The invention relates to mooring devices and, more particularly, to a specialized mooring system that provides habitat that is attractive to a wide variety of underwater organisms.
Artificial reefs are commonly found around the world. Some are constructed to protect harbors or beaches from wind, wave or tidal forces. These types of reefs are often constructed of large, boulder-sized stones or concrete modules cast in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Reefs designed for protection purposes generally extend above the water line so as to deflect the forces of wind, wave or tide. These protective artificial reefs can be of any size or shape; sometimes they are circular, semi-circular, curved or straight. When a reef is constructed to abut a shoreline, it is sometimes called a break wall. When a reef extends from the shoreline into open water, it is sometimes called a jetty. Whatever they are called, they are, in essence, an artificial reef.
Artificial reefs are often favored by fishermen, because their structure, whether constructed of natural stone or concrete modules, creates prime shelter and habitat for a wide variety of marine organisms, including desirable species such as fish, crab and lobster that are prized by both commercial fishermen and recreational sports fishermen.
Other artificial reefs are constructed solely to enhance marine habitat and are designed to provide an underwater landscape replete with nooks, crannies, cavities, ledges and other subsurface features onto and into which marine organisms may attach or shelter. By providing cover and sanctuary for small organisms like algae, plankton and minnows, larger fish are attracted to forage. These fish, in turn, attract even larger fish, including sharks, tuna, bass, snapper, grouper and other large predatory fish which are at the top of the marine food chain. These types of reefs are usually totally submerged and may be constructed in shallow water near shore or in deep water miles off shore. These types of reefs may be constructed of almost any material or objects which will sink into the water column, including, but not limited to the following: natural stone, weighted tree stumps and brush, household appliances, cars, trucks, farm implements, school buses, scrap steel, subway and railway cars, factory machinery and other. Additionally, any number of decommissioned naval and merchant ships of all sizes have been scuttled in deep water to provide artificial reef structure. These types of reefs may also be constructed of cast concrete modules that can take a variety of shapes and which may have cavities molded into them.
Increasingly, artificial reefs are becoming a part of the underwater landscape wherever there is a robust interest in fishing, either for commercial or recreational purposes, or both. As example, many U.S. states with salt water territories actively construct artificial reefs for use by recreational sports fishermen. The reef locations appear on nautical charts, and buoys are positioned over them so they may be easily located by mariners and fishermen. Certain countries, notably Japan, construct artificial reefs on a large scale for use by their commercial fishing fleets. Wherever artificial reefs are constructed, they are widely considered to be an enhancement to the marine environment and ecosystem.
A number of prior patents disclose artificial reefs specifically to attract and concentrate marine organisms. As example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,791 to Laier et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,399 to Kikuzawa et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,019 to Kajihara show cylindrical structures that are open on the ends and essentially porous on the sides. The porosity of the sides allows small fish and other organisms, as well as ambient water currents, to pass freely through the sides. The interior spaces of the structures provide sanctuary to small fish and other organisms, while limiting access to larger, predatory fish. In each of the patents, the disclosed structures can be utilized individually or in plurality. The device disclosed by Laier et al. is buoyant, and therefore suspends off the marine ground and is held in place by a tether line attached to an anchor. The reefs taught by Kikuzawa and Kajihara are of sufficient density that they sink through the water column and rest on the bottom without the need of an anchor or retaining stake.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,301 to Pederson and U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,024 to Hall disclose apparatus utilizing tire casings for the construction of artificial reefs. The Pederson device shows a habitat structure comprising tire casings baled together to form a series of chambers and cavities in which fish and other organisms can find refuge. The density of the tire casings allows them to rest on the bottom without anchorage assist. Hall shows a string of tire casings linked together and suspended vertically in the water column, with the top end attached to a flotation device and the lower end attached to anchor means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,665 to Hughes and U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,993 to Utter et al. show artificial reef components comprising vertical, pole-like structures that extend upward from the marine bottom into the water column. Each device is designed to function with other, like units. The Hughes structure comprises a buoyant rod attached flexibly to an anchor base; Utter shows a string of multi-chambered bodies sharing a cable line, with one end of the cable attached to a flotation device and the opposing end attached to an anchor. Each structure has the ability to heel over, or sway, in response to tidal currents or wave impacts.
All the above cited patents share the common feature of providing structure to serve as sanctuary, refuge and attachment surface for marine organisms ranging from algae to crabs and lobsters and finned fishes. While a number of the above cited patents employ means to hold them in place on the marine bottom, none of the above patents functions as an anchor for mooring floating vessels or structures. In summary, none of the above artificial reefs can in any respect serve the function of an anchor for anything but itself.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,845 to Aydelette, Sr. for DEVICE TO ATTRACT FISH shows a submersible container with uniform holes that is used to confine minnows. The container is fashioned of transparent plastic, thus allowing the minnows to be visible to wild fish such as crappie or perch. Upon seeing the minnows, the wild fish are then lured closer to the container, thereby providing an advantage to the angler who lowers a baited hook near or adjacent to the container.
Aydelette, Sr. is essentially a cage that confines and holds minnows. The minnows are trapped and held inside the container, with no means of escape. The device is designed to securely enclose, trap, cage or otherwise confine and hold the minnows on the inside of the container. The diameter of the apertures shown must be no greater than an inch, as anything greater than one inch in diameter would allow even a large minnow (one measuring five to six inches in length) to swim freely out the hole and escape the container, thereby defeating the purpose of the device.
Anchor means cover a wide variety of sizes, shapes and designs, but may generally be assigned to two broad categories: stationary anchor means which remain in one position on the sea, harbor, river or lake bottom; and portable anchor means which are carried aboard vessels, large or small, and which are lowered into water whenever anchorage is needed and then hoisted back aboard when the vessel needs to continue passage.
Stationary anchor means are sometimes massive concrete or steel structures, which rely on gross deadweight tonnage to hold them in place. Generally, a stout cable, chain or hawse line runs from this large, submerged anchor to a buoy which floats on the surface of the water. This buoy has stanchions, or stout chain rings, onto which boats or ships may tie their mooring lines. Other stationary mooring anchors are steel, concrete or wooden devices that are driven or buried deep into the sea, harbor, river or lake bed, with a heavy line running from them to a surface mooring buoy or fixed structure.
As example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,734 to Mott shows a modular anchor system specialized for the stationary mooring of an offshore oil drilling platform. Mott discloses floatable components comprising a rectangular foundation member and a ballast. The members are towed to an offshore location, where the foundation member is submerged by the flooding of interior chambers. Once the foundation member is resting on the marine bottom, the ballast is flooded to force it to sink onto the foundation member, thereby unitizing the individual members into an anchorage foundation for the submerged legs of an oil drilling platform.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,944 to Van der Wal shows an anchor comprising two oblong, cylindrical, hollow bodies joined by a series of spars. When the hollow chambers are flooded with water, they sink to the bottom, where they can be buried or driven into the underwater bed or floor to form an anchor for large vessels or floating structures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,140 to Wight et al. shows a modular block anchor for supporting guy wires for transmission towers and other land based structures. The anchor comprises a cradle, or base skid, onto which are stacked deadweight blocks. Individually, the blocks are transportable by helicopter, but when assembled on the base skid they cumulatively can weigh dozens of tons. While designed for land use, the Wight et al. device could be used in underwater applications.
Portable anchors, which are carried aboard vessels, are generally lighter in weight. As example, German document DE 3201975 shows a basket apparatus that, when filled with stones, serves as an anchor for ships. The basket apparatus has a pull chain that allows the ballast stones to be dumped. Once emptied, the basket is then collapsible for efficient storage on board the ship.
More specifically, German document DE 3201975 shows a four sided, pyramidal-shaped basket comprising movable sidewalls. The sidewalls are operative in their movement as result of their lower edge being hinged to a bottom, or floor plate. This allows the sidewalls to swing outward or inward in the manner of a hinged door.
German document DE 3201975 shows no internal members or struts connecting to the respective sidewalls, as such internal structural features would prohibit the movement of the sidewalls, thereby defeating the purpose of the apparatus.
Other portable anchors derive their holding power from tongs, or flukes, which engage the bottom when the anchor is dragged across the floor of the water body on which the vessel floats. These drag embedded anchors generally require long mooring lines to function effectively. As example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,299 to Towne et al. discloses a classic drag embedded anchor, with the anchor comprising two large steel flukes hinged on a cross bar attached to a steel arm with a hitch point on the distal end of the arm for attaching a heavy chain or hawse line.
The above described permanent and portable devices may inadvertently attract marine organisms, as will virtually any object which resides on submerged ground in either freshwater or salt water environment. As example, it is commonly known that offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico are attractive to a wide variety of game fish prized by fishermen. Similarly, bridge or dock pilings in freshwater lakes or rivers attract a variety of minnows and pan fish, which in turn attract predatory game fish like bass and pike. While it is well known that such structures attract marine organisms, the underwater components of these structures are not in any sense a “reef,” as they do not have the requisite components of piled rocks, boulders, gravel, concrete modules or crushed coral which create myriad nooks, crannies, ledges, crevices and cavities which both natural and artificial reefs present. It is these said features which attract marine organisms in the greatest variety and quantity of numbers.
The invention provides a container for underwater placement on a sea, lake or river bottom. The container has openings in the sides, top and bottom and is filled with ballast of large boulders or other materials. The openings allow water currents, as well as marine organisms, to pass freely therethrough. Over time, marine organisms colonize the cavity areas of the ballast, thus utilizing the habitat within the container as an artificial reef. One or more hitch points are provided on the container for attaching mooring lines, thereby allowing the container to serve as an anchor for boats, ships, aquaculture systems, wind turbines, rigs and other floating apparatus.
As will be seen, one general object of the invention is to provide a mooring habitat structure for mooring floating wind turbines and other large floating structures.
Another object of the invention is to provide a mooring habitat structure that is relatively compact and containable within the walls of a manufactured silo, bin, hopper, box, drum, barrel or other man-made container which can be produced on a mass scale. The walls and floor of the containers are semi-porous, so as to allow entry into and egress from the interior portions for marine organisms and ambient water currents, while retaining within the walls and floor a significant weight of ballast material. Ballast material is composed of layers of large boulders, stone cobble, gravel, sand, crushed coral, cast concrete modules or other material forms and in any combination thereof. This artificial reef may thus be regarded as a kind of contained rock pile, with vast interior volumes of cavities, nooks and crannies relative to the rock pile's footprint.
Another object of the invention is to provide a mooring habitat structure that has more than one habitat zone for marine life, thus providing a structure that promotes diversity as well as aggregation of marine life.
A further object of the invention is to provide a mooring habitat structure comprising a container with exterior walls that are textured or grooved, thus providing an increased surface area that is conducive to the colonization of marine life.
A further object of the invention is to provide a mooring habitat structure that is constructed to allow fish traps, nets, baited hooks or other collection means to be lowered into the interior portions of the mooring habitat structure, thus providing fishermen using those means better access to the fish or other marine life that may reside within the reef.
Another object of the invention is to provide a mooring habitat structure that is structurally constructed to allow the insertion of scientific research equipment, including underwater cameras and biological sample collection systems, and aquaculture equipment, including food delivery and marine life stocking and seeding systems, to be delivered to the interior portions of the artificial reef anchor means.
A further object of the invention is to provide a mooring habitat structure that is constructed in a manner that allows it to function effectively on a variety of underwater ground, whether the ground slope is flat or steeply pitched, or whether the ground surface is smooth or strewn with rocks and other irregular features.
One of the primary attending objects of the invention is to provide a mooring habitat structure that is fashioned in such a way that it provides one or more secure hitching points for one or more anchor lines from which to moor boats, ships, barges or other floating structures, including floating wind turbines. It should be noted that the invention is especially suited for the mooring of floating wind turbines whenever they are arranged in a plurality of units, or in what is commonly called an off shore wind farm.
It is believed that no other structures employ the dual characteristics of effective anchor means combined with artificial reef habitat structure that is especially attractive to marine organisms.
A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawings, when considered in conjunction with the subsequent, detailed description, in which:
a is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the invention;
b is a section view of the preferred embodiment of the invention, showing ballast material disposed therein;
c is a downward view of the preferred embodiment of the invention, showing ballast material disposed therein;
d is a section view of a preferred embodiment of the invention, showing ballast material arranged in strata;
e is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the invention, showing exterior walls scored with horizontal grooves;
f is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the invention, showing exterior walls scored with vertical grooves;
a is a side view of an alternate embodiment of the invention, showing the invention disposed on a slope;
b is a section view of the alternate embodiment of the invention, showing ballast material disposed therein;
c is a detail of the alternate embodiment of the invention;
a is a section view showing an alternate embodiment of the invention with interior support members;
b is a top view of the alternate embodiment of the invention with interior support members;
a is a cut-away, side view of an alternate embodiment of the invention;
b is a section view of the alternate embodiment of the invention with ballast material disposed therein;
c is a section view of the alternate embodiment of the invention with ballast material and trap means disposed therein;
a is a downward view of an alternate embodiment of the invention, showing planar floor comprised of wire or cable grid;
b is a section view of the alternate embodiment of the invention;
c is a section view of the alternate embodiment of the invention, showing planar floor deformed under load;
d is a section view of the alternate embodiment of the invention, showing invention disposed on marine ground;
a is a side view of a plurality of floating wind turbines, shown in simplified form, moored to a plurality of the inventions, also shown in simplified form; and
b is a side view of floating wind turbines and artificial reef units in various suspended configurations.
The invention provides an underwater, ballast filled container with openings in the sides, top and bottom. The openings allow water currents, as well as marine organisms, to pass freely therethrough. Over time, marine organisms colonize the cavity areas of the ballast, thus utilizing the container as an artificial reef. One or more hitch points are provided on the container for attaching mooring lines, thereby allowing the container to serve as an anchor.
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Container 10 is constructed primarily of cast concrete, but other materials could be used, including, but not limited to, heavy chain link fabric (commonly known as chain link fencing), steel, wood, composite plastic or any combination thereof. Although the preferred embodiment is shown as a cylinder, or tube, other three dimensional forms could also be used, including cube, cylinder, cone, pyramid, sphere and polygon.
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While proximity to marine ground 8 encourages the aggregation of lobsters, crabs and other valuable marine species, the size of openings is also important. Therefore, in order to attract and accommodate the aforementioned species, first set of apertures 20 comprises openings that are at least 5 inches in diameter. This size opening allows mature crabs and lobster to infiltrate the container and find shelter and home in the habitat zone formed by first ballast mass 25. At the same time, an opening that is 5 inches in diameter prevents large cod and other predatory fish from entering the container and preying upon the crabs, lobsters and other species that may reside in the habitat zone formed by first ballast mass 25.
For fish such as bass, grouper and others that may pursue baitfish into cavity areas formed by ballast mass 26, second set of apertures 21 comprises openings that are greater than 5 inches in diameter. Where ballast mass 26 comprises large boulders the size of cars or trucks, thus providing spacious cavities that can accommodate large fish such as sharks and giant grouper, second set of apertures 21 may comprise openings 2 feet or greater in diameter.
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The exterior surface of wall 30 of container 10 can also be stippled and roughened by adding an aggregate of gravel and pebbles to the concrete mixture that is used in the manufacture of container 10. This aggregate, when added to the concrete during pour, creates a finished exterior wall that is rough and stippled in texture, thus providing the advantages of increased surface area and better purchase for marine organisms.
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Here, it should be noted that the openings comprising first set of apertures 20 and second set of apertures 21 may assume a variety of sizes, shapes and spacing patterns on the same container 10. These sizes, shapes and spacing patterns may also vary from one container to the next. As mentioned above, second ballast mass 26 may comprise large boulders roughly the size of a car, while fourth ballast mass 28 may comprise pea sized gravel and sand. Correspondingly, the size of openings comprising first set of apertures 20 and second set of apertures 21 may range from 19.625 square inches (for a 5″ diameter aperture) to square feet or even square yards in size (for apertures that are 2 feet or more in diameter).
The size of the crevices, nooks, crannies and cavity areas found amongst the ballast materials may also vary considerably, depending on the size of the ballast material. Large boulders, for example, may provide passageway clearances measuring in feet, thus accommodating large predatory fish like striped bass, cod, sharks and others. Very fine ballast material, like pea sized gravel and sand, may accord clearances measuring only in fractions of square inches, which could accommodate only small organisms like fish fry, shrimp, plankton and others.
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It should be noted that while planar floor 23 is shown and described above to comprise an angle of 120 degrees relative to axis Y, the angle of planar floor 23 relative to axis Y could be as much as 135 degrees. An angle of 135 degrees would match a ground slope of 45 degrees relative to axis X, thereby allowing container 10 to remain substantially vertical, even on a sharply pitched slope. In conditions where the slope of the marine ground is steeper than 45 degrees, gravity based systems become impractical. Therefore, in the preferred embodiment shown, the angle of planar floor 23 relative to axis Y will range between 90 degrees and 135 degrees.
Here, it should also be noted that the relevance and feasibility of a variable sloped bottom, or planar floor 23, is made possible because of the electronic technologies that are now routinely employed by the shipping, fishing and marine construction industries. These technologies allow for precise mapping of the marine floor, as well as the precise positioning of a vessel over a particular spot of marine ground. It is therefore practical to custom manufacture a container to precisely match a given terrain of marine ground and then lower that container with precise positioning and orientation onto that marine ground. This allows mooring habitat structure 12 to be utilized on marine ground ranging from flat to as steep as 45 degrees of slope and remain in an upright, vertically aligned orientation for maximum mooring capability.
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Scientific research equipment, including underwater cameras and biological sample collection systems, and aquaculture equipment, including food delivery and marine life stocking and seeding systems, not shown, can also be delivered to the interior portions of the mooring habitat structure 12 in the same manner and fashion as described above for trap means 32.
The size of container 10 is arbitrary. However, for the invention to effectively serve as an anchor means for structures as large as floating wind turbines, container 10 and ballast masses 25, 26, 27 and 28 should have a combined displacement of a thousand tons or more. To achieve this displacement tonnage with preferred ballast like large boulders or stone cobble requires that container 10 be approximately 30 feet high by 30 feet in diameter, or of a geometry that provides an interior volume of approximately 24,000 cubic feet.
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Although not shown, fishnet pattern 51 could be comprised of heavy-duty cordage of the grade that is seen in cargo nets and mooring lines. This would provide even greater pliancy than what is provided when fishnet pattern 51 is comprises of steel cables, as described above.
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Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which do not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this inventive method.
Having described the invention, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is presented in the subsequent appended claims.
The present application is a Continuation-in-Part Patent Application of copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/983,267 for ARTIFICIAL REEF ANCHOR STRUCTURE filed Nov. 8, 2007.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11983267 | Nov 2007 | US |
Child | 12462648 | US |