Abstract: Dry, particulate abrasive for use in abrasive blast cleaning of a ship hull is supplied to blasting pots from abrasive supply hopper assemblies lifted into place from a recycling station. Spent abrasive, with debris, is collected and placed on a conveyor belt extending parallel to the keel blocks, for conveying the collected material to the recycling station. There, the collected material is processed to remove undersized and foreign material from the reuseable abrasive grit. The latter is loaded into supply hopper assemblies, which are crane-lifted back into supplying relation with respective blasting pots. By preference, the abrasive blasting work takes place from elevatable, curtain-enclosed platforms supported on a drydock floor, the blasting pots are located on the drydock wing wall, the abrasive grit is ferromagnetic and recovered from the drydock floor partly with the aid of a magnetic abrasive pick-up unit, and the recycling station is located on a barge moored at an end of the drydock.

Abstract: A water jet cutting apparatus has a line catcher for water and abrasive passing through the worktable comprising a carriage on the frame is movable above a pervious worktable and carries a water jet cutting head. A pan ia supported on the frame and spaced below the worktable, and a collector extends transversely of the frame between the worktable and pan for movement along the length of the worktable in alignment with the cutting head, and has a drain. An insert member is supported in the collector and drains into the collector. A settling tank cooperates with a sludge pump with a conduit from the pan to the settling tank to transport water and abrasive material to the tank. A rinsing pump has a conduit from the settling tank to the collector to draw water from the settling tank and flush abrasive from the collector outwardly of the drain into the pan.