Transporting a ship over shallows of a watercoruse
AssigneeSeaworthy Systems, Inc.
InventorsDavid A. O'Neil, William A. Wood
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A laden ship is transported across a shallow portion of a watercourse by a submergible floating vessel, while the ship is lifted upwardly within the water by means of a vessel platform placed under the hull. The vessel is preferably comprised of a multiplicity of rigid U-shape, separately floodable, buoyant sections, including end sections, which have self-propulsion. The several sections are pivotably interconnected, as by hinge assemblies, so the transporter platforms adjust to major up or down bends along the length of the hull, during lifting. The platforms are surfaced with a layer of resilient deformable material, or movable blocks, to accommodate local irregularities in the bottom of the ship.
Claims24
A submergible floating water vessel, for transporting a ship, comprising
- a multiplicity of interconnected sections lying along a longitudinal vessel axis, each section having
- (a) opposing side floodable floating means;
- (b) a bottom running between the opposing side floating means, the bottom comprising a platform for lifting and supporting the hull of a ship being transported;
- and,
- (c) means for flowing water into and out of said floating means to change the draft of the section;
- and,
- pivot connection means, for interconnecting two adjacent sections, to enable relative rotational motion of said least two adjacent sections in the vertical longitudinal plane of the vessel.
A submergible floating water vessel, for transporting a ship, comprised of a multiplicity of interconnected sections lying along a longitudinal vessel axis, wherein each section is comprised of:
- (a) a rigid U-shape cross section comprising opposing side wing walls having ballast chambers;
- (b) a bottom running between the wing walls, the bottom having a platform for lifting and supporting the hull of a ship being transported;
- and,
- (c) means for flowing water into and out of the ballast chambers, to change the draft of the sections;
- wherein, some of said platforms have a surface which is compliant to irregularities in the bottom of the hull of a ship being supported thereon;
- said multiplicity further comprising,
- pivot connection means, for interconnecting mated sections, to enable relative rotational motion of mated sections in the up and down direction, when the platforms thereof come into contact with the hull of a ship being lifted for transport by the vessel.
A submergible water vessel, for transporting a ship, comprising
- opposing side floodable floating means;
- a bottom running between said floating means, the bottom comprising a platform for lifting the hull of a ship, wherein at least a portion of the platform surface is movably compliant to unevenness in the bottom of the hull of a ship being supported thereon;
- means for flowing water into and out of said floating means, to change the draft of the vessel, so that the draft of the vessel with a ship resting on the platform becomes less than the draft of the ship when freely floating;
- means for preventing longitudinal and transverse motion of the ship to relative to the platform, and,
- means for propelling the vessel along a shallow portion of waterway, while a ship is resting on the platform.
The method of transporting a floating ship across a shallow portion of a waterway, wherein the ship hull bottom has irregularities and an up or down bend along the hull length, which comprises:
- positioning a ship within the length of a vessel comprised of a multiplicity of interconnected U-shape cross section buoyant sections;
- wherein, each section has at least one ballast chamber floodable by water;
- each section has a platform for contacting and lifting a portion of the hull of the ship;
- and each platform has a surface which adapts to the shape of irregularities of the hull bottom, to distribute concentrations of lifting force from the platform;
- raising the said buoyant sections by flowing water from said ballast chambers, to move the platforms upwardly, so they contact and lift the hull;
- wherein, when the platform lifts the hull, some points of contact between the hull and the surface of the platform move downwardly, so the platform surface adapts to said irregularities;
- and
- wherein, the relative orientations of at least two adjacent sections rotate in the up and down direction, to bring the platform surfaces thereof toward conformance with the bend in the hull;
- and,
- then moving the vessel with the ship contained within the U-section, from a first location to a second location, while said platform surface contact conditions and said orientations of the platforms are maintained.
The method of transporting a floating ship across a shallow portion of a waterway, which comprises:
- placing a rigid, buoyantly supported platform beneath the hull of a floating ship having a first draft, the platform having a surface which is adaptive to irregularities in the hull;
- moving the platform upwardly, to thereby apply upward forces to the hull at a multiplicity of lengthwise platform contact points, to lift the hull and decrease the draft thereof while leaving the hull partially immersed in the water, sufficient to make the draft of the platform and any associated structure less than said first draft;
- then, moving the platform along the waterway while said ship hull is in said lifted position wherein the ship is secured to the platform by a combination of (a) lines running between the ship and the platform or structure attached to the platform and (b) frictional engagement of the hull irregularities with the platform surface;
- and,
- then, lowering the platform downwardly by changing the buoyancy of the buoyant platform support, sufficient to enable the ship to float freely in the water;
- unsecuring the ship;
- and, then moving the platform away from vicinity of the ship.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.