Oil skimming apparatus
AssigneeAbanaki Corporation
InventorsWallace J. Landry, III, M. Thomas Hobson, Richard Forbes, Brian Slone
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for skimming oil and other liquid hydrocarbons and contaminates floating at the surface of a body of water or other suspending liquid. A rigid skimming surface such as a drum or disc is floatably supported on pontoons. The skimming surface is rotatable about an axis substantially parallel to the water surface. The skimming surface is covered with removably attached sorbent material which improves the efficiency of the oil recovery operation and which, when worn or soggy, can be removed and discarded without discarding the skimming surface.
Claims13
An oil skimming device for the removal of oil located at the surface of a body of water, comprising:
- a float which allows the device to rest on the surface of the body of water from which the oil is to be removed;
- at least one rigid skimming surface, said rigid skimming surface is a substantially cylindrical-shaped drum supported by the float, said rigid skimming surface being rotatable about an axis such that when the device is floating in the water, a portion of the rigid skimming surface is above and a portion of the rigid skimming surface is below the water surface;
- sorbent material removably attached to and substantially covering the skimming surface, said sorbent material is in the form of a sheet with a length that exceeds the circumference of the drum so that when wrapped around the drum said sorbent material provides an overlapping flap and an overlapped flap, said sorbent material configured to rotate with the skimming surface and to sorb oil as the skimming surface is rotated;
- at least one scraper positioned to bear against the skimming surface for removing sorbed oil from the sorbent material as the skimming surface is rotated;
- and
- a motor operatively connected to said skimming surface, said motor configured to rotate the skimming surface about its axis of rotation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.