Ships – Towing or pushing
Patent
1983-05-10
1985-11-12
Barefoot, Galen L.
Ships
Towing or pushing
114245, 114253, B63B 2116
Patent
active
045520860
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an arrangement which serves to facilitate the launching of and taking aboard surface referenced systems. A primary use of the arrangement according to the invention is with floats adapted to carry air guns for marine seismic prospection.
Even though this arrangement has been particularly developed for seismic uses, it is near at hand to assume that it may also be used in other fields, for example within offshore oil activity and in the fisheries.
More particularly this invention is directed to a float arrangement adapted to be launched in water and to be retracted, respectively, by means of a hoist, the float being adapted to carry at least one submersible body suspended from the float by means of a wire.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A practical form of such a float having a number of submersible bodies in the form of air guns is described in European Patent Application No. EPC 81.902753.3.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
What is novel and specific to the arrangement according to the present invention in the first place consists therein that the float is provided with at least one hoisting drum for a hoist wire from the hoist, that, moreover, the float is provided with at least one suspension drum for the suspension wire to the submersible body, that the hoisting drum and the suspension drum are rotationally coupled to each other, and that the wires are arranged in such a way on the drums that the suspension wires are reeled in when the hoist wires are reeled out from the hoisting drums, and vice versa.
In short, the solution stated here involves that submersible bodies for example in the form of air guns, may be hoisted to a position closely underneath the float which then in its turn may be lifted by means of a hoist, for example a telescoping boom on a seismic prospection vessel. The boom may then be retracted onto the deck of the vessel with the float and the air guns without having to pull these onboard over a slipway and further along the deck. This means that the equipment may more easily be lauched and retracted at the same time as reducing to a high degree the stresses imposed upon such equipment when pulled up from the water to the deck via a slipway or the like.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention shall be explained more closely in the following with reference to the drawing, in which:
FIG. 1 schematically shows an arrangement according to the invention in side view, and
FIG. 2 shows a float in the arrangement, seen partly in section from one end and at an enlarged scale.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 shows a bouy or body 10 in the form of an elongated float or the like which has been lowered to the water surface 100 by means of a hoist in the form of a boom 1 having hoisting wires 2 and 3. Besides, in the position shown air guns 11, 12 and 13 have been lowered from the float 10 and are suspended in the positions shown by means of suspension wires 14, 15 and 16. The remaining four air guns with their wires being shown in FIG. 1, correspond completely to the above air guns 11, 12 and 13 and shall not be described in detail in the following.
For the towing of the float with air guns during seismic prospection the wires 2 and 3 are detached from the boom 1 so that the float 10 may be brought into a desired position with respect to the vessel, determined, inter alia, by the length of the towing wire. According to common practice a number of floats with associated air guns may be towed in certain configurations in order to obtain defined sound radiation patterns from the air guns as a whole. At 30 and 40 there are indicated hoses and conduits for supplying compressed air and control signals etc. to the air guns.
On the float 10 there is mounted an axle 4 for example by means of bearing supports 21, 22 and 23 and the complete axle 4 may be sub-divided into two sections 4a and 4b by means of a flexible coupling 19. Such sub-division of the axle into two or more sections may be practical d
REFERENCES:
patent: 1201337 (1916-10-01), O'Neal
patent: 2420072 (1947-05-01), Foote
patent: 3293867 (1966-10-01), Dean
patent: 3402687 (1968-09-01), Tsuji
patent: 3547067 (1970-12-01), Jonkman
patent: 3718207 (1973-02-01), Babb
patent: 3807334 (1974-04-01), Egeberg
patent: 4245578 (1981-01-01), Bianco et al.
Boe Jan
Haugland Tor-Arvid
Kleiven Atle
Selvaer Ole-Kristian
Barefoot Galen L.
Geophysical Company of Norway A/S
Swinehart Edwin L.
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