The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 14, 1994
Filed:
Jun. 14, 1991
William B Sargent, Birmingham, AL (US);
USX Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
The invention is a method and apparatus for continuously monitoring the application of a coupling to a pipe. The invention operates in several modes. In the position mode, the apparatus rotates the coupling to a desired final position. In the program mode, the apparatus determines the actual location of the hand-tight plane and continuously monitors the torque applied and the number of turns of rotation of the coupling from the hand-tight plane to the desired final position. In either of these modes, the torque applied is monitored and rotation of the coupling is discontinued if a preset maximum torque value is exceeded. If the coupling is rotated to the desired final position without reaching a minimum torque, the pipe and coupling are rejected. An image processing system is employed to locate several critical make-up parameters.