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:
Apr. 25, 2000
Filed:
Mar. 27, 1996
Edwin A Bird, Ashdown, AR (US);
M & FC Holding Company, Inc., Wilmington, DE (US);
Abstract
A method of stiffening a flexible pipe using inserts or stiffeners. To account for non-uniformities and toe in of the flexible pipe, the method involves inserting a pipe stiffener into an end of the pipe and expanding the pipe stiffener within the end to a desired diameter. The stiffener is expanded using an expander, and may be sized to any desired diameter. The pipe stiffener may be expanded within the pipe until its outside diameter approximates the inside diameter of the pipe. Alternatively, the pipe stiffener may be expanded within the pipe by an expander until its inside diameter approximates the inside diameter of the pipe before the pipe stiffener is expanded within the pipe. Finally, the stiffener may be expanded within the pipe until the outside diameter of the pipe approximates the outside diameter of other pipes to be joined thereto.