A small retaining pin is used (see Figures 6 and 7) to prevent 

 excessive relative vertical motion of the two sections of the connector. 



A dacron line connected to the top of each connector makes them 

 easier to lift out of the water when joining the boom connectors sec- 

 tions. 



The self-floating towing assembly was recommended as shown in the 

 dimensional sketch of Figure 8. The assembly presented in Figure 2B was 

 not pursued because the use of a paravane-foot assembly to control the 

 attitude of the towed boom end was considered impractical. The selected 

 assembly is directly compatible with the male-connector section of the 

 selected boom-connector assembly (Figure 5) and has a vertical plate 

 near the bottom to assist in damping any roll motion (Figure 9) . The 

 towing assembly incorporates a female connector section welded to a 

 single-tow-point float. It can easily be connected to or disconnected 

 from deployed boom sections or a towing cable. Other advantages are its 

 small size and its light weight. 



The bulkhead-attachment design shown in Figure 10 fulfilled all of 

 the requirements for the design. The same extrusion used for the boom 

 connector was used for the sliding track. In this assembly, a female- 

 connector section is welded to structural angle for attachment to a pier. 

 Figure 11 shows the bulkhead attachment mounted on a piling in the har- 

 bor. A boom section can quickly be slid in or out of the top or bottom 

 of the attachment. 



It should be noted that the extrusion for the larger concentric 

 tube (female connector) can be used for the bulkhead-attachment assembly 

 on a towing vessel or oil skimmer so that a boom end supplied with the 

 male extrusion can be connected directly to the towing assembly. 



TEST PROGRAM 



Prototypes of the boom connector, towing assembly, and bulkhead 

 attachment were fabricated and subjected to an accelerated series of 

 laboratory and field tests. These tests were designed to establish the 

 adequacy of the prototype standardized boom hardware for its intended 

 use and to verify the assumptions used in the design of the hardware. 

 Laboratory tests determined the strength of the connectors and simulated 

 conditions where leakage of oil could occur. Field tests simulated the 

 force loadings and handling situations that would be encountered in 

 actual field use. Thus, any necessary modifications to the assemblies 

 were implemented before the equipment was put into field service. 



Laboratory Tests 



The laboratory tests, restricted to testing of the male and 

 female boom connector, were conducted on a tensile test machine and 

 in a small-wave tank, and quantitative and qualitative observations 



