| 摘要 |
<p>1,238,790. Slurry tanker. MARCONA CORP. 28 July, 1969 [31 July, 1968], No. 37722/69. Heading B7A. [Also in Division B8] In a method of shipping particulate mineral solids they are pulped with water to form a slurry which is pumped into the hold of a ship and allowed to settle. This settling may be promoted by sonic vibrations. The supernatant water is decanted, leaving the mass of settled solids as a non-shifting cargo, and the cargo transported to its destination where the solids are repulped with water to form a slurry which is pumped out of the ship. Fig. 3 shows suitable apparatus for carrying out the above method and this comprises a ship 30 with a number of watertight holds such as 31. A slurry distribution manifold 39 with valving 41 routes the slurry to or from the various holds via inlet discharge pipe 42. A water pump 44 and discharge line 42 remove the supernatant water. The ship 30 may be served by an offshore pumping station with a submerged pipeline, Fig. 2 (not shown). At the destination the solids are repulped with water from high-pressure jets 62 at a plurality of sumps 50 with sonic resonator drives 56 promoting the action. The slurry is discharged through pipe 42 by pumps 55. Additional high-pressure water monitors 63 on deck may assist the discharge. Fig. 5 shows an arrangement in which the entire operation is carried out from above. A pump 70 is installed at the lower end 71 of an hydraulically movable articulated boom 72 together with a resonator drive 74 and water jet nozzles 75.</p> |
