GB1563531A - Seagoing open hopper unsinkable barge - Google Patents

Description

(54) SEAGOING OPEN HOPPER UNSINKABLE BARGE (71) We, JEFFBOAT, INCORPORATED, a Corpoaration organised and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, United States of America, of 1701 E. Market Street, Jeffersonville, Indiana 47130, United States of America, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to barges and more particularly it relates to unsinkable seagoing barges.

Problems which need be overcome by prior art ocean going barges include both the necessity to maintain efficiency of movement through the water while retaining the ability to withstand heavy seas and the capacity to carry a heavy pay load over long distances in hopper space which is inexpensive to construct, maintain and unload. In general, ocean going barges have had closed-top hoppers to prevent shipping water during heavy seas, and this is expensive construction and introduces prohibitive maintenance and unloading problems. Furthermore, cargo spaces in ocean going barges have ordinarily been compartmented in order to add midship bracing for withstanding heavy seas at the expense of unloading ease.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a seagoing open hopper substantially unsinkable barge for carrying bulk products such as coal, comprising in combination, an outer hull, an unobstructed cargo space defined within the depth, length and width of the barge by an inner hull separated on the bottom, sides and ends from said outer hull by an air space of sufficient volume to float the barge with the cargo space full of water, and a single top access opening, narrower than the cargo space along the length of the cargo space, for loading and unloading said cargo space.

According to a second aspect of the present invention'there is provided a barge con structed with a squared off bow section and a stern section with interlocking structure to receive the bow of a similar barge thereby to constitute a single unit when two such barges are bound together and additional interlocking structure on the centreline of the stern section to alternatively receive the pointed bow of a pusher tug and thereby form a single unit when the tug and barge are bound together.

The invention will now be further described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a top sketch of a center barge interlocked with a stern tug and a bow barge forming a single seagoing unit; Figure 2 is a foreshortened side view of the barge showing bow and stern rake. structure and identifying cargo space by dotted lines: Figure 3 is a section view along lines 3-3 of Figure 2 showing internal trussing across ship: Figure 4 is a similar view of a watertight bulkhead construction; Figure 5 is a section view showing bow rake trussing as seen from lines 5-5 of Figure 1; Figure 6 is a section view through the centerline showing aft rake trussing as seen from lines 6-6 of Figure 1; and Figure 7 is a section view off center similar to Figure 6 through the aft section along lines 7-7 in Figure 1.

The general plan view of Figure 1 shows two barges 10, 11 and a pusher tug 12 interlocked into one seagoing unit. Except for the bow and stern structure of the barges 10, 11 provided by this invention, as hereinafter discussed in more detail the winches and cables binding the separate units together are conventional and are thus not shown. A representative teaching of the prior art in this respect is shown in U.S: Patents 3,820,258 and 3,550,550.

The general construction of barge 10 is characterized by a square bow interlocking configuration 15 and a dual purpose stern interlocking configuration with both a squared stern receptacle interlock section 16 to receive the bow of a similar barge and pointed section 17 to receive the bow of a tug.

The dimensions of the barge are important in establishing seaworthiness and mobility in the water as well as facilitating loading and unloading of cargo. Thus the overall length is 350 feet (106.68 meters), the width is 70 feet (21.34 meters), the widest dimension of the cargo space belowdecks, 18, is 54 feet (16.46 meters), the width of the open top hatch 19 is 37 feet (11.28 meters) and its length is 304 feet (92.66 meters).

As may be seen from the elevation view of Figure 2, and section view of Figure 3, the hopper has a flat bottom 20 of 35 feet (10.67 meters) in width and 260 feet (82.30 meters) in length, a dimension smaller than the open top of the hopper, so that automatic unloading machinery can enter the top and have access to the entire hopper floor. The lower sections of the side walls 21, 22 are converged upwardly as well as end sections 31, 32 to provide a funnel effect helpful in loading and unloading to balance the load and feed it to the bottom center of the barge and to help keep bulk cargo such as coal from shifting to one side if a partially loaded hopper encounters tilting forces, although the low center of gravity and the flat bottom construction does not favor tilting.

The 3-1- foot (1.07 meter) high coaming structure 23 is helpful in ordinary seas to keep waves from breaking into the hopper space. However, in heavy seas the cargo space can become filled with water and the barge will not sink because of the air space volume trapped between the inner and outer hull structures. All the hull structures are constructed of welded steel plate which has representative thickness of -1-'' (1.27 cm) for the hopper floor, i" (.953 cm) for the hopper side walls, 3" (1.90 cm) for the gunwale section. Specific platting thicknesses will be specified hereinafter for local variations.

The height from bottom 24 to gunwale 25 is 31 feet (9.45 meters) and fully loaded (10,000 short tons of coal) draft is approximately 15 feet (4.57 meters). Thus, the amount of frictional underwater hull drag is minimized. To retain a low center of gravity and therefore less tendency to tilt with such a shallow draft, the air space between the hopper bottom plate 20 or inner hull bottom and the outer hull bottom 24 is reduced to a height of two feet (60.96 cm), and the principle buoyancy is maintained at the sides of the cargo hopper. This also is important in maximizing the cargo pay load capacity.

The cross ship trussing as seen in Figure 3 comprises buck frames 33 as shown spaced every 6 feet (1.83 meters) wherein all struts such as 34, braces 44 and diagonals 35 are of angle iron 5 inches by 5 inches by ' (12.7 cm by 12.7 cm by .95 cm) welded into place, and major cross supports 36, 37, 82 and 38 are of U channel iron, respectively 8", 12" and 15" (20.32 cm, 30.48 cm and 38.1 cm). The lower deck I beams 39 are 24;"x5"x38" (60.96 cmX12.7 cmx.95 cm).

As seen from Figure 4, six watertight transverse bulkheads 40 are introduced respectively 50 feet (15.24 meters) from the bow and spaced at 54 feet (16.46 meters) to a sternmost position 30 feet (9.14 meters) from the stern thus falling within the length of the cargo hopper. The bulkhead is of 8- inch (.95 cm) steel plate adequately braced by angle iron members 41 of 7 inches by 4 inches by 9 inch (17.78 cm by 10.16 cm by .95 cm) and flat brace members 42 of 6 inches or 8 inches by -3- inch (15.24 cm or 20.32 cm by .95 cm) dimensions. The upper plate materials 43 may be reduced to 5/16 inch thickness (.79 cm).

The bow undercarriage 45 is raked as is the stern undercarriage 46, and trussed as shown respectively in Figure 5 and Figures 6 and 7.

In the raked bow section the diagonal trusses 50 are 5 inches by 5 inches by {- inch (12.7 cm by 12.7 cm by .95 cm) angle iron. The framework angle iron 51 (both top and bottom) is seven inches by four inches by X inch (17.78 cm by 10.16 cm by .95 cm) and some minor trusses 52 are four inches by four inches by 5/16 inch (10.16 cm by 10.16 cm by .79 cm). The forward gunwale brace 53 is 6 inches by 3-1- inches by /16 inch (15.24 cm by 8.89 cm by .79 cm) angle iron. At the bottom 54 and bowsprit 55 a W inch (.95 cm) flange is provided with 10 inch (25.4 cm) U channel iron on the bowsprit 5 Sand 8 inch (30.32 cm) U channel iron with 5S inch (1.59 cm) flange crossbracing 56.

In the aft section of Figure 6 along the centerline, the tug boat nose entry notch 17 is of steel plate as is the docking notch 60 for a similar barge bow. The lengitudinal braces 61 are six inches by four inches by 5/f inch (15.24 cm by 10.16 cm by .79 cm) angle iron and flat braces 62 are 6 inches by inch (15,24 cm by .95 cm). The aft hopper steel plating 63 and 64 is t inch (.95 cm).

The off center trussing of Figure 7 shows twelve inch (30.48 cm) U channel iron fore stanchion 70 and aft stanchion 71, with angle iron five inches by five inches by i inch (12.7 cm by 12.7 cm by .95 cm) midstanchion 72, with appropriate cross braces 73 etc. of at least four inches by four inches by 5/,, inch angle iron (10.16 cm by 10.16 cm by .79 cm).

The coaming 23 best seen from Figure 3 is capped 80 by a twelve inch (30.48 cm) U channel iron member with i inch (.95 cm) steel plate side walls and is supplied with inch (.95 cm) cross plate braces 88 on six foot (1,83 meter) centers.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A seagoing open hopper substantially unsinkable barge for carrying bulk products such as coal, comprising in combination, an outer hull, an unobstructed cargo space defined within the depth, length and width of the barge by an inner hull separated on the bottom, sides and ends from said outer hull by an air space of sufficient volume to float the barge with the cargo space full of water, and a single top access opening, narrower than the cargo space along the length of the cargo space, for loading and unloading said cargo space.

2. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 with a gunwale structure surrounding said top opening on all sides between said opening and outer hull and extending outwardly from the access opening a distance greater than about 25% of the width of the access opening.

3. A barge as claimed in Claim 2 with coaming about said top access opening extending upwardly a distance in the order of one meter.

4. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 having outside dimensions of the order of 100 meters in length, 10 meters in height and 23 meters in width.

5. A barge as claimed in Claim 2 having a cargo hopper of a capacity of the order of 10,000 short tons and a draft under full load in the order of 5 meters.

6. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 having fore and aft raked outer hull construction.

7. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 with a flat bottom cargo space, having upwardly converging side walls sloping toward said bottom wherein said top access opening is larger than said flat bottom to thereby facilitate unloading through said top opening.

8. A barge as claimed in Claim 2 wherein said inner and outer hulls and said gunwale are of welded steel plates braced with trusses all of which are confined to the space between said hulls.

9. A barge as claimed in Claim 2 with a flat bottom cargo space having upwardly converging side walls extending therefrom with a spacing between said inner and outer hulls at said flat bottom portion being in the order of less than one meter to thereby provide a low center of gravity.

10. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 having a substantially squared off bow section terminating in a taper and adopted to interlock in the stern of a further barge.

11. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 having a substantially squared off bow section and a stern section with interlocking structure to receive the bow of a similar barge thereby to constitute a single seagoing unit when two such barges are bound together.

12. A barge as claimed in Claim 11 having additional interlocking structure in the stern section to receive the pointed bow of a pusher tug and therewith form a single seagoing unit when the tug and barge are bound together.

13. A barge constructed with a squared off bow section and a stern section with interlocking structure to receive the bow of a similar barge thereby to constitute a single unit when two such barges are bound together and additional interlocking structure on the centerline of the stern section to alternatively receive the pointed bow of a pusher tug and thereby form a single unit when the tug and barge are bound together.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (13)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. inch (.95 cm) cross plate braces 88 on six foot (1,83 meter) centers. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A seagoing open hopper substantially unsinkable barge for carrying bulk products such as coal, comprising in combination, an outer hull, an unobstructed cargo space defined within the depth, length and width of the barge by an inner hull separated on the bottom, sides and ends from said outer hull by an air space of sufficient volume to float the barge with the cargo space full of water, and a single top access opening, narrower than the cargo space along the length of the cargo space, for loading and unloading said cargo space.

2. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 with a gunwale structure surrounding said top opening on all sides between said opening and outer hull and extending outwardly from the access opening a distance greater than about 25% of the width of the access opening.

3. A barge as claimed in Claim 2 with coaming about said top access opening extending upwardly a distance in the order of one meter.

4. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 having outside dimensions of the order of 100 meters in length, 10 meters in height and 23 meters in width.

5. A barge as claimed in Claim 2 having a cargo hopper of a capacity of the order of 10,000 short tons and a draft under full load in the order of 5 meters.

6. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 having fore and aft raked outer hull construction.

7. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 with a flat bottom cargo space, having upwardly converging side walls sloping toward said bottom wherein said top access opening is larger than said flat bottom to thereby facilitate unloading through said top opening.

8. A barge as claimed in Claim 2 wherein said inner and outer hulls and said gunwale are of welded steel plates braced with trusses all of which are confined to the space between said hulls.

9. A barge as claimed in Claim 2 with a flat bottom cargo space having upwardly converging side walls extending therefrom with a spacing between said inner and outer hulls at said flat bottom portion being in the order of less than one meter to thereby provide a low center of gravity.

10. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 having a substantially squared off bow section terminating in a taper and adopted to interlock in the stern of a further barge.

11. A barge as claimed in Claim 1 having a substantially squared off bow section and a stern section with interlocking structure to receive the bow of a similar barge thereby to constitute a single seagoing unit when two such barges are bound together.

12. A barge as claimed in Claim 11 having additional interlocking structure in the stern section to receive the pointed bow of a pusher tug and therewith form a single seagoing unit when the tug and barge are bound together.

13. A barge constructed with a squared off bow section and a stern section with interlocking structure to receive the bow of a similar barge thereby to constitute a single unit when two such barges are bound together and additional interlocking structure on the centerline of the stern section to alternatively receive the pointed bow of a pusher tug and thereby form a single unit when the tug and barge are bound together.