Inflatable Barge

1. Field of the Invention

This invention is directed to an air or surface deployable, inflatable, flexible, towable container for liquids which is protected against skin rupture on wrecks, rocks, jetties, or during beaching or by collision.

2. Description of the Prior Art

It has been known for a number of years that there is a substantial need to expedite oil pollution control operations including deploying at the scene of a casualty or potential casualty a barge off-loading means whereby oil and other liquids can be off-loaded from tankers, tank ships, barges or vessels as is necessary to refloat them and or to prevent or minimize water pollution by the vessel contained fluids if the vessel suffers hull damage due to heavy seas or becomes grounded.

The above recited needs have been in part satisfied by the use of a few rubberized holding tanks having capacities from about five to over one thousand cubic meters which flotable rubberized holding tanks, once filled with the off-loaded liquids, are towed to discharge facilities which may be other vessels, or at dockside.

However, current models of such inflatable, flexible holding tanks lacked safety features to prevent further pollution often caused by rips or tears in the fabric skin adding to the pollution which the holding tank was intended to diminish or abate.

The invention may be summarized as an air or surface deployable, inflatable, flexible wall, fluid holding, towable container comprising a hollow, generally tubular, flexible wall container, at least one closeable inlet and outlet means for directing fluids into and out of the container; characterized by gas inflatable barrier means extending at least along the longitudinal side walls of said container in the zone of the water line of the container when it is filled with a liquid.

The invention will be more particularly described in reference to the drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevational view of a flexible wall container of the invention having one means of protecting the side walls thereof;

FIG. 2 is a section on line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view like FIG. 1 of a modified form of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a view like FIG. 1 of another form of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a view like FIG. 1 of a further form of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a section on line 6--6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a view like FIG. 1 of still another form of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a section on line 8--8 of FIG. 7.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, 10 generally designates one embodiment of applicant's improved inflatable barge or container. The assembly 10 includes an elongated tubular, flexible wall, towable container 12 having cylindrical side wall 14, and end walls 16 and 18. The forward end wall 16 is provided with a towing harness 20 (to be more fully described hereinafter) while, for example, rearward end wall is provided with a tubular conduit 22 for directing fluids into and out of the container 12. As is known in the art, the rearward end 24 of the filler tube 22 is provided with float and closure means, generally designated 28 so that filling and unloading connections can be readily made. Further, it will be recognized that the filler tube 24 may be provided on the top of the container.

Containers such as 12, as hereinbefore set forth, are known in the art and are manufactured by Dunlap Lts. and Goodyear.

Such containers have skins made from, for example, synthetic rubber-coated nylon fabric and cord and preferably the interior is provided with a nitrile coating that is unaffected by petroleum products and the outside is, for example, neoprene which withstands abrasion, sunlight, salt water and ozone attack.

Notwithstanding the employment of rubber fabric, cord and plastic composites for the skin, damage to the skin has been frequently enough to render use of such inflatable containers highly risky as a single tear in the skin permits the release of the contents into the water, and such tears are brought about by rocks, jetties, river beds, collision, beaching, and where the container is used to off-load oil and other contaminating fluids from wrecks, which often occurred during inclement weather, the risk of tearing the skin is increased many fold.

Such containers are made in lengths of, for example, 10 to 100 meters and diameters of 1 to over 5 meters; thus, having capacities in the order of 5 to over 1,000 cubic meters.

In order to reduce the hazards involved in using such inflatable, flexible wall, fluid holding, towable containers, the skin is protected by gas inflatable barrier means generally designated 30, 31 and 33.

In the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inflatable protective barrier 30 consists of a flexible fabric impregnated with vulcanized rubber or plastic composition preferably inert to hydrocarbons which fabric is formed to provide a plurality of spaced flotation cells 34, longitudinal top rib 36, and skirt portion 38.

Preferably, each flotation cell 34 has a longitudinal central division strip construction of the same fabric material so that with the rib 40 in sealing engagement with the walls of the flotation cells 34, there is in effect two cells to each unit 34. Strength is provided by forming the fabric just below the flotation cells 34 with a pair of pockets or pouches 42 containing cables or chains or the like 43.

Along the lower longitudinal edge 44 of the skirt 38 are provided a plurality of anchoring loops 46 and similar anchoring loops 48 are provided along the top ridge member 36. Shackle elements 50 are mounted to the loops 46 and 48 through which cables 52 at the top and 54 at the bottom are attached. The cables 52 and 54 cross over and under the container 12 and are attached to corresponding inflatable barriers on the opposite side of the container as more clearly illustrated in FIG. 2.

Inflatable protective barriers 31 and 33 for the front and rear ends 16 and 18 of the container 12 are formed like the protective barriers 30 hereinbefoe described and are likewise held in place by cables 52' and 54' which, as illustrated, may be attached to cables 52 and 54 of protective barriers 30.

Referring again to the towing harness 20 which consists of a plurality of cables or webs 21a, 21b, 21c, etc., formed in the front end 16 of the container 12 to reduce to a minimum towing stresses on the fabric of the container.

It will be particularly noted that cable 21a extends about the entire container 12 and is attached to each vertical cable 54, that cable 21b is attached to chain or chains 43 at connector 45 and that cable 21c is attached to each of the upper cables 52 and extends entirely about the container 12.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, at lest two side-by-side flotation barrier means are provided for each tank; thus, at the water line there are six layers of rubberized or plasticized fabric plus the resilient bumper control of the air flotation chambers themselves which must be penetrated prior to reaching the skin 14 of the flotation tank. When a pair of side-by-side barrier means are provided for the tank, having space flotation cells 34, the units are positioned such that a flotation cell of one of the units is positioned to overlap the gap 56, FIG. 1, between flotation cells of the adjacent barrier. When my inflatable barrier, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,989, are used the gap 56 may be minimized by placing accordion pleats in the fabric adjacent the ends of each cell 34 and the like. From the foregoing, it will be seen that a very inexpensive means using commercial equipment are provided for materially improving the reliability of large flexible wall container barges.

It will be noted from FIG. 2 that the units 30 also provide means for preventing the container from rolling and act as outriggers for the container thus eliminating the need for a keel in this form of the invention.

It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that where desired, another row or rows of inflatable barriers may be added below or outboard of the units 30 if the seas are particularly rough and greater bouyancy is desired.

One form of commercial inflatable barrier means which has proved to be very satisfactory for use as a protective means of the present invention are those disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,989, issued Nov. 26, 1974, and my U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,667,235; 3,783,621; and 3,795,315. Flotation barriers of the type illustrated in my said prior patent are readily available and many thousands of feet are held in reserve by the Navy, Coast Guard, and oil spill, clean-up cooperatives, with some 20,000 feet in special commercial cargo containers for each world-wide deployment.

Referring now to the form of the invention illustrated in FIG. 3 of the drawing wherein the 10-3 includes flexible wall container 12 which may be identical to that illustrated in FIG. 1 and includes an outer cylindrical skin 14, a front end 16, a rear end 18, a filler tube 22, and a tow harness 20-21a, b and c. About the external surface of the skin 14 of the container 12 is spirally wrapped one or more inflatable barriers 30-3 and end barriers 31-3 and 33-3.

The inflatable barriers 30-3 may be identical to the inflatable barriers 30 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 and would include the inflatable chamber areas 34, a skirt portion 38, a wing portion 36, and connector tabs 46 along the lower margin of the skirt 38 and connector tabs 48 about the upper edge of the wing portion 36. Cables or chains 60 are connected to the plural connectors 48 along the wing portion 38 to retain the flotation element 30 in its spiral configuration about the outer skin 14 of the tank 12. A similar chain or cable 62 is connected to the connectors 46 along the lower edge of the skirt portion 38 and assist in attaching the flotation means 30-3 in its spiral configuration to the tank 12.

In the FIG. 3, a single layer of the flotation means 30-3 is illustrated as being spirally positioned about the longitudinal axis of the tank 12; however, as depicted in FIG. 2, two layers of the cells 30-3 may be employed so that the flotation cells 34 overlap the open spaces 56 between opposed layers to thereby insure that there are plural layers of fabric which must be penetrated prior to penetration of the skin 14 of the tank.

It will be noted that the end barriers 31-3 and 33-3 are not merely continuations of the spirally wrapped units 30-3 but independent units secured in a somewhat vertical array. The cables attaching units 31-3 and 33-3 to the container may be attached to the cables from unit 30-3 so that the three units are all tied or connected to each other.

Unlike the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the protective barrier units 30-3, 31-3 and 33-3 do not function as outriggers and therefore in order to stabilize the container from rolling one or more keels 80 should be hung from the lower cable 54, and/or 54' or the shackle elements 50, by cables or chains 82. The keels 80 may take various forms, including the "sea anchor" form of the sea anchor pockets in the skirt of my U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,315, granted Mar. 5, 1974.

Referring now to FIG. 4 of the drawing, a preferred form of the spirally configured inflatable protector is illustrated and designated 10-4. In this form of the invention the container 12 may be identical to that illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 3 and includes a skin portion 14 front and rear ends 16 and 18, a towing bridle 20, 21a, b and c and a flexible tube for filling and emptying the container 12.

About the outer surface of the container 12 are spirally wrapped three flotation and protection barriers designated 30a, 30b, and 30c. In this form of the invention the spirally wound flotation means 30a, b, and c are identical to that illustrated in FIG. 3 and in spirally wrapping the three units, units 30a and 30c are first wrapped in the illustrated spiral configuration and secured thereto by their respective cables 60, 62, and 63 with cable 63 being common to the lower skirt portion of flotation means 30c and the wing portion of unit 30a. After the flotation means 30a and 30c are spirally wrapped and secured by cables 60, 62, and 63, the third element 30b is spirally wrapped as illustrated to provide in the zones of the spiral configuration at least six protective layers which must be penetrated prior to penetration of the skin 14 of the tank 12.

The top layer of spirally wound inflatable protecting means 30b is also provided with cables 60' and 62' at the upper and lower edges thereof which cables like 60, 62 and 63 secure the flotation means 30b in its desired location.

As in the other forms of my invention, the front end 16 and the rear end 18 of the container are protected by flotation barriers 31-4 and 33-4 and one or more keels 80 are suspended from the cables attaching units 30a, b and c to the container.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, a particularly advantageous configuration of plural inflatable protection units for the inflatable, flexible and towable container is illustrated. In FIG. 5, the unit is generally designated 10-5 and includes the container 12 which may be identical to the containers 12 illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4. The container 12 has an outer cylindrical skin 14 and front and rear walls 16 and 18 and is protected by a plurality of horizontally extending protective barriers 30-5 arranged in a plurality of overlapping rows, as more clearly illustrated 6. The overlapping rows are arranged such that all areas of the container 12 in an arc of at least about 240 degrees is intimately protected by the inflatable protective barriers 30-5 which 240 degrees includes at least the complete zone of submergence of the tank 12 when filled with a liquid. In FIG. 6, it will be noted that the plural protective inflatable barrier means 30-5 are chained with the wing portion 36 of one connected to the skirt portions 38 of another by suitable connectors such as illustrated at 70 and relatively short cables 72 and 74 lash the units over the top of the container 12. In assembling this form of the invention, the connectors 70 of a plurality of rows of protective barriers 30-5 are first assembled and the assembled units are then positioned about the container 12 and maintained thereon by the cables 72 and 74.

As in the other forms of my invention, the front end 16 and the rear end 18 of the container 10-5 are protected by flotation barriers 31-5 and 33-5.

Further, in this form of the invention a pair of keels 81 and 83 are suspended from the protective barrier 30-5 and such keels may be of the sea anchor type. It will also be recognized by those skilled in the art that only a center keel or a center and two-side keels may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawing, further embodiment of the present invention is illustrated wherein the protective inflatable barriers are mounted in a plurality of discrete rings. In FIGS. 7 and 8, the inflatable barge is generally designated 10-7 and includes the deployable, inflatable, flexible, towable container 12 which may be identical to those illustrated in the previous forms of the invention which container includes an outer skin 14. About the outer skin 14 are a plurality of rings a, b, c, etc., of inflatable protective barriers 30-7. In FIG. 8, it will be seen that each ring a, b, c, etc., is composed of two concentric layers of the barriers 30-7 which may be of identical construction to the inflatable barriers 30 of FIGS. 1 and 2 of the invention.

In assembling this form of the invention, the first layer designated 30-7a is wrapped about the outer surface 14 of the container 12 and secured thereto by cables 80' and then the second layer designated 30-7b is wound about the first layer 30-7a in a staggered configuration such that open spaces between the flotation elements 34-7 are covered by the outer layer 30-7B. Then the outer layer 30-7b is secured in its desired configuration by cables 82. This process is repeated for each of the rows a, b, c, etc., and the rows may be as close as desired, depending on the nature of the intended use of the inflatable barge.

As in the other forms of my invention, the front end 16 and the rear end 18 of the container are protected by flotation barriers 31-7 and 33-7 and one or more keels 80 are suspended from the cables attaching units 30-7 to the container.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the present invention provides a very simple, but highly effective means for rendering prior art conventional and highly vulnerable inflatable containers susceptible of meeting present day standards of safety.

It will also be recognized by those skilled in the art that various other configurations may be employed without departing from the scope of the present invention.