Santa Fe International Corporation

Stanley T Uyeda

E John Radu

Charles N Springett

Dan Abramovich

William J Talbot, Jr

Norman Feldman

John H Cha

A self propelled reel pipe laying ship having forward, midship and stern sections, and having a reel mounted at the midship section thereof about a substantially horizontal axis of rotation extending transversely of the ship, such that the load of the reel is distributed downwardly and outwardly substantially in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the ship, the ship further including pipe conditioning means located at the stern section for movement about a pivot axis extending substantially parallel to the rotational axis of the reel and (a) radius control means for imparting a substantially uniform curve to the pipe after it is unspooled from the reel, (b) straightening means for imparting a reverse bending force to the pipe opposite the curvature imparted to the pipe by the reel, and (c) means for guiding the pipe into the water after it emerges from the straightening means; and means for pivoting the pipe conditioning means about its pivot axis to adjust the pipe entry angle at which pipe enters the water after passing through the pipe guide means.

Self propelled dynamically positioned reel pipe laying ship

A self propelled reel pipelaying ship, having forward, midship, and stern sections, and baseline, tank top, and main deck levels, comprising substantially longitudinal outer hull members and port and starboard side inner longitudinal bulkheads, each extending substantially the length of the ship, the hull members and bulkheads extending from the baseline to the main deck level in the forward and stern sections and, in the midship section, substantially above the main deck level, substantially horizontal transverse midship structural members extending between the top portions of the raised midship sections of the outer hull members and inner longitudinal bulkheads, intermediate substantially horizontal transverse members extending between the outer hull members and inner longitudinal bulkheads and vertically spaced between the tank top and midship structural members wherein the midship portions of the outer hull members and inner longitudinal bulkheads, the transverse midship structural members and the intermediate transverse members together comprise a reel support structure, and means for rotatably mounting a pipe-carrying reel to the reel support structure such that the load of the reel is distributed downwardly and outwardly, both longitudinally and transversely through the ship to maintain the stress on primary structural members of the ship within allowable stress limits for the materials used in the construction of said primary structural members.

A self propelled reel pipe laying ship having forward, midship and stern sections, and having a reel mounted at the midship and thereof about a substantially horizontal axis of rotation extending transversely of the ship, such that the load of the reel is distributed downwardly and outwardly substantially in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the ship, the ship further including pipe conditioning means located at the stern section for movement about a pivot axis extending substantially parallel to the rotational axis of the reel and (a) radius control means for imparting a substantially uniform curve to the pipe after it is unspooled from the reel, (b) straightening means for imparting a reverse bending force to the pipe opposite the curvature imparted to the pipe by the reel, and (c) means for guiding the pipe into the water after it emerges from the straightening means; and means for pivoting the pipe conditioning means about its pivot axis to adjust the pipe entry angle at which pipe enters the water after passing through the pipe guide means.

A method for laying a substantially continuous length of pipe on the sea bottom from a carrier vessel, in which a pipe carrying reel is rotatably mounted on the carrier vessel, pipe straightening means are mounted to the carrier vessel downstream of the reel in the direction of unspooling for movement in a direction substantially parallel to the rotational axis of the reel, and pipe guide means are mounted to the carrier vessel downstream of the straightener means in the direction of pipe unspooling for movement in a direction substantially parallel to the rotational axis of the reel, wherein the method comprises the steps of rotating the reel in a direction to unspool the pipe and maintain a substantially constant dynamic braking force on the reel to maintain tension on the pipe as it is unspooled.

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Orange, CA, United States of America

Stanley T Uyeda