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:
Jul. 21, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 13, 1996
Jack Pollack, Calabasas Hills, CA (US);
Imodco, Inc., Calabasas Hills, CA (US);
Abstract
A bearing assembly that mounts the lower portion of a rotatable large (at least 4 meters diameter) turret in a moonpool near the center of a vessel, avoids damage resulting from turret and/or vessel deformation in heavy seas, while facilitating initial alignment. The turret (10) holds a substantially continuous bearing ring (44) while a hull part (42) holds a plurality of circumferentially-spaced segment structures (46) that have segment bearings (50) engaged with the bearing ring. Each segment structure includes a base (56), and an elastic body (60) that supports the bearing segment while allowing it to move radially or tilt. A deflection limiter (80) can limit deformation of the elastic body. Each segment structure can include an adjustment device (62) that adjusts the position of the bearing segment during setup. Each segment structure can include a spherical elastic body (246) which has circumferentially-spaced opposite sides (272, 274) that face a point (270) lying adjacent to the interface (241) of the bearing segment (240) with the continuous bearing ring (242).