Patent ID: 7614463

Claim:
Apparatus for presenting wipers to fouling material in a flute of an earth-boring auger that has a helical screw wound around a cylindrical sidewall such that the helical screw defines a helical interspace between coils of the helical screw, wherein such helical interspace is the flute of the auger: said apparatus comprising: a yoke adapted for longitudinally axial travel relative to a central longitudinal axis of the auger's cylindrical sidewall: a plurality of wipers which, relative to the central longitudinal axis of the auger's cylindrical sidewall, are angularly and axially staged on the yoke along a helical path corresponding to the helical interspace defined by said auger's helical screw and which constitutes the flute of the auger, said plurality of wipers being provided for projecting into the flute while the auger spins; whereby the longitudinally axial travel of the yoke relative to the spinning auger affords the wipers opportunity to wipe the fouling material out of the flute after an earth-boring use of the auger; a longitudinally axial track, rigidly supported in a spaced parallel relationship with the central longitudinal axis of the auger's cylindrical sidewall; and a traveling carriage mounted on the axial track for supporting the yoke; wherein the axial track includes a stand adapted to stand the track vertically off an earth-boring drilling rig while the auger is spun by a drill drive of the earth-boring drilling rig soon after withdrawal of the auger from an earth bore.