Apparatus for extracting energy from the waves in a body of liquid

Claim 1

In apparatus for extracting energy from waves in a body of liquid comprising: (i) a plurality of elongated spine elements; (ii) means connecting said spine elements end to end; (iii) air pumping cavities on said spine elements; (iv) a common pumping passage extending through the spine elements; (v) a branch pumping passage connecting each cavity with the common pumping passage; (vi) flexible pumping membranes closing said cavities to form pumping chambers therewith and which membranes in use are displaced back and forth under the influence of the waves to effect pumping of air contained in the chambers through said branch passages and said common passage; (vii) a turbine associate with each pumping chamber and located in one of: (a) the associated branch passage and (b) the common passage so as to be rotated by said displacement of air; (viii) means converting said turbine rotation into electrical energy; the improvement comprising that the: (ix) spine elements are connected end to end in an endless loop with pumping cavities being provided all around the loop, and (x) the membranes, when the loop is in a horizontal plane in which it will lie when in the body of liquid, face the liquid horizontally so that they will be displaced horizontally by movement of the waves at front, sides and rear of the apparatus, regardless of the direction of movement of the wave front.