Transport conduit

Claim 1

A transport conduit including a suction pipe connected with a pump, carried by a floating body and having a nozzle and at least one stationary stone catcher included in the suction pipe and disposed on deck for sieving out large stones and/or other large objects from the dredged material, for example, spoil, said stone catcher comprising a stone catcher housing having a mixture inlet, a mixture outlet and a stone outlet provided with a single door hermetically closed against the open air and hinged to the stone catcher housing, which is provided with a grid basket to be traversed from a high to a low level and surrounded by an outlet chamber to be traversed by the mixture and opening out in said mixture outlet, said stone catcher housing being provided with additional discharge means permanently fixed thereto for loosening the stones collected in the grid basket, said additional discharge means comprising a flushing duct communicating with said housing.

Claim 3

A system for transporting dredged material, which comprises a container having a supply of dredged material which contains large objects such as stones, pump means for supplying water to said container in such quantity as to fluidize the dredged material, a suction nozzle disposed within said container for picking up a fluid suspension of the dredged material, a suction pump having an inlet connected to said suction nozzle and an outlet delivering a stream of fluidized dredged material, and stone catcher means located between said inlet of the suction pump and said suction nozzle for removing said large objects before reaching said suction pump, said stone catcher means comprising a housing having an inlet connected to said suction nozzle and an outlet connected to the inlet of said suction pump, a grid basket within said housing and defining a chamber between the grid basket and said housing in surrounding relation to the grid basket and communicating with the outlet of the housing, the inlet of said housing being adjacent the uppermost part thereof and the outlet of the housing being adjacent the lowermost part thereof and said grid basket having an upper opening cooperating with the inlet of the housing so that the large objects retained within the grid basket minimally impede the flow of fluidized dredged material to said outlet chamber, said housing also having a stone discharge opening and including a single door cooperating with said stone discharge opening and with said grid basket to allow large objects to be discharged therefrom when the door is open, and conduit means connected to said pump means and said housing for forcibly removing accumulated large objects from said grid basket when said door is open.

Claim 4

A system for transporting dredged material, which comprises a container having a supply of dredged material which contains large objects such as stones, pump means for supplying water to said container in such quantity as to fluidize the dredged material, a suction nozzle disposed within said container for picking up a fluid suspension of the dredged material, a suction pump having an inlet connected to said suction nozzle and an outlet delivering a stream of fluidized dredged material, and stone catcher means located between said inlet of the suction pump and said suction nozzle for removing said large objects before reaching said suction pump, said stone catcher means comprising a housing having an inlet connected to said suction nozzle and an outlet connected to the inlet of said suction pump, a grid basket within said housing and defining a chamber between the grid basket and said housing in surrounding relation to the grid basket and communicating with the outlet of the housing, the inlet of said housing being adjacent the uppermost part thereof and the outlet of the housing being adjacent the lowermost part thereof and said grid basket having an upper opening cooperating with the inlet of the housing so that the large objects retained within the grid basket minimally impede the flow of fluidized dredged material to said outlet chamber, said housing also having a stone discharge opening and including a single door cooperating with said stone discharge opening and with said grid basket to allow large objects to be discharged therefrom when the door is open, and conduit means connected to said pump means and said housing for forcibly removing accumulated large objects from said grid basket when said door is open.