GB174159A - Apparatus for cleaning and painting the hulls of floating ships - Google Patents

Abstract

174,159. Redfern, C. G., (Browne, A. F.). Oct. 15, 1920. Hulls, cleaning and drying mechanically. - Apparatus for scraping and brushing ships' hulls of the type fitted to a floating stage 2, is provided with flexible lines 53 attached to the opposite sides of a sweep arm 61 and means for operating the lines alternatelv to cause the sweep arm to oscillate laterally over and bear against the hull. The stage 2 is provided with transversely-arranged tender beams 22 fitted with roller buffers 25 acting against springs, the beams being adjustable in an athwartship direction. The sweep arm 61, which is graduated and preferably made in sections connected bv screw couplings, is mounted, so as to be longitudinally adjustable, in a clamp 62 pivoted for universal movement in a bracket 63. The operating chains 53 are secured to the forked end 65 of the sweep arm and pass to drums mounted on the shaft 46 by way of pulleys mounted on the beam 22 and the stage, and eccentrics 44 mounted on the shaft 42. The shaft 46 may be hand-operated to adjust the chains 53 to the desired length, the drums being retained in the desired position by ratchet pawls 49. The shafts 42, 46 are mounted in a frame 39 fitted with a third shaft 38, driven by a chain belt 37 from the propeller shaft 36. The eccentrics 44 for the forward and after chains 53 are oppositely disposed so as to give the desired motion to the sweep arm when the shaft 42 is driven by the shaft 38 through the medium of the chain belt 43 and the clutch 97. The stage 2 is fitted with warping-propellers 27 driven through clutches and bevel-gearing by a shaft 29 which is belt-driven from the shaft 38. Two brushes 68 comprising wooden backs armed with wire teeth or cane spines are pivotally mounted in a frame 72 which is itself pivotally mounted in the sweep arm. One side of the frame 72 is fitted with a hinged plate, split at intervals and bent outward at the edges to form a scraper, the plate being in two parts if desired. In a modification the clamp 62 is constructed to carry two sweep arms one above the other. The brushes in the upper arm comprise hollow backs fitted with hair or fibre bristles, or wool tufts, the backs being supplied with paint through a flexible pipe, and the face on which the bristles are secured being perforated. In a further modification the frame 72, Fig. 11, carries four brushes 106 fitted with pipes 112 supplied with paint through a flexible pipe, and two rotary brushes 103 mounted on a centrally disposed spindle 102 driven from the stage 2 through a flexible shaft. Alternatively the paint may be fed to the rotary brushes through a hollow flexible driving-shaft.