Abstract: A device to combust an oil slick floating on a body of water. The device comprises a hood and a container to receive oil and water. A jet forces oil from the surface into the container. There is a combustion chamber with an atomizing nozzle in the combustion chamber. A conduit communicates the container and the atomizing nozzle. Fluid of high velocity is supplied to the atomizing nozzle and a source of combustible gas can be fed to the combustion chamber along with air to support combustion.

Abstract: Apparatus to burn a combustible pollutant floating on the surface of a body of water. The apparatus has a first body and buoyancy means to maintain the first body beneath the surface of the water. A first chamber is formed in the first body. A resonation chamber is fixed relative to the surface of the first body and above the first chamber and positioned to be above the surface of the water when the apparatus is in use. A high velocity fluid can be projected up from the first body to the resonation chamber to develop a shock wave that is directed back towards the pollutant to atomize the pollutant. The atomized pollutant can then be burned.

Abstract: An instrument for measuring ultrasound has a chamber through which sound waves can travel from end to end of the chamber. An acoustic focusing device near one end of the chamber concentrates the sound waves at a focal point near the opposite end of the chamber. A rotary shutter is supported within the chamber in a position to be rotated by passage of the concentrated sound waves. Devices capable of transmitting and receiving a ray of light are arranged on the instrument so that the light ray is interrupted by the rotary shutter to provide a series of light pulses. A counter is operatively connected to the light receiving device and the series of light pulses are utilized to actuate the counter and provide a reading indicative of the intensity of the sound waves. The instrument may have an additional indicator of the intensity of the sound waves to supplement the reading provided by the counter.

Abstract: Oil or other combustible material polluting the sea is burned by apparatus having a partly submergible burner equipped with a transducer for generating high frequency acoustic vibrations. The transducer is surmounted by a velocity transformer designed to concentrate the acoustic vibration at a region of maximum intensity adjacent an upper end of the transformer. A float arrangement on the burner allows buoyancy to be adjusted so that the upper end of the velocity transformer is disposed a suitable distance above the surface of the water. An ignition system on the burner projects upwardly above the velocity transformer to ignite a cloud of the oil which is vaporized over the apparatus by energization of the transducer.

Abstract: An apparatus for sweeping contaminating material such as oil along the surface of a body of water using acoustic waves as a propelling force. The vibrational waves are produced by a device supported below the water surface and aimed upwardly towards a peripheral edge of the oil spill. Vibrational waves generated when the device is activated strike the air above the water surface and as a result are compacted into a flattened and horizontally elongated zone of vibrational energy which exerts a driving force on the oil spill edge. A method of employing sound as a sweeping force.

Abstract: An instrument for measuring the intensity of sound waves has a container partly filled with liquid. An open-ended tube is supported by the container above the liquid. Below the container a clamping arrangement serves to hold a sound-producing device in acoustical contact with a bottom closure of the container. A sound lens carried by the container above the bottom closure concentrates sound waves generated by the device at a focal region located below the surface of the liquid and in vertical alignment with the tube. The resulting column of liquid is supporting by the tube and the column height is measured on a scale to indicate sound intensity.

Abstract: Apparatus employing an ultrasonic focusing transducer is provided for removing a contaminant such as oil which is floating on the surface of a body of water. The transducer is supported beneath the water surface with its focal region aimed at the underside of the contaminant oil. A source of alternating current is connected to the transducer to generate ultrasonic waves which travel through the water and converge at the focal region. The apparatus includes a collecting arrangement which catches most of the oil bounced upwardly as the result of the focused ultrasonic waves before that upwardly discharged oil can fall back onto the water surface.The method of using such an apparatus.