Patent ID: 6047655
Filing Date: 2000-04-11
Classification: B63B

Abstract:
A flexible marine barge structure, comprising:a unilocular hollow flexible bag having a generally planar configuration and streamlined in shape in plan view and constructed to receive a cargo of an aqueous medium less dense than sea water, so that said barge floats in sea water when containing said cargo and to a proportion of the capacity of said bag structure such that, when said barge floats in sea water with said cargo, the bag has substantially planar and parallel upper and lower surfaces and a length-to-depth ratio of from about 2:1 to about 50:1, a width-to-depth ratio of from about 2:1 to about 20:1 and a length-to-depth ratio of from about 1:1 to about 20:1,said streamlined shape being defined, at the bow end, by a pair of opposed arcs of a circle intersecting at the bow and, at the stern end, by a pair of straight lines intersecting at the stern and formed tangent to the arcs of a circle, so that the angle between the straight lines at the stern is approximately one half the angle between the area of a circle at the bow.