Field of the Invention

The invention is directed to a method and apparatus for providing a vessel which is capable of performing multiple functions including separating oil and water, fire fighting, dredging, patching damaged ships, and serving as a crane and pumping station.

The present invention is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No. 671,124 filed March 18, 1991 and the specification of prior application 671,124 is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is a need for a vessel which is capable of performing multiple functions, particularly in connection with preventing oil spills on the lakes, seas and oceans as well as providing a vessel which will remove oil quickly from the surface of water subsequent to a spill. Oil which is skimmed from the water must be quickly and efficiently stored for subsequent disposal. Fires frequently accompany oil spills and it is necessary to provide a vessel which is capable of fighting such fires as promptly and as efficiently as possible.

The prior art discloses various devices and methods for cleaning oil spills and the like but such prior art disclosures do not solve all of the multiple problems associated with oil spills nor do the prior art references teach the multiple uses of a seagoing craft as disclosed in the present application. Prior art references relevant to cleaning oil spills are as follows: diPerna 3,847,816, Van Hekle 4,182,679, Ayers et al 4,477,348, Szereday 4,372,854, Brandt et al 4,487,694, Ayroldi 4,514,299, Jordan 4,588,501, Lundin 4,690,093, Simpson et al 4,795,567, Bagnis et al 4,921,605.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, a vessel is provided which is primarily directed towards the removal of oil spills but which is capable of performing a number of related functions such as, for example, fire fighting, dredging, pumping operations, and patching damaged ships to prevent oil spills.

The removal of oil spills is achieved by the presently disclosed invention by providing a craft having a chamber in the bow which is adapted to receive oil and/or water through an enlarged opening in the bow of the craft. A bellows structure supported on a boom forward of the bow forms a sea

sled to receive the oil and water mixture and bring the mixture into the separation tank within the bow of the craft. Passageways are provided extending between the separation tank and the stern of the craft. Pumping means are provided for pumping water from the lower portion of the separation tank through the passageways and out the stern of the craft. A separate passageway having a vertically adjustable inlet pipe from the separation tank into the passageway is provided for pumping the floating pollutants such as oil through the passageway into a separate storage facility astern of the craft. The vertically adjustable inlet pipe is provided so as to permit the operator to determine the depth of floating pollutants in the separation tank so as to adjust the height of the inlet to pump out only the floating pollutants from the separation tank leaving the remainder portion of substantially clean water.

The vessel according to the present invention is specially designed to permit its use for fire fighting purposes. Specifically, when the vessel is to be used for fire fighting, the bow chamber is filled with water so as to depress the bow, thus permitting the passageway outlets at the stern of the ship to be raised above the surface of the water. In this position, fire fighting hoses can be connected to the

passageway outlets so that water can be fed through the passageways from the tank in the bow and forced through the hoses at a high velocity by the jet pumps in the passageway.

It is also possible to perform dredging procedures by filling the bow tank with water so as to lower the bow and raise the stern to a position where the passageway outlets from the bow tank are above water level. In this position a rigid hose structure may be attached to the outlets and with the rigid hose structures extending downwardly, the high velocity water passing through the rigid hoses will assist in dredging operations.

In the event that a ship containing liquid pollutants is damaged, the presently disclosed craft can perform a patching operation on the damaged ship to prevent liquid pollutants in the ship's hold from spreading on the water surface. This function is achieved by the presently disclosed craft by attaching a patching plate to the boom structure and lowering the bow of the craft by filling the forward compartment with water so as to permit the patching plate to be positioned directly over the damaged area of the ship containing the fluid pollutants.

In addition, the presently disclosed invention can perform functions such as the removal of debris

from the water surface, clearing shoreline or performing emergency pumping operations. These functions may be performed by the presently disclosed craft by virtue of the particular combination of fluid chambers, passageways and multiple jet pumps.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for operating a seagoing craft to permit the craft to perform multiple diverse operations.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an oil skimming apparatus which is capable of performing diverse pumping, fire fighting and dredging operations.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an oil skimming craft with a mechanism for patching damaged ships containing pollutants.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed specification considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a craft constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a perspective view partly in section of the bow structure of the craft of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the passageways and jet pumps;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the stern of the craft with an attached storage container;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing two passageways extending from the separation tank in the bow to the stern of the craft;

Fig. 5A is partial sectional view of a portion of the passageway;

Fig. 5B is a partial perspective view of the stern and a portion of the bottom of the craft;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the central passageway utilized for oil removal;

Fig. 6A is a perspective view of the oil intake for the central passageway;

Fig. 7 shows the stern of the craft in a raised position to be used for fire fighting purposes;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the stern of the craft in a raised position showing use of the craft for dredging purposes; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the bow of the craft utilized for patching purposes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now more specifically to the drawings where like numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views, there is shown in Fig. 1 a skimmer craft 1 having a hull 2 which is of generally V- shaped design to allow the skimmer craft 1 to travel at high speeds through rough water. The craft 1 is piloted from a pilot cabin 3 and is provided with an intake system 4 located across the bow of the craft. The pilot cabin 3 and intake system 4 are removable from the craft 1 so as to enable the craft to be readily transported over land for prompt deployment in the vicinity of an oil spill.

Fig. 2 discloses a separation compartment 5 in the area forward of the cabin 3 and which slopes upwardly towards an opening 6 extending across the bow of the craft. This separation compartment 5 has a capacity of 5,000 gallons of fluids.

There is provided a boom 7 which extends from the deck of the craft forwardly past the bow where it is connected to the upper surface of the intake tank 8 by means of an intake pivot member 9. An adjustable mechanism 10 extends across the top of the intake 8 to permit adjustment of the location of the pivot point 9.

There is provided a hand windlass 11 which drives rotatable shaft 12 operatively connected to a chain drive (not shown) extending between the shaft 12 and the intake tan 8 so as to extend or retract the intake tank to a desired position forward of the bow of the craft. A flexible bellows 13 interconnects the bow of the craft with the intake tank 8.

There is provided an air filled buoyancy tank 14 extending across the bottom of the intake tank 8 and this buoyancy tank reduces the weight load of the structure in the water. There is also provided a debris rake 15 which is disposed forward of the intake tank and which may be pivoted upwardly to remove debris from the surface of the water and deposit debris on the top of the boom structure.

The boom is slidable beneath a pivot 16 which is mounted on the deck of the craft. A screw and hand wheel mechanism 17 raises or lowers a retaining bar 18 so as to pivot the boom 7 upwardly or downwardly.

Fig. 3 shows diagrammatically in plan view the passageways extending from the separation tank 5 to the stern of the craft. The central passageway 19 extends from an intake in the separation tank 5 to a centrifugal screw pump 20 at the stern of the craft. The centrifugal screw pump is capable of delivering 4,286 barrels per hour through passageway 19. A

heating passageway 21 surrounds tube 19, the heating passageway receiving hot water from the diesel engines 50 which drive the pumps and electrical generating equipment. The hot water in passageway 21 raises the temperature of the oil passing through tube 19. Positive displacement pumps 22 are provided at the intake for delivering oil from separation tank 5 into the central passageway 19.

A more detailed view of the intake for the central passageway 19 is shown in Fig. 6 and 6a. There is provided an intake chamber 23 which extends vertically from a pair of pipes 24 which are connected to central passageway 19. There are oppositely disposed vertical slots 25 in the sidewalls of the intake chamber 23 so that fluid within the separation tank 5 may pass through the slots 25 and into pipes 24 and through passageway 19. Surrounding the intake chamber 23 is a vertically adjustable air tank 26 which is inflatable and buoyant within the fluid in separation tank 5 and may be raised or lowered by pressurized air through hoses 27. A window (not shown) disposed in the front wall of the cabin permits the operator to determine the depth of the oil on the surface of the water and raise or lower the vertically adjustable air tank 26 so that the depth of the slots 25 matches the depth of the oil within the separation

tank 5. Thus, when conducting oil skimming operations, oil is passed through the vertical.slots 25 downwardly through intake chamber 23 and through central passageway 19 to the stern of the craft.

Referring to Fig. 3 there are shown a pair of passageways 28 and 29 which are disposed on opposite sides of the central passageway 19. Disposed on the outlets of passageways 28 and 29 are jet pumps 30 and 31, respectively. These jet pumps together are capable of delivering 15,714 barrels per hour. The inlets to passageways 28 and 29 are located at the lowermost portion of separation tank 5 so that in an oil skimming operation wherein the oil on the water surface is withdrawn through central passageway 19, the passageways 28 and 29 are utilized to pass water through the passageways and outwardly through the stern of the craft.

When the separation tank 5 is totally filled with oil, the passageways 28 and 29 may also be used to deliver oil to the stern of the craft. Under these circumstances oil through passageways 19, 28 and 29 may be delivered from the stern as shown in Fig. 4 through connecting pipes 32, 33 and 34 respectively to an inflatable bladder 35 connected to the stern of the craft as a storage container for the oil. When the craft is operating as an oil skimming operation and

oil is being delivered only through the central passageway 19, only pipe 32 is connected to the inflatable bladder 35.

In Fig. 5 there is disclosed a further mode of operation of passageways 28 and 29. As shown in Fig. 5A there is provided a flap valve 36 in passageway 29. This flap valve may be opened to permit flow of fluid from the separation tank 5 through the outlet from jet pump 31. The flap valve 36 may be positioned by movement of lever 37 to close the passageway 29. There is provided a screen 38 in the bottom wall of passageway 29 and a slidable door 39 as shown in Fig. 5B closes of the passageway 29 from access to the water beneath the hull of the craft. The slidable door 39 may be moved to an open or closed position by rotating wheel 41 which drives cable 40 to move the door 39. Thus, by rotating lever 37 to close off passageway 29 and opening door 39, the jet pump 31 receives water through the opening in the hull of the craft and through screen 38, the jet flow assisting in driving the craft. The passageway 28 is provided with a similar mechanism on the opposite side of the center line of the hull of the craft. It will be noted in Fig. 3 there are two additional jet pumps 42 and 43 which are movable to multiple positions and normally function to steer and propel the craft.

The presently disclosed craft may also be used for fire fighting purposes. In the event of need to operate the craft for fire fighting purposes, the separation tank 5 is filled with water so as to lower the bow of the craft and elevate the stern so that the outlet ends of the passageways 19, 28 and 29 as well as the outlets of jet pumps 42 and 43 are above the water line. In this position hoses such as shown at 44 and 45 may be attached to the outlets so as to provide an exceedingly high quantity and velocity of water delivered through the hoses.

Similarly the craft may be used for purposes of dredging by attaching to the passageway outlets rigid hose structures such as shown at 46 and 47 in Fig. 8 to perform dredging operations.

The craft may also be used to perform the function of patching a damaged vessel to prevent contaminants from within the damaged vessels from spilling into the sea. In Fig. 9 there is shown a patching plate 48 which is attached to the tank top 8 at one end thereof and a further boom 49 is attached to the upper end of the patching plate. The separation tank 5 is filled with water to lower the bow and the boom structure 7 is lowered so as to position the patching plate 48 to cover the damaged area of the adjacent vessel. Thus, spill of

contaminant from the hold of the vessel may be prevented.

In the event of relatively small oil spills it is possible to utilize a smaller size sea sled than the intake and bellows arrangement shown in Fig. 2. For relatively small oil spills the small size sea sled may be attached to the stern of the craft and the oil and water drawn into the stern tubes by reversing the jet pumps. The oil and water mixture may be stored in the separation chamber 5 and separated subsequently.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. What is claimed as new and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is: