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Equipment Used Afloat, Ashore For Separating Oil from Water—Use Spray Method of Painting HE pollution of harbors with i oil discharged from ships when pumping bilges and discharging ballast water from fuel oil and set- tling tanks has caused the increasing agitation against the practice to reach the acute stage. The oil separator described here and developed by the Bethlehem Ship- building Corp., provides a_ simple ‘means of separating oils from bilge and ballast water, thus reclaiming the oil and causing only clean water to be discharged overboard. The separators and filters are compact in construction and occupy a comparatively small space. They have no working parts requiring re- pairs or renewals, and an occasional cleaning is readily accomplished by steaming out. Separation is affected by utilizing the gravity principle by alternately increasing and constricting the flow and simultaneously changing the di- rection of the flow. The velocity is ' checked in the increased flow areas, thus allowing the oil to separate from the water. Steam coils are provided at the top oil outlet to cause the oil to flow more freely, and at the bottom for boiling out when cleaning. Bolted plates are fitted for access to the upper and lower stages. To further purify the water, the discharge from the separa- tors is led from the _ connection D slowly through a rectangular filter SEPARATOR CLEAR WATER DISCH. OVERBOARD’ FILTER TANK Al WATER DISCHARGE FROM SEPARATORS TO FILTER TANK OIL & WATER DISCHARGE FROM PUMP TO ’ SEPARATORS A scum pan is placed near the top to draw off the oil, and a steam coil is installed at the bottom for boiling out when cleaning. The wa- ter outlet is piped directly to the side of the ship, with the discharge valve OlL E WATER INLET (Se Gn TO FILTER TANK DRAIN SECTION THROUGH A TWO-STAGE BETH- LEHEM OIL SEPARATOR STEAMING OUT CONNECTION located above the load water line. Separators are built in single units from 10 to 100 tons mixture capacity per hour, or in two or three units, depending upon the space available on the ship. On ships where hatches and bulkhead doors are limited in size, units can be built in small sec- tions and bolted together aboard ship. Any suitable size pump having suction connections from the bilge and ballast tanks, may be used for the system by simply installing a dis- charge valve and the necessary pip- ing to the separators. The mixture of oil and water en- SEPARATOR SEPARATOR A u ahs By M OIL DRAIN TO FUEL TANK DIAGRAM SHOWING A TYPICAL SHIP BOARD INSTALLATION OF THREE BETHLEHEM OIL SEPARATORS AND THE FILTER TANK tank to remove any minute particles of dust or foreign matter which may have been coated with oil and thus passed through the separators. The filter tank is fitted with a ‘hinged cover for inspection purposes. ters the separator at connection A at the top and is directed down into the enlarged flow area between the baffle and the top on an inverted chamber, thereby checking the velocity. The oil, separating from the water. 467 collects ander the baffle and moves slowly outward until it reaches the edge of the baffle, and then rises to the top of the separator, to be drawn off through a funnel B and returned to the oil tanks through the pipe C. The major portion of the separa- tion takes place in this upper space, and the water, freed of the greater portion of oil, flows over the outer edge of the inverted chamber down into the contracted annular space next the separator shell, thereby increas- ing the velocity. The flow then encounters an annular baffle ring, and is again changed in direction, the mixture entering the enlarged flow area under the inverted chamber; where the velocity is again checked and most of the remaining oil separates out and collects under the chamber. The oil rises through escape pipes to the top of the sepa- rator and is drawn off through the funnel B. Although separation is now practi- cally complete, the whole cycle des- cribed above is repeated in the second or lower stage of the separator, which removes the remaining traces of oil from the water, the oil being drawn off through the connection C-1. Paint by Spray Method Applied to Ships Beginning at about the time the keel is laid down in the shipyard and continuing throughout the life of the ship until no longer fit for ser- vice, painting of hull, outside and in, of the superstructure and of the in- terior quarters, is a constantly nearly daily recurring task to stave off rapid deterioration. To neglect this most important aid in the prevention of the consuming effects of wind and weather and salt air would mean great loss in seriously shortening the legitimate life of the ship. Modern development has_ revolu- tionized methods of doing almost all kinds of work. Such development has — greatly increased the output of labor and in many instances improved the workmanship, substituting the pre- cision and thoroughness of a mechan- ical operation for the less. skilled hand operation. Many important in- dustries ashore have adopted mechan- ical means for applying paint finding it more economical and more _ thor-