Lightweight marine buoy and method of handling the same
AssigneeHazelett Strip-Casting Corporation
InventorsR. William Hazelett, Jeffrey P. Lefebvre
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A lightweight constructed navigation buoy, and method for handling the same, is provided with waterborne stability comparable to the conventional and much heavier navigation buoys. The desired waterborne stability is achieved using a liquid-ballasting/-venting system in which a ballasting compartment and a connection cooperate to allow a liquid ballast to be added and/or removed from the ballasting compartment. The position-accuracy of said buoy can be improved by incorporating the liquid ballasted buoy with a high-strength, flexible, elastic tether providing a scope of between 1.5-to-1 and 1-to-1 at high water.
Claims8
A navigation buoy comprising:
- a cylindrical body of lighter construction having an interior and an exterior;
- a ballasting chamber in a lower portion of said body interior, adapted to store a liquid ballast, said ballasting chamber having a circumference, the ballasting chamber including an inner cylindrical wall, said inner cylindrical wall having a circumference smaller than said ballasting chamber circumference, said inner cylindrical wall having an aperture open to said ballasting chamber;
- and
- a connection used to ballast and vent said ballasting chamber allowing liquid communication between the ballasting chamber bottom and the body exterior, said connection being within said inner cylindrical wall;
- whereby the buoy can be ballasted and de-ballasted by a liquid supplied to and removed from the ballasting chamber so as to duplicate the dampened motion of the conventional heavily constructed buoys when deployed, said liquid being supplied to the connection within said inner cylindrical wall and into the ballasting chamber through said aperture.
A method for handling a waterborne liquid-ballasted buoy, the method comprising the steps of:
- attaching a liquid-ballasting/-venting system to the buoy, said system having a liquid ballasting connection above the waterline from which the buoy is to be removed, said connection allowing removal of liquid ballast from an interior portion of said buoy including an interior portion of the buoy that is below said waterline;
- removing liquid ballast from the buoy via the ballasting/venting system;
- lifting the buoy out of the water;
- whereby lifting the buoy from the water is facilitated by removing the liquid ballast.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.