Apparatus for disposal of effluents

Claim 1

Self-contained completely floating waste material treatment apparatus for use at sea without physical support from land, said apparatus comprising means including a first, annular, enclosure, defined by outer and inner concentric vertical walls circular in plan, for the treatment of waste material therein, a second enclosure defined within said inner wall, means including an open-bottom chamber located centrally in said second enclosure and at least one pipe connecting said first enclosure to said chamber for conveying treated effluent from said first enclosure to said chamber, removing substantially all turbulence from said effluent to still the same, and discharging the stilled effluent to said second enclosure, said enclosures and said chamber being structurally interconnected as a unit, flotation means for floatably supporting said unit upon a body of water, means for loosely anchoring said unit to permit the same to rise and fall with the body of water, and means for supplying waste material to be treated to said first enclosure, at least said second enclosure being closed at the bottom thereof for the accummulation of material which separates from the treated effluent transferred to said chamber, said bottom of said second enclosure comprising a plurality of tapered chambers arranged side-by-side and defined by walls which diverge upwardly, whereby material denser than water is separated from the rest of the waste.