Designs for one-man, two-stage, samplers for obtaining undisturbed cores of peat over 1 m long

Summary For obtaining peat cores 1+ m long without compacting them, samplers are described as comprising two halves inserted separately. Cores were either rectangular or round in section. With the latter, a length of 3.5 mm thick PVC pipe 80 or 110 mm in diameter was halved and the tip of each half was chamfered and provided with a pointed, sharp metal blade attached to the inside. On this blade was a loop of spring-steel wire which, due to its hinging through holes in the outer edges of the blade, was pushed in against its inside circumference during insertion, whereas during extraction a slight downward movement, relative to the sampler, swung it out to help firmly grip the core. For alignment of the two halves during insertion the second half had a wider cutting-blade that overlapped the first internally. It also had two small extra cutting-blades; one attached to each side near the tip. These closely overlapped the first half externally, acting as a guide. Both halves had cross handles near the top, but to aid extraction and reduce the risk of back strain, the halves were bolted together and a series of holes along one length allowed a lever with a pointed tip, acting over a fulcrum, to ease the sampler out. Rectangular core samplers were made from stainless-steel sheet, one half in the form of an elongated channel, the second forming an overlapping ‘lid’. Both halves had internally strengthened pointed, sharp cutting edges with chamfers to the outside. On the back of the lid-half, a narrow tube allowed pressurized gas to be diverted to the tip. To further help detach and retain a core within the sampler, a spring steel rod held by wire loops ran down the inside back of the ‘lid’. This was bent at right-angles to make a handle at the top, and near the tip it was also bent at right-angles and flattened to make a swing-out ‘blade’.