Tip for soil gas probe

Claim 1

In a soil gas probe comprising: (a) a hollow shaft having a first end and a second end; (b) a hollow tube within the hollow shaft extending from the first end to the second end of the hollow shaft; (c) a coupling means mounted to one end of the hollow shaft having a threaded exterior surface and a passage therethrough with one end of the passage being in communication with one end of the hollow tube and the other end of the passage opening into an inlet port on the exterior surface of the coupling means; (d) means for selectively sealing the other end of the hollow tube; (e) an elongated hollow body encasing at least a portion of the hollow shaft; (f) a handle mounted on the elongated hollow body; and (g) a hammer slidably mounted on the elongated hollow body; the improvement comprising a tip having an upper end and a lower end and a largest cross sectional dimension which is no larger than the largest cross sectional dimension of the hollow shaft with a conical point at the lower end having an angle of divergence of from about 25 to about 35 degrees and six flat gripping sides adjacent the upper end defining a gripping portion of the tip having a regular hexagonal cross section with vertices projecting radially from the body of the tip and extending from the upper end along the gripping portion of the tip, the tip having a generally cylindrical interior surface with an upper untapped portion and a lower tapped portion defining an axial bore partially extending through the tip from the upper end, the tip being threadably mounted by the lower tapped portion of its generally cylindrical interior surface to the threaded exterior surface of the coupling means and being movable from a first position closing the inlet port to a second position opening the inlet port.