Patent ID: 8047744

Claim:
An assembly for laying conduit, comprising: a trench former configured for forming a trench; a conduit feed system including a conduit feed passage having a conduit feed passage inlet for receiving at least one conduit and a conduit feed passage outlet positioned to deposit the at least one conduit in the trench; and a base material handling system including a base material hopper and at least one base material passage, wherein the at least one base material passage is positioned to receive base material from the base material hopper and to discharge base material in the trench around the at least one conduit and wherein the at least one base material passage includes a first base material passage having a first base material passage outlet and a second base material passage having a second base material passage outlet, wherein the first base material passage outlet is positioned to discharge base material into the trench, wherein the conduit feed passage outlet is positioned to deposit the at least one conduit onto base material discharged from the first base material passage outlet, and wherein the second base material passage outlet is positioned to discharge base material onto the at least one conduit deposited from the conduit feed passage outlet.