Sea cleaning and oil recovery vessel termed "scor-vessel"

Claim 1

Apparatus for recovering contaminant from a contaminated liquid, comprising A. a buoyant, self propelled, constant displacement vessel having a continuous closed hull for floatation in the liquid, B. means defining a plurality of horizontally and vertically elongated apertures in side walls of said hull, opening in a direction transverse to the normal direction of motion of said vessel, and positionable at the loaded waterline thereof during collection operations, c. means forming a weir in each said aperture to thereby regulate the rate of ingestion of contaminated liquid in accordance with the size of said openings and essentially independent of the vessel's speed, D. liquid containment means within said hull, including at least one vertically extending main storage tank connected to receive, at a bottom portion thereof, contaminated liquid ingested through said aperture and providing therein gravity separation of said contaminant from said liquid, and E. buoyancy control means in said vessel for maintaining said aperture at said waterline during contaminant recovery operations and including means for discharging liquid from said vessel in an amount proportional to the amount of contaminated liquid loaded thereon, said vessel itself storing all the contaminant collected during a collection operation.