Patent ID: 6845657

Claim:
A sample collection device for collecting a sample of drill cuttings directly from a stream of drill cuttings from a hole having a top and being drilled with a drill having a drill pipe extending through an area from a drill deck to the top of the hole being drilled, comprising: a stem collector positioned around the drill pipe between the top of the hole being drilled and the drill deck to entrap air-entrained drill cuttings from the hole being drilled; a conduit extending from the stem collector to carry the air-entrained drill cuttings entrapped by the stem collector as a stream of such drill cuttings; a sampler receiving the stream of drill cuttings directly from the conduit and periodically cutting through substantially the entire stream prior to the venting of any entraining air to obtain a sample stream which is a fraction of the stream of drill cuttings and substantially representative of the stream of drill cuttings and containing sample drill cuttings therein; and a diffuser which separates the sample drill cuttings from the air entraining the sample drill cuttings to provide a representative sample of drill cuttings from the hole being drilled.