Floating roof tank seal means

Claim 2

In a tank having a tank shell and a floating roof therein with clearance space therebetween, seal means in said space comprising a plurality of shoes arranged circumferentially about and with faces sealingly and slidably abutting the inner face of said shell, pliable sealing means extending continuously around said space and traversing the same radially between the upper portions of said shoes and said roof, additional sealing means nonrigidly connecting the adjacent ends of said shoes, and vertically disposed, generally bow-shaped spring straps with their center portions secured to the periphery of said roof and extending radially outwardly and upwardly and downwardly therefrom, the upper portions of said straps being rockingly secured to said shoes adjacent said upper portions thereof and beneath said pliable sealing means and the lower portions of said straps slidably abutting the inner faces of said shoes for resiliently supporting said shoes and said sealing means relative to said roof and biasing said shoes against the inner face of said tank shell.

Claim 3

In a tank shell having a floating roof therein with clearance space therebetween, seal means in said space comprising a plurality of shoes arranged circumferentially about and with faces sealingly and slidably abutting the inner face of said shell, pliable sealing means extending continuously around said space and traversing the same radially between the upper portions of said shoes and said roof, additional sealing means nonrigidly connecting the adjacent ends of said shoes, and vertically disposed spring straps secured to the periphery of said roof and extending radially outwardly and upwardly therefrom and pivotally secured to said shoes adjacent said upper portions thereof and beneath said pliable sealing means for resiliently supporting said shoes and said sealing means relative to said roof and biasing said shoes against the inner face of said tank shell, each of said shoes comprising a form-sustaining backing plate, a sheet of pliable, fluidtight material sealingly secured at its edges to the outer face of said plate for bearing against the inner face of said tank shell, and a packing of resilient material between said plate and said sheet for accommodating irregularities in the shell face, said sheet of material forming an envelope with said backing plate, at least the lower edge portions of said envelope being sealed to prevent access of tank liquid to the packing within said envelope, the adjacent side edges of said pliable material and said packing being feathered to respectively overlie and underlie each other and thereby form a fluid-resistant joint between said shoes while permitting independent working of said shoes to accommodate irregularities in the tank shell face.

Claim 4

In a tank shell having a floating roof therein with clearance space therebetween, seal means in said space comprising a plurality of shoes arranged circumferentially about and with faces sealingly and slidably abutting the inner face of said shell, pliable sealing means extending continuously around said space and traversing the same radially between the upper portions of said shoes and said roof, additional sealing means nonrigidly connecting the adjacent ends of said shoes, and vertically disposed spring straps secured to the periphery of said roof and extending radially outwardly and upwardly therefrom and pivotally secured to said shoes adjacent said upper portions thereof and beneath said pliable sealing means for resiliently supporting said shoes and said sealing means relative to said roof and biasing said shoes against the inner face of said tank shell, each of said shoes comprising a form-sustaining backing plate, a sheet of pliable, fluidtight material sealingly secured at its edges to the outer face of said plate for bearing against the inner face of said tank shell, and a packing of resilient material between said plate and said sheet for accommodating irregularities in the shell face, said sheet of material forming an envelope with said backing plate, at least the lower edge portions of said envelope being sealed to prevent access of tank liquid to the packing within said envelope, the adjacent side edges of said pliable material and said packing being feathered to respectively overlie and underlie each other and thereby form a fluid-resistant joint between said shoes while permitting independent working of said shoes to accommodate irregularities in the tank shell face.

Claim 5

In a floating roof tank, seal means as described in claim 2 further including tensionally resilient spring means bridging the joints between adjacent shoes for maintaining the alignment thereof.