the door and parallel to an axis passing through the center of the door's generally circular periphery and a center of the collection tank's closed end applies a closing force to the door parallel to the axis; wherein the cross-member is fixed in movement with respect to the door in a plane that includes the axis and that is perpendicular to a plane that includes both the axis and the force applied to the cross-member; and a linkage assembly coupled between the door and the tank body so that movement of the door to a closed position with respect to the body moves the linkage assembly to a position at which the linkage assembly retains the door in the closed position so that the door's generally circular periphery seats against the open end's generally circular periphery in a sealed contact.