Should any of the following information presented be identified as wholly inaccurate please notify the author with accurate and supportable counter information and the text will be changed accordingly.

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COLOR

This is the gift of perception the human eye employs the best of all other creatures on this planet. Without it we would all be living in a dull monochromatic world consisting of grey and white or just using echo location to get around. I think all humans would agree that this would not be an acceptable circumstance.

If color was not important to our very selves why as young children would we take to and immediately start using colored crayons? Then when we grow up, why do we color everything we own – our cars, house, gold pans, Heck! Even women in our lives color their nails and faces! If color was useless and only a cost driver in our lives we would not appreciate nor apply it to anything we see or have and we would still be living in trees.

Everything we have or see is colored in one way or another, it is engrained in our very nature to have color surround us. The more the better as it makes our lives just that much more enriched and enjoyable. Simply put – we like it!

To introduce myself and give the reader of this page a better understanding of just who I am and what I can provide for your prospecting endeavors, I wish to submit the following brief seller summary for your review.

My name is Dennis Compton and I developed an interest in gold prospecting when I was young and trekking around local National Forests with my father on his many outdoor outings. While out on these jaunts my father taught me how to pan for gold, appreciate prospecting, rock & fossil hunting and trout fishing among many other valuable learning experiences that I or any young person could be exposed to in their lifetime.

My father was the very first person I ever knew who had a metal detector and had also built it himself! This was long before detectors were popular or as technologically advanced as they are these days. Needless to say, I was metal detecting by the time I hit the 7^th grade. Since then I have built two other metal detectors, one was a Heath Kit VLF and the next one, some time later, was a BF design built from the raw un-etched circuit board up. I now own and use, when I can, a Garrett Pulse Induction LS and for backup a Fisher 1212X.

I am now a semi-retired Quality Assurance Engineer with over well 30 years of combined experience in Military & Commercial product environmental testing with much Research and Development time thrown in for good measure. While attending college I earned a degree in Machining Principles and Practices followed with minor studies in Metallurgy and Welding.

Since leaving the military/industrial manufacturing sector I have been applying what I know in general engineering knowledge, product environmental testing, manufacturing and machining techniques to what I perceive as a line of highly improved Manual Suction Dredge products for use by the recreational gold and gemstone prospector.

Emulation - The Sincerest Form of Flattery

It has not gone unnoticed by this Seller that a strong trend and growing number of varied sellers on EBay are adopting the myriad advertising forms, equipment designs and verbiage that have been employed on this site(s) since it's inception to promote similar product on their own site. This especially evident on one particular gold sucker hand dredge site, it only has to be read once to be seen. Why else would the use of most of the same wording and all of the same meaning posted in various places here be placed in bold type on that site, except that someone out there considers it meaningful and pertinent? 

I will however “take the high road” and take this semi-plageristic activity as a form of advertising or design mimicry and a type of indirect flattery – even if instituted by my most staunch and opposing follower (competitor). After all, to be a leader at anything, one must have followers!

This mimicry is a confirmation (no matter how poorly executed) that the FissureMan collection chamber design, product line and advertising are destined to become the most widely copied and best selling Manual Suction Dredge format on the market for the future yet to come!

However - There can be only one real FissureMan and all mimics are but second rate imitations of the real thing.  Get the best - Don’t settle for the rest!

I wish to thank the all vendors on EBay, both those that are in direct competition and those who are not, for showing their indirect approval by identifying and using these honest as well as credible advertising techniques and product design characteristics for their site or product  promotion.

One caveat however -

This activity is embraced only so long as it is not a direct copy of my pictorial, design or literary efforts. After that, I will take all necessary steps to eliminate any interloper that crosses the line into plagiarism or copyright infringement of this site while ignoring the EBay T.O.S. agreement they signed on with to ethically sell products on EBay.

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Pride - The first and worst of the seven deadly sins.  “A strong indicator of pride is competitiveness. There is nothing wrong with playing to win, provided the joy is in the playing. If our happiness depends on defeating others or knowing our child is the star of the team, we are building a world of illusion.”

The best pride detector is this question to our self: How much are we bothered by the pride of others? And if we feel attacked, is our response: "other people are worse."

One of three ways to destroy Pride: “Be grateful to anyone and everyone. Treat even the things people are expected to do as great gifts. Be grateful for your food, your change at Burger King, rain, life itself. Thank everyone.”     

Excerpt from: Whitestone Journal - Copyright 2000

A LITTLE GOLD SUCKER HISTORY

Based on research - the term "gold sucker" was coined on or before 1995 and quite likely much earlier. This is well before any specious claims of ownership found on EBay for the term. When the term gold sucker is used on this page please be aware it is used only as a common descriptor for a manual suction dredge and not as a term to name or describe the  FissureMan  Manual Suction Dredge products - modern recreational prospecting devices  incorporating totally unique design advantages and built to the highest standards of quality, construction and workmanship.                          

THE DEVICE

There is no single manual suction device yet created to fulfill all the needed requirements to collect and seperate the gravel from the gold.  With this in mind,  I have concentrated design efforts on a crude tool commonly referred to as a "gold sucker" or  alternatively known as a "crevice sucker" and which is generally used for crevice sniping and sometimes for location sampling. This is a fair to average mechanism for use while prospecting for gold or gemstone material. However, the early versions (still offered elsewhere) of this product are of such design that takes a bit of practice to employ efficiently. The primary use fault is the requirement of good timing and lots of practice to get really fast at transferring material quickly to a bucket from stroke to stroke without losing the material. If you leave the nozzle in or above the water surface too long (even a few seconds) the material will fall out on it's own before it ever reaches the bucket. This will happen all the while you are trying not to lose the vacuum on the suctioned material contained in the piston tube. The user is forced to move fast to keep from losing the suctioned material after each suction stroke and wastes a lot of time recollecting dropped material. This is a user un-friendly learning curve and in this case - a tedious one composed of many to and fro movements of back tiring work to get really proficient. Another operational drawback - lengthen the piston body too much and it becomes hard to operate - shorten it too much and lose material holding capability. With this in mind attempts to custom fit length to a given user are generally a waste of time and effort. Handles or different length  nozzles are a much better alternative in this case and will allow  adjustment to personal height without "custom" length adjustments to the dredge body.

It should be understood, however, that if you desire any FissureMan hand dredge cut to fit to a special length for your particular needs - then just request the length you would prefer when you order and it will be provided (at no extra construction charge). This is why, after all, the FissureMan products are truely "custom" manual suction dredges and not just simple mass produced pieces of unfinished plastic pipe stuck into one another.

OBSERVATIONS

Many recreational gold prospecting enthusiasts seem to want to "pick and pan" while working at their processing function in a somewhat more leisurely pace - they know prospecting is not a race to "move a lot of dirt" but rather a relaxing quest to find and separate what collectable material is available. These prospectors tend to take their time gathering and processing material with the most useful labor saving tools that are made available today.

Additionally, they either can't or won't afford a large motorized dredge due to physical limitations and/or the high expenses involved. This is no sin since it takes a healthy back to perform the heavy work involved to move and use a heavy, expensive powered dredge . Also let's not forget to mention that in many areas, motorized equipment in the process of prospecting is not allowed and the areas that do allow this activity are becoming less and less available every year.  Even then - when powered dredging is allowed - a dredging permit usually must be purchased as well from the local officials! 

DEVICE USE

One detail that should be fully recognized at this point - no manual or powered suction dredge anywhere, not even the FissureMan,hand dredges will "find"  gold or gem material. Suction devices only facilitate the extraction of gold or gem stone material from surrounding structure. These devices don't find the gold such as one seller has tried to convince his readers in the past.  Gold will only be found by a knowledgeable prospector who is able to locate where the gold is and then subsequently retrieve it from the dirt or structure that holds it using available prospecting tools. The tools used will only collect as fast as the operator uses them. Any subjective "test" submitted to show how much material is "moved"  while based on an individual operator's ability to collect material is totally inaccurate and wholly unreliable since all operators are different as are the conditions of the test and location where the test is performed. The identical results cannot be repeated and as a result the testing will not be objective and without operator bias. Subjective test results are nothing more than individual opinion and bear no semblance to the facts they  purport to express.

FissureMan Hand Dredges were developed to allow the prospector to search these and other less than accessable areas as a light weight device for sampling and collection during preliminary prospecting ventures. FissureMan Hand Dredges are far less expensive than motorized equipment and require no permit for use. These devices and their easy function allow the prospector to know where the best concentration of gold is before they decide to start "moving a lot of dirt". Then it can or will be time to bring in heavier processing equipment and/or additional large volume classification tools with the necessary additional manual help required to continue volume mining a location for it's placer riches.

As may be read in each of the sale page descriptions, the FissureMan II  Manual Suction Dredge is a first with a design to allow sampling and automatic material classification at multiple levels - at the place and time it is gathered.

As a sampling tool, when looking for the best spot to work, this device can't be beat! - It seperates your sample into three distinct levels of concentrates to allow easy identification of the size and amount of collectables at the sampling point. - and it will hold much more of this desirable material (not oversize junk gravel) between cleanouts than other designs offered elsewhere  - for example, devices incorporating large diameter suction nozzles, that prior to being emptied after each suction stroke, will be gathering all material including the junk gravel that fits through the large nozzle diameter. This results in lost space within the device decreasing the ability to hold the more of the desireable sized material. The FissureMan II allows one to bypass a lot of the usual time consuming work of hand classifying and panning multiple samples loaded with a lot of oversize gravel. By eliminating the need to sort through the material this will free a prospector to evaluate more locations in a given period of time and to find that spot with the best concentration of gold to start working with their heavier processing equipment.

Alternatively, the FissureMan II, if desired, may be operated without the classification screens in place. Doing so, the may be used to collect unclassified gravels similar to other manual suction devices. This is true versatility! FissureMan Hand Dredges are not the usual one suck and dump models offered elsewhere.

A LITTLE THEORY AND A LOT OF SUPPORTABLE FACTS

This page has not been generated to teach recreational prospecting for gold or gemstones as there are many books and articles written by better prospectors than this author. Those books and articles will contain far more useful information on the subject of prospecting than anything I or any other seller could ever present on an EBay page.

The next section however will contain subject matter regarding the function and design of manual suction dredge devices. Since there is not much available in this area of endevour, I have concentrated this written effort to present credible and useful information concerning some of the theory of hydraulics technology and to provide some functional understanding of the facts and processes as they apply to a manual suction dredge and it's design.                                                                                                             

Pascal's law -   päskälz´ [for Blaise Pascal], states that pressure applied to a confined fluid at any point is transmitted undiminished throughout the fluid in all directions and acts upon every part of the confining vessel at right angles to its interior surfaces and equally upon equal areas.

Practical applications of this law are seen in all hydraulic mechanisms and for this explanation - Manual Suction Dredges.

When speaking of the suction nozzle diameter and flow-through capacity of said nozzle (regarding the FissureMan II ) it should be understood that nozzle flow-through capacity is a reference to the amount of desirable material collected and then held within a chamber prior to, during and after internal classification. 

This will be material that is devoid of large junk gravels or the gross unscreened materials that other, if not all, competing designs collect. This oversize material takes up valuable space within the dredge's collection area and reduces the collection volume of the desirable material that exists under 1/2" in overall diameter.

When the piston of a manual suction dredge is compressed or extended the hydraulic force of this mechanical action is transferred to a liquid and used to provide a suction and/or expulsion action. In the case of a manual suction dredge this would be water containing liquefied solids being drawn into the piston or other assembly on the suction stroke and then water (possibly the solids as well) being pushed out during the reverse expulsion stroke through the nozzle.

The hydraulic piston converts mechanical energy of motion into the hydraulic energy of ram pressure and with the velocity flow created at the nozzle orifice converts the hydraulic energy into the mechanical energy of material flow during suction or expulsion.

With this in mind, the ratio of the piston diameter to nozzle diameter is of great importance to the overall effective nozzle suction force, ease of operation and collection capability of a manual suction dredge.

For instance: Take a piston diameter of 1” and a nozzle diameter of 1” with a force applied to the piston equal to 1 (for discussion purposes). This force may be varied depending on the energy applied at the handle but will make no difference to the final outcome of the piston to nozzle ratio. However, it will affect how fast the material will flow through the nozzle on each stroke of the handle.  A one inch diameter piston mated to a one inch nozzle will be very easy to draw but the minor vacuum created would have very low ram pressure since the ratio of 1:1 would be all that is achieved. One thing that increases the flow velocity for this ratio is additional force applied to the piston by the operator - more work..... Alternatively, if the piston diameter is increased and the nozzle diameter stays the same, then the subsequent ram pressure and velocity will be increased at the nozzle orifice with no appreciable change required to the force applied.

To determine a ratio for this action, a simple calculation would be:  1 / 1 x 1 = 1:1 or piston diameter divided by nozzle diameter multiplied by energy (force) applied equals the ratio of ram pressure to flow converted at the nozzle orifice.

Now with a little math applied and a set of parameters set to various size nozzle and piston diameters of the available manual suction dredges easily found on EBay, one can extrapolate a relative ram pressure and velocity strength of the material flow through at the open end (orifice) of the nozzle.

       Piston Diameter         /            Nozzle Diameter              x            Force    =     Ram Pressure Ratio         

         1.250”                               .500”                                1                  2.5 : 1

          1.250”                               .750                                  1                  1.7 : 1

          1.250”                               1.00”                                1                  1.3 : 1

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        2.00”                                .500”                                1                  4.0 : 1

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          3.00”                                2.00”                                1                  1.5 : 1

What the chart and the comparison test report (ref. the supplied Test Report link at the bottom of this page) clearly show, in fact, is that the higher the piston to nozzle ratio is, the better and faster material will flow through the nozzle orifice for a given force exerted – in other words - the mechanical advantage of the larger piston mated with a smaller nozzle diameter provides more ram pressure and material velocity at the nozzle opening.

This will equate to - less work for the operator due to the increased ram pressure and velocity  generated during collection to move the entrained material!

At the bottom of this page are site links that will help explain the basics of hydraulic theory for the reader and may be used as a source for some of the presented information on this page.

An additional link labeled "Test Report" has been added at the bottom of this page that contains a published objective test report that was generated to compare the collection capabilities of the FissureMan II to the competing "Gold Sucker" hand dredge.

 The seller of the compared device has called for proof of the statements contained on this page - well, this is it -

The following are the condensed results of a properly performed and irrefutable product comparison test.

The 2” ID diameter piston with a ½” ID diameter nozzle collected the following at 10 psi net applied pressure compared to the 1.5” ID diameter piston with ½” ID diameter nozzle:

24% Greater overall material by dry weight.

93% Greater  –4 mesh material by dry weight.

33% Greater  –8 mesh material by dry weight.

17% Greater  –14 mesh material by dry weight.

11% Greater material by dry volume.

18% Greater dense material by volume displacement

Note: If the exact gold sucker model or design (1.25" ID cylinder and an o-ring seal) had been used during the test, the positive result numbers identified for the FissureMan II would have been much greater than identified. Please see the test report to understand why this was not performed.

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Objective or Subjective?

Physical testing provides one of two possible types of information - objective information or subjective information.

OBJECTIVITY defines: - external reality.

SUBJECTIVITY defines: - internal reality.

What defines the objectivity or subjectivity of any physical test is the methodology used.

The test methodology for physical testing is initiated by an individual.

An OBJECTIVE test is:

-     not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; is based on facts; is unbiased..

-     being the object of perception or thought; belonging to the object of thought rather than to the thinking subject  (opposed to subjective).

A SUBJECTIVE test is:

-     existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought (opposed to objective).

-     placing excessive emphasis on one's own moods, attitudes, opinions, etc.; is unduly egocentric.

Performance of an objective test is always directed and delineated to avoid misconception and misinterpretation. The individual performing the test does not expect a predetermined outcome nor is swayed by undue egocentric personal opinion of the external realities that actually exist.

Performance of a test subjectively is always prone to misconception and misinterpretation due to the individual performing the test and “thinking” it should be performed in a particular way or is expecting a predetermined outcome due to an egocentric personal opinion of an internal reality held by the individual.

All objective testing is performed using the externally generated controls of accurate and repeatable functionality with calibrated sources for measurement of results.

These controls are functional, known limits obtained from calibrated or known constants and/or identified and accepted measurement standards. These will all be external physical points of indisputable natural law used for the performance of objective physical testing.

This is the accepted scientific methodology for test that produces reliable and valid test results – not the biased opinions of a prejudiced egocentric individual who has an attitude or hidden agenda.

Any test performed and intended to provide accurate and objective results must be performed using controlled and repeatable test setups and calibrated standards. Any other method will do nothing more than provide subjective and bogus, non-repeatable results. Subjective testing using psuedo-science is only good for an egocentric personal opinion to provide misleading unprofessional information to the reviewing individual.

 PHYSICS OF PRESSURE

I heartily suggest the reader review all the pages of actual and supportable scientific explanation (provided in layman's terms) for pressure v/s area on the supplied web site at the end of this page and identified as: Bernoulli's Principle - the information is very easy reading and will help one understand some of the information presented on this page.

There are three types of "pressure" -

static pressure   -   ram pressure   -   dynamic pressure

All three exist within a hydraulic mechanism

There are two physical conditions that any pressure will exist as - POSITIVE (High) Pressure and NEGATIVE (Low) Pressure which are inversely proportional to one another and will act in concert to one another.

Static pressure decreases when the velocity increases -

Static pressure is the pressure of a fluid with no movement.  "In the initial pipe configuration (of the linked interactive example) the static pressure on the right side is higher than the static pressure on the left. This does not mean the fluid is flowing from a lower pressure towards a higher pressure, since the total pressure is the same at every point." 

Ram pressure increases when the velocity increases. 

This is the pressure referenced on this page and to explain the statements made herein regarding superior suction pressure/force at a nozzle orifice.

"Static pressure should not be confused with ram pressure, which is the pressure felt by an object because it is moving relative to the fluid. Basically, the fluid is ramming into the moving object, or vice versa."

A simplistic way of describing this action would be that Ram Pressure is the force transmitted to the water by a piston in motion that actually moves the gravel and sand.

Dynamic pressure corresponds to the movement of the fluid through the pipe, and is simply another name for the velocity terms in Bernoulli's Equation.

This form of pressure is also referenced within this ME page text as velocity.