Patent ID: 6769942
Filing Date: 2004-08-03
Classification: B63B,B63H,B63J

Abstract:
A watercraft comprising:a hull; an internal combustion engine having an air intake for receiving at least ambient air to be supplied to said engine; a propulsion system connected to said engine, said propulsion system being constructed and arranged to propel said watercraft along a surface of a body of water using power from said engine; and an air/water separating device comprising a container enclosing an interior space, said container having a bottom, an inlet port and an outlet port, said inlet port enabling the ambient air to enter said container, said outlet port including a tube extending from the outlet port at a position above the bottom and being communicated to said air intake of said engine so as to enable said engine to draw the ambient air into said air intake through said inlet port, said interior space and said outlet part, said air/water separating device having structure providing spaced apart generally vertical surfaces defining a plurality of elongated tortuous paths between said inlet and outlet ports, said tortuous paths having one or more vertically oriented angular portions and being positioned and configured such that, as said engine draws the ambient air through said container interior, the ambient air passes through said elongated tortuous paths so that water suspended in the ambient air is separated from the ambient air as the ambient air passes through the vertically oriented angular portions of said paths with the separated water flowing downwardly along said generally vertical surfaces to the bottom of said container by gravity, said container having one or more apertures at said bottom so as to enable the water flowing to said bottom to flow out from said container.