Abstract: Apparatus for non-contact tracking of a weld seam to provide lateral position guidance of a welding torch advanced along the weld seam by a traveling carriage utilizes an electromagnetic radiation source for directing an unfocused beam onto the weld seam producing a spatial distribution of reflected electromagnetic radiation having an optical center of power the location of which is functionally related to the lateral position of the welding torch relative to the weld seam, and a lateral cell position sensor for sensing a shift in position of the optical center of power of the reflected electromagnetic radiation spatial distribution. Detection of a shift in position of the optical center of power is utilized as an indication of lateral deviation of the welding torch relative to the weld seam.The apparatus disclosed further includes signal processing circuitry that develops an electrical signal indicative of welding torch position for input to a torch drive servomechanism.

Abstract: A floating buoy for use in a marine environment includes a buoyant body for maintaining the buoy afloat, the body including a resilient outer skin, a low density filler within the outer skin, and a central core disposed between an upper end and a lower end of the body and adapted to permit the passage of a line therethrough. Upper and lower protective caps are removably attached at upper and lower ends of the body respectively, the caps each including an opening to permit the passage of the line therethrough. Affixed to the outer surface of each cap is a plurality of resilient fenders, the cap and fender structure being adapted to absorb shock loading on the buoy resulting from contact with foreign objects. The caps may be easily removed and repaired or replaced, thereby extending the useful life of the buoy.

Abstract: In the installation of a jacket or substructure component of an offshore platform on the sea floor over an underwater fixture containing one or more wellheads, a jacket is first ballasted to rest in a vertical orientation on the sea floor. Power winches are mounted atop the jacket above the water line and anchored mooring lines are connected to the winches via fairlead sheaves which define points of attachment for the mooring lines to the jacket. The jacket is deballasted to float with a near sea bottom clearance and is maneuvered horizontally with the power winches toward the underwater fixture. Docking guides carried by the jacket engage vertical guideposts driven drilled into the sea floor at preselected locations relative to the underwater fixture to align the jacket with the underwater fixture. The jacket is then lowered into the desired on-bottom position during controlled ballasting procedures. Finally, piles are driven through hollow jacket columns to anchor the jacket to the sea bottom.

Abstract: An emergency life-supporting capsule is disclosed for transferring saturation divers from a main decompression chamber on board a main support vessel. The capsule is attached to the main decompression chamber in anticipation of an emergency. The capsule is located opposite a diving bell on the decompression chamber. The capsule includes self-contained breathing systems for supporting occupants divers. In case of an emergency such as abandonment of the main support vessel or the main decompression chamber, the divers are transferred to the capsule which is sealed and separated from the main decompression chamber, lowered overboard, and allowed to float independently until a rescue vessel arrives. The capsule is then retrieved by the rescue vessel and reconnected to a main decompression chamber.

Abstract: An offshore structure adapted to carry a drilling or production platform. The structure has a positive buoyancy and is tied-down to the ocean floor by tensioned cables such that the structure is maintained above the ocean floor and is tiltable. A plurality of anchored guy lines connect to the structure and are coupled to sway control apparatus that prevents excessive tilting of the structure by altering the length of the guy lines between the structure and the anchors. The sway control apparatus comprises first and second winches having a separate reel for each guy line, with each guy line being coupled to a reel through a rigging device mounted on the structure. The winches are operable in response to off-vertical movement of the structure as produced by excessive wind, waves and current.

Abstract: A high pressure flow-through swivel joint is particularly adapted for connecting high pressure water lines to a jet sled in an underwater pipe burying apparatus. The joint includes mating spherical joint surfaces which allow pivotal adjustment during assembly, in order to compensate for construction tolerances. In addition, the mating spherical surfaces allow rotational freedom for the joint inlet passage when the pipe burying system is in operation.

Abstract: A pipe cleaning brush assembly for attachment to the rotatable face plate of a pipe facing machine for rotation therewith to clean the outer surface of a large diameter pipe section proximate the end thereof simultaneously with the machining of the pipe end face. The assembly includes a clamp having an inverted U-shaped member for placement over the edge of the face plate with a clamp jaw lock acting as a vise to grip the face plate and a clamp wedge lock engaging the face plate to resist centrifugal forces developed during rotation. A brush arm is pivotally mounted to the clamp, with a brush attached at one end and a cam at the other. The cam upon rotation causes the brush arm to pivot between a retracted position wherein the brush is held above the pipe surface to be cleaned and a position wherein the brush rests on the pipe surface.

Abstract: An apparatus for burying a pipeline in a seabed comprising unconsolidated materials such as sand. The apparatus includes a jet sled having jetting legs for disposition on opposite sides of the pipeline to direct a stream of high pressure water into the seabed to form a trench for the pipeline, and an elongate member extending rearwardly of the jet sled having shields depending therefrom to physically restrain the walls of the trench from caving-in and filling the trench beneath the unsupported portion of the pipeline. In addition, fluid jet nozzels are carried along each of the shields providing a mild turbulence at the lower edge of the shields to assist in keeping sand out of the trench and maintain the bottom of the trench in a fluidized condition. The elongate member comprises a pair of ballast tanks which may be selectively ballasted or deballasted to raise and lower the sand jet sled apparatus within the water, and to assist the settling of the pipeline into the seabed.

Abstract: An apparatus for entrenching submerged elongate structures, such as a pipeline, within the bed of a body of water. A spreader frame straddles the pipeline to be entrenched. Port and starboard sled frame members having pontoons are pivoted in the spreader frame on each side of the pipeline for pivotal movement. Each sled frame member carries a fluid jetting leg which includes jetting nozzles. Hydraulically operated linkage moves the sled frame members causing the jetting legs to substantially enclose the pipeline bringing the ends of the fluid jetting legs into close proximity beneath the pipeline. Jetting action by the nozzles forms a trench in the bed for receiving the pipeline. The fluid jetting legs are adjustable for various depths and for various sizes of pipeline.

Abstract: An at-sea buoy and anchor retrieval apparatus utilizes a vessel having a catamaran hull with a buoy catcher apparatus disposed between the hulls of the vessel. The buoy catcher is vertically movable so that it can be placed at the appropriate water depth to capture the buoys when the vessel is underway. A lift is provided to elevate the buoy catcher containing the buoy to the vicinity of an opening in the deck so that access to the buoy may be had from the deck.

Abstract: A marine pipelaying apparatus for supporting pipeline during undersea pipelaying operations from a vessel floating on the surface of a body of water. The apparatus includes a tapering and longitudinally extending pipeline support member secured at one end to the vessel in a cantilevered manner and extending into the water. The pipeline support member includes a plurality of demountable sections decreasing in diameter and having sufficient buoyancy to float. The support member is designed to bend as it supports the pipeline being laid providing a desired profile without exceeding the elastic limit of the pipe. A hydraulic clamp for releasably clamping the pipeline support member is mounted on the vessel to secure the pipeline support member in a fixed relation to the vessel. A plurality of variable buoyancy floats and roller cradle mechanisms for buoyantly and slidably supporting a section of pipeline are attached above the pipeline support member.

Abstract: An apparatus for anchoring a structure, such as a drilling platform, to a floor of a body of water has a movable jet nozzle operably disposed in a chamber which is lowered to the floor of a body of water. The jet nozzle is operable to slurry a portion of the floor underlying the chamber, and a pump is provided to evacuate the slurried portion of the floor to provide an excavation into which the apparatus may be lowered. Another pump may depressurize the chamber to provide a pressure differential to hydrostatically urge the apparatus towards the floor of the body of water.

Abstract: An offshore marine terminal for mooring a tanker and transferring fluids between the tanker and an underwater manifold. The offshore marine terminal comprises a buoyant member having a first end extending above the surface of the water and a second end submerged and extending beneath the water, a bathyal service chamber on the second end of the member defining an underwater habitat suitable for maintaining humans in an artificial atmosphere, an upper buoyancy and ballast chamber to selectively change the buoyancy of the member from a first lowered condition which has the bathyal service chamber positioned around the manifold to a second elevated position which has the chamber disposed above the manifold, and flow lines to transport the fluid through the chamber from the manifold to the tanker. The tanker may be moored to the terminal by a swivel mooring connection that is rotatable about the buoyant member.

Abstract: A method for joining two or more jacket or substructure components of an offshore platform in the water to form a single jacket unit. An offshore platform is located in deep water by dividing a jacket or support of extensive length therefor into at least two sections which have only sufficient buoyancy to float at water surface when the sections are launched from at least a vessel at a selected location. The sections are aligned and connected together. Guide means ensure proper alignment of the legs of the sections. Access tubes from the surface of the water to the hollow legs permit direct internal welding in securing the legs of the sections together. The sections are then sunk at the selected location until the jacket is in an upright position at which point it is anchored by driving piling through the jacket's hollow legs into the sea floor, following which the deck of the platform is placed or stabbed on the anchored jacket.