Abstract: A piling alignment system having a pile setter and a quick release shackle for aligning interlocking edges of a set piling and a suspended piling which is being positioned for setting. The setter has an upper lip portion adapted to abut the bottom portion of a suspended piling and means for rigidly connecting the setter to the piling. The setter, when mounted onto the suspended piling, has a vertical groove in alignment with the surface of the female interlocking edge of the suspended piling. Prongs are mounted at the sides of the groove at a lower portion thereof and extend outwardly with a space therebetween for guiding the setter vertical groove into alignment with the male interlocking edge of the set piling so that the suspended piling can be lowered into interlocking relationship with the set piling. A quick release shackle has two vertically extending flanges adapted to receive the upper portion of a piling therebetween.

Abstract: The producing of shale oil by mining and retorting oil shale is improved by compressing the spent shale into a mass that is capable of both fitting within the mined out volume and supporting the overburden.

Abstract: An artificial ice structure for use as a base for oilfield operations is constructed on land in a frigid environment. A containment wall encloses a predetermined area on the land to contain flood water which is allowed to freeze. The area is flooded with water until the ice structure is a desired size. A silo arrangement, which extends through the ice structure and into the underlying ground, is utilized to house well control equipment, the below ground part thereof being separable from the above ground part thereof. A core may be formed about the silo and other cores may be formed in other parts of the ice structure to provide foundations or supports for equipment installed on the ice structure.

Abstract: An arctic drilling barge to perform offshore activities in the shallow water, fast ice regions of the arctic seas. Optimal ice interaction is obtained by shaping the hull of the barge in the form of an upright frustum. Ice which does adhere to the barge is detached and melted by circulating fluid through a plurality of interior hull compartments next to the hull sidewalls of the barge.

Abstract: A bottom-supported vessel from which subaqueous operations may be performed. The vessel includes a platform and a mat, both of which are configured to permit the platform to nest within the mat while the vessel is floating. The mat is submersible and is adapted to be buried into the soil beneath the ocean floor to provide support for the platform. Legs extend from the mat to the platform and support the platform when the mat is buried. A method of placing a bottom-supported vessel in position for performing subaqueous operations.

Abstract: Improvements in buoyancy structures independently comprising each ofA radiating, circumferentially extending buoyancy cell network encircling an offshore jacket leg, andA double-walled buoyancy chamber wall fabricated from a shell and overlapping pipe segments bonded thereto.An offshore platform jacket assembly is disclosed in which a plurality of jacket legs are anchored by piling members to the bed of a body of water. A buoyancy unit is disposed at a lower portion of the jacket in association with at least one of the jaket legs. Each buoyancy unit comprises a chamber disposed around its respective leg. Each chamber is divided into a plurality of circumferentially displaced, radiating cells and these cells are disposed inwardly of a periphery defined by a series of piling guides spaced around the leg. A plurality of generally upright divider fins extend radially outwardly from the leg to divide the chamber into the radiating cells which are arranged about the leg for the reception of a buoyant medium.

Abstract: A multi-purpose pipe end seal/alignment device is provided for sealing pipe ends against internal or external pressure while protecting the pipe end preparation from damage to facilitate a permanent pipe joining process at a remote location in an adverse environment.

Abstract: A submersible hydromotive assembly is provided for an energy storing dam and includes chambers defined in its structural body which can be filled with water to sink the assembly or with gas to float it. Additionally, the hydromotive assembly has a machine hall with auxiliary equipment required to start, maintain in running condition and stop a turbine-generation set. Also included is the method of submerging and positioning the submersible hydromotive assembly at the water passage flow path of a dam.

Abstract: Methods for joining two telescopic cylinders underwater and underground in a temporary and inexpensive manner are disclosed, particularly when used as anchoring piles or in offshore tower legs. A gun fires projectiles radially from internally of the pile formed of telescoped cylinders to form the plurality of outwardly extending anchoring bumps in the walls of the cylinders. The projectiles are fired in a horizontal plane immediately outwardly and from within and normal to two telescopic cylinders underwater, for example, with two bumps being formed by each projectile, which bumps overlie each other tightly prior to their being penetrated by the projectile which holds the two bumps together. A number of radiating guns form a like number of pairs of bumps in a circle around the periphery of the telescopic cylinders to form an efficient, inexpensive, and simple temporary connection holding the two cylinders together.

Abstract: Inflatable seal means are provided on the jacket or sleeve of a supporting leg of an offshore structure to seal off therebetween and a piling which the jacket surrounds. The seal means is expanded inwardly to sealingly engage the piling and water is then expelled from the space between the jacket and the piling and grouting material is introduced into the space. Pressure is maintained on the grouting material in the space until it takes a permanent set.

Abstract: A composite pile includes a tubular pile and a tapered, reinforced concrete tip having a central passage opening through its larger upper end and a seat exposed in its bottom. The passage is of a cross sectional area greater than that of the pile and freely receives the boot end thereof. With the boot end of the pile in engagement with the seat the pile is secured thereto in a centered position once the space between the pile and the wall of the passage is filled with a suitable packing.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for installing a length of underwater pipe, such as a petroleum flowline bundle, between two subsea stations, for example a subsea oil or gas wellhead and a subsea manifold to establish a fluid conduit between these stations. The flowline bundle is transported by a surface vessel to location where downhaul cables are then brought to the surface from the underwater stations by means of call-up buoys. A flowline mating vehicle is connected to each end of the flowline bundle, the downhaul cables are attached to powered winches contained in these vehicles, and the bundle is then hauled downward by the vehicles to the subsea stations where it is connected to the terminals of the flowlines at these stations by a remotely actuated clamping system. The flowline mating vehicles are then released from the flowline bundle and the stations to be retrieved at the surface for reuse.

Abstract: A method of establishing a ship loading or unloading pier facility comprises providing a buoyant self-propelled vessel having removable jack-up legs and a well carrying a plurality of buoyant jack-up platforms, propelling the vessel with the legs stored on deck to an off-shore site adjacent a shore line, floating the platforms out of the vessel through an opening in the hull thereof, jacking-up the vessel to render it stationary, and arranging the platforms together with connecting tressels to form a roadway between the vessel and to shore. The vessel carries a crane which is used to remove and install the jack-up legs and to transport cargo between a cargo ship moored to the vessel and the roadway.

Abstract: A method of laying heating medium conveying pipes, wherein a pipe receiving trench is prepared and pipes, wrapped in heat insulating jackets permitting transversal relative movements of the pipes within the jackets, are placed in the trench. The pipes and the insulating jackets are then bent to follow a serpentine path and the trench filled to cover the pipes.

Abstract: A tunnel construction made of tubbings forming a lining or casing for a tunnel includes a plurality of contact points between adjacent tubbings. These contact points comprise adhesive material acting to connect adjacent tubbings to each other at predetermined points. The contact points are distributed around the circumference of the tubbing rings at predetermined locations which depend on the type of the tubbing used and also on the points of pressure application by the driving shield of a tunneling or heading machine. The present tubbings have recesses in their surface facing into the tunnel whereby the recesses have a substantially trapezoidal shape to form three ribs extending substantially in the direction of the longitudinal tunnel axes.

Abstract: An apparatus and a method for driving piles onshore or offshore, including driving a tubular pile within a submersed tubular jacket leg of an offshore structure and field disassembly.The apparatus hammer includes a displaceable ram structure, mounted within a pressurized air-filled housing, which is reciprocated by a pressurized working liquid against a pile-engaging anvil structure, which is in dry contact with a pile inserted within one end of the pressurized housing. The ram structure compresses air within the housing near the end of its firing stroke to preload the anvil structure for better energy transfer to the pile. The ram structure also compresses the air within the housing near the end of its loading stroke to slow the ram structure and permit full charging of working liquid accumulators, which discharge during the firing stroke to maintain working liquid pressure and prevent cavitation.

Abstract: A machine for the injection of liquid into the surface of soil comprises a sledge having a surface compacting base bounded by two runners, the lower surface of each runner being below the level of the compacting base. The base has a transverse slot dimensioned to receive a hollow pressurizable injection bar which has a lower face equipped with injection orifices, the lower face being flush with the compacting surface of the compacting base when the bar is in position. The machine is particularly useful for the injection of a soil stabilizing medium into soil while the soil is compacted. By this means it is possible to produce a compacted raised strip of soil which is smooth and stable and which in desert conditions prevents a build up of sand on roads.The invention includes a method for stabilizing soil by forming a compacted raised strip of soil and injecting a soil stabilizing medium into said strip to bond the compacted soil.

Abstract: An expansible mandrel, for use in driving a tubular pile, has the pile-entering relationship of its lengthwise arcuate sections established by cable actuated means with separate cable actuated means operable to effect the pile-gripping relationship of the mandrel sections. One of the cables, in the disclosed embodiment, the retraction cable, is operated by a winch mounted on the outside of the mandrel at its upper end and driven in a winding direction by a motor, in the disclosed embodiment, an hydraulically operated motor.

Abstract: A drive shield for use in a tunnel driving operation has an inner frame with hollow rings interconnected in a rigid fashion. A plurality of sharp-ended drive members combine to form a cylindrical shell contacting the tunnel wall. Rams serve to advance the drive members in the advancing direction either individually or in groups and to draw up the inner frame. Support devices of circuate shape form a second shell inside the drive members and support and guide the latter. Piston and cylinder units are interposed between the rings and the support devices and serve to displace the latter radially so that selected members can be forced against the tunnel wall with a greater or lesser pressure.

Abstract: The stinger segment includes a base structure having a plurality of upstanding stabilizing columns on opposite sides of its pitch and roll axes and carrying pipeline supports which permit translational movement of the pipeline relative to the stinger segment. The stinger segment is pivotably secured behind the pipelaying barge and is ballasted from a low draft condition with the base structure having freeboard to a high draft condition with the mean waterline located at about one half the effective height of the stabilizing columns when in the pipeline supporting position. The pipeline supports progressively decrease in height above the base structure from the end of the segment nearest the barge toward the opposite end such that a line extending along the supports defines a radius of curvature at least equal to and preferably much greater than the minimum allowable radius of curvature for the pipeline.