Importance

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Abstract

A shoe seal for sealing the space between a pontoon supported lightweight floating roof and the inner wall of an oil storage tank includes a plurality of hanger assemblies for movably mounting a shoe on the floating roof. The hanger assemblies are mounted in spaced-apart fashion around the outer rim of the floating roof, and each includes a support bracket coupled to the floating roof at an upper end thereof and having an opposite lower end pivotally coupled to a lever bracket. Each lever bracket has a first end pivotally coupled to the shoe by a shoe clip and an opposite second end disposed beneath the outer rim of the floating roof and having a float coupled thereto by a support strap. The floats which comprise hollow, enclosed, generally cylindrical members are disposed in spaced-apart fashion beneath the outer rim of the floating roof at a level below the pontoons which support the roof so as to be completely submerged within the oil or other liquid product stored within the tank. The resulting buoyant forces on the floats pivot the lever brackets in a direction so as to maintain the shoe in contact with the inner tank wall.

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First Claim