Patent IT-1234729-B (IT)
Title: Ship with multiple hull provided with automatic hooking device
Inventor: PAOLO ANDOLFI
IPC: B63B/
Filed: 1989-09-29
Granted: 1992-05-26
Abstract: The present invention concerns a ship comprising two independent hulls that may be coupled and separated by an automatic hooking device comprising mechanical, oleo-dynamic tools. The said hulls have different functions. The first hull, shown in figure 1, is designed for containing and transporting loose goods - either fluids or containers - and is not provided with any propulsion or control device. Here below it will be called simply "box". The other hull, shown in figures 4, 5 and 6 in the various sections, contains the propelling machinery, propellers and control devices, and here below it will be called simply "vector".When the said hulls are hooked together as shown in figures 1, 2, 3, they form a single ship, and they behave as one ship, regarding both the structural and hydrodynamic profile. Both hulls are hooked together by an automatic hooking device formed of two sections. The active part comprises fluid dynamic, double stroke pistons set in the vector for the purpose of closing the corresponding structure of the "box". The other section is the static part and consists of cavities 10 machined in the structure of the box and hosting the towers 8 and pistons 9 of the said "vector". "Box" 1 is located in the central area of the "ship", so that the conjugated surfaces to be linked are two pairs lying on planes transversal to the hulls. The hulls are joined by nearing the "vector" laterally to the "box", the said box being fixed to a loading platform.The "vector" can move perpendicularly to the ship's axis due to the action of lateral propellers 6 ducted in the "ghiglia", thus annulling the ship's motion along the said axis. The vector comprises a metallic structure forming a single superior bridge 2 to which the prow 4 and the stern 3 of the "vector" are linked and which by means of the devices 14 of fig. 12 can slide along the suspension beam 7 or be fixed to the said beam by means of devices 15 of fig. 13. The "vector" therefore is supported by the "box" until the lengthwise axes of the hulls match, after which the prow of the "vector" 4 slides along the beam 7 until the towers 8 are thrust in the cavities 10 of the box which in this way is locked between the prow and the stern of the "vector" and blocked by the pistons 9. This invention is useful in the field of maritime transport in all cases where the ship remains in port for longer than the transit time from one port to another. In fact, the facility to split up the "multiple-hull ship" into its component parts allows the "vector" to leave the "box" at the dock for the loading and unloading operations and to move independently in the port in search of another "box" ready for departure, to haul alongside it and immediately start another voyage. In this way, by reducing the waiting-time for the "vectors", it is possible to launch merchant fleets with a smaller number of "vectors" than "boxes", making savings in investment costs, which are very high for propelling machinery and reducing operating costs with regard to technically qualified staff, only essential for the "vectors".