Abstract: A mooring system is provided, of the type that includes several chains extending in loose curves from a mooring buoy at the sea surface to spaced anchor locations at the seabed, which enables the buoy to deflect sidewardly by a further distance and to absorb more energy during such deflection than heretofor, particularly in shallow water mooring. The system includes an anchoring device which holds the lower end of a chain at a level raised high above the sea floor when the chain is pulled taut, while allowing the lower end portion of the chain to lie at a lower level such as at the sea floor when the chain is loose. One system includes an arm having an inner end pivotally mounted near the sea floor and an outer end connected to the lower end of the chain, so that tension in the chain pivots up the outer end of the arm to thereby raise the lower end of the chain.

Abstract: A mooring and fluid transfer system of the type which utilizes a yoke pivotally connected at its opposite ends to a ship and to a buoy, which enables the use of hard piping along the fluid conduit which couples the buoy to the ship. A cross arm whose middle is rotatably mounted about a vertical axis on top of the buoy and whose opposite ends connect to the arms of the yoke, has a cutout between its middle and ends. The fluid conduit includes a fluid swivel joint for accommodating pivotal movement of the yoke, which lies in the cutout so the axis of the fluid joint is coincident with the horizontal axis of pivoting of the yoke on the yoke connector.

Abstract: A system is described for use with a platform structure which is anchored at a fixed location and orientation in deep water, to hold a supply boat at a substantially fixed location and compass heading so that cranes or the like on the platform can reach the boat to lift off cargo, which is of the type that utilizes a pair of hawsers to tie the stern of the boat to the platform and another hawser to tie the bow of the boat to a buoy anchored far from the platform. A long underwater beam structure is utilized which lies under the boat, has an inner end pivotally connected to the platform structure, and has an outer end which anchors the buoy in position, so that the buoy does not have to be separately anchored to the sea floor.

Abstract: A single leg mooring terminal is described, of the type which includes a buoy assembly extending from the sea floor to the sea surface to moor a tanker vessel, and a separate fluid conduit extending at an upward incline to the vessel for carrying oil to or from it, and wherein the buoy assembly includes a tilt joint and both the buoy assembly and hose structure must rotate without limit about the same vertical axis to follow drifting of the vessel about the installation. The vertical rotation joint which joins the rotatable upper portion of the buoy assembly to the stationary lower portion thereof, is located below the tilt joint, and a fluid swivel of the conduit is joined to a sidewardly-extending pipe which extends sidewardly at a level above the vertical rotation joint but below the top of the tilt joint.

Abstract: A single anchor leg mooring (SALM) installation which enables replacement of a product distribution unit (PDU) without removal of the upper buoyancy structure, including a plurality of arms that can extend around the PDU to connect the buoyancy structure lying above the PDU with a lower structure that lies below the PDU and extends to the sea floor. The transference of oil or other cargo can continue during the replacement of a malfunctioning PDU, by providing a pair of PDUs and a pair of valves for bypassing one of them which is to be removed.

Abstract: A mooring and cargo transfer terminal is described, for use in transferring a fluid such as LNG (liquified natural gas) which is supercooled and therefore likely to cause severe icing of pipes and joints. The terminal includes a table support in the form of a tower extending from a base at the sea floor up to the sea surface, and a table device rotatable about a vertical axis at the top of the table support. The table device carries a pair of fenders that can press directly against the side of a ship, hawser couplings for tying the table device to a set of hawsers that hold it tightly against the ship, and one or more loading arms which can extend beyond the table device to connect to an LNG coupling on the ship. A pipe carries LNG from an underwater pipeline up to a fluid swivel at the top of the table support, and the rotatable portion of the fluid swivel connects to the loading arms to deliver the LNG thereto.

Abstract: A hose assembly is described for use in the transference of cooled liquified gas to a vessel, in a system that requires the flexible hose to lie in the water. The hose assembly includes a flexible inner hose forming a central passage through which liquified gas can pass towards the vessel and having walls that are permeable to the bleeding of vapor therethrough, to avoid damage by expanding liquid droplets that find their way into the inner hose wall. The assembly also includes an outer hose with substantially impermeable walls, the outer hose surrounding the inner hose and leaving an annular passage between them which can receive the vapor permeating the inner hose. The annular passage also can be used to carry vapor from the vessel back to a shore-based installation which reliquifies it.

Abstract: A mooring and cargo transfer terminal is described, of the type which includes a buoy held at a predetermined height above the seabed as by a single anchor leg, to moor a ship which can drift in rotation about the buoy while a floating hose structure carries fluid to or from the ship, wherein the terminal is constructed to protect the buoy end of the floating hose structure from wave action, while facilitating maintenance of the fluid swivel which connects a nonrotating conduit extending up from the seabed to a rotating conduit connected to the floating hose structure. The fluid swivel is mounted at the top of the buoy for easy maintenance, and a rotating pipe connected to the rotating portion of the swivel extends therefrom and downwardly to an underwater depth below the troughs of waves, so that the buoy end of the floating hose structure is always below the waves.

Abstract: A SALM (single anchor leg mooring) terminal is described, of the type which includes apparatus mounted on the moored vessel for applying tension to the anchor leg so as to avoid the need for a large float at its upper end, which is of simple and reliable construction and which occupies little or no space on the permanently moored vessel. The system includes a yoke having a middle portion pivotally connected to the moored vessel, an inner end connected to the top of the anchor leg, and an outer end which lies outboard of the ship and which carries a counter weight, so that downward force applied by the counter weight produces an upward force on the anchor leg. By mounting the counter weight outboard of the vessel, large up-and-down swinging movement of the yoke can be accommodated without drastic modification of the vessel, and a simple pivoting system can be utilized to apply the necessary tension to the anchor leg.

Abstract: An offshore oil production terminal system is described which includes a transfer structure having a nonrotatable turret anchored to the sea floor and a rotatable portion fixed to a dedicated storage vessel, and also a fluid conduit extending from the seabed up through the turret to a fluid swivel and from the rotatable portion of the fluid swivel to the vessel, which facilitates use of a moderate cost fluid swivel. A choke located on the nonrotatable turret, decreases the high pressure of oil from the seabed (e.g. 2000 psi) to a moderate pressure (e.g. 200 psi) for passage through the fluid swivel, so that a moderate pressure fluid swivel can be utilized. The turret has a control deck at the same level as the vessel deck, to facilitate entry of personnel to operate controls directly connected to valves at the seabed without requiring rotational joints between the controls and the devices they operate.

Abstract: An offshore oil production terminal system is described, of the type which includes a tall transfer structure that has a nonrotatable tower anchored to the sea floor and a rotatable portion that rotates with respect to the nonrotatable tower and is connected to a dedicated storage vessel. A fluid conduit of the system has a nonrotatable portion extending from the sea bed up alongside and through the tower to a fluid swivel at the top of the tower, the conduit also having a rotatable portion extending from the fluid swivel to the vessel. A choke located in the nonrotatable tower along the fluid conduit, decreases the high pressure of oil from the sea bed (e.g. 2,000 psi) to a moderate pressure (e.g. 200 psi) for passage through the fluid swivel, so that a moderate pressure fluid swivel can be utilized. In a system wherein the rotatable transfer structure portion is fixed to the vessel, the tower has a control deck at substantially the same level as the vessel deck and with a circular periphery.

Abstract: An arrangement for connecting an underwater product distribution unit (PDU) to a hose that extends up to a ship, which is simple in construction and yet which enables the hose structure to apply considerable torque to rotate the outer portion of the PDU to follow the ship as it drifts about the PDU. The coupling includes a rigid pipe extending largely perpendicular to the vertical axis of the PDU, with an outer end of the pipe connected to a hose leading to the ship and an inner end of the pipe pivotally connected to the rotatable portion of the PDU in a joint that permits the pipe to pivot up and down.

Abstract: A buoy, for mooring vessels, has a rotatable turntable on the top, which rotates about the vertical axis of the buoy. A rigid mooring yoke is pivotably coupled to vessels at one end, and has the other end pivotably coupled to the buoy through structure that positions the coupling point at a location such that any tendency for the buoy to turn over in response to angular movement of the yoke and forces applied by the yoke from the vessel is prevented.

Abstract: An offshore terminal of the type which includes a dedicated vessel which rigidly supports a transfer structure beyond one end of the vessel, and with the transfer structure held by catenary chains to the sea floor. The transfer structure lies very close to an end of the vessel, but it has an underwater lower end which lies at a level substantially no higher than the adjacent end of the vessel, to avoid the possibility of the catenary chains hitting the vessel. The transfer structure extends from below water to above water, and the hose structure extending up from the sea floor extends through the transfer structure to protect it from surface waves. A product distribution unit (PDU) lies at the top of the transfer structure and has a turning portion connected to the vessel, the PDU being connected to the vessel independently of a massive mooring structure that connects a rotatable portion of the transfer structure to the vessel to transfer large loads.

Abstract: A mooring attachment for substantially permanently connecting a buoy and a storage-process vessel, wherein the mooring attachment is of smaller weight but as great a level of reliability as prior art attachments. The attachment includes a mooring arm having opposite ends coupled respectively to the buoy and vessel in pivot joints that hold them a distance apart but without restraining the vessel against yaw movement, and a pair of stop devices on either side of the mooring arm for preventing extreme yawing of the vessel. The stop devices can be formed by a pair of chains, each chain extending from an opposite side of the vessel to the buoy end of the arm, and each chain extending in a loose catenary when the vessel is in a center position but being pulled tight when the vessel yaws by a predetermined angle which is more than 10.degree., to prevent jackknifing of the vessel.

Abstract: A buoy for mooring vessels, has a rotatable turntable on the top, which rotates about the vertical axis of the buoy. A mooring yoke which couples to ships at one end has the other end pivotably attached to the turntable so that it is pivotable about a horizontal axis. The mooring yoke has bumper equipment on either side of the location of the pivotable axis so that its pivotable motion can be restricted to a predetermined arc.

Abstract: A multi-product swivel assembly for carrying oil or other cargo and transmitting electrical power and signal currents, between a ship and stationary oil wells or other installations. The swivel assembly includes a non-rotating or stationary unit, a large upper unit that rotates about the stationary unit, and a center unit that rotates with the upper unit and which extends down within the stationary unit. The center unit includes a large vertical cylinder which surrounds a group of vertical pipes carrying inflammable fluids, and a vertical pipe filled with inert gas and surrounding a conduit that carries an electrical cable. In order to repair the upper rotating unit, as to replace one of the muliple seals thereon, bolts can be loosened to separate it from the center rotating unit. When the bolts are loosened, a shoulder on the stationary unit prevents the center unit from dropping, so that during later reassembly, the bolts will lift up the center unit to its rotating position.

Abstract: For the purpose of mooring a vessel in deep water, as well as to load or discharge a fluid cargo from the vessel, mooring terminals consisting of a buoy anchored to the seabed or a column coupled to the bottom are used. Hoses transfer fluid between the vessel and a fluid swivel in the terminal, allowing 360.degree. rotation of the vessel around the terminal. Pipes and/or hoses from the swivel to a sealed pipeline allow fluid transfer between the ship and any desired location. This invention provides a fluid swivel which has a toroidal shape and can be easily removed from a buoy or column for maintenance, or repair, or replacement.

Abstract: An automatic feed backward gauge control system for screwdown adjustment of a cold rolling mill using a mill screwdown model employing measured output gauge and simulated input gauge variables and adaptive by modification of the simulated input gauge to reflect output gauge offset and drift errors in accordance with statistical analysis of sample comparisons of expected and measured output gauge.

Abstract: The present invention relates generally to a spade drill blade and more particularly to a spade drill blade which is adapted to be clamped in the clamp slit of a holder and which has side surfaces that bear against the wall of the bore to be of a raised shape in such a way that during drilling it bears in extremely narrow lateral surface region in a diagonal plane against the inner surface of the bore, and the improvement, therefore, relates to the configuration of the blade with a very narrow contact area between the lateral surfaces of the cutting blade and the wall of the workpiece bore which reduces high surface friction and the risk of jamming or seizure and premature wear which prevents indexing to present the second cutting edge of the blade in the workpiece bore. The raised portion may be shaped in cross section, for example, as a ridge, trapezium, beading, lips or of other forms.