Patents by Inventor Edwin J. Dressel

Edwin J. Dressel has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 4041717
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 1976
    Date of Patent: August 16, 1977
    Assignee: J. Ray McDermott & Co., Inc.
    Inventors: Edwin J. Dressel, Houston W. Hunter