Patent ID: 7270197

Claim:
A method for steering a steerable underground boring apparatus which is located in the bore face of a bore, said steerable underground boring apparatus having a rotatable body, said body having a longitudinal axis, and a forward-drive head, which is mounted to the front of said body, whereas a relative rotation of the body with respect to and about said longitudinal axis of the body leads to a pivoting of the forward-drive head between a symmetrical alignment and an asymmetric alignment with respect to said body, said forward-drive head having holding means for holding the forward-drive head in the bore against rotation, wherein said holding means are arranged in the area of the pivot axis of the forward-drive head and a longitudinal element which is connected to the body, including the steps of moving the underground boring apparatus back from the bore face by pulling the longitudinal element, rotating the body about the longitudinal axis by rotating the longitudinal element after said moving, thereby, causing a relative rotation between the body and the forward-drive head about a longitudinal axis of the body, which is frictionally held in the surrounding soil by means of the said holding means, so that the forward-drive head pivots between a symmetrical alignment and an asymmetric alignment with respect to said body.