Patent ID: 6840187
Filing Date: 2005-01-11
Classification: B63B

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for cleaning the portions of a boat that are underwater, the apparatus comprising at least one cleaning unit having first generator means for generating a jet of cleaning fluid under high pressure, and second means for generating jets of gas, said first generator means enabling a cleaning fluid jet to be produced in the form of a fluid sheet, and said second means including a manifold provided with a series of nozzles connected to a pressurizer and to a tank or a supply of gas, said manifold enabling jets of gas under low pressure to be generated so as to define a space around said cleaning fluid sheet in which space density is considerably less than the density of the surrounding water, said space being free or practically free from water and extending over the entire length of said cleaning fluid sheet from said first generator means to the area of said underwater portions that is to be cleaned, said manifold being disposed beneath said first generator means in such a manner that its own longitudinal axis extends substantially in the same vertical plane as the plane containing the ejection axis of said cleaning fluid sheet, which sheet extends substantially vertically inside said space that is free or practically free from water.