Patent ID: 8007252

Claim:
An apparatus for pumping a fluid using the continuous rising and falling wave action in a body of water, said apparatus comprising: a cylinder assembly, a piston assembly operably coupled with the cylinder assembly to define an expandable chamber, a fluid inlet communicating with the chamber, and a fluid outlet communicating with the chamber, wherein fluid is drawn into the chamber through the inlet as the chamber expands and fluid is pumped out of the chamber through the outlet as the chamber contracts; an anchor connected to an anchored one of said cylinder and piston assemblies to position said anchored one of the assemblies below the surface of the body of water and to restrict upward movement of said anchored one of the assemblies; a drive float riding on top of the body of water such that a rising wave lifts the drive float upward and a falling wave lowers the drive float downward, said drive float being coupled to a relatively moveable one of said cylinder and piston assemblies to move the same in an upward direction relative to the anchored one of the assemblies in response to a rising wave lifting the drive float, said piston and cylinder assemblies being interconnected so that the chamber contracts to, thereby pump fluid from the chamber through the outlet, during upward movement of the moveable one of the assemblies, and the chamber expands, to thereby draw fluid into the chamber through the inlet, during downward movement of the moveable one of the assemblies; and a tide compensating device interconnecting the drive float and moveable one of the assemblies in such a manner that the amount of upward movement of the moveable one of the assemblies is relatively less than the amount of upward movement of the drive float in response to a rising wave lifting the drive float, said tide compensating device comprising a framework fixed to the anchored one of the assemblies, a flexible element interconnecting the moveable one of the assemblies and the drive float, and a first rotatable member connected to the moveable one of the assemblies, said flexible element extending from a fixed connection on the framework that is spaced above the first rotatable member as the chamber expands and contracts, said flexible element extending downwardly from the fixed connection, around the first rotatable member, and up to the drive float, causing the moveable one of the assemblies to move upward a distance less than that moved by the drive float as a rising wave lifts the drive float.