EP0712457A1

EP0712457A1 - Device for recovering pollutants spilled on water or on the ground

Info

Publication number: EP0712457A1
Application number: EP95919480A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jean Armand Louis Bronnec
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1994-05-06
Filing date: 1995-05-05
Publication date: 1996-05-22
Anticipated expiration: 2015-05-05
Also published as: FR2719610A1; EP0712457B1; WO1995030798A1; US5647975A; DE69521970D1; FR2719610B1

Abstract

An apparatus for recovering floating materials, comprising a compartment (22) with a sill (20) for receiving the material to be recovered and a system for emptying said compartment, said sill (20) forming or comprising at least one clean float at least partially immersed in the recovery compartment (22). Said apparatus is remarkable in that said sill (20) is connected to at least one float (23) borne by the body of water outside said compartment (22) so that it is sensitive both to changes of the level in the compartment and to the relative movement of the body of water outside. The connection between the sill (20) and the outside float (23) is advantageously provided by an assembly enabling relative motion between said sill and said outside float (23).

Description

Device for recovering polluting products spilled on water or on the ground.

The invention relates to a device for recovering pollutants spilled on water or on the ground, such as, for example, hydrocarbons at sea or on beaches.

To treat pollutants on water only, document EP-A-0005 411 describes a device the characteristic of which is to separate settling tanks carried by a boat, from a so-called "skimming" apparatus.

Such a skimming device comprises a weir threshold compartment intended to receive the material to be recovered and a system for emptying said compartment, while the weir threshold forms or comprises at least one clean float submerged at least partially in the recovery compartment , said threshold being already known and called "floating threshold".

When the skimming device has significant dimensions, or if it forms one body with a support of the storage tank, of the type for example boat or barge, which is in particular compulsory if the device for emptying is of the noria type, such a device is very insensitive to agitation or ripples (such as swell or chop) of the water, which is a major drawback since there is no adaptation accordingly of the threshold -floating.

Document FR-A-2 200859 also describes a device intended for its part to dampen the movement of waves.

The inventor has designed an apparatus, one of the aims of which is to maintain the overflow threshold of the recovery compartment at a substantially constant level of immersion, whatever the movements of the body of water. To achieve this, the apparatus according to the invention, of the aforementioned type with floating threshold, is remarkable in that said threshold is connected to at least one float carried by the water body external to said compartment, so as to be sensitive both to variations in levels in the compartment and to the relative movements of the outside water level.

Such an arrangement is in fact not known from the abovementioned devices. Advantageously, the connection between the threshold and the external float is ensured by means which allow relative movement between said threshold and said external float.

Preferably, the recovery compartment is delimited by the threshold which is in the form of a transverse float, a bottom and lateral cheeks, said bottom and the threshold being interconnected by a deformable partition.

There is also known a drainage system which comprises a continuous flexible inclined belt, mounted endlessly between at least two drums, at least one of which is motor, and carrying a plurality of flexible transverse lamellae which move in a adjusted manner in a tunnel formed by two vertical flat cheeks and an inclined bottom, which is extended at its lower part by cheeks and a bottom delimi¬ as with the threshold the recovery compartment. Known systems of this type, due to the fact that the lamellae must enter the water perpendicular to the surface and that they generally have a "donkey back" boss at this location, require that said lamel¬ be mounted tangentially to the carpet, which results in repeated work and curvature of the slats which wear out quickly. However, the invention makes it possible to design a device provided with such an emptying system but which is remarkable in that the recovery compartment reserves between the threshold and the slats a space such that the outer edges of said slats cannot touch said threshold. , the slats making, at rest, with the plane of the carpet, an angle close to 90 degrees.

In addition, floating pollution, in particular oil pollution, is concentrated most of the time on the beaches where they are stranded in large quantities and existing devices cannot operate when the depth is less than their draft. water, and a fortiori when the pollutants have failed on land, which then means using special and often expensive land equipment.

On the contrary, a device according to the invention, equipped with an emptying system of the aforementioned type, can allow this double function and for this purpose, an embodiment is remarkable in that its lower part is removable along the '' a separation line and replaceable by an interchangeable assembly which is open to its lower part to allow the flexible strips to protrude slightly, and which is provided with wheels allowing it to move on the ground, while flexible strips or scraping blades are provided so as to use the device for recovering materials spread or washed up on the ground.

For a device carried by a floating support comprising a storage tank, it is also necessary to maintain as constant as possible, the average immersion of the entry threshold and therefore the draft of the support. It has already been imagined means of continuously evacuating the storage tank, based for example on the principle of communicating vessels, but it is clear that other factors intervene on the draft, such as for example boardings, landings, movement of personnel and / or equipment, etc. An original mode according to the invention is remarkable in that the floating support is provided with a device for automatically maintaining a substantially constant draft, comprising means sensitive to the external water level, mounted so as to act on a device for controlling a pump arranged to evacuate the contents of said storage tank to the outside in an amount necessary to maintain a constant relative position of the outside water level relative to the floating support.

According to a non-compulsory embodiment, the means sensi¬ ble at the outside water level comprises at least one float which floats on this outside water body.

In general, for a complete device, it can be mounted on a support that is both floating and rolling of the amphibious type.

The invention will be clearly understood on reading the description which follows of embodiments given by way of nonlimiting example, and which refers to the appended drawings, in which:

FIG. 1a is a vertical section and FIG. 1b a plan view of the assembly of recovery equipment according to the invention in its "floating" configuration,

- Figure 2a shows in vertical section and Figure 2b in perspective, the detail of the lower part of the noria type lifting system around its mouth, with its entry threshold with double buoyancy, in "floating" configuration,

FIGS. 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d show schematically that this same lower part in several cases of position of the floating threshold,

FIG. 4 represents another embodiment of the double buoyancy floating threshold,

FIG. 5 is a section through the hull of the floating support in the area of the draft control device,

Figure 6a shows in vertical section and Figure 6b in perspective, the mouth in its configuration "lands-

- Figure 7a is a vertical section and Figure 7b a plan view of the entire equipment in its "amphibious" configuration.

All of the pollution recovery equipment shown in FIGS. 1 a and 1 b comprises a floating support 1 of the boat type carrying a power unit 2, composed for example of a heat engine which drives a hydraulic power station. It also carries a sealed reservoir 3 on its vertical walls and on the bottom but open on top, which contains the recovered pollutant 9, floating on water. Finally, this floating support also carries a lifting device 4 for fluids, of the noria type, with flexible lamellae, intended to serve as an emptying system, and which has a mouth 5 at the lower part, located in the vicinity of the floating surface 6 , and in the upper part a pouring spout 7 which opens onto the top of the reservoir. See a sealed well 8 passes through the hull in the vicinity of the elevator, and contains a float 10 acting on a device 11, of the type hydraulic distributor for example, which controls the movement of the hydraulic motor of a pump 12, placed in the bottom of the tank 3. This pump is provided with a flexible delivery pipe 13, the discharge end of which can be directed to any point outside of the hull and in particular in the area of the water body located immediately upstream of the mouth 5. The flexible lamella lift is equipped in front of the mouth 5 with a set of two articulated arms 14, preferably floating, arranged flush with the water in the shape of a "V". This elevator is moreover articulated with respect to the floating support thanks to an axis 15 around which a hydraulic cylinder 16 allows it to move in rotation and to take various positions. This hydraulic cylinder is provided with a device making it possible, once it has been brought to a given position, to give it if necessary a degree of freedom allowing its upper end, therefore the entire elevator, to oscillate freely around this position. This can be obtained in a known manner by releasing one of the end axes of the jack which can then slide in an ovalized space, or even by using a hydraulic distributor capable of putting the two compartments of the jack in free communication located on each side of its piston. The lift 4 of the noria type with flexible lamellae is shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b. Its upper part of known type, with its spout 7 and its drive motor 32, is mentioned here for the record.

Its lower part or mouth has an assembly consisting of two vertical cheeks 17 and a horizontal bottom 18, which carries on the upstream side, that is to say on the left in the drawing, a movable and deformable partition 19 produced here under shape of an articulated bellows, with tight hinges, for example made of flexible plastic. This partition is linked to a floating body, or float 20, of substantially cylindrical or parallelepiped shape with horizontal generatrices, which can move vertically between the two cheeks 17, jointly with the deformation of the bellows 19.

The upper part of the float is maintained in the vicinity of the body of water, as described below, and therefore plays the role of weir threshold. This weir threshold according to the invention can be a member different from the float itself on the condition of being rigidly linked to it in all of its vertical movements. The combination of these two bodies in one represented here, is only a simplification of realization and one can speak in this case of "threshold-float" tor.

At their ends, the float threshold 20 and the partition 19 are adjusted with gentle friction inside the cheeks 17 which are of planar shape, so as to achieve a quasi-sealing and at the very least a possibility of fluid leaks. extremely weak between the bulkhead-float assembly and the cheeks. These cheeks 17, the bottom 18 and the bellows partition 19 delimit a compartment 22. Outside the cheeks 17 and arranged in a substantially symmetrical manner relative to the longitudinal median plane of the elevator, two floats 23 resting on the body of water, outside the device, and free to move vertically while being guided between two slides 24. These floats 23, whose total volume is significantly greater than that of float 20, are connected to that -this by two bars 25 each provided with a transverse axis which spans the cheeks 17 from above, and are guided by the slides 24. The connection by the bars 25 between the float 20 and the floats 23 is carried out in such a way and with a clearance such that the float 20 has the possibility of oscillating vertically over a small amplitude, independently of the movements of the floats 23, while being slaved to the movements of these floats beyond this low am fullness, as will be explained later.

In a known manner, the elevator 4, of the noria type, uses a flexible rotating carpet 26 which moves in the direction of the arrow 27. In its rising, therefore lower, part 26 this carpet is adjusted on its lateral sides with gentle friction between two cheeks 29 which extend the cheeks 17 over the entire length of the elevator to the pouring spout 7. The assembly formed by the bottom 21 and the cheeks 29 tightly connected constitutes a tunnel or chute which has inside a section in the shape of a "U" with sharp angles, constant along the length of the elevator. The lower part of this trough is curved until it is sealed with the bottom 18. The space between the cheeks 29 may be different from that which exists between the cheeks 17.

The whole of the mouth including the compartment 22 with its different organs as well as the lower part of the chute 21, 29 is preferably made so as to be removable in one piece, with, for example, a separation line or cut 50 with edges adjusted in leaktight fashion, the fixing of this mouth being made at this cut, by example with quick couplers of the “latches” type 51.

The mat 26 is stretched between two rotating cylindrical drums, a lower drum 30 and an upper drum 31, one of which, for example the upper, carries a drive motor 32, for example hydraulic. This carpet 26, in its rising part, that is to say its lower strand, is guided on the inner face by pressing on a slide 35. It further carries a series of pallets or rectangular lamel¬ 33 of flexible material , fixed on the outer face of the mat 26, in a sealed manner, for example by means of rigid angles 34 held by screws, and adjusted on their extreme edges with gentle friction with respect to the cheeks 17 and 29 which are in the same plan.

These strips 33 are remarkable in that they make, with the plane of the carpet, an angle of the order of 90 °, and that they are slightly longer than the height reserved between the slide 35 and the bottom of the chute 21, 29, which means that they bend slightly when entering this chute and resume their flat shape when the spout 7 passes.

In addition, the dimensions of the compartment 22 are such that the float 20 and the passage of the outer edges of the strips 33, there is reserved a space such that the strips cannot touch or even touch the threshold float 20.

The operation is as follows: the fluids present in compartment 22 are trapped between each of the lamellae which pass there and the walls 17 and 18 of compartment 22 first, then the walls of the chute 21, 29, and transported to the spout pourer 7 from which they fall into the reservoir 3. Note that the counter-currents which may exist under the lamellae before their edge touches the bottom 18 have no reflux effect here on the products recovered since they do not 'only affect the interior of compartment 22. The gentle friction produced between three of the faces of each of the lamellae and the rigid walls which guide them, maintains a seal in each of the intervals between lamellae, such that these intervals include as many close elevating buckets, constituting a noria, and creating a continuous withdrawal of fluid in the compartment 22.

We see that the passage of the slats in the compartment 22, without touching or even touching the float threshold 20, can not produce any rupture of the pollutant film which passes above this threshold.

Finally, the flexible strips being at their base substantially perpendicular to the support mat 26, they are only caused to bend slightly in the chute 21, 29, at an angle of the order of 45 °, causing only one deformation and therefore very limited fatigue of the material which constitutes them.

The diagrams in FIGS. 3a to 3d make it possible to understand the operation of the recuperator according to the invention for its part located in the vicinity of the mouth. In order to make the explanations below clearer, these schematic representations 3a to 3d adopt the following simplifications:

- The lower part of the noria, with its drum and its flexible lamel¬, is not shown and it can be noted in this connection that in the following, which relates to the operation of the part shown in the figures 3, the emptying system only intervenes by its flow rate and can therefore be of any type, other than the noria with flexible strips; - For easier understanding, the two external floats 23 are shown in said diagrams 3a to 3d, by a single float arranged opposite the float 20, therefore to its right in the diagrams, while the floats 23 are in reality on the coast; - In addition, compartment 22 is only shown partially and cut by a line of vertical dashes. Finally, the bar 25 is shown in a plane perpendicular to that which it occupies in practice. In diagrams 3a to 3d, we find the following elements described in FIGS. 1a, 1b and 2a, 2b: the external buoyancy surface 6, the compartment 22, the float threshold 20, the bulkhead bellows 19, the cheek 17, the bar 25, the float 23, the vertical guide glissiè¬ res 24. In addition, the connection between the float 20 and the float 23 is shown there in more detail, although schematically. This connection comprises an axis 36 fixed at the end of the bar 25 and free to move vertically in an open light in a vertical extension 37 of the float 23, between the limits of a high stop 38 and a low stop 39. This maximum vertical displacement is characterized by a stroke 40. Finally, in these diagrams, the floating pollutant layer 41 has been shown. FIG. 3a represents the mouth in its normal position of immersion on a body of calm water and before putting in in movement of the noria or any other pumping system in compartment 22. This compartment 22 is therefore normally filled to the maximum, that is to say at the level of the external water body, by the play of inevitable slight leaks at the ends of the float 20 and the bellows 19.

Under these conditions, the upper level of the float threshold 20 is such that the floating pollutant cannot pass over it. The adjustment by construction of the relative position of the floats 20 and 23 is carried out in such a way that under these conditions the axis 36 touches the bottom stop 39.

From this position, the operation is as follows. As soon as the pump is pumped into compartment 22, the level of the liquid that it contains drops, causing float 20 to descend when it descends, which slightly deforms the bellows 19 and releases at its upper part a space through which the layer of pollutant floating 41 flows towards compartment 22 as it appears in FIG. 3b representative of what happens at the start of this phase, that is to say that there is still a little water at the bottom of compartment 22. The drop in level in compartment 22, and therefore the thickness of layer 41 which can pass over threshold 20, are all the more important as the pumping regime is itself important. It is therefore possible, by simple action on this pumping regime, to adapt the level of the threshold to the thickness of the layer of pollutant encountered, in order to recover the maximum thereof without however allowing excessive amounts of water to enter. This is the known operation of all recuperators of the downstream floating weir threshold type. The maximum stroke 40 is relatively small, of the order of 2 to 4 centimeters for example, this which corresponds to the maximum thicknesses of the usual layers of floating pollutants such as hydrocarbons.

The invention is remarkable on this point in that this vertical displacement of the float threshold 20 is free within the limits of this clearance 40 between the stops 38 and 39 but is also linked to the movements of the floats 23, being therefore subject to a double enslavement.

If the float 20 is urged to descend beyond the position of FIG. 3b which corresponds to the contact of the pin 36 with the upper stop 39, as a result of a possible further drop in level in the compartment 22, it does not can do this because it is retained by the buoyancy of the float 23 on the external water body. This buoyancy, taking into account the much larger dimensions of the float 23, is such that the loss of buoyancy of the float 20 only results for the float 23, by a negligible additional depression.

If, from the configuration of FIG. 3b, the level 6 is raised, for example by the passage of an undulation towards the top of the water body, such as swell, chop or relative oscillation of the floating support, the float 23 will follow this level and raise, by pressing up the axis 36 on the upper stop 38, the extension 37 and therefore the float threshold 20, which instantly takes the position shown in Figure 3c. Under these conditions, the passage of the corrugation does not cause any increase in the possible passage height above the threshold 20. There is therefore no overflow from the outside towards the compartment 22, which would have happened if 'It was necessary to wait for the rise of the float threshold 20 under the effect of filling the compartment 22, the time necessary for this filling allowing a large unnecessary entry of water. The assembly is then in the configuration of FIG. 3c. We can get an idea of the overflow avoided if we know that the amplitude of such an undulation, in relative value, therefore compared to the floating support, is commonly of the order of ten centimeters, even more, therefore without common measure with the normal height of passage above the threshold, which goes from a few millimeters to a maximum of 3 to 4 centimeters. The bellows 19 is by construction capable of deformation compatible with the amplitude of these undulations. If instead of starting, as we did, from configuration 3b, we had started from an intermediate position, between that of Figure 3b and that of Figure 3a, the operation would have been identical after catching up with the existing play between the axis 36 and the upper stop 38. This catch-up corresponds to a slight increase in the passage height which is in any case incommensurate with the overflow avoided.

In the opposite case where, starting from the configuration 3b for example, the level 6 is lowered by the passage of a hollow undulation of the body of water, as in FIG. 3d, the float 23 descends, d 'first freely until a play equal to the stroke 40 is taken up, then drives the float threshold 20 downward, which sinks further into the compartment 22, its low buoyancy not being able to oppose at the downward force of the float 23, traversed by pressing the pin 36 on the bottom stop 39. The upper level of the float threshold 20 is therefore forced to follow down the movement of the float 23, c 'that is to say that of the water level 6. This avoids the break in passage above the threshold which would have occurred if the float threshold had only been linked to the level of fluid in compartment 22. In this case, it would have been necessary to wait for this level to drop as a result of the pumping flow rate on the one hand, and the absence of arrival of fluid above threshold on the other hand, so that the float threshold is lowered. This lowering would therefore have been done out of time compared to the passage of the hollow ripple. As such a ripple is generally followed by an upward ripple, the overflow reported above would have been further accentuated.

Starting from an intermediate configuration between that of FIG. 3b and that of FIG. 3a, the operation would be identical after taking up the play existing at the start between the axis 36 and the low stop 39, play then less than the stroke 40.

The invention therefore has the particular effect of keeping the height of passage of the fluid substantially constant above the threshold and of making it adapt automatically to variations in pumping rate, by variation of speed of the noria by example, this constancy and this adaptation not being affected by the relative vertical movements of the body of water with respect to this noria. This provision applies moreover to all pumping systems other than a noria and in general, to all emptying systems.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the mouth of the noria in an embodiment of the double-float threshold-float, where the movements in vertical translation of this threshold-float 20, as shown in the figures 3, are replaced by rotational movements, also substantially vertical.

In this case, the role of the deformable wall of the bellows 19 is played by a flap 64 adjusted with gentle friction at its ends inside the cheeks 17, linked to the bottom 18 by means of a flexible flexible blade 65, and which can move by rotation around two axes 66 to which it is linked by two arms 67. The flap 64 is fixed over the entire length and in a sealed manner to the float threshold 20 whose movements therefore follow the same rotation symbolized by the arrow 68.

Note that, the axis of rotation 66 being in the vicinity of the horizontal of the top of the float threshold 20 in the middle position, this top moves substantially vertically.

The connection between the float threshold 20 and the floats 23 is here ensured by means of the axis 66 which crosses the cheek 17 and on which are embedded, on the one hand, inside, the arm 67, and on the other apart, on the outside, an arm 69, so that the rotation of one of these two arms necessarily tends to cause the rotation of the other. This arm 69 has at its end a light in which a pin 36 can be moved which is integral with the float 23, between two bu¬ tees, one high 38, the other low 39.

It is understood that the operation is identical to what has been described above, the vertical movements of the floats 23 reacting in the same way on the level of the float 20, and the latter having the same freedom of vertical oscillations of small amplitude.

Figure 5 is a section of the floating support 1 in its front part, enlarged with respect to the representation of Figure la, so as to show the details. We find there the elevator 4, of the noria type, represented here for the record by a simple silhouette, with its pouring spout 7, the pollutant storage tank 3, the waterproof well 8 in communication with the ambient water by its lower opening. , float 10, hydraulic distributor 11, pump 12, the flexible delivery pipe 13, the articulated floating arms 14, the axis of rotation 15 and the hydraulic cylinder 16.

The invention is remarkable on this point in that the hydraulic distributor 11 is linked, for example, by a rigid rod 42 to the movements of the float 10, so that the rise of this float controls the hydraulic supply of the motor 43 of the pump 12 by the flexible piping 44 and starts this pump, and reciprocally, the descent of the float 10 controls the stop.

To operate, the tank 3 being a decantation capacity, it is necessary to fill it with water from the start of a recovery operation. This operation can be easily carried out using the pump 12 for example.

Note that such a pump is normal complementary equipment to the main equipment, as a means of emptying and transferring the contents of the reservoir 3. This pump has flexible pipes and can therefore be moved. In particular, it is easy, by hand or using a loading mast, to dip it in the water surrounding the floating support while the free end of its flexible delivery pipe 13 is then placed at the -above the tank 3. The pump 12 is started by manually raising the control lever 46 of the hydraulic distributor 11. We thus fill the tank with water and we only stop at a level higher than that which will be kept during the operation. The filling causes the floating support to sink, that is to say an increase in its draft. The pump 12 is then put back on the bottom of the tank and the free end of its flexible pipe 13 outwards, in the positions shown in FIG. 5, then the manual action on the lever 46 which is not more linked than to the position of the float 10 via the rod 42. This float is then sufficiently submerged to push up the rod 42 and therefore the lever 46, which keeps the pump 12 running and this until the content of the tank is sufficiently lightened, and therefore the draft reduced, so that the float 10 no longer receives upward thrust, and therefore no longer actuates the distributor 11.

At this time, it suffices to act on the control of the hydraulic cylinder 16 to rotate the elevator 4 around the following axis 15 one of the arrows 45 and bring the level of the mouth 5 into a position chosen with respect to the level of the outside body of water, for example the position of FIG. 3a. The noria is then started up, which, thanks to the operation of the threshold described above, sends pollutant accompanied by a little water into the reservoir 3. The pollutant 9 remains at the top and the water settles down but the increase in total weight of the contents of the reservoir 3 causes a slight penetration of the floating support, and at the same time of the float 10 which acts immediately as previously to start the pump, which therefore evacuates water up to 'back to the previous draft. The same operation takes place automatically each time the tank charge, or any charge variation of any kind, tends to increase the depression of the floating support 1, and therefore of the mouth 5. In particular, during any the loading of the reservoir resulting from the recovery operations, this depression is kept automatically constant, and the same is therefore true of the position, relative to the mean level of the water level, of the mouth 5. When the pollutant 9 fills tank 3 to the bottom, this pollutant can pass into the pump. It then appears at the end of the pipe 13, thereby giving the signal to stop the recovery operation. By relative adjustment of the position of the rod 42 and the end of the lever 46, for example using a removable pin 47 and a series of holes 48 at the end of the rod 42, it is possible to determine at will selected stabilized draft, which correspond to different choices of tank load. The level of the mouthpiece 5 is adapted each time using the jack 16.

This characteristic of the invention therefore has the effect of maintaining at a selected and constant average immersion the inlet threshold of the recuperator whatever the load variations of the floating support, independently of the origin of these load variations .

The above involves equipment and controls of the hydraulic type, which correspond to the example chosen in FIG. 1, a power unit 2 composed of a heat engine and a hydraulic power station, which can result in this case also the engine of the propeller propeller represented at 49 in FIG. 1. It is obvious that without departing from the scope of the invention the energy transmission means, both for these functions and for those mentioned below, may be different, for example compressed air or electricity. In this case, the motors of the elevator, the pump and the propeller are of the same type, that is to say respectively pneumatic and electric. The hydraulic distributor 11 then becomes, depending on the case, either a pneumatic distributor or an electrical contactor. In the latter case, the float 10 may not be necessary and may be replaced by a known type of relay contactor operating in contact with water by passage of the current in this water and interruption as soon as the relative level drops. Likewise, the free end of the flexible pipe 13 is arranged in FIG. 1 and in FIG. 5 upstream from the mouth 5. This position is not compulsory and simply corresponds to the possibility of guarding against an inadvertent discharge of pollutant (at the end of filling of the reservoir 3 when the pollutant reaches the bottom) towards an area of the water body where its presence is not desirable.

Figures 6 show in longitudinal section (Figure 6a) and in perspective view (Figure 6b), the mouth of the noria suitable for the recovery of pollution polluted, or in the process of being grounded, on beaches, or even simply liquid or semi-liquid pollution spread on the ground, on roads for example. This figure shows a different embodiment of the lower part of the noria, which is otherwise identical to the previous one. Special complete equipment can be made, but it may be preferable for this lower part to be an interchangeable accessory mounted on the same basic equipment. It is therefore possible to dismantle, as described above, the assembly or mouthpiece comprising the compartment 22 with its different members and the lower part of the chute 21, 29, and replace it with the interchangeable mouthpiece of FIG. 6. This mouthpiece, also tightly adjusted to the chute 21, 29 at the cutout 50 and fixed to this chute by quick couplers 51, comprises two cheeks 52, a bottom 53, and two wheels 54. The cheeks 52 are finished at their lower part by blades 60 made of a sheet of flexible material, which extends to the rear of the entry edge 55 of the bottom 53. Along this edge, is fixed tangentially a flexible transverse strip 56 length equal to the width of the bottom 53. Furthermore, the fulcrum of the wheels 54 on the ground is preferably close to the vertical of the axis of rotation of the drum 30, the diameter of these wheels being such that the strips 33 which touch the ground in the vicinity of this fulcrum naturally take a curvature similar to that which they have in the trough 21, 29.

A transverse bar 58 for example, makes it possible to give this interchangeable mouthpiece sufficient rigidity. In addition, the cheeks 52 can be extended forwards, that is to say to the left of FIG. 6, by two symmetrical "V" arms 59, whether or not removable, provided at their base with flexible blades 61 similar to blades 60.

The invention is remarkable on this point by the fact that the recovery elevator on the water is capable of easily receiving a mouth open at the bottom and comprising scraping elements with flexible blades.

The operation in use of the elevator on the ground is as follows. After the interchangeable mouthpiece of FIG. 6 has been put in place, the noria type elevator is brought, by control of the hydraulic cylinder 16, to a position such that its wheels 54 are slightly above the ground. At this time, the elevator is released from its connection to the jack 16, as it was previously exposed, and therefore comes to rest on the ground in its lower part by means of said wheels 54. The drum 30 and therefore the belt 32 being set in movement in the direction of arrow 27, the strips 33 bend and "scrape" the ground. By advancing the assembly of the elevator to the left of FIG. 6 by a rolling support for example, the assembly goes to meet the pollutants which are "swallowed" and pushed by the strips 33 towards the bottom 53 and the chute 21, 29 along which they go up to the pouring spout 7. The flexible strips 56 prevent these products from escaping from the rear and the blades 60 from escaping from the sides. These products, often viscous hydrocarbons, are therefore scraped off the ground and recovered continuously. The freedom of vertical oscillation and the support on the elevator wheels in the vicinity of the scraping zone means that the strips 33 follow exactly any unevenness in the ground, for example wet sand at low tide. Use in addition to the arms 17

such as 59 with their flexible blades 61 makes it possible to sweep a greater width of soil, the forward movement of the canali¬ sant assembly and concentrating the polluting products towards the space situated between the two cheeks 52. It can be seen that such an arrangement allows, by simple change of a removable mouthpiece and also using the same device as for floating pollution, to recover pollutants stranded, or in the process of being stranded, on beaches, or products spread on the ground on substantially flat surfaces. FIG. 7a represents in longitudinal section and FIG. 7b in top view, a floating support 1 of the type of that of FIG. 1 with its various components, and in particular the elevator 4, of the noria type, which can receive either l '' mouth for floating recovery, or the mouth for scraping the ground, as described above. In addition, this floating support 1 has been made capable of moving on the ground. For this, it is provided with two sets of wheels, one at the rear 62, the other at the front 63. In the example of FIG. 7, the front set of wheels is limited to a single wheel and directional. In the case of a support equipped with a hydraulic power unit, the wheels can be, for example, provided with individual hydraulic motors 70 and 71. The steering operation of the front axle can also be ensured in this case by a jack. hydraulic 72. The wheels, thanks to hydraulic cylinders 73 and 74, can be eclipsed in the hull in order to improve the hydrodynamics when it floats. These same jacks 72 and 73 allow the wheelsets to come out in order to move on the ground.

The invention is remarkable on this point by the implementation of the recovery means described above, from a single amphibious support capable of moving indifferently on the water and on the ground.

With the equipment according to the invention, to go from recovery on the water to recovery on the beach, it suffices to move the floating support on its wheels. We then continue the work of recovering pollutants in the area where the shallow depth no longer allows us to float. The float threshold mouthpiece can be used as long as this depth is still sufficient to allow the floats to float 23. Then, in the area where the waves, or the tide, have deposited the pollutants on the sand, a simple exchange of mouth makes it possible to continue the cleaning and recovery work normally and without interruption. . It suffices to put the noria type elevator in the low position thanks to the hydraulic cylinder 16. In this latter configuration, the equipment can also recover the liquid or viscous products spread on relatively flat soils such as that of a road by example.

Claims

1) Apparatus for recovering floating materials comprising a compartment (22) with overflow threshold (20) intended to receive the material to be recovered and a system for emptying said compartment, while the overflow threshold (20) forms or comprises at least one float clean submerged at least partially in the recovery compartment (22), characterized in that said threshold (20) is connected to at least one float (23) carried by the body of water external to said compartment, so as to be sensitive both to variations in levels in the compartment and to the relative movements of the external water level.

2) Apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the connection between the threshold (20) and the external float (23), is provided by means which allow relative movement between said threshold and said external float (23).

3) Apparatus according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the recovery compartment (22) is delimited by the threshold (20) which is in the form of a transverse float, a bottom (18) and side cheeks (17), said bottom and the threshold being interconnected by a deformable partition (19,64).

4) recovery apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 3, the emptying system comprises a flexible continuous belt (26) inclined, endlessly mounted between at least two drums (30,31) of which at least one is motor and carrying a plurality of flexible transverse lamellae (33) which move in an adjusted fashion in a tunnel formed by two vertical flat cheeks (29) and an inclined bottom (21), which is extended in its lower part by cheeks (17) and a bottom (18) delimiting with the threshold (20) the recovery compartment (22), characterized in that the latter reserves between the threshold (20) and the slats (33) a space such as the outer edges said strips cannot touch said threshold (20).

5) recovery apparatus according to claim 4, caracté¬ ized in that the strips (33) make, at rest, with the plane of the mat (26) an angle close to 90 degrees.

6) Apparatus according to one of claims 4 and 5, characterized in that its lower part is removable along a separation line (50) and replaceable by an interchangeable assembly which is open at its lower part to allow the flexible blades (33) to protrude slightly, and which is provided with wheels (54) allowing it to move on the ground, while flexible scraper blades or blades (56,60) are provided so as to use the device for the recovery of materials spilled or stranded on the ground.

7) Apparatus according to one of claims 1 to 6, carried by a floating support (1) comprising a storage tank (3), caracté¬ ized in that this floating support is provided with a device for automatic main¬ of a substantially constant draft, comprising means sensitive to the external water level, mounted so as to act on a control device of a pump (12) arranged to evacuate the contents of said reservoir to the outside. storage (3) in quantity necessary to maintain a constant relative position of the external water level relative to the floating support (1). 8) Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that the means sensitive to the external water level comprises at least one float (10) which floats on this external body of water.

9) Apparatus for recovering floating materials or soil repans according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that it is mounted on a support that is both floating and rolling of the amphibious type.