GB1273858A - Apparatus for surveying stretches of water from a travelling water craft - Google Patents

Abstract

1,273,858. Echo-sounding. FRIED KRUPP G.m.b.H. 4 Sept., 1970 [5 Sept., 1969], No. 42494/70. Heading H4D. A device for surveying stretches of water from a water vessel comprising measurement of the depth by echo-sounding and the position of the measuring point along a line of survey wherein the measuring point is displaceable in the direction of survey over the whole extent of the water vessel and beyond. In a system for recording the profile of a river bed from bank to bank, an ultrasonic echo-sounder is mounted at a measuring point 3 on a rail 2, fixed in front of a boat 1 which crosses the river transversely. The echosounder is moved along the rail such that as the boat 1 moves a distance A the echo-sounder moves S. The distance s which the echosounder has moved is measured by (1) a measuring cord fixed to one bank and the measuring point 3 (Fig. 6, not shown) (ii) by horizontal echo-sounding, (iii) by a radio receiver on the boat which measures the signal amplitude received from a beacon fixed on the bank. The depth and displacement are continuously plotted on an echograph to produce the profile. In an alternative embodiment the rail is mounted alongside the boat and the ship crosses the river in its longitudinal direction (Fig. 1, not shown). In a catamaran (Fig. 3, not shown) the rail is mounted between the twin hulls. The rail may be mounted on jibs enabling it to be swung into a restposition when away from the survey site. In a further embodiment the echo-sounder is located on the end of a beam which swings from side-to-side (Fig. 4, not shown). In a further embodiment the single movable echosounder is replaced by a number of separate elements which are switched to move the effective measuring point (Fig. 5, not shown).