Oil skimmer assembly and system

Abstract

An oil skimmer system including a vacuum truck having a pump with a vacuum hose attached at one end to the pump intake port to create a suction at the opposite or intake end of the vacuum hose to which a suction tube is operatively attached at its discharge end, and mounted on an articulating and extendable arm of a backhoe an oil skimmer assembly comprising (a) a skimmer plate having an upper flat surface, (b) a debris guard vertically mounted about the suction tube intake end, (c) the suction tube affixed by one or more struts to extend perpendicularly above the plate upper surface with the suction tube intake end positioned near the plate upper surface, and (d) a connecting adaptor affixed to the suction tube and configured to fixedly attach the oil skimmer assembly to the backhoe arm to enable positioning the oil skimmer assembly into the oil containing surface area of a body of water.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]This invention relates in general to apparatus for skimming fluids or other material from the surface of a water body, and more particularly to apparatus for skimming oil and other similar fluids from the surface of inland or shallow waters of a lake, bay, cove, port, gulf or ocean.[0003]2. Prior Art[0004]One long standing problem with the drilling and transporting of oil has been the spilling of oil into the waterways and water bodies in which the oil drilling and oil transporting take place. In response to this problem various devices, such as oil booms and oil skimmers, have been attached to a variety of boats. However, once the oil reaches the shoreline or beach area those devices that are useful in deep water are generally impractical in shallow water. To skim the oil from the shallow water areas one technique has been the use of a vacuum truck having a long 50′-200′ six-inch to ten-inch vacuum hose provided with a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is an oil skimming system that allows operators to safely and quickly skim large quantities of oil from water without having to enter the polluted waters. It also works optimally to collect only the desired skimmed matter and prevents the collection of unwanted debris. This system is less labor-intensive and requires no special clothing for the operator.

Problems solved by technology

One long standing problem with the drilling and transporting of oil has been the spilling of oil into the waterways and water bodies in which the oil drilling and oil transporting take place.

However, once the oil reaches the shoreline or beach area those devices that are useful in deep water are generally impractical in shallow water.

Although such prior art skimmers can skim some of the oil from the water they are time consuming and costly to use.

In addition, they are highly inefficient, particularly if being used in what that is choppy or effected by tides.

Such a suit is hot to wear and makes the skimming operation more difficult for the operator to perform.

Because of the heat conditions, as well as hydrocarbon vapors emitted from the oil polluted water, an operator can only work for short periods of time before the operator must take a break to avoid health and fatigue problems.

Still further these devices are only able to skim small quantities of oil during a given time period.

Thus, their use to clean up large oil spills makes such cleanup operations labor intensive, time consuming, inefficient, and very expensive.

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