HARBOUR ICE CHANNEL

CHENAL AMENAGE DANS LA GLACE D'UN PORT

English Abstract

A means of creating a navigable path, passage, canal, or channel, for marine
craft,
boats, or ships, through solid ice, during seasonal, arctic, or natural winter
freezing
conditions by the use of loose, or captive, hollow, or solid, balls, spheres,
or discs made
of plastic, rubber, metal, wood or wood composite, packed and nested together
at a
specified depth and placed on the surface of the water within the width and
length of a
proposed navigable channel, formed by existing concrete, or steel walls, or by
cutting a
path through solid ice with rotary or chain saws, or creating a passage with
vertical,
floating mesh netting, at the beginning of the winter freeze.
The inventor has established that loose of captive, frozen, closely packed
nested balls,
create a web of interlocking filaments of ice structure between them, but
having no
consistent thickness in any direction, the structure remains weak and
susceptible to
pressure. or direct force and is easily broken up by weight, or the bow of
small harbour
craft. Larger balls create a similarly weak ice structure. Although still
subject to
freezing, continuous use of the channel will change each time to break-up and
churn
the mush of water, ice fragments and moving or sliding balls, ensuring there
is no
impenetrable solid ice barrier to open water. Ball traps at each end of the
channel
determine that very few balls are lost, or drift away.

Claims

CLAIMS 10
The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege
is claimed
are defined as follows:
CLAIM 1. The use of packed, loose, or captive, hollow, or solid balls, spheres
or
cylinders or discs, floating on the surface of water, to a specific depth,
within a confined
channel, passage, seaway, port or harbour, to significantly weaken ice
structure and
create a navigable channel for marine craft during winter freeze conditions.
CLAIM 2. The use and design of floating mesh net with buoys and markers each
side
forming a navigable channel, with captive floating ball traps at each end to
prevent loss
of packed loose balls during access to and from the channel by marine craft.
CLAIM 3. The unique and simple design of floating captive ball traps using
captive
nested vertical strings or columns of rolling balls or elongated cylinders or
discs on
cables attached to a submerged raft below in an area at each end of the
channel
prevents the loss or escape of loose balls. (Full scale tests might prove
smaller traps are
possible.)

11
Each ball trap having sufficient area and length for specific marine craft
which can
smoothly move from one area to another into or out of the channel over the
ball trap,
with captive ball strings springing up behind to close the trap.
CLAIM 4 The design of rolling balls or cylinders for normal docking purposes.
CLAIM 5. The storage of balls within the innovative design of a floating pre-
cast
reinforced concrete and /or metal waterproof harbour to serve as a multi-
purpose
storage dock wharf pier, helicopter pad or military base. Constructed as a
seaworthy
vessel, capable of being towed to any location positioned and settled on a pre-
determined base by flooding compartments. Capable of being pumped out,
refloated, and moved, or towed, elsewhere.

Description

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1. The idea relates to the use of large or small vessels, boats, or ships, in
the
transportation of goods, trade or passengers dut~ng the winter freeze, where
and
when vessels commonly known as ice-breakers are unavailable to break a
temporary
ice passage through large sheets of thick ice. In key s of a canal, seaway, or
small port, or harbour, ice of varying thickness can bring all working
activity to a
halt during winter mcmtMs, increasing unemployment and affecting the economy.
2. This innovation proposes to create a channel, or passage, in the ice for
~ntinuous
use during a long winter freeze, thus providing (e.g.) A small great lakes
port,
coastal harbour, or seaway, with aantinuous access, for all manner of small
craft
and eventuaNy, larrger ships, (when fuNy teshed and developed) leading to
employment for hundreds for people in transportation, shipping, search and
rescue
and fishing year round, bringing ~abilfity to the area and stimulating trade.
3. Small scale tesfis have shown that closely packed, nested balls of plastic,
mc~i,
rubber, wood or wood cornpos~e, when mnfrtned and froien in a solid ioe mass,
will
form intricate, webs of interlocking filaments of spidery, lace like, ice
structure
betwween them, and having little strer~th, are easy broken up by direct
pn~ssure or
fiorce, like the bow of a small vessel, riding over and through the fragments
of ice
and balls, perhaps with the aid of a temporary skid, or breaker. Alttrrnugh
still

CA 02383661 2002-05-08
3
subject to freezing, continuous use of the channel, will churn and break up
the mush of
water, ice fragments and moving balls, ensuring #tere is no impenetrable solid
ice
barrier to open water. Ball traps at each end of the channel determine very
few balls
are lost or drift away.
4. (~1ANNEL OR PASSAGE THROUGH THICK ICE
The use of loose, or captive, hollow or solid, balls, spheres, cylinders or
discs,
packed together to weaken ice stt-ucture in a proposed channel, or passage.
(e.g.) Through an assumed ~/~ mile sheet of ice 3'-0" deep, blocking a small
port,
harbour, or seaway, using the following innovative ideas to reach open water.
(a) VERTICAL PLASTIC MESH NETTING up to 12'-0" deep, c~pending on ice
thickness,
on both sides of a 2D'-0" wide channel stretching the full length, (e.g.) 1G~'
long,
supported by buoys at regular spacing, with poles and markers anchored to the
bottom of the harbour. Each end of the channel would have a ball trap
preventing
ba8s flowing free. Extra mesh netting is required on both sides of the ball
traps to
allow for pressure on captive balls, pushing outward from centre channel as
vessels
displace them and move through. Fig. b

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4
fib) BALL TRAPS comprise floating vertical columns, or strings of rolling
beds, or walls of
balls, elongated tubular cylinders, or discs, fed to a grid or pontoon raft
submerged below the surface ice, and anchored, or tethered at a specific depth
to
the harbour floor, or sea bottom. Floating oc~mmpcmen#s roN on non-aor~ve
cable
or strings, with extra length for adjustrnent, draft, sire ofi vessel, and
surface water
kernel t~equir~e~rents. The full baN string is packed with balls or cylinders
down, to the
sliding rack base ensuring there is no exposed cable to get entangled. Depth
of
submerged raft can be adjusted by cable and pui~y at aundeiw~er (below
ice) i~ surface buoys above, ensuring the anchoring is secure, to counteract
possible
drag from vessels passing through.
~c) UNDERWATER AIR BUBBLE LINE suspended be~w the channel, for intermittent
use, will assist in break up of iae structure with warm upward currenirs.
~d) 1~DIFI~ATIONS Tt7 SMA11 MARINE CRAFT could indude heavy-duty propellers
and sh~s. Also propeller and nx~er shields for all sues of waft riding over
balls
when in the channel. Portable pneumatic hammers might also be usefiul for
emerge, b~ up ice hurrtrr~odcs and pads ice within the channel.

CA 02383661 2002-05-08
(e~ USE OF HYDi'~ULI~ THRUSTER TYPE JET BOAT propulsion shawid be ideal for
trading this style of winter channel with less prcrbherrrs of entangiemerrt.
intakes
must be below ioe level.
(fi) STORE flF BANS during ~e summer mss. Assuming ir~ir~e chowder would
occur on the surface ofi the bails if they were submerged during way weather,
it
is prapose~d tire balls oauid be dried out and st~rned.
The inventor suggests the conon of a pre-cast, waterproof, floatir~,
r~einforr~d
aor~nebe anc! st~eei i~bour, vdt~h could be miss produced, Within operational
seaWay dimensions, designed to be seer When towed to any location using
por~b~ t~draulic lxirrrps and thrus~er Port's to help steer', or potion the
mnaebe
hull before flooding selected canpa~ and gently settling the new harbour on
its tx~wiousiy defined base.
The hulk then serves as a dock, a pier, a wharf, a hei'roopber platform or a
covered
gae area vr~h a large flat deck. Muldpte units coupled toged~er would serve as
fiia~Di~S, refl(IerxS, and military bases With lMng qUat'ter5, Or e~Y1 $T~L
rUtlWayS.

CA 02383661 2002-05-08
s
HARBOUR ICE CHANNELS
LET OF DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 TYPICAL ICE STRUCTURE BETWEEN BALLS {COMPUTER SiMULATI4N)
Fig. 2 ICE STRUCTURE BEtINEEN BALLS {PLAN/DIAGRAM)
Fig. 3 ICE CHANNEL CROSS ~CIION OF {SMALL CRAFT)
Fig. 4 ICE CHANNEL CROSS SECTIDnI {FREIGHTER)
Fig. 5 BALL TRAP {ENTRY)
Fig. s BALL TRAP {DISPLACEMENT)
Fig. 7 BALL TRAP {SIDE VIEW)
Fig. 8 BALL STRING {RAFT DETAIL)
Fig. 9 BALL, CYLINDER & DISC STRINGS
Fig. 10 BALL STORAGE

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DRAWINGS
ICE STRUCTURE
In drawings ilhg embodirnent3 of the inWention, Fig. 1 shows a aanpu~e~ed
simulation of a typical 'roe structure faron of inter~dcing lace-like
filaments between
falls. The lamer the balls the stronger die ice stru~ure, but with no
consistent
thickness in any dire~on, the structure rerr~ains weak, is sable to any direct
form
of pre~SUre and I$ eerily broken lip. ~1 plan lfiew of d, t~er'~edr C~p~Ne and
t009e
balls, is shown on Fig. 2 with the ice structure darkened or hat~e~i betw~.'en
halts.
fig. 3 and Fig. 4 iflusd~e cross serfs ,as enrisagead through a typical 'roe
channel knot
to scale) with marine craft negotiating an approx.: 3'-0" deep layer of loose
~" (LOOmm)
dia~Ger balls packed betvv~raeen two werk~al mesh nets ~ approx. 1~'-0" feet
high
with markers ~ supported by buoys and pas~toned by anchors. 11
A,tso shovm is a flexible air bubble hose 1~ or 1»i~e. suspended bench the
channel,
to stimulate ice break-up with rising warm water, key sections of the passage
or
channel.
A~t each end of the channel are ball traps as on Fig. ~, F'-ig. ~, and Fig. 7
.
T?~ese are designed to cover an area suited to the particular marine craft
using the
chamnel, t~ir~g betm~d a moving vessel entenir~g or leering the diannel,
preventing
Loose halts from driitng fi ee.

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ALL TRAPS comprise a submerged and tethered rafit or pontoon ~ a rack ~
grid of non-oon~ve metal slot, or slide members 14 mounted and bolted dose
t~~gether ~ the raft at right angles 90° aQOSS the width and path ofi
the channel.
The metal sues, or slide racks 1~ are scorned by oomrnon members each
other, Leaving a speaflc gap to slide in the bail strings, as shown on fig. 8.
BALI ,~TR.i ,5 are flowing versa) t~iumns of balk cylinders or discs of
various
materials arid sizes, see L=ig. 9, held captive on iron-corrosive cables, ~
which float
vertically from the Submerged raft ~, below to the Surface above, atrarrged
cording
to the sire and draft of the vessel using the channel, employing the most
efT~nt type
of string assembly, the best operating flot~on medium in the ice, offering
leapt
resistance to a vessel moving through.
llilhen fully assembled, the aompiete ball ~p embodies b0 to ifl0 verticaNy
Bating
captive strings or rnliir~g beads ofi balls, cylinders or discs, ~ packed die
togekher
in long sloes between slide racks 14 (e.g.) a ~0'. On width of d~annel from
the
submerged raft 15 with a suggested minimum ofi i2D slots below, and ball
strings to
the surface above, for a small ~4-0~ vessel to move thrnugh a bed and weNs of
idling
balls, either entering or leaving the chanrnel. See F'~g. ~, Fig. .~, and
Fig. 7

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9
As vessel pas, ball strings irrur~ediately float bade to their original
vertical posfion,
preventing loose brads from drifting away. BaNs or cylinders can be stuckhed
with
refle~ors or colored for use as channel or boundary markers. tatherwise black,
to
absorb heat.
~J4LL STORAGE AND FLOATING HARBOUR
Fig. 1fl Ernrisages the embodiment of a large pr~e-ca~, waterproof, reinforced
concn~,
hollow hull type, floating harbour, designed within seaway dimensions to be
seaworthy
and towed #~ a pre-selected location, and positioned by portable heavy duty
hydraulic thruster pumps, though built-in thruster ports finre and aft, then
flooded and
settled on a pre-d~en~ined base.
Notable fieatures indude a full width wide deck ~. A fore and aft bow design
to entrance sea-worthiness and steering. Flooding or storage aornpertrnents
Bunt in towing fiaalides 2~4 . Thruster ports ~ Buiit-in Treliex Type
rrubber/p~ic bumpers ~ for special docking and multiple unit hook up. Multiple
decks 27 as required for store or living quarters.

Representative Drawing