Apparatus for removing liquid from the ground

Claim 1

A machine for removing liquid from an area of ground over which the liquid has spread, the machine comprising: (a) a hood with a peripheral edge, essentially unapertured and generally dished to define in use the top and sides of the machine; (b) a tray, generally flat, with a peripheral edge and an aperture at its centre; (c) means mounting the tray within the hood such that the underside of the machine is defined by the tray, and that an annular gap is maintained between the peripheral edge of the tray and the peripheral edge of the hood; (d) a motor driven fan mounted at a center portion of, and inside, the hood for blowing air down the central aperature and for drawing substantially all the said air up through the annular gap and across the inside of the hood in a continuous path; (e) a wall, formed at the peripheral edge of the central aperture and rising towards the fan to duct the fan-blown air through the aperture and across the underside of the machine towards the annular gap; (f) another wall, formed around the tray peripheral edge and rising therefrom to duct the air entering the annular gap upwardly towards the underside of the hood; (g) a chamber, defined between the tray walls, to receive liquid drawn with the air into the annular gap and carried over the tray's peripheral wall; and (h) means maintaining a passage for the in-drawn air to blow over the top of the peripheral tray wall across the inside of the machine and into the fan.