US1844993A

US1844993A - Collapsible pontoon

Info

Publication number: US1844993A
Application number: US511974A
Authority: US
Inventors: Tomao Raymond
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1931-01-29
Filing date: 1931-01-29
Publication date: 1932-02-16
Anticipated expiration: 1949-02-16

Description

Feb. 16, 1932.

R. TOMAO COLLAPSIBLE PONTOON Filed Jan. 29, 1931 INVENTOR. Raymond 72117100,

A TTORNE Y.

Patented Feb. 16, 1932 PATENT OFFICE RAYMOND TOMAO, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK comrsnatn rom'oon Application filed January 29, 1931. Serial No. 511,974.

My invention relates to pontoons for raising submerged objects. It hasfor its main purpose to provide a pontoon which may be collapsed so as to make it easy to transport and easy to connect to the object to be raised. A further purpose is to provide a pontoon, of light weight and great lifting power, which can be manufactured at a reasonable cost. I These and other purposes andadvantages M will be readily understood from the following description and .from the accompanying- 1 drawings of a preferred embodiment in which, however, certain modifications might be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In the drawings V Fig. Iis a top view of the invention and Fig. 2 a side elevation, both views showing the ontoon inflated.

T e pontoon consists of-an airtight, rubberllined fabric bag 10, semi-spherical on top and tapering down to a smaller semisphere at its lower end 11. 'A plurality of steel cables 12 and 12a are secured in holes drilled 'in a circular top plate -13 which is also provided with an eye 14 and an air nozzle 15.

The cables 12 extend down to and are secured in holes in another circular plate 16 which is provided with a hook 17. The lower ends of the cables 12a are secured to the lowest of a number of circumferential cables 18 which encircle the bag. Bands 19, made of. very strong fabric, are located under each of the circumferential cables to distribute the strain of these cables on the bag. Vertical pockets 20, through which the'cables 12 and 12a pass, are secured on these bands and maintain these cables in their correct spaced relation whether the bag is inflated or deflated. The bands also tend to distribute the strains of the vertical cables. The number of cables employed will, of course depend on the size of the bag and the work it is expected to perform. In practice several more cables would be employed than are shown on the drawings.

While'the drawings show the bag inflated, it will be readily understood that when the air is exhausted it willcollapse and assume aflat shape similar to, but wider, than the shape shown in Fig. 2.

provided with a The device is employed in the following manner: When a sunken object, as for example a ship, is to be raised, a number of the pontoons are transported to the location in their deflated state. In this condition the pontoons take up comparatively little storage space. W hen the sunken ship is located, the

' pontoons are lowered, while still deflated, by

a cable attached to the eye 14: until the hook 17 can be attached to the sunken ship in any of the customary ways employed by divers. An airhose, attached to the nipple 15, is lowered with the pontoon. After the pontoons are securely attached they are inflated and, as their buoyancy now cause them to rise, the sunken ship is lifted. The fabric bag and the cable cage which surrounds it is made of suflicient strength to withstand the interior pressure when the pontoon reaches the surface.

The device may also be used as a marking buoyto indicate the location of a submerged ship. In that case the pontoon is made smaller and attached to a cable drum mounted on the deck of the ship. It is carried by the ship in its deflated condition. Should the ship sink the pontoon is inflated by means of some suitable gas which is carried in a compression tank. After the pontoon is fully inflated it is allowed to ascend to-the surface by letting out the cable to which it is attached.

Having described my invention and its uses, what I claim as new and wish to protect by Letters Patent is:

In a pontoon of the class described, an airtight bag having an air inlet, ing an-eye securedthereon, a bottom plate hook, a plurality of circumferential cables, strain-distributing bands located under said circumferential cables, spaced loops provided on said strain-distributing bands, and a plurality of vertical cables engaged slidingly in said loops and having their" ends secured to said top and bottom plates.

' RAYMOND TOMAO.

a top plate hav-