Patent ID: 7469790

Claim:
An oil extracting apparatus for removing oil from a water body, said oil extracting apparatus comprising: a rigid oil adhering ring having a horizontally disposed ring axis and an oil adhering surface surrounding the ring axis, at least a portion of said oil adhering ring below the ring axis being adapted to be immersed in the water body; a driving device coupled to said oil adhering ring for driving rotation of said oil adhering ring about the ring axis, wherein rotation of said oil adhering ring results in separation of the oil from the water body and in adhering of the oil on said oil adhering ring to form an oil film on said oil adhering surface of said oil adhering ring; an oil scraping unit for scraping the oil film from said oil adhering surface of said oil adhering ring; and an oil collecting unit for collecting the oil scraped by said oil scraping unit from said oil adhering surface of said oil adhering ring; wherein said oil adhering ring further has a driven surface opposite to said oil adhering surface in radial directions relative to the ring axis, and said driving device includes a drive shaft that engages said driven surface of said oil adhering ring for driving rotation of said oil adhering ring about the ring axis; and wherein said drive shaft is in friction engagement with said driven surface of said oil adhering ring.