Patent ID: 7399143

Claim:
Method for making a blind channel in the ground in an excavating direction, wherein the channel which is to be made extends between a starting point and an end point, the method comprising the following steps: (a) positioning an excavating device comprising an excavating head at the starting point, the excavating head comprising: a returnable part which comprises a liquid jetting device configured for loosening soil in the excavating direction with the aid of a jet of liquid for forming a mixture of soil and liquid, an excavation chamber in which the mixture of soil and liquid is formed by the liquid jetting device, a mixing chamber from which the mixture of soil and liquid is discharged via a mixture discharge line by a mixture discharge device, the mixing chamber being separated from the excavation chamber by at least one partition, the partition defining an opening for allowing the mixture of soil and liquid to flow from the excavation chamber into the mixing chamber; (b) advancing the excavating head in the excavating direction, wherein soil is loosened at the excavating head in the excavating direction with the aid of the jet of liquid for forming the mixture of soil and liquid in the excavation chamber, wherein the mixture is discharged from the excavation chamber to the mixing chamber through the opening in the partition and from the mixing chamber to the starting point of the channel by the mixture discharge device; and (c) moving the returnable part of the excavating device to the starting point of the channel after the end point of the channel which is to be made has been reached, and leaving the excavation chamber and the mixing chamber behind.