US3563607A - Subaqueous mining - Google Patents

Subaqueous mining Download PDF

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Publication number
US3563607A
US3563607A US816200A US3563607DA US3563607A US 3563607 A US3563607 A US 3563607A US 816200 A US816200 A US 816200A US 3563607D A US3563607D A US 3563607DA US 3563607 A US3563607 A US 3563607A
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United States
Prior art keywords
head
subaqueous
miner
pump
suction
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Expired - Lifetime
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US816200A
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English (en)
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Bede A Boyle
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Individual
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Individual
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    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E02—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING
    • E02F—DREDGING; SOIL-SHIFTING
    • E02F3/00—Dredgers; Soil-shifting machines
    • E02F3/04—Dredgers; Soil-shifting machines mechanically-driven
    • E02F3/88—Dredgers; Soil-shifting machines mechanically-driven with arrangements acting by a sucking or forcing effect, e.g. suction dredgers
    • E02F3/90—Component parts, e.g. arrangement or adaptation of pumps
    • E02F3/92—Digging elements, e.g. suction heads
    • E02F3/9243—Passive suction heads with no mechanical cutting means
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E02—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING
    • E02F—DREDGING; SOIL-SHIFTING
    • E02F3/00—Dredgers; Soil-shifting machines
    • E02F3/04—Dredgers; Soil-shifting machines mechanically-driven
    • E02F3/88—Dredgers; Soil-shifting machines mechanically-driven with arrangements acting by a sucking or forcing effect, e.g. suction dredgers
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
    • E21C—MINING OR QUARRYING
    • E21C50/00—Obtaining minerals from underwater, not otherwise provided for

Definitions

  • particulate solid material such as ore-bearing sand
  • a subaqueous miner comprises, in combination, a suction head, a source of high-pressure air connected via a supply hose to a suction pump in said head, and a semibuoyant product hose connected between said head and shore-based treatment means adapted to separate liquid from particulate solid material which is transmitted in a slurry through said product hose from said head to said treatment means.
  • FIG. 1 shows, in plan view, a subaqueous miner located at a typical site
  • FIG. 2 shows, in side elevation, the apparatus of FIG. 1;
  • FIG. 3 shows, in side elevation the suction head of the subaqueous miner connected to an associated tender barge
  • F IG. 4 shows, in plan view, details of the suction head
  • FIG. 5 shows, in side elevation, the apparatus of FIG. 4.
  • said miner comprises a suction head 1 connected via the supply hose 2 to a compressor 3 located upon a tender barge 4 adapted to float in the vicinity of said miner, but spaced therefrom to an extent which permits the miner to range about upon the seabed.
  • a control cable which may be located within or without or alongside said supply hose, also carries electrical conductors from said barge to suitable illuminating means such as one or more electric lamps, disposed upon the head within the fairing 5 together with a surveillance television camera, the monitor receiver of which may be located upon said barge or at a treatment plant 6 to which the product hose 7 is extended.
  • the head 1 is also provided with one or more jet control pumps such as 8 and 9, with respective discharge ports 10 and 11, adapted to render the head steerable so that a monitor may observe said'receiver screen and direct the head to a region upon the seabed which is clear of obstructions such as rocks and/or to ensure that the head scans the seabed efficiently for the purpose of extracting ore via said head and said product hose.
  • jet control pumps such as 8 and 9
  • discharge ports 10 and 11 adapted to render the head steerable so that a monitor may observe said'receiver screen and direct the head to a region upon the seabed which is clear of obstructions such as rocks and/or to ensure that the head scans the seabed efficiently for the purpose of extracting ore via said head and said product hose.
  • an additional television camera and one or more electric lamps may be located behind a window 12 to permit observation of the inlet duct 13 of the product pump 14.
  • the head is a suction device
  • the reaction force exerted thereon by its air supply tends to bring the proboscis 15 of the head automatically against the working face of the solid particulate material to be extracted.
  • the approximate position of the head is initially determined by the condition of the buoyancy tanks 16, 17, 18 and 19, which have discharge ports such as those shown at 20 and 21 for tanks 16 and 118 respectively.
  • the product pump 14 causes the water and particulate material to be drawn from the working face by suction, there is little turbulence generated in the sea water in the vicinity of the working face, and hence little turbidity which might otherwise spoil the view of either of said television cameras.
  • the head 1 may be subjected to an automatic scanning motion after a monitor has noted that the area of the seabed is generally acceptable for mining.
  • the jet control pump El and 9 may be automatically operable according to a present plan so that said head may swing from side to side in a series of progressivelyl displaced arcs to an extent determined by the length of e supply hose 2 (and hence the control cable) between itself and the barge 4, and also as determined by the amount of slack present in the product hose 7.
  • the barge 4 may, of course, be moved from one reference position to another depending upon the amount of said slack in the product hose 7, so that the miner may scan in a number of different locations to an extent permitted by its supply hose whilst the barge is anchored via the guys 22, 23, 24 and 25.
  • the barge instead of being anchored in such reference positions, may be put under way so as to compensate for any winds and/or currents which may move it away from a particular reference position.
  • the product pump 14 in said head which delivers slurry from the workingface to the product hose 7, is of the kind defined in our copending US. application Ser. No. 794,744 filed Jan. 28, 1969.
  • the compressor 3 aboard said tender barge 4 may be adapted to supply high-pressure air to the product pump 14 and jet control pumps 8 and 9 in such a manner that it does not exhaust back to atmospheric pressure but exhausts instead to air receivers adapted to give buoyancy to the barge, thus ensuring that the exhaust pressure is that due to the static head of immersion of the head. It has been found in tests leading to the present invention that this last-mentioned expedient enables the energy requirements of said compressor to be reduced by approximately 30 percent.
  • the discharge region of the product hose 7 may be suitable hopper (not shown) located in a floating barge or ship in those cases where the miner is located so far off shore (for example, across shipping lanes or beyond the capacity of the product pump 14) that it is unable to discharge the slurry directly to the treatment plant 6.
  • a suitable auxiliary product hose and pumping system may be provided to extract the slurry from the lastmentioned barge at some subsequent time for delivery to said treatment plant after said barge has been manoeuvered closer to the shoreline 26.
  • a subaqueous miner comprising, in combination, a suction head, a source of high-pressure air connected via a supply hose to operate a suction pump in said head, and a semibuoyant product hose connected between the pump discharge of said head and shore-based treatment means adapted to separate liquid from particulate solid material transmitted in a slurry through saidproduct hose from said head to said treatment means.
  • suction head is steerable by means of jet control pumps incorporated within or attached to said head.
  • a subaqueous miner as claimed in'claim 4 wherein said jet control pumps are subject to control means which impart an automatic scanning motion to said head.
  • a subaqueous mining machine comprising:
  • a source of high pressure air connected via a supply hose to operate said pump
  • buoyancy means carried by said head to position the head with respect to the surface being mined.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Civil Engineering (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Structural Engineering (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
  • Geology (AREA)
  • Drilling And Exploitation, And Mining Machines And Methods (AREA)
US816200A 1968-05-02 1969-04-15 Subaqueous mining Expired - Lifetime US3563607A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU37225/68A AU3722568A (en) 1968-05-02 1968-05-02 Sub-aqueous mining

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3563607A true US3563607A (en) 1971-02-16

Family

ID=3724366

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US816200A Expired - Lifetime US3563607A (en) 1968-05-02 1969-04-15 Subaqueous mining

Country Status (9)

Country Link
US (1) US3563607A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
AU (1) AU3722568A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
BE (1) BE732386A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
BR (1) BR6908452D0 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
CH (1) CH493704A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE1919703A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
FR (1) FR2007633A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB1258815A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
NL (1) NL6906639A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2594460A1 (fr) * 1986-02-14 1987-08-21 Lapipe Andre Procede pour desenvaser les lacs artificiels
US20040057839A1 (en) * 2002-09-25 2004-03-25 Crawford William Randall Method and apparatus for remediation and prevention of fouling of recirculating water systems by detritus and other debris
US20050161380A1 (en) * 2003-09-24 2005-07-28 Crawford William R.Iii Method and apparatus for remediation and prevention of fouling of recirculating water systems by detritus and other debris
EP2208709A3 (en) * 2002-10-08 2011-03-09 Water Standard (CI), LP Mobile desalination plants and methods for producing desalinated water
JP2012076707A (ja) * 2010-10-05 2012-04-19 Central Res Inst Of Electric Power Ind 海水中金属の捕集材の係留装置
CN107701190A (zh) * 2017-12-01 2018-02-16 湖南工程学院 一种基于高压水射流的海底多金属硫化物采矿装置
CN108149736A (zh) * 2018-02-09 2018-06-12 重庆大雨水生态科技有限公司 一种抽淤设备及监控系统

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
NL1000518C1 (nl) * 1995-06-08 1996-12-10 Oord Acz B V Van Werkwijze voor het baggeren.
DE102005052977A1 (de) * 2005-11-07 2007-05-16 Siemens Ag Schiff zur Trinkwassergewinnung
CN112814683B (zh) * 2020-12-29 2023-05-16 武汉船舶设计研究院有限公司 一种深海采矿作业中输送软管与采矿车的水下对接方法

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2044088A (en) * 1933-12-11 1936-06-16 U S Submarine Motorship Dredge Hydraulic material elevator
US2711598A (en) * 1951-07-31 1955-06-28 Jr James H Craggs Hydraulic excavator
US3248812A (en) * 1963-04-22 1966-05-03 Gardner Catherine Burkholder Collector and hoist for aggregates

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2044088A (en) * 1933-12-11 1936-06-16 U S Submarine Motorship Dredge Hydraulic material elevator
US2711598A (en) * 1951-07-31 1955-06-28 Jr James H Craggs Hydraulic excavator
US3248812A (en) * 1963-04-22 1966-05-03 Gardner Catherine Burkholder Collector and hoist for aggregates

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
Economics of Deep-sea Mining Mining Congress Journal, Sept. 1961 6 pages *

Cited By (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2594460A1 (fr) * 1986-02-14 1987-08-21 Lapipe Andre Procede pour desenvaser les lacs artificiels
US20040057839A1 (en) * 2002-09-25 2004-03-25 Crawford William Randall Method and apparatus for remediation and prevention of fouling of recirculating water systems by detritus and other debris
US6863807B2 (en) * 2002-09-25 2005-03-08 Crawford, Iii William Randall Method and apparatus for remediation and prevention of fouling of recirculating water systems by detritus and other debris
EP2208709A3 (en) * 2002-10-08 2011-03-09 Water Standard (CI), LP Mobile desalination plants and methods for producing desalinated water
US20050161380A1 (en) * 2003-09-24 2005-07-28 Crawford William R.Iii Method and apparatus for remediation and prevention of fouling of recirculating water systems by detritus and other debris
JP2012076707A (ja) * 2010-10-05 2012-04-19 Central Res Inst Of Electric Power Ind 海水中金属の捕集材の係留装置
CN107701190A (zh) * 2017-12-01 2018-02-16 湖南工程学院 一种基于高压水射流的海底多金属硫化物采矿装置
CN108149736A (zh) * 2018-02-09 2018-06-12 重庆大雨水生态科技有限公司 一种抽淤设备及监控系统

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE1919703A1 (de) 1970-01-15
GB1258815A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1971-12-30
CH493704A (de) 1970-07-15
BR6908452D0 (pt) 1973-06-14
FR2007633A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1970-01-09
BE732386A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1969-10-01
AU3722568A (en) 1970-10-15
NL6906639A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1969-11-04

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