Western Gear Corporation

Allen E Peirce

David E Olson

Duncan Bell

Jack L Odell

Robert F Obear

A system for measuring and displaying the side and top profiles of an underwater pipeline as the pipeline is being laid on the sea floor by a pipe laying vessel. The profiles are determined by sequentially measuring the position of points spaced apart along the pipeline with respect to a point on the vessel. The measurements are accomplished by sequentially transmitting an acoustic signal from three, non-colinear transducers. The acoustic signals from each transmission is detected by a plurality of receivers spaced apart along the pipeline. As each receiver detects a transmission it produces an indicating signal on a pair of electrical conductors which are connected to the vessel and all of the receivers on the pipeline. The elapsed time between a transmission from a given transducer and detection of that transmission by each receiver is an indication of the distance between the transducer and each receiver. After all three transducers have interrogated the receivers, the three-dimensional position of each receiver is known, and the pipeline profile as viewed from the top and side can then be platted. Examination of the pipeline profile indicates the stress along the pipe so that the pipeline tension, or barge yaw attitude, can be adjusted to prevent damage to the pipeline.

Method and apparatus for adjusting the tension of an underwater pipeline

An elongated metal workpiece such as a slab or billet is moved longitudinally beneath a grinding head by a reciprocating carriage mounted on an elongated track. The carriage receives a billet from a charging table, reciprocates the billet beneath the grinding head for a plurality of grinding passes, and then delivers the finished billet to a discharge table. The grinder head includes a rotating grinding wheel mounted at the end of a first arm which is pivotally secured to one end of a pivotally mounted second arm. The vertical position of the grinding wheel, and hence the downward force exerted by the grinding wheel on the billet, is principally determined by the angular position and torque, respectively, of the first arm while the horizontal position of the grinding wheel transverse to the longitudinal axis of the billet is principally determined by the angular position of the second arm. Grinding wheel vibration is limited by clamping the second arm to a massive, rigid foundation during each grinding pass thereby limiting the movement of the grinding head to a single degree of freedom. The grinding head and carriage are instrumented with transducers for measuring such parameters as grinding wheel driving torque and speed, carriage position and speed, and grinding wheel position to automatically remove a surface layer having a preselected thickness in accordance with a manually selected value representing desired thickness and the energy required to remove a unit volume of billet material at a given rate under specific operating conditions.

Workpiece conditioning grinder system

A system for measuring and displaying the side and top profiles of an underwater pipeline as the pipe line is being laid on the sea floor by a pipe laying vessel. The profiles are determined by sequentially measuring the position of points spaced apart along the pipeline with respect to a point on the vessel. The measurements are accomplished by sequentially transmitting an acoustic signal from three, non-colinear transducers. The acoustic signals from each transmission is detected by a plurality of receivers spaced apart along the pipeline. As each receiver detects a transmission it produces an indicating signal on a pair of electrical conductors which are connected to the vessel and all of the receivers on the pipeline. The elapsed time between a transmission from a given transducer and detection of that transmission by each receiver is an indication of the distance between the transducer and each receiver. After all three transducers have interrogated the receivers, the three-dimensional position of each receiver is known, and the pipeline profile as viewed from the top and side can then be platted. Examination of the pipeline profile indicates the stress along the pipe so that the pipeline tension, or barge yaw attitude, can be adjusted to prevent damage to the pipeline.

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Lynnwood, WA, United States of America

Allen E Peirce