Santa Fe International Corporation

William B Cook, Jr

Nuke M Chang

Elmer R Remkes

The sea sled includes a pair of pontoons mounting depending rollers for straddling a pipeline disposed on the sea bottom. Water jets fluidize the sea bottom to form a trench in which the pipeline settles. The slurry formed by the water jets is removed from the trench by the eductor system which includes a pair of conduits each having a suction inlet at its lower end for location within the trench, a discharge at its upper end, a pair of pump nozzles each having an inlet external to the associated conduit and an outlet within the conduit directed toward the corresponding discharge, and a pair of primary nozzles, the outlet ends of which respectively project into the inlet ends of the pump nozzles. A high pressure, low volume, fluid is pumped from the surface through the jet nozzles. Ambient fluid is entrained with the high pressure, low volume fluid emanating from the jet nozzles in the respective pump nozzles to deliver low pressure, high volume fluid to their corresponding discharges. The action of the pump nozzles in the conduits creates a suction whereby the slurry from the trench is pumped from the trench through the conduits and discharged to opposite sides of the trench.

Sea sled for entrenching pipe

The invention involves working on a pipeline which is subject to movements relative to a base such as ground, the deck of a floating barge, and the like. A rollable scaffold is frictionally coupled to the pipeline so that workers carried by the scaffold can move relative to the base and, therefore, become stationary relative to the pipeline. The scaffold carries a lift means for raising and lowering a pipe support positionable under the pipeline. The scaffold therefore allows the workers to work on the pipeline without being disturbed by the relative movements between the pipeline and the base.

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Orange, CA, United States of America

William B Cook, Jr