Commissariat a L'energie Atomique

Michel Rommens

Pierre Biancale

Pierre L Balligand

Robert Porte

Jean-Paul Jacquemin

The end of at least one cable is connected to a float and the other end exerts a tractive effort on one or a number of collecting vehicles which land on the bottom at predetermined points with respect to the point of landing of the ballast which is provided with a pile, anchored in the sea bed, then freed from the float and the vehicle. Means initially secured to the ballast and then detached therefrom serve to convert the upward motion of the float to a displacement of the collecting vehicle along the sea floor.

Independent unit for the collection and upward transfer of nodules which

In a first step, a mixture of nodular sediments and sea water is collected by dredging along the sea bed and lifted into the separation compartment of an underwater control and storage station connected by tubing to a carrier ship. A volume of air corresponding to the pressure of the compartment at the immersion depth is sucked from the mixture and re-injected into the dredging tube by means of a booster compressor. In a second step, the nodules separated from the air are sucked to the surface and then collected.

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Chevreuse, France

Michel Rommens