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:
Jan. 02, 1996
Filed:
Sep. 07, 1994
Andrew F Hunter, Houston, TX (US);
Imodco, Inc., Calabasas Hills, CA (US);
Abstract
An offshore fluid transfer system is described, for transferring fluid between stations (12, 14, FIG. 1) that may be many kilometers apart and lie in deep water, which avoids the need for making fluid connections at great underwater depths. A buoy station (14) includes a buoy (40) anchored to the seafloor to lie a moderate distance below the sea surface, and coupled through a flexible hose (46) to a turret (52) that is attached to a weathervaning vessel (30) and that is anchored to the seafloor. A major conduit portion (34) which extends between the first station and the buoy, includes a long pipeline of series-connected steel pipes that extends along the seafloor to near the buoy station, with an end portion (32) of the pipeline extending in a J-curve and in a primarily upward direction to the underwater buoy.