초록 ▼

Novel prefabricated structural components such as precast concrete boxes having forms including rectangular parallelepipeds and hexagonal cylinders are disclosed which can be assembled together and/or with structural shapes disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,697,736 and 5,697,473 to form waterfront struc

Novel prefabricated structural components such as precast concrete boxes having forms including rectangular parallelepipeds and hexagonal cylinders are disclosed which can be assembled together and/or with structural shapes disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,697,736 and 5,697,473 to form waterfront structures such as seawalls, levees and breakwaters. Novel methods of waterborne transport and installation of the boxes and arrays thereof are disclosed, including modular vessels having bow and stern sections which can be connected directly together or mounted to a mid-section containing assemblies of such boxes, other structural elements or other vessels such as floating drydocks. Modular vessels can be assembled with any or all of the bow, midship and stern sections comprising honeycomb arrays of vertically-oriented hexagonal boxes.

대표청구항 ▼

I claim: 1. A self-propelled vessel for transporting floating objects, comprising separate bow and stern sections adapted to be removably fastened together using mechanical means to form the vessel alone and also to be separated and fastened mechanically to a floating object to form a vessel incorp

I claim: 1. A self-propelled vessel for transporting floating objects, comprising separate bow and stern sections adapted to be removably fastened together using mechanical means to form the vessel alone and also to be separated and fastened mechanically to a floating object to form a vessel incorporating said floating object as a midship section to transport same, with said bow section comprising at least one anchor, propulsion means, at least one power supply and control means to operate same and a crane unit, and said stern section comprising a propulsion system, at least one anchor, a pilot house and controls for said vessel, said vessel incorporating at least a portion of a floating drydock as said midship section. 2. The vessel of claim 1 wherein a substantially complete floating drydock comprising bottom and side hull sections is incorporated as said midship section. 3. The vessel of claim 1 wherein said mechanical means comprise connectors to interconnect said bow and stern sections to each other and said floating drydock and tensioning cables to maintain the position of said midship section. 4. The vessel of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of said bow section and said stern section comprise pluralities of precast concrete boxes having a hexagonal or half-hexagonal cross section which are assembled in a vertical orientation and interconnected in honeycomb arrays to form the structure of said bow and stern sections. 5. The vessel of claim 4 wherein at least one of said bow and stern sections further comprises precast concrete boxes having half hexagonal cross sections which are interconnected to the outer portions of said bow or stern section to form flush surfaces for said section. 6. A self-propelled vessel comprising separable bow, stern and midship sections, said bow and stern sections being removably attached to said midship section along lines of separation by suitable mechanical fasteners, each of said sections being constructed primarily of a plurality of precast concrete boxes having hexagonal or half-hexagonal cross-sections, the majority of said hexagonal boxes having substantially open and unobstructed inner cross sections, said boxes being oriented vertically and interconnected by mechanical means to form said bow, stern and midship sections into an integrated hull structure of said vessel, with said bow section having at least one anchor, propulsion means, at least one power supply and control means to handle same and at least one crane unit for handling cargo, and said stern section comprising a pilot house, at least one anchor, at least one propulsion unit and control means for said vessel. 7. The vessel of claim 6 wherein a portion of said boxes forming said midship section are adapted to serve as tanks for fuel, water and ballast. 8. The vessel of claim 6 wherein said midship section comprises cargo-carrying sections and at least one crane to handle said cargo. 9. The vessel of claim 6 wherein a plurality of said boxes in said bow, midship and stern sections are adapted for special purposes comprising operations, engineering, storage, habitability and weapons. 10. The vessel of claim 9 wherein at least one of said boxes adapted for special purposes is removably attached to an outer surface of at least one of said sections along a defined line of separation. 11. The vessel of claim 6 which comprises at least one hexagonal box or vertical array of said boxes which contains at least one of a vertical ladder or elevator. 12. The vessel of claim 6 wherein at least said midship section is large enough and is adapted to serve as a mobile base for at least one type of vehicle selected from the group consisting of large ships, smaller vessels, small craft, submarines, submersibles, hovercraft, amphibious vehicles and aircraft.