Abstract: The invention relates to a device reinforcing circumferential welds 8 which join two contiguous pipes 6 and 7 in order to increase the fatigue life of said welds by reducing mechanical stresses in them when being subjected to periodic bending. The device comprises a rigidifying element 10 which is firmly joined to said pipes by a connection means 11, 13, said bush being made of the same material as the pipes. The rigidifying element 10 consists of a bush slipped over the two pipes 6, 7 opposite the weld 8. The connection means is a hardening material 11 such as resin or cement which is injected between bush and pipes and which is confined at this site by shaping, in particular cold-forming, the bush's ends. The application is to offshore hydrocarbon conveyance conduits subjected to periodic loads.

Abstract: A process and machine to make double-walled pipe to be connected end to end, wherein each pipe includes inner and outer tubes arranged coaxially with a ring-shaped space between them except at a connecting area at the end of the pipe where the outer tube is longitudinally retracted with respect to the inner tube. An end-wall of the outer tube is deformed to close off the ring-shaped space by the gradual application of pressure to its wall by means of a series of bars spaced in a ring around a connecting area and tilted over in a radial direction by a crown that is fixed with respect to the outer tube and onto which the bars are attached in an articulated manner.

Abstract: A line pipe with a double casing is especially used in transporting oil products. In a preferred embodiment, such a pipe is characterized in that, in a sealed annular space, located between an inner tube and an outer tube both coaxially arranged inside each other, there is included a self-sustaining plate made of open pore-microporous material, which is flexible enough to be externally wound around the inner tube. This plate is preferably less in thickness than said annular space such that a passageway is left free between the former and the outer tube whereby low pressure is maintained.

Abstract: Flexual pivots are utilized as part of supporting elements in a mechanism requiring a high degree of precision of movement over an extremely small distance. An example illustrated is for a microscope used in viewing micropatterns on an integrated circuit chip wherein a focusing element is supported by such a flexual pivot structure.

Abstract: Apparatus for dispensing liquid preparations which comprises a container having demountable upper and lower container parts, the upper container part of which has a pressurized-fluid inlet connected by a flexible connecting line to a source of pressurized fluid and a vent, a flexible diaphragm located in the container so as to provide an expandable and contractable pressurized-fluid chamber and an expandable and contractable preparation chamber in the container, a charging and discharging orifice in the lower container part, and a flexible connecting line connecting that orifice with a point at which fluid is discharged. The container is mounted for rotation on a horizontal axis for allowing rotation of the container from a position in which the charging and discharging orifice in the lower container part is uppermost for filling and lowermost for discharge.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for making composition board having a planar surface and legs by an extrusion process from its constituent materials wherein there is provided an improved agitation mechanism for insuring the uniform dispersion of constituent material in the legs of the mold. The improved mechanism includes a plurality of pairs of agitation fingers, each pair adapted to oscillate in opposite directions about the same axis. Separate rack and pinion arrangements control the oscillation of respective fingers of the pairs. A pair of hydraulic cylinders controls the movement of the racks, the pinions being coupled to the fingers. The hydraulic cylinders are arranged in a control circuit, the operation of which is timed by a flywheel on the extrusion apparatus. The improved mechanism includes means for adjusting the timing of the finger oscillation relative to movement of a piston driven by the flywheel for optimum operation. Density of the legs of the board is controlled by controlling the timing.