Special trawl net for collecting floating products
AssigneesInstitut Francais du Petrole, Societe Anonyme Cousin Freres
InventorsChristian Bocard, Maurice Lemesre
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A special trawl net for collecting floating products has a dorsal or upper face of a close-mesh netting which extends over the two wings of the trawl and forms on the ventral or lower face thereof two lateral strips separated by a central net zone having a wider-mesh netting, so that water can easily escape therethrough. An impervious sleeve surrounding the bag formed by the trailing end of the trawl, and extending beyond this trailing end, is connected to the bag at one end and is open at its other end. This sleeve makes it possible to sealingly enclose the bag when the latter is filled with the products to be collected.
Claims14
A special trawl type net, adapted for collecting floating products dispersed throughout the surface of a body of water, such as hydrocarbon agglomerates resulting from the action of natural elements on a hydrocarbon layer spread over the water surface, or from the treatment of such a layer by spreading a binding agent thereon, said net comprising a flattened pocket adapted for being towed by means of two wing sections held in spaced relationship from each other and connected to said pocket at the level of an inlet opening thereof, said pocket having a funnel-shaped leading portion with a flattened cross-section which progressively decreases from said inlet opening, said leading portion having a dorsal or upper face and a ventral or lower face, and connected to a trailing portion of the trawl net, said dorsal face and the rear portion of the trawl net having mesh openings of a size comprised between 2 and 10 millimeters, to define a close-mesh netting capable of permitting water to discharge therethrough and said close mesh netting also covering the upper part of said trawl net wing sections and overlaping the lower part of said wing sections and said ventral face, and wherein said close-mesh netting defines on said ventral face, two lateral strips separated by a central net zone of wider-mesh netting to facilitate water discharge therethrough.
In a trawl net adapted for collecting floating products, such as hydrocarbon agglomerates resulting from the action of natural elements on a hydrocarbon layer spread over the surface of a body of water, the net being a generally funnel shaped structure, towable at the surface of the water and adapted to collecting and directing the floating products to collecting means detachably connected thereto, the improvement comprising:
- an assembly of a detachable trailing end of the trawl net and an impervious sleeve means surrounding said trailing end of the trawl net, with said sleeve means extending beyond the trailing end of the trawl net;
- connecting means operatively associated with said trailing end of the trawl net and with said sleeve for detachably connecting said assembly to the trawl net;
- and closure means for closing-off each end of said sleeve.
A method of collecting floating products from a body of water comprising towing a trawl-type net over the surface of the body of water to collect hydrocarbon agglomerates resulting from the action of natural elements on a hydrocarbon layer spread over the water surface, or from the treatment of such a layer by spreading a binding agent thereon, said trawl-type net comprising a flattened pocket adapted for being towed by means of two wing sections held in spaced relationship from each other and connected to said pocket at the level of an inlet opening thereof, said pocket having a funnel-shaped leading portion with a flattened cross-section which progressively decreases from said inlet opening, said leading portion having a dorsal or upper face and a ventral or lower face, and connected to a trailing portion of the trawl net, said dorsal face and the rear portion of the trawl net having mesh openings of a size comprised between 2 and 10 millimeters, to define a close-mesh netting capable of permitting water to discharge therethrough and said close mesh netting also covering the upper part of said trawl net wing sections and overlapping the lower part of said wing sections and said ventral face, and wherein said close-mesh netting defines on said ventral face, two lateral strips separated by a central net zone of wider-mesh netting to facilitate water discharge therethrough.
A method of collecting floating products from a body of water comprising:
- towing a trawl-type net over the surface of the body of water to collect hydrocarbon agglomerates resulting from the action of natural elements on a hydrocarbon layer spread over the water surface, or from the treatment of such a layer by spreading a binding agent thereon, said trawl-type net being a generally funnel shaped structure and having an assembly of a detachable trailing end of the trawl net and an impervious sleeve means surrounding said trailing end of the trawl net, with said sleeve means extending beyond the trailing end of the trawl net, connecting means operatively associated with said trailing end of the trawl net and with said sleeve for detachably connecting said assembly to the trawl net, and closure means for closing-off each end of said sleeve;
- conducting said towing with the trailing end of said sleeve closed;
- and disconnecting the assembly when full for removing collected agglomerates therefrom.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.