Commissariat a L'energie Atomique

Jean-Pierre Moreau

Jean Vertut

Pierre Lemercier

Pierre Biancale

Yves-Paul Corfa

Paul Marchal

Henri Ligozat

Method and installation for depositing materials on an ocean bed in accordance with a given line in which the autonomous vehicle is displaced on the ocean bed by accurately following said line, whereby the vehicle is provided with a hopper, a ship is moved on the surface of the ocean roughly in accordance with said line, the materials are discharged from this ship towards the hopper and are guided by means of a pipe suspended beneath the ship and whose lower end is not integral with the hopper, wherein the propulsion means of the pipe disposed at the lower end thereof are operated so that the lower end of the pipe is forced to remain above the hopper.

Method for depositing material on the ocean bed and apparatus for

A submarine vehicle for collecting and raising materials resting on the sea bed at great depths, of the type comprising a load-bearing structure, collecting elements for the materials, storage silos for storing the materials collected and/or the ballast material, transfer means between said collecting elements and said silos, and main propellers for advancing the vehicle on the sea bed, said vehicle being characterized in that said load-bearing structure is made of a buoyancy material, said structure being in the form of a ring having a longitudinal plane of symmetry and defining the stem, stern and sides of said vehicle, and defining between them a free central space, the outer surface of said structure forming the hull of said vehicle, said storage silos being arranged in the free central space and fixed to said load-bearing structure, said collecting elements being arranged in front of and below said stem, said main propellers also being fixed to the lower surface of said load-bearing structure.

Submarine vehicle for dredging and raising minerals resting on the sea

Method and installation for depositing materials on an ocean bed in accordance with a given line in which the autonomous vehicle is displaced on the ocean bed by accurately following said line whereby the vehicle is provided with a hopper, a ship is moved on the surface of the ocean roughly in accordance with said line, the materials are discharged from this ship towards the hopper and are guided by means of a pipe suspended beneath the ship and whose lower end is not integral with the hopper, wherein the propulsion means of the pipe disposed at the lower end thereof are operated so that the lower end of the pipe is forced to remain above the hopper.

Growing community of inventors

De Panne, Belgium

Jean-Pierre Moreau