Device for removing water from the bottom of existing underground liquid fuel tanks

Claim 2

I1n combination with an underground liquid fuel tank having an upstanding vent pipe and an opening in a side wall of said vent pipe; a device for removing water from the bottom of said tank including a flexible walled hollow container made from an easily crumpable material having at least one perforation through an outside bottom wall thereof, said device having a specific gravity greater than that of the liquid fuel and water in the tank whereby said device sinks in the liquid in the tank and rests on the bottom of the tank when immersed therein with the perforation at substantially the lowest point in the tank; a tubular conduit connected at one end with the container and the other end extending into said vent pipe and through said opening therein; and a suction means attached to the said outer end of said tubular conduit.

Claim 3

The combination recited in claim 1 in which said container is made from a material that can be easily distended and contracted and which, in its distended state, has a cross sectional area greater than that of the opening in said vent pipe, and in its contracted state has a cross sectional area less than that of said opening whereby the container can readily be passed through said opening and vent pipe into the interior of said tank.

Claim 4

The combination recited in claim 1, in which said container has specific gravity greater than that of the fuel and water within the tank.

Claim 5

The combination recited in claim 1, including means within said container having a specific gravity sufficiently greater than that of the fuel and water within the tank to cause said container to sink the liquid fuel and water within said tank.

Claim 6

In combination with an underground liquid fuel tank having an upstanding vent pipe and an opening in a side wall of said vent pipe; a device for removing water from the bottom of said tank including a flexible walled container having at least one perforation through an outside bottom wall thereof, said device having a specific gravity greater than that of the liquid fuel and water within the tank whereby said device rests on the bottom of the tank when immersed therein with the perforation at substantially the lowest point in the tank; a tubular conduit connected at one end with the container and the other end extending into said vent pipe and through said opening therein; a suction means attached to the said other end of said tubular conduit; and means within said container having a specific gravity greater than that of the fuel and water within the tank, said means within said container comprising particulate matter having a minimum cross section greater than that of the perforations in said container wall and a maximum cross section less than the internal diameter of said tubular conduit, whereby said particulate matter can be delivered through said conduit and into the interior of said container, said particulate matter comprising a material that is insoluble in any liquid fuel or water within the tank, and which is not chemically reactive therewith.

Claim 7

In combination with an underground liquid fuel tank having an upstanding vent pipe and an opening in a side wall of said vent pipe; a device for removing water from the bottom of said tank including a flexible walled container having at least one perforation through an outside bottom wall thereof, said device having a specific gravity greater than that of the liquid fuel and water within the tank whereby said device rests on the bottom of the tank when immersed therein with the perforation at substantially the lowest point in the tank; a tubular conduit connected at one end with the container and the other end extending into said vent pipe and through said opening therein; a suction means attached to the said other end of said tubular conduit; and means within said container having a specific gravity greater than that of the fuel and water within the tank, said means within said container comprising particulate matter having a minimum cross section greater than that of the perforations in said container wall and a maximum cross section less than the internal diameter of said tubular conduit, whereby said particulate matter can be delivered through said conduit and into the interior of said container, said particulate matter comprising a material that is insoluble in any liquid fuel or water within the tank, and which is not chemically reactive therewith.

Claim 8

The combination recited in claim 5, in which said container includes an imperforated upper wall.

Claim 9

The combination recited in claim 6, in wnich said container includes a transverse partition wall forming with said imperforated upper wall of the container an air tight chamber, and forming with said perforated bottom wall a perforated chamber, said tubular conduit being connected with said perforated chamber and said particulate matter being disposed within said perforated chamber, a second tubular conduit connected at one end with said air tight chamber, the other end of said second conduit passing into said vent pipe and through said opening in the side wall thereof.

Claim 10

The combination recited in claim 7, in which the perforations in said perforated chamber are in a wall opposite to said transverse partition wall.

Claim 11

The combination recited in claim 7, in which a gas pump is attached to that end of the second tubular conduit extending through said opening in the side wall of the vent pipe.