Patent Application
20140099166
The present invention relates generally to devices for containing an oil spill on a body of water and more particularly, relating to a floating vertical spar and an oil containment boom including the floating vertical spar.
Oil containment or oil exclusion booms are routinely used to prevent oil and other pollutants from spreading across a body of water. Oil containment booms include curtains or bands of a water-permeable, oil-impermeable material that are suspended vertically in the water by floating supports called spars. The spars are attached to the curtains at spaced intervals and serve to suspend and vertically support the curtain.
Several different prior art oil containment booms with floatation spars connected alongside the boom are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,764,015; 3,921,407; 4,116,833; 4,333,726; 4,248,547; 5,102,262; and 5,267,813.
A problem with the above-identified and other existing oil containment booms is that the connection between the boom's curtain and floatation spars is specific to the particular curtain and floatation spar. That is, the floatation spar and curtain are specifically designed to cooperate with each other and one cannot be used without other. As such existing systems do not allow for versatility in the ability to attach curtains of different materials and/or layer curtains of different materials to the spars without fabricating a completely new boom having the desired materials and with a structure that cooperates with the specific spar.
Another problem with the above-identified and other existing oil containment booms is that the connection between the boom's curtain and floatation spars are at fixed intervals along the length of the curtain. As such, should a section of the boom's curtain require additional support, is it not possible to add additional spars at the location without modification of the curtain, which in most instances is not possible after the boom has been deployed.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a floatation spar for use in oil containment booms that include a vertically suspended oil containment curtain that has a new attachment with the curtain that permits easy replacement of a damaged spar and permits attachment at non-fixed spaced intervals to the curtain.
Embodiments of the present invention also provide a floatation spar that has a construction that permits the spar to be stored and transported in a collapsed configuration and then expanded on deployment.
Embodiments of the present invention also provide a floatation spar that is attachable to various curtain constructions and materials for various applications from silt control during shoreline construction to oil containment during tanker offloading and offshore drilling.
Embodiments of the present invention also provide a floatation spar that is attached alongside the curtain rather than curtain sections end-to-end, thereby providing increased boom strength.
Embodiments of the present invention also provide a floatation spar that may be attached at any location along the length of the curtain, thus if a section of curtain requires more support additional spars may be attached alongside another spar.
To achieve these and other advantages, in general, in one aspect, a floatation spar for an oil containment boom having a containment curtain is provided. The spar includes a buoyant body having an attachment surface and a retainer strip having a plurality of surface penetrating fasteners projecting from and spaced along an inwardly facing side of the retainer strip. The retainer strip is secured to the attachment surface with the containment curtain sandwiched between the retainer strip and the attachment surface by the fasteners penetrating through the attachment surface and into the body.
In general, in another aspect, the body is elongated and hollow at its lower end and includes apertures at the lower end into the interior thereof, the body is weighted at the lower end and includes a buoyant material at its upper end, wherein when the body is dropped onto a body of water, it will self-right and float in a generally vertical orientation.
In general, in another aspect, the body includes an upper body portion and a lower body portion that is connected to the upper body portion such that the lower body portion is moveable relative to the upper body portion. In embodiments, the lower body portion may be slidingly connected to the upper body portion for reciprocating movement relative to the upper body portion between extended and retracted positions. In embodiments, the lower body portion may be hingedly connected to the upper body portion for rotation towards and away from the upper body portion between extended and retracted positions. In embodiments, the lower body portion is telescopically received by the upper body portion for reciprocating movement relative to the upper body portion between extended and retracted positions. The lower body portion may include two or more telescopic members.
In general, in another one aspect, the spar includes a buoyant body having an attachment surface, a plurality of rivets projecting outwardly from and spaced along the attachment surface, and a retainer strip having a plurality of through holes cooperative with the plurality of rivets. The retainer strip is secured to the attachment surface with the containment curtain sandwiched between the retainer strip and the attachment surface with a rivet extending through each through hole in the retainer strip, the ends of the rivets being deformable to prevent withdrawal of the retainer strip.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated.
Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated embodiments of the invention.
The following drawings illustrate by way of example and are included to provide further understanding of the invention for the purpose of illustrative discussion of the embodiments of the invention. No attempt is made to show structural details of the embodiments in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice. Identical reference numerals do not necessarily indicate an identical structure. Rather, the same reference numeral may be used to indicate a similar feature of a feature with similar functionality. In the drawings:
a is a perspective view of an alternative oil containment curtain attachment accordance with the principles of an embodiment the present invention;
b is an enlarged, partial perspective view of the alternative attachment illustrated in
a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a floatation spar constructed in accordance with the principles of an embodiment the present invention shown in an extended configuration;
b is front elevation view of the alternative spar embodiment illustrated in
a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a floatation spar constructed in accordance with the principles of an embodiment the present invention shown in an extended configuration; and
b is front elevation view of the alternative spar embodiment illustrated in
As a preliminary matter, it should be noted that in this document (including the claims) directional terms, such as “above”, “below”, “upper”, “lower”, etc., are used for convenience in referring to the accompanying drawings.
With reference now to
As best seen in
Oil containment curtains are available in many forms and from various suppliers in the industry. Accordingly, the invention is not limited in application to any single type, brand or particular oil containment curtain. Generally, however, oil containment curtains are made of a material that permits the passage of water through the material while inhibiting the passage of oil through the material.
Returning to
The oil containment curtain 12 is attached to the body 14 along a vertical attachment surface 26 and is retained to the body by a retainer strip 28. The attachment surface 26 is generally flat and longitudinally extends (vertically with reference to the drawings) along the upper end 14 of the body 12. The retainer strip 28 is similarly elongated to correspond with the attachment surface 26 and includes a plurality of penetrating fasteners 30 extending from an inwardly facing side 32 at spaced intervals along the length of the retainer strip, as best seen in
The penetrating fasteners 30 may be barbed or include other structure which prevents the fasteners from withdrawing from the body 14 once the fasteners are inserted into the body. Alternatively, the fasteners 30 and the body 14 may have other cooperating structures that permit the insertion of the fastener into the body and preventing withdrawal of the fastener once inserted.
In an embodiment, the upper end 34 of the retainer strip 28 may include a flange 36 that extends from the inward surface 32 and in the same direction of fasteners 30. The flange 36 is received by a slot formed through the attachment surface 26. The flange 36 may include an aperture 38 through which a fastener may be inserted to prevent withdrawal of the flange from the slot. Additionally, in an embodiment, the lower end 40 may include an L-shaped flange 42 that is received by a correspondingly shaped slot formed through the attachment surface 26. Once inserted into the body 12, flange 42 may serve to support and align the retainer strip 28 during attachment of the oil containment curtain 12 to the spar 10.
An alternative embodiment is illustrated in
Returning to
In the embodiment illustrated in
With reference to
With reference to
In embodiment, spar 10 may further include an illuminating light beacon 70 attached to the top of the spar to indicate the position of the spar in low light, and particularly at night so that is it visible from both vessels on the water and aircraft flying above the water. Alternatively or in addition, beacon 70 may include a GPS transceiver/transponder that operates to indicate its position in a global positioning system.
A number of embodiments of the present invention have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.
