Abstract: A method and apparatus for drilling subsea wells in water depths exceeding 3000 feet (preferably exceeding 4000 feet). Drilling mud returns are taken at the seafloor and pumped to the surface by a centrifugal pump that is powered by a seawater driven turbine. A low-differential pressure rotating head seats in the upper tapered portion of the longitudinal throughbore of an upper stack package which is attached to the top of the blowout preventer stack and seals against the drill string as it is run in and out of the borehole. The method and apparatus of the present invention enable higher mud weights to be used than can be used in conventional techniques which allows kicks to be more easily controlled, fewer casing strings to be run, and overall drilling time reduced by up to 40%.

Abstract: The invention concerns an arrangement for underwater drilling of foundations, comprising at least one cutter (27) and one pump (29) for discharge of excavated material, and hydraulic motors for driving the said cutter and the said pump.It comprises an hydraulic turbine (16) capable of functioning by means of a fluid such as sea water, and an hydraulaic plant driven by the said turbine and designed for feeding the said hydraulic motors.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for setting an underwater conductor pipe in which the conductor pipe is lowered into the wellhole on a drill string as the borehole is being formed by a drill bit and underreamer positioned at the end of the drill string below the end of the conductor pipe. The drill string and conductor pipe are detachably interconnected by a housing latch which includes means for detachably securing the drill string and drilling assembly to the conductor pipe. The drill string is provided with an upper latch sub, which retains and supports the drill string in its fully extended position within the conductor pipe, and a lower latch sub which retains and supports the drill string in the retracted position. As the apparatus is lowered a drill motor actuates the drilling assembly such that the well hole is formed in the ocean floor. Drilling continues until the permanent guide base of the conductor pipe engages the ocean floor.

Abstract: An underwater tapping machine having a body equipped for attachment to a fitting secured to a pipeline and a rotatable boring bar within the body, a gear case affixed to the body to activate the boring bar, a containment vessel supported by the tapping machine body having a first opening communicating with the vessel exterior and thus to the pressure of fluid in which the tapping machine is employed, the containment vessel having a second opening and a fluid barrier pressure transmitting member dividing the interior of the vessel into a first portion having the first opening therein and a second portion communicating with the second opening, the second portion having liquid lubricant therein, and conduits extending from the containment vessel second opening to the interior of the tapping machine body and gear case so that the pressure of fluid in which the tapping machine is employed is applied by way of the pressure transmitting member to the liquid lubricant and thus to the interior of the tapping machine t

Abstract: A deep draft oil well drilling platform having a large hollow body is shaped, designed, and ballasted to have a substantial portion thereof submerged under the surface of the ocean a sufficient distance to be substantially unaffected by surface waves and weather. The body contains an oil well drilling rig and all supplies, equipment, and materials normally necessary to drill an oil well, with such rig, equipment, and the like positioned well below the surface of the water.

Abstract: The method consists in boring a shaft in the sea floor to form a drilling station of sufficient size to accommodate personnel and equipment, in lining the shaft walls with a casing which is cemented against the walls and surmounted by a water-tight self-contained subsea chamber, in extracting sea water from the shaft, in maintaining atmospheric pressure within the shaft and the subsea chamber, in lowering personnel and drilling equipment into the shaft and in carrying out drilling operations from the bottom of the shaft.

Abstract: A pressure differential seafloor corer-carrier for obtaining long core samples of seafloor sediments. The corer-carrier is composed of two main components: The first component is a pump assembly that pumps seawater and sediment as to create a negative pressure differential; the negative pressure differential being the driving force that forces the corers into the seafloor such that cores of over 100 feet in length can be obtained. The second component is a space frame mounted and fastened to the pump and functions as a rack to which conventional corers are attached. Once the corers are embedded to their full length, the pump is used to create a positive pressure differential which helps remove the corer-carrier from the seafloor.

Abstract: Method of generating rotary or turbine power within a deepsea environment, for drilling a hole in the seabed and dropping of a mooring pile in the hole so drilled. Rotary turbine power is developed by admitting water through a submerged turbine and into an evacuated sphere. The turbine drives an auger which engages and drills a hole in the seabed. An inorganic polymer may be supported in the evacuated sphere, so as to be reactant with admitted seawater for bleeding off of pure water and hydrogen gas at a surface location.

Abstract: A marine riser system is provided which extends between a floating offshore platform and well means in a seabed formation and which has riser end portions connected in novel manner to the floating platform and to wellhead structure at the well hole. Each end portion of the riser is adapted to yield axially, laterally, and rotatively during movement of the riser relative to the platform and to the wellhead structure. Each end portion of the riser is provided with fulcrum or pivot contacts with hawse pipe carried by the platform and with hawse pipe or casing means provided in the wellhead structure. Bending stresses at the riser end portions are reduced at the platform and at the wellhead structure.

Abstract: A pile driving apparatus to be lowered onto the head of a previously submerged pile positioned in a caisson is guided in its descent on cables. The cables are secured to a crossbar attached near the head of the pile. The crossbar must be attached sufficiently close to the head of the pile so that the funnel shaped mouth of the pile driving apparatus is guided onto the head of the pile even if the surface ship has drifted laterally to pull the cables away from the vertical, or if the pile itself is positioned in the caisson at an angle to the vertical.The crossbar is attached to the pile by retractable pins extending through longitudinal slots in the pile, or by extendable pressure pads that engage the circumference of the pile. Means are provided for automatically retracting the pins or pads whenever the crossbar bears against the pile driving apparatus.

Abstract: Equipment for drilling and obtaining samples from, and/or testing at, locations where the soil being investigated is unstable, or where access to the equipment is difficult during drilling, for example underwater. Samples can be obtained, or tests carried out, at several depths in one bore hole by the employment of equipment, including a drill, a plurality of sample receivers and a testing means mounted to enter a bore with the drill and including a first means for operating the sample receiver, a second means to operate the testing means, and a third means arranged to be actuated in dependence upon the sample receiver.

Abstract: What follows is a description of a unique hammer for driving pile members onshore or offshore, an apparatus for driving pile members offshore, and a method of driving a pile member.The hammer includes a displaceable ram structure which is reciprocated by a pressurized working fluid against a pile member-engaging anvil structure. The anvil structure is preloaded by a quantity of fluid compressed by the ram structure in the course of its impact delivering displacement. This preload causes the anvil structure to also be displaced in the impact delivering direction, but at a lower rate than the ram structure.

Abstract: Improvements in flotation means for subsea well riser wherein the riser is run from a floating vessel and includes one or more buoyancy chambers open in the lower portions thereof to the sea and a gas injection line runs from the vessel to each of the chambers for injecting gas from a source thereof under pressure into each such chamber. The improvements include the provision of means for controlling the bleeding off of gas from within each of the chambers to reduce the buoyancy thereof thereby making the flotation of the riser completely adjustable. A check valve may be provided between the injection line and the chambers for limiting the introduction of gas into the chambers from the injection line until a predetermined pressure of the gas in the injection line is reached.

Abstract: A water-weighted corer comprising a cylindrical tank mounted concentrically n a core barrel intermediate the coring tube and the shackle is provided. The tank has a water inlet at its bottom and an air vent at its top so that during descent water enters the tank through the bottom inlet, forcing air out the top vent. During free fall the falling speed imparts a substantial amount of kinetic energy to the water mass in the tank, providing the driving force required for the corer to penetrate deeply into a sediment bed.

Abstract: The device features its housing carrying the soil sampling ing socket and the striker arranged coaxially to said socket, and adapted to act thereupon and establish some chambers in said housing, which are alternatively communicated, through the inlet fitting and the piping connected thereto, with a source of compressed air for the striker to perform forward and return strokes. The piping portion immersed in water is essentially a rigid pipe joined with the inlet fitting by way of an axially spring-loaded sleeve whose one end is rigidly connected to said pipe. Arranged along said pipe is another pipe rigidly coupled thereto and serving for used-up gas to discharge from said chambers to the water surface.Such a device is applicable for soil sampling at depths amounting to several scores of meters.