Patent ID: 8342818

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 pump reload mechanism operably coupled to the moveable one of the assemblies to yieldably bias the same in a downward direction relative to the anchored one of the assemblies so as to facilitate drawing of fluid into the chamber in response to a falling wave permitting the drive float to lower, said pump reload mechanism comprising a submerged float and a tether connecting the submerged float to the moveable one of the assemblies so that the buoyancy of the submerged float is transferred through the tether as a downward return force bias on the moveable one of the assemblies, with the upward force provided by the buoyancy of the drive float being greater than the downward force bias, permitting the moveable one of the assemblies to move upwardly in response to the rising wave lifting the drive float.