Oil fence having directional control device
AssigneeBridgestone Tire Company Limited
InventorsToshiyata Tezuka, Hiroshi Kawakami, Katsutoshi Miura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An oil fence having a directional control device consisting of rudder plates or wind receiver plates secured to vertical plates or skirts of the fence at an angle thereto, which are subjected to a force due to relative movement of water or wind to cause the fence to position at an angle relative to the direction of the movement of the water or wind, whereby when the oil fence is being tugged by a towing boat the oil fence line is positioned at an angle without being subjected to any bending moment or any other undue force so as to collect or recover pollutants, e.g., spilt oil effectively from water surface.
Claims4
A floating oil fence for collecting floating pollutants from the water surface comprising:
- a plurality of vertical skirt members, each of said members separating in proximity to the water surface;
- a flexible membrane attached to said vertical skirt members and connecting them in a water tight manner;
- a float associated with each of said vertical skirt members to float said skirt members on the water surface;
- directional control means including rudder plates at a suitable angle to a plane of said vertical skirt and substantially perpendicular to the water surface, said control means being arranged on a portion of said vertical skirt under said water surface;
- and,
- wherein said control means prevent said vertical skirt from being tilted by relative movement of the water caused by a towing of said oil fence or by the natural flow of said water, said control means thereby maintaining said fence in a longitudinal direction at a determined orientation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.