Saipem Limited

Nicolas Boutin

Michel Pierre Baylot

Michel Baylot

A clamp assembly, for a laying tower for laying continuous, elongated members in a body of water, has a supporting frame; and three clamping units arranged in series to simultaneously clamp and release a continuous, elongated member extending along a given axis, and each having at least two opposite jaws, and self-adjusting mechanisms, each of which is interposed between a respective jaw and the supporting frame, has a spring, and allows an adjustment movement of the respective jaw with respect to the supporting frame in a direction parallel to the axis, under the weight of the continuous, elongated member, and in opposition to the spring, when the continuous, elongated member is gripped simultaneously by the clamping units.

Clamp assembly for a laying tower

A gripping device, for gripping underwater pipelines at the laying stage, has jaws that are pressed onto a pipeline extending along an axis-substantially parallel to a laying direction, and have respective friction pads that are brought cyclically into contact with the outer face of the pipeline; and auxiliary gripping tools, which have panels for covering respective friction pads, and are selectively connectable to the jaws to increase grip between the jaws and the pipeline.

Growing community of inventors

Marseilles, France

Nicolas Boutin