Global Marine, Inc.

Vance E Bolding

Abraham Person

Andrew J Brooks, Iii

Michael D Keen

Stands () of multiple lengths of drill pipe, for oil and gas drilling are individually supported in a storage bin () in an array of plural layers of plural numbers of stands. The individual stands are held in cooperating notches () in vertically aligned support sleepers () so that each stand experiences loads due only to its own weight and motions of a bin frame () where, as preferred, the frame is supported on a drillship deck (). Sleepers between stand layers are indexable between positions in the array and outside the array. A bridge crane () spans the length of the bin and is moveable transversely above it. The bridge crane carries vertically movable magnetic lifting heads () for lifting, holding and releasing an individual pipe stand. The crane can move a stand between a supported position in the bin array and a supported position on a power-driven carriage () which is movable along a path along an upper part of a side of the bin (). The carriage includes a skate cart () for transporting a stand as such, and a pin cart () drivable along the skate cart for supporting the pin end of a stand on the skate. The carriage path preferably ends inside the margin of the floor () of a drilling rig.

Horizontal drill pipe racker and delivery system

Apparatus and method are provided for handling guidelines for an ocean drilling platform rig. A cart for guiding the lines rides on a track and can be moved away from a drill well when a blowout preventer is moved into place over the well on its own cart. When the load of the blowout preventer is transferred to a drilling string, the blowout preventer support cart is moved away from the drill well and the guideline handling cart is positioned over the well. The guidelines are then attached to a guideline frame on the blowout preventer.

Blowout preventer and guideline handling

A ship in which a string of heavy pipe is raised or lowered vertically beneath the ship at a substantially constant velocity in spite of heaving movement of the ship. The equipment for raising and lowering the pipe string is supported by the vessel through a heave compensation mechanism that permits vertical movement of the ship relative to the pipe raising and lowering mechanism. The heave compensation mechanism is a passive damped pneumatic-hydraulic spring system for isolating the vertical movement of the ship from the pipe raising and lowering equipment. The spring system operates over a very wide range of load imposed by the raising, lowering and supporting of a very long heavy pipe string.

Heave compensation apparatus for a marine mining vessel

A ship in which a string of heavy pipe is raised or lowered vertically beneath the ship at a substantially constant velocity in spite of heaving movement of the ship. The equipment for raising and lowering the pipe string is supported by the vessel through heave compensation means that permits vertical movement of the ship relative to the pipe raising and lowering mechanism. The heave compensation means is a passive damped pneumatic-hydraulic spring system for isolating the vertical movement of the ship from the pipe raising and lowering equipment. The spring system operates over a very wide range of load imposed by the raising, lowering and supporting of a very long heavy pipe string.

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Redondo Beach, CA, United States of America

Vance E Bolding