Importance

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Abstract

A floating system for collecting floatable debris is provided with curtains that direct the flow of water that contains floatables into the traps of the system while functioning as a pressure relief mechanism for the system which avoids placing excessive hydraulic forces on the system under extreme flow conditions. Inlet flow confining curtains have means for allowing the curtain to lift from the bottom of the waterbody as flow becomes progressively more extreme. The means may include patterns of weights in a series of normally horizontal pockets that are fabricated into the curtain at various distances below the water level that hang down to the bottom of the waterbody under normal conditions. The weights are graduated with the heaviest at the top and the lightest at the bottom. Alternatively, openings or windows are formed in the curtain and covered with mesh to allow flow through the windows while containing floatables larger than the size of the openings in the mesh. Also, a vertical corner of the curtain may have a triangular-shaped pucker pocket that extends from the surface of the water to the bottom of the curtains, which allows the two curtains to lift.

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First Claim