JOHN ANTHONY TEMPLET, JR
Pilots at Caraway Rd, Pascagoula, MS

5431122, Jul 11, 1995

Nov 19, 1992

7/979421

John A. Templet - Pascagoula MS

B63B 5900

114222

An apparatus for cleaning ship hulls underwater. A frame is supported by controlled buoyancy tanks which may be flooded to sink the apparatus beneath a ship, blown to a neutral buoyancy for easy underwater maneuvering, or blown to a positive buoyancy so to adhere against the inverted hull of a ship. The apparatus, when underwater against a hull, rides on two independently powered wheels which are individually driven by hydraulic motors for individual control by the diver. These wheels, extending above the upper surface of the apparatus in its submerged position, engage the hull, driving the apparatus along the hull. At the forward end of the apparatus is a reciprocating chipper blade, an angled or concave, hardened steel blade driven by a vibratory impact apparatus at a high repetition rate through a very short stroke. The distance of the stroke and the speed of the blade is such that the impact of the blade cleans the hull of the barnacles, but does not exert a rearward force which would overcome the traction of the wheels. The apparatus will clean the hull of marine growth, but does no damage to the hull or to the paint on the hull.