Abstract: In an embodiment of the invention as depicted, buoyant flotation devices are tethered in a spaced-apart circumjacency to a water-bound and partially water-submerged object, to protect the object from ice-caused or impact-caused damage. The flotation devices are of sufficient number and in sufficient proximity to each other, to define a water-surface area about the object which is substantially closed. The devices are yieldable, to allow an ice formation to insinuate itself or expand the defined area, and freely deform if impacted by a floating article or vessel. In further embodiments of the invention, an area-shrouding canopy is secure to the to-be-protected object and to the flotation devices, to establish and maintain a temperature difference, within the shrouded area, over that which obtains outside of the shroud or canopy.

Abstract: The novel filter, according to an embodiment thereof, comprises a filter matrix formed into a specific geometry and made of glass, metal, mineral and/or cellulostic fibers, fibers or fiber-agglomerates molded from thermoplastic, thermoset plastics, elastoplasts, or related synthetic polymer materials, or natural fibers, such as cotton, wool, and the like, which have been coated, impregnated, or compounded, prior to forming, with a series of substances in order that the filter may be easily cleaned and reused, as well as protected against corrosive action by the fluid media, or to render substances in the filtration fluid media, or to render substances in the filtration media chemically unreactive, or to change the chemical state or structure of matter in the fluid media.

Abstract: The novel filter, according to an embodiment thereof, comprises a filter matrix formed into a specific geometry and made of glass, metal, mineral and/or cellulostic fibers, or fibers or fiber-agglomerates molded from thermoplastic, thermoset plastic, elastoplasts, or related synthetic polymer materials, which have been coated, impregnated, or compounded, prior to forming, with a series of substances in order that the filter may be easily cleaned and reused, as well as protected against corrosive action by the fluid media, or to render substances in the filtration fluid media chemically unreactive, or to change the chemical state or structure of matter in the fluid media.