US3908291A

US3908291A - Apparatus for preventing tangle of endless rope in mining or sea life gathering

Info

Publication number: US3908291A
Application number: US428834A
Authority: US
Inventors: Yoshio Masuda
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1973-01-23
Filing date: 1973-12-27
Publication date: 1975-09-30
Anticipated expiration: 1992-09-30
Also published as: FR2258518B1; AU468821B2; DE2402706C2; AU6466274A; DE2402706A1; CA997381A; GB1428081A; FR2258518A1

Abstract

Apparatus for preventing tangling of an endless rope continuously lowered from, and raised onto, a ship moving in water, including placing inclined resistance plates or other materials having the same effect on the endless rope at suitable intervals to increase the distance of separation of the descending part and the ascending part of the rope from each other by the force of the water produced by the forward movement of the ship on the resistance plates. The endless rope is provided with either buckets for mining of minerals from the sea bottom or with nets for catching sea life.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Masuda [451 Sept. 30, 1975 [76] Inventor: Yoshio Masuda, Kohdan Jutaku 31-1, 10-1, Tamadaira 4-chome, Hino, Tokyo, Japan [22] Filed: Dec. 27, 1973 211 App]. No.: 428,834

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 879,863 2/1908 Gladding 43/6.5 2,316,463 4/1943 Skulina i. 198/151 X 3,297,303 1/1967 Aizawa 254/138 3,401,859 9/1968 Rienks 226/196 3,410,014 11/1968 Jenssen 43/9 3,672,079 6/1972 Masuda et a1. 37/69 3,675,348 7/1972 Dane, Jr. 37/69 3,713,301 1/1973 Bryant 226/187 X 3,766,671 10/1973 Guntert 37/69 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 22,037 2/1912 Norway 43/13 1,239,178 7/1971 United Kingdom.... 37/69 999,968 7/1965 United Kingdom.... 254/137 80,446 7/1952 Norway 43/6.5

Primary E.\'amilzerClifford D. Crowder Attorney, Agent, or FirmFidelman, Wolffe & Leitner 1 1 ABSTRACT Apparatus for preventing tangling of an endless rope continuously lowered from, and raised onto, a ship moving in water, including placing inclined resistance plates or other materials having the same effect on the endless rope at suitable intervals to increase the distance of separation of the descending part and the ascending part of the rope from each other by the force of the water produced by the forward movement of the ship on the resistance plates. The endless rope is provided with either buckets for mining of minerals from the sea bottom or with nets for catching sea life.

9 Claims, 22 Drawing Figures US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheetlofll 3,908,291

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 SheetZofll 3,908,291

U.S. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet3of11 3,908,291

U.S. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet40f1l 3,908,291

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet5of11 3,908,291

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet6of11 3,908,291

Fl G.l2 F l 613 U.S. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet7ofl1 3,908,291

U.S. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet8ofl1 3,908,291

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet9ofll 3,908,291

I50 H6 [5| I48 H5 I49 US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 10 ofll 3,908,291

F Iv 6.20

07 L buzz l I I07 US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 11 ofll 3,908,291

FIG.22

APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING TANGLE OF ENDLESS ROPE IN MINING OR SEA LIFE GATHERING SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the method of preventing the tangle of the descending part and the ascending part of an endless rope which has been apt to happen before and the mechanism therefor. The endless rope is moving in water. As described in US. Pat. No. 3,672,079, the rope is continuously drawn down into the sea from a ship at a certain speed and pulled up to the ship at the same speed circulating in the ropes axial direction, and the rope also moves in direction transverse to the axis of the rope. According to this invention, continuous mining of metallic nodules like manganese nodules from the deep sea-bottom as described in the said US. patent can be safely done. Other practical effect of the wide application of the present invention can be displayed by applying it, for example, to continuously catching sea life with nets.

The present inventor has done several tests concerning the invention of the said US. patent. In the southeast Hawaii in summer, 1972, tests were performed using the Dai-ni Kyokuyo-Maru ship (17,000 t) at the sea of 4,700 m depth to mine a large quantities of metallic nodules from the deep sea-bottom for the first in the world. Simultaneously with favorable results many problems to solve including the rope tangle problem were also found through the test.

If an endless rope of about 15,000 m length is extended from both ends of a ship of about 150 m length and drags on the sea-bottom of 5,000 m depth, the ratio of the width between two rope lines to the half length of the rope is 1:50 and the rope forms a loop having a very narrow width. In the said test using the Dai-ni Kyokuyo-Maru ship, the rope tangle accident happened about three times. One of the reasons for the tangling is the sudden stopping of circulation of the rope i.e., the movement of the rope in the ropes axial direction. However the most basic reason for the tangling resides in that the two rope lines, descending part and ascending part, are too close to each other.

In order to prevent the rope tangle, there are some suggestions. One is to use a special large ship of more than 300 m length, and the other is to use two ships. In the latter suggestion, two ships are separated quite a distance from each other and a rope loop is extending between the two ships, i.e., a rope is falling to the sea from one ship and is pulled up to another ship. These suggestions are possible, but it is strongly required to use a normal size ship because of the cost, and other reasons.

The object of this invention is to provide the mechanism meeting these requirements. First the shape of the rope line in a water tank was studied in the several test of the continuous mining mechanism. Thereafter this invention was completed by attaching resistance plates to the endless rope at suitable intervals so that the descending part and the ascending part of the rope are automatically separated from each other by the water flow acting on the resistance plates while the rope is moving. According to this invention, a normal size ship is of sufficient width to provide enough distance between two rope lines similarly to the case of using a special large ship or two ships. Moreover in the mechanism using one ship, it is possible to draw down and pull up the rope only at the rear part of the ship; i.e., it is not necessary to use both front and rear parts of the ship. This is one of the features of this invention.

As the second feature of this invention, this invention is employing a special driving unit for the endless rope allowing the buckets and the resistance plates to be driven safely and smoothly.

According to this invention, it is needless to say that metallic nodules like manganese nodules, etc. can be continuously mined from the deep sea-bottom. Besides it is also possible to catch sea life with nets continuously and economically. Furthermore many other applications can be expected. This invention can display its features mainly in a normal size ship, including the feature of easy movement of the ship by extending the rope only from the rear part.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Accompanying drawings show some examples embodying the present invention.

FIGS. 1 to 16 relate to a mechanism for continuously mining metallic nodules from the deep sea-bottom;

FIG. 1 illustrates the general arrangement of the said mechanism;

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing one example of the bucket acting to increase the distance between two rope lines;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are explanatory views for showing that a bucket generates the force to increase the distance between two rope lines;

FIGS. 5 to 9 relate to a test using a water tank;

FIG. 5 illustrates the general arrangement of the mechanism tested in the water tank;

FIG. 6 shows the rope loop shape of the case the rope is drawn in water under the condition the rope is not circulating;

FIG. 7 shows where the case the rope is drawn in water while the rope is circulating;

FIG. 8 shows where the case the circulating speed of the rope is the same as or lower than the speed of the carriages movement while the rope is dragging on the tank bottom;

FIG. 9 shows where the case the circulating speed of the rope is the same as or higher than the speed of the carriages movement while the rope is dragging on the tank bottom;

FIG. 10 is a view for explaining the condition where the distance between two rope lines is increased according to the effect of the present invention;

FIGS. 11 to 13 relate to a driving system of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a view for explaining a driving system provided on the ship;

FIG. 12 is a front elevation view of a ball roller of the driving system;

FIG. 13 is a side elevation view of the same;

FIGS. 14 to 16 show another example embodying the present invention;

FIG. 14 is an explanatory view showing where a resistance plate acting to increase the distance between two rope lines is attached to a rope; and

FIGS. 15 and 16 are explanatory views showing the action of the resistance plate to increase the distance between two rope lines.

FIGS. 17 to 23 relate to a mechanism for continuously catching sea life using nets;

FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing the condition of catching sea life;

FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing the condition of attaching a net to the rope;

FIG. 19 is a perspective view showing the condition of attaching a resistance plate to the rope;

FIG. 20 is an explanatory perspective view showing the effect of the resistance plate;

FIG. 21 is a front elevation view of a driving system;

FIG. 22 is a side elevation view of the same; and

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Some examples embodying the present invention will be explained hereinbelow in conjunction with accompanying drawings. FIGS. 1 to 16, which relate to one embodiment of the present invention, show a mecha nism for continuously mining metallic nodules from the deep sea-bottom. In FIG. 1, a mining ship 1 has a propeller 2 for forward and rearward movement, a front side-thruster l8 and a rear side-thruster 19 for controlling the speed of the traverse movement, a front guide wheel equipment 3, a rear guide wheel equipment 4, and

ball rollers

5, 6, 7 and 8 for driving an endless rope (mining rope) R. The endless rope R has a loop shape consisting of a descending part 9 falling from the rear guide wheel equipment 4 to the sea, a part 10 at the sea-bottom, an ascending part 11 to be pulled up to the front guide wheel equipment 3, and a part 12 on the ship to be driven by the

ball rollers

5, 6, 7 and 8. A number of buckets B are attached to the endless rope R, i.e.,

buckets

13, 14, l5, l6 and 17 are attached to each

part

9, 10, 11 and 12 of the rope R respectively at regular intervals. The bucket B is used to collect metallic nodules from the sea-bottom and pulled up to the ship 1 by means of the rope R. During the normal mining operation, the bucket 13 of the descending rope 9 is empty, the bucket 14 of the rope 10 is placed at the sea-bottom and the bucket 15 dredges on the seabottom surface to collect metallic nodules. The bucket 16 of the ascending rope 11 contains metallic nodules. At the front guide wheel equipment 3, the mouth of the bucket 16 turns downward by the arrangement of the guide wheels, thereby the nodules are dropped onto the ship. The rope 12 on the ship passes through the

ball rollers

5, 6, 7 and 8 together with the hanged bucket 17.

As shown in FIG. 2, the rope R (descending part 9 in the drawing) has fixing

metals

20 and 21 and 22 and 23 respectively at certain intervals to fix the position of the slip rings 24 and 25 relative to the rope while allowing the bucket B to rotate around the rope. The front slip ring 24 has a front rod 26 for hanging the bucket, and the rod 26 has a front short arm rod 27 and a front long arm rod 28 connected to front corner hooks 37 and 38 of the bucket respectively. In the same manner the rear slip ring 25 has a rear rod 29 for hanging the bucket and the rod 29 has a rear short arm rod 30 and a rear long arm rod 31 connected to rear corner hooks 39 and 40 respectively. Meanwhile the bucket B has top planar plate (a resistance plate) 32, a side net 33, a bottom net 34, a side net 35 and a back net 36 and its weight is properly regulated.

It is one of the main feature of this invention that the bucket B is hanged from front and rear sides in its inclined manner by the difference of the length of the short arm rod and the long arm rod. An orthogonal X, Y, Z is shown in FIG. 2 to illustrate that the line 9 is slightly inclined relative to the Y and Z axis. The short and long front and rear arm rods incline the bucket B relative to the X and Z axis. Thus, the plate is inclined to all three axis. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the top planar plate 32 is inclined at equal but opposite angles 411 and 41', respectively, with respect to a plane perpendicular to front and

rear rods

26 and 29. With reference to the coordinates of FIG. 2, plate 32 of FIG. 4 forms substantially the same angles with respect to Y and Z axis, but forms the same angle with respect to the X axis. The Y axis is perpendicular to the surface of the water, the Z axis is parallel to the movement of the ship and the X axis is perpendicular to the movement of the ship.

It is a well-known technique that in the method of trollfishing, in order to open the mouth of a troll net, resistance plates called otter board" are fitted to both sides of the mouth to get the outward force by utilizing the flow resistance force. However, the normal otter board is not suitable to a circulating rope because the endless rope R of the loop shape having a number of buckets B makes a circulating motion which is not found in the static troll net. In the present invention, the buckets B are hanged from their front and rear sides with the rear side of the bucket B is closer to the ship at the descending rope, and at the ascending rope the front side of the bucket B is up-side (closer to the ship). That means the inclination of the bucket B at both lines of the rope R is opposite to each other as observed from the ship.

In FIG. 3, the bucket 13 is hanged from the descend ing rope 9 (which is moving up at a right angle to the surface of the paper) with some inclination 41 by means of the rear slip-ring 25, rear hanging rod 29, rear short arm rod 30 and rear long arm rod 31. Therefore water flow 42, produced by the movement of the boat passes through the side net 33, bottom net 34 and side net 35, and acts on the top plate (resistance plate) 32, so that the water flow 42 generates thrust 43 in the direction of the water flow and transverse thrust 44 which is directed at a right angle to the direction of the thrust 43 and which increases the distance between the descending rope 9 and the ascending rope 11. Since the angle which the rope 9 makes with respect to the X axis or the vertical is relatively small, the force produced by the bucket moving down into the water is minimal and thus can be ignored.

In FIG. 4, the bucket 16 is hanged from the ascending rope 11 (moving downward at a right angle into the paper) with some inclination 41 contrary to in FIG. 3 by means of the front slip ring 24, front hanging rod 26, front short arm rod 27 and front long arm rod 28. Therefore the water flow 42 acts on top planar plate (resistance plate) 32, and generates thrust 45 in the direction of the water flow and transverse thrust 46 which is directed at a right angle to the direction of the thrust 45 and which increases the distance between the descending rope 9 and the ascending rope 11.

As these thrust forces made by the water flow are not so large in comparison with the buckets weight, they do not affect the bucket hanging condition. Moreover, as the bucket is hanged from front and rear sides in parallel with the rope line, the flow resistance generated by the driving speed of the rope is relatively small. It is also one of the features of this invention.

How much such outward forces affect the loop shape of the rope in water and how the rope moves in water will be explained hereinbelow on the basis of the test using a huge water tank. The test was done on a scale of 1:2000 of the previous test carried out off Hawaii. In FIG. 5, an ascending part 50, a part 51 at the tank bottom and a descending part 52 of a rope R form a loop shape. The rope R'is hanged from a driving wheel 48 and has many small lead weights B at certain intervals instead of the bucket B. An arm 49 is turned by a man 56 so that the driving wheel 48 can circulate the loop of the rope R. A man can move on the tank by riding on a carriage 53. In the test, water depth 47 of the water tank between water surface 54 and tank bottom 55 was about 2.25 m and the length of the rope was about 6 m.

As the result of the test, when the loop of the rope R is drawn in water in the direction of arrow 59 by moving the carriage 53 under the condition the rope is not circulating, the ascending rope 50 and the descending rope 52 extend straightly almost in parallel with each other and have no difference on the inclination thereof as shown in FIG. 6. However after the rope R has begun to circulate, when the whole loop of the rope R is drawn in water in the direction of the arrow 59 as the ascending rope 50 is pulled up and the descending rope 52 is drawn down, an inclining angle 57 of the ascending rope 50 relative to vertical, increase to become larger than a decreased inclining angle 58 of the descending rope 52 relative to vertical as shown in FIG. 7. Thereby the difference of high-and-low occurs between both

parts

50 and 52 of the rope R and the descending part 52 becomes lower. However, the approach of both

parts

50 and 52 can not be found except at the end of the loop.

The above-mentioned is the case the loop of the rope R is drawn in water without touching the tank bottom. In case the rope R circulates as the rope touches the tank bottom by extending the rope and reducing the drawing speed of the rope, when the circulating speed 60 of the rope R is equivalent to or slower than the drawn speed 59 of the carriages movement, the shape of the loop in water and at the tank bottom is as shown in FIG. 8. That is the rope 51 is placed properly on the tank bottom 55 and is pulled up dredging the bottom. It was proved that the rope tangle seems not to occur in the condition of FIG. 8.

When the circulating speed 60 of the rope R is higher than the drawing speed 59 of the carriages movement, the shape of the loop in water and at the tank bottom 55 is as shown in FIG. 9. In this case, as the rope 51 subsequently placed on the tank bottom 55 moves zigzag and changes its position, the ascending rope 50 tangles with the following rope 51 in an extreme case. When the rope with the buckets B hanged is falling to the sea-bottom at high speed, the phenomenon of the zigzag movement of the rope R should be taken into consideration. In order to reduce such a phenomenon, the circulating speed of the rope R and the speed of the ships movement should be proper, and further no change in wind and ocean current, and use of pliable and flexiable rope, etc. are required. However the most basical thing is to increase the distance between two rope lines so that even when it moves zigzag on the sea-bottom, the rope tangle is not caused.

In this connection, one method is to provide a large distance of separation between the front guide wheel equipment 3 and rear guide wheel equipment 4 by using a very long ship or two ships. This method is very simple and easy to carry out, however the cost for the construction and movement of the mechanism become huge and thereby there is the possibility of making the cost for mining metallic nodules from the deep seabottom very high.

For this purpose, this invention makes it possible to increase the distance between two rope lines naturally by utilizing water flow. If the size of the top planar plate (resistance plate) 32 of the bucket B shown in FIG. 2 is 0.8 m in width and 1.2 m in length (about 1 m in area), the buckets B are hanged from the rope R of mm diameter at intervals of 30 m, and the resistance factor of the rope R is 2 and that of the bucket B is 1.4, then the thrust of about 2,000 kg per one rope line is generated in the direction of water flow in case of 5,000 m in water depth and 0.2 m/s in the traverse moving speed of the ship I. On the otherhand, if the water flow direction is at a right angle to the top planar plate (resistance plate) 32 of each bucket B, the thrust is 2.8 kg. If the plate 32 has an inclination of 30 to the water flow direction and is arranged to cause the traverse thrust, it would be quite possible to get the thrust of about 1 kg in the direction perpendicular to the water flow and the thrust of about 2 kg in the direction of the water flow, even if the decrease of the resistant area due to the inclination is taken into consideration.

In case 220 buckets B are attached to one side of the rope line, the thrust of the bucket B is about 440 kg in the direction of the water flow and that in the direction perpendicular to the water flow is about 220 kg. The thrust of both the rope R and the buckets B is 2,440 kg in the direction of the water flow, and the force in the direction perpendicular to the water flow to increase the distance between two rope lines is 220 kg. By this traverse force the rope R deflects outside. However, as shown in FIG. 10, if the mining ship 1 moves traverse and by that movement the water flow 42 acts on the descending rope 9 and the buckets 13 attached to the rope 9, the deflection angle 61 of the rope is assumed to be about 5. The same force acts on the ascending rope 11 and the buckets 16 attached to the rope 11. However, as the buckets 16 contain metallic nodules, the rope is heavy, whereby the deflection angle 62 of the ascending rope 11 is a little smaller and is assumed to be about 2.

If the descending rope 9 deflects by 5 and has the length of 6,600 m, it is presumed that the rope R is placed on the sea-bottom subsequently in parallel with the direction of the ship s movement 600 in outside the fall portion of the rope which does not deflect and is placed on the sea-bottom along the water flow direction. On the other hand, if the deflection of the ascending rope 11 is 2, the rope is pulled up with a perpendicular curve from about 200 m outside the rise portion of the rope which does not deflect. It means that the rope 10 at the sea-bottom and the buckets 14 attached to the rope 10 are drawn rather traverse and the distance which the rope drags on the bottom is extremely increased. As abovementioned, if both rope lines 9 and 11 are extremely separated from each other and the buckets 14 are drawn more traverse against the direction which the rope R and the buckets B are falling to the sea-bottom, it is possible to prevent the rope R from tangling, even if the rope R and the buckets B move zigzag on the sea-bottom as shown previously in FIG. 9. Moreover as it is possible to drive the rope at high speed, the production speed can be extremely improved.

In the method as described hereinbefore, the upper plate 32 of the bucket B is also used as a resistance plate. However it is possible to attach a suitable number of resistance plates to the rope R separately from the buckets B. FIG. 14 shows this example, in which a suitable number of wing-shape or hydrofoil resistance plates 82 with buoyancy are attached to the rope R (the descending part 9 is shown in the drawing) by means of a front long rope 83 and front short rope 84 fitted to a slip ring 85 at the front side and a rear long rope 86 and a rear short rope 87 fitted to a slip ring 88 at the rear side. Meanwhile the buckets B (13) are attached to the rope also by means of the slip rings. In this case the inclination against the water flow is determined by the wing-shape resistance plate 82 and the bucket B has no inclination. Namely, as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, said suitable number of resistance plates 82 attached to the ascending rope l1 and the descending rope 9 generate thrust forces 89 and 91 in the direction of the water flow and traverse thrust

forces

90 and 92 respectively by the water flow 42. Therefore two rope lines 9 and 11 are separated from each other by the resistance plates 82. However it is preferable to hang the resistance plates 82 from front and rear sides in parallel with the rope line as much as possible. Thus it is possible to decrease the change of the water flow resistance force due to the change of the circulating speed of the rope, and thereby the horizontal water flow due to the movement of the ship 1 can mainly act. Regarding the bucket B, the top planar is a planar plate, but it may be changed. depending on the design of the bucket. The bucket is hanged from front and rear sides. That is very effective to hold the inclination of the resistance plate in the preferred direction when the rope descends and ascends. However it is a hard work to fix such special buckets B (32) and resistance plates 82 to the rope R and to remove them from it, especially it is difficult in the conventional method to treat and'drive the bucket B hanged obliquely. In order to solve this problem and to continuously drive the rope R, it is required to improve the driving unit on a ship.

' In FIG. 11, the ascending rope 11 and the buckets B (16) containing metallic nodules pass under a guide wheel 63 and pass over a guide wheel 64, and thereafter the metallic nodules contained in the buckets 16 are dropped onto the ship. Further said rope R (part 12 on the ship) passes around guide

wheels

65 and 66 and is driven with the buckets B (17) attached thereto by

ball rollers

5, 6, 7 and 8. Furthermore the rope R passes around the outer side of

guide wheels

67 and 68 and is falling to the sea again from a guide wheel 69.

FIGS. 12 and 13 show a front view and a side view of the ball roller respectively. In FIG. 12, each

ball

70 and 71 containing high pressure air and holding the rope 12 by facing each other is driven in the rotatable manner by each

speed reducing unit

72 and 73 and each

motor

74 and 75, and fixed on board with each holding

metal

76 and 77 and a supporting frame 78 Thereby, as shown in FIG. 13, the rope 12 with the buckets 17 hanged passes easily between each

ball

70 and 71, and the driving force is transferred to the rope 12 by the pushing pressure of each

ball

70 and 71. The position of the rope R between the

rollers

70 and 71 is controlled by

rollers

80 and 81.

A most important feature of this method resides in using many ball rollers placed serially for driving the mechanism for continuously mining metallic nodules from the deep sea-bottom. The present inventor has invented and tested some driving methods before, in which a number of normal rope winding wheels are located serially; chain part of rope is catched and pulled; and is pressed by oil pressure rollers to transfer the driving force. However, in the rope winding wheel system, as a bucket is turned over, there is a possibility to damage the bucket. In the oil pressure roller system, there is a defect the rope surface is damaged. The method of catching and pulling the chain part of rope has not been tested yet. On the contrary, when a small size of ball roller system of the present invention was used in the test carried out off Hawaii on Dai-ni Kyokuyo-Maru ship, the rope was not damaged and the test proved the utility of the ball roller system.

In the present invention, as the bucket is hanged in the inclined manner to get the efficiency of the resistance plate thereof, the bucket is difficult to be handled and is easily damaged or transformed. By that damage and transformation, the resistance plate may act conversely to make the two rope lines close to each other, whereby the rope tangle may be caused. That rope tangle accident should not be caused at all. For this reason, this invention is employing a number of ball rollers arranged serially through which the buckets can pass easily without any damage. Therefore the most effective utility can be displayed.

FIGS. 17 to 23 relate to another embodiment of the present invention, a mechanism for continuously catching sea life using nets. Recently, because of exhaustion of fishery resources, many attempts for catching new sea life have been made. For example, in the South Pole sea, mysises are distributed in large quantities in the wide range of sea. Once an indirect method was taken, i.e., whales which ate mysises were caught by human beings. Now there is a prospect that mysises are directly caught and utilized like a shrimp. However, in the practical trial for catching mysises, when a ship approaches shoals of mysises, they scatter, so that only small quantity of them are caught. Therefore the development of a new mechanism has been required.

The mechanism for continuously catching fish using nets of the present invention has a feature in catching effectively sea life distributed in the wide sea of some depth.

One example embodying the present invention will be described hereinbelow in conjunction with accompanying drawings. In FIG. 17, a ship 101 has a propeller 102, a rudder 103 and a space enough to stock sea life caught, and driving

ball rollers

104, 105 and 106 are provided at one end of the stern of the ship, at another end of the stern and on the deck respectively.

In case the mechanism of this invention is operated using only one ship as above mentioned, a rope 107 has nets 108 and resistance plates 109 at certain intervals. As rope material, any one of fiber and cable is usable. Preferably the rope is balanced on torque, but it is not an absolute condition.

In order to effectively catch mysises living gregariously in the wide sea of some depth, e.g. 20 m 50 m deep, it is preferableto scoop water with a number of nets at pretty high speed. For this object, it is preferable to open the mouth of the net of the descending rope wide.

A net 108 is hanged from the rope 107 between fixing metals 146 and 147 by means of a ring 111 and

metal bars

112 and 113 so as to face always toward the counter force without regard to the circulation of the rope.

A resistance plate 109 is hanged from the rope 107 at the position determined by fixing

metals

148 and 149 and 150 and 151 by means of

rings

115 and 116,

metal bars

117 and 118 connected to the rings respectively and

long bars

119 and 120 and

short bars

121 and 122 having Y shape in the manner shown in FIG. 20 as observed from the ship.

The resistance plate 109 is lighter than water, and it is made of mainly polyethylene or wood. Outside the water, the resistance plate is hanged from the rope 107 as shown in FIG. 19, but in the water the plate has some inclination against the direction of the water flow 123 mainly made by the movement of the ship. That inclination of the plate generates the traverse thrusts 124 and 125 which are effective to separate the two rope lines from each other.

In order to drive such a rope having a loop shape and hanging many things, ball rollers shown in FIGS. 21-and 22 are very effective.

The

ball rollers

131 and 132 containing air are rotated by

motors

127 and 128 attached to a boom 126 through

speed reducing units

129 and 130. The rope is hold between two balls by the air pressure inside the balls and is driven. As the roller can hold the rope without any trouble even if the rope is pulled from the lower place than usual, it is possible to hold the rope with the net 108 attached. As the above mentioned operation is the same when the rope is drawn down to the sea and when the'rope is driven on the ship, the rope can be circulatedby the rotation of the driving ball rollers 104, I and 106 provided on the ship 101. As seen in the normal fishing technique, it is needless to say that the contents in the net are dropped by pulling a string 133 to open the bottom of the net and the net is falling to the sea again after the bottom is closed.

I claim:

1. A mechanism for continuously mining metallic nodules from the deep sea-bottom comprising:

an endless rope;

a ship having a bow and a stern;

a plurality of buckets attached to said rope at intervals;

driving means for circulating said rope to descend and ascend from the stern of said ship at a fixed speed;

a plurality of resistance means attached at invervals to said rope to circulate with said rope for increasing the distance of separation of said ascending and descending portions of said rope in response to the water flow generated by the forward movement of the ship at a fixed speed; and

a front connector means and a rear connector means for connecting said resistance means to said rope at two points, each of said connector means includes a first arm connected to said resistance means at a first point and to said rope and a second arm connected to said resistance means at a point spaced from said first point and to said rope. said first arm being shorter than said second arm.

2. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein said resistance means comprises a plate having a hydrofoil crosssectional configuration.

3. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein said resistance means comprises a planar plate forming the top of said bucket.

4. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein said first arm and said second arm are connected to said rope at a single point by a third arm.

5. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein said driving means circulates said rope at approximately the same speed as the forward speed of said ship.

6. A mechanism for continuously catching sea life distributed in relatively wide ranges of sea comprising:

an endless rope;

a ship having a bow and a stern;

a plurality of nets attached to said rope at intervals;

a plurality of resistance means attached at intervals to said rope to circulate with said rope for increasing the distance of separation of said ascending and descending portions of said rope in response to the water flow generated by the forward movement of said ship at a fixed speed; and

a front connector means and a rear connector means for connecting said resistance means to said rope at two points, each of said connector means includes a first arm connected to said resistance means at a first point and to said rope and a second arm connected to said resistance means at a point spaced from said first point and-to said rope, said first arm being shorter than said second arm.

7. The mechanism of claim 6 wherein said first arm and said second arm are connected to said rope at a single point by a third arm.

8. The mechanism of claim 6 wherein said resistance means comprises a plate having a hydrofoil crosssectional configuration.

9. The mechanism of claim 6 wherein said drive means circulates said rope at approximately the same speed as the forward speed of said ship.

Claims

1. A mechanism for continuously mining metallic nodules from the deep sea-bottom comprising: an endless rope; a ship having a bow and a stern; a plurality of buckets attached to said rope at intervals; driving means for circulating said rope to descend and ascend from the stern of said ship at a fixed speed; a plurality of resistance means attached at invervals to said roPe to circulate with said rope for increasing the distance of separation of said ascending and descending portions of said rope in response to the water flow generated by the forward movement of the ship at a fixed speed; and a front connector means and a rear connector means for connecting said resistance means to said rope at two points, each of said connector means includes a first arm connected to said resistance means at a first point and to said rope and a second arm connected to said resistance means at a point spaced from said first point and to said rope, said first arm being shorter than said second arm.

2. The mechanism of claim 1 wherein said resistance means comprises a plate having a hydrofoil cross-sectional configuration.

6. A mechanism for continuously catching sea life distributed in relatively wide ranges of sea comprising: an endless rope; a ship having a bow and a stern; a plurality of nets attached to said rope at intervals; driving means for circulating said rope to descend and ascend from the stern of said ship at a fixed speed; a plurality of resistance means attached at intervals to said rope to circulate with said rope for increasing the distance of separation of said ascending and descending portions of said rope in response to the water flow generated by the forward movement of said ship at a fixed speed; and a front connector means and a rear connector means for connecting said resistance means to said rope at two points, each of said connector means includes a first arm connected to said resistance means at a first point and to said rope and a second arm connected to said resistance means at a point spaced from said first point and to said rope, said first arm being shorter than said second arm.

8. The mechanism of claim 6 wherein said resistance means comprises a plate having a hydrofoil cross-sectional configuration.