Dredge underwater pick-up head assembly

Claim 1

A PICK-UP HEAD ASSEMBLY ADAPTED FOR DEEP SEA MINING ALONG THE OCEAN FLOOR, COMPRISING A SUBSTANTIALLY BOTTOMLESS V-SHAPE FRAME INCLUDING A PAIR OF GENERALLY HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED FRAME WING MEMBERS CONVERGING REARWARDLY TO A VERTEX AND ADAPTED TO TRAVERSE THE OCEAN FLOOR WITH SAID FRAME LYING SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE OCEAN FLOOR, A VACUUM PIPE COUPLING EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM SAID FRAME WITH ITS INTAKE END AT SUBSTANTIALLY SAID VERTEX, GRATING MEANS EXTENDING ACROSS THE PATH TRAVERSED BY A FLOW OF MATERIAL TO THE VERTEX, SAID GRATING SLOPING UPWARDLY AND IN A GENERALLY REARWARDLY DIRECTION, MEANS FOR FREEING SUCH ITEMS FROM THE SILT LAYER NORMALLY EXISTING ON THE OCEAN FLOOR DURING SUCH MOVEMENT, FOR FACILITATING GATHERING IN OF SUCH ITEMS TOWARD SAID GRATING FOR ASSORTMENT DURING SUCH MOVEMENT, SAID LAST NAMED MEANS INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF PRONGS AFFIXED TO AND ALONG SAID WING MEMBERS AND EXTENDING BELOW THE LOWER EDGES THEREOF AND IN THE GENERAL DIRECTION FO INTENDED MOVEMENT OF SAID PICK-UP HEAD ASSEMBLY.