Importance

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Abstract

A vacuum tank apparatus for use with oil and gas well drilling operations facilitates the removal of well cuttings generated by drilling. The tank apparatus provides a frame having a plurality of corners reinforced by structural corner columns. The frame includes a base having a structural, generally horizontally extended base that includes a plurality of base perimeter beams. The columns are connected structurally to the base at the perimeter beams. The upper end portion of the frame includes a plurality of upper perimeter beams. The columns are structurally connected to the base and the perimeter beams. A shaped hopper is supported by the frame internally of the perimeter beams. The hopper includes an interior and a sidewall comprised of a plurality of inclined wall sections. Each wall section includes an upper end portion that connects to the frame at the perimeter beams, and a lower end portion that extends to another lower end portion of another inclined wall section. An outlet header at the bottom of the hopper next to the lower end portions of the inclined wall sections is provided. The outlet header includes a discharge outlet for discharging solid material from the hopper interior. The outlet header includes an inlet fitting for injecting pressurized into the outlet header during an emptying of the tank. A top wall of the hopper has multiple hatches that include a first hatch near a perimeter beam and a second hatch next to a second perimeter beam that is parallel to the first perimeter beam. These hatches enable material to be added to the tank interior during use, such as, for example, by employing a pair of suction lines that are connected to a single plate covering one of the outlets in the tank top or a pair of suction lines that are mounted respectively to the pair of inlet openings.

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First Claim