Abstract: There is disclosed a variety of arrangements for laying of rigid pipe from reeled storage and/or on-board welding fabrication. Thirteen independent aspects of the invention are identified. In one particular arrangement (FIGS. 3a-3b), a tilting lay tower (106) having two travelling clamps (210, 220) is provided centrally on a pipelay vessel with a radius control arch (140) pivotable to receive rigid pipe from either port or starboard lay paths. A vertical axis reel or carousel (104) is provided, within an arrangement of curved take-off arms (130, 134) and a large radius curved wall (128). By these means, pipe can be loaded onto the carousel either clockwise or anti-clockwise, and can be supplied to the lay tower via the port or starboard lay path. Continuous rigid product fabricated by a selection of welding lines (112, 114, 116) at the port side can be guided around the large radius wall either for reeling onto the carousel or for direct feeding to the lay tower.

Abstract: There is disclosed a variety of arrangements for laying of rigid pipe from reeled storage and/or on-board welding fabrication. Thirteen independent aspects of the invention are identified. In one particular arrangement (FIGS. 3a-3b), a tilting lay tower (106) having two travelling clamps (210, 220) is provided centrally on a pipelay vessel with a radius control arch (140) pivotable to receive rigid pipe from either port or starboard lay paths. A vertical axis reel or carousel (104) is provided, within an arrangement of curved take-off arms (130, 134) and a large radius curved wall (128). By these means, pipe can be loaded onto the carousel either clockwise or anti-clockwise, and can be supplied to the lay tower via the port or starboard lay path. Continuous rigid product fabricated by a selection of welding lines (112, 114, 116) at the port side can be guided around the large radius wall either for reeling onto the carousel or for direct feeding to the lay tower.

Abstract: A system for directly comparing on a service quality basis a plurality of wireless network services includes a vehicle containing a plurality of phones for different wireless networks and a fixed location for receiving calls from or transmitting calls to the vehicle. A call is initiated at the vehicle or fixed location, and a series of preselected messages are alternately transmitted between the vehicle and the fixed end through each of the networks with each message being quality graded with voice recognition software or data comparison techniques so that quality grades for each network are provided which can be combined and compared in various ways. The vehicle also includes a global positioning satellite system so that the vehicle location and speed can be tagged to each transmitted message to compare the relative quality of the networks within specific portions of the geographical area covered by the vehicle.