Abstract: A preformed thick walled split tube of extruded hexene-ethylene copolymer of ultra high molecular weight forms a sheath about timber piles. The sheath is sealed to form a stagnant space toxic to marine borers. The sheath is tough, resilient and of high tensile strength sufficient to protect the pile from destructive mechanical forces and abrasion.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for installing an in-ground support footing around subterranean and above-ground portions of an upstanding elongate object, such as a structural pole, post or the like, to enhance structural integrity thereof, includes providing a cylindrical casing of hollow construction having a cutting end concentrically positionable around a lower, above-ground region of the elongate object so that the cutting end engages the ground. A driver is then positionable about a circumferential portion of the casing means operable for engaging and rotating the casing means about its longitudinal axis while simultaneously imparting a downwardly-directed force against the upper edge of the casing means thereby to drive it in the ground to a predetermined depth.

Abstract: This invention relates to a reinforced concrete structure of enhanced corrosion resistance. The invention structure finds particular utility in service in brackish or saline water. The reinforced concrete of the structure is, on its surface, in contact with a low resistivity grout. Anode elements are in contact with the grout, such as at the surface of the reinforced concrete or by partial or full embedment in the grout. Together with this combination, a high resistivity material is provided as a covering over the low resistivity grout and anode elements. The resulting structure is especially useful when in contact with seawater, and most particularly seawater subject to tidal action.

Abstract: A method of reinforcing a hollow underwater member of an offshore platform which includes drilling and tapping holes at substantially opposite ends of the member, injecting air into the member to determine leak holes, cleaning the outside of the member near the holes, patching the holes on the outside of the member, and injecting grout into the patched member.

Abstract: For use with a subsea well incorporating an external conductor pipe extending upwardly above the seabed, a well support miniplatform is set forth. In the preferred and illustrated embodiments, the preferred embodiment describes a longitudinally split, flange equipped, bolt joined elongate conductor clamp supported on a frame at the bottom thereof and having a plurality of appended upstanding braces. The support frame is adapted to be rested on a seabed and held in place by a number of anchors driven into the seabed at corners. The support frame is selectively installed after completion of a well wherein the conductor pipe extends above the seabed. The support frame may subsequently be removed after installation of a permanent platform. In alternate embodiments, the support frame may be installed as a permanent structure. A boat landing and miniplatform may be mounted on the conductor pipe or the conductor clamp supported by the support frame.

Abstract: To inhibit marine growth on a submerged framework, one or more collars are placed loosely around each member of the framework, the collars having outwardly projecting vanes so that ambient water movement causes movement around or along the member. The vanes (5; 25; 45; 55; 65) are preferably hinged to the collar for limited pivotation and may be twisted or provided with extension portions to ensure axial movement.

Abstract: A marine structure comprising steel pipe piles in which the top head, splash zone and tidal zone of each steel pipe pile driven into the sea bed are covered with a polyethylene resinous covering material, and the top head of the steel pipe pile is inserted inside a slab concrete structure, whereby is realized a considerably improvement in the water imperviousness, corrosion resistance, and scratch resistance of the steel pipe piles.

Abstract: A protective cover for fragile boat bumpers includes two sheets of relatively thin rubber having a sheet of criss-crossing fibers therebetween, the two rubber sheets being fused to each other. The cover is initially formed from a blank of sheet stock comprised of two flat panels and a flange or wing extending from one of said flat panels so that when said flange or wing is overlapped with a marginal portion of the other of such panels and bonded thereto, a relatively flat tubular body is formed with a passage extending therethrough. The body has a pair of flaps hingedly connected to each end thereof so that the protective cover can be pulled downwardly over a boat bumper so as to protect the foamed sleeve of which the bumper is comprised from impact forces that would break and otherwise damage the relatively fragile foamed plastic, usually polystyrene.

Abstract: A reaction tube system of a steam reformer, more generally referred to as tubular cracking furnace, for the indirect heating of cracking feedstock, such as the catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons, includes a plurality of reaction tubes and headers, the reaction tubes penetrating through the bottom of the steam reformer and being extended to the associated header by low-alloy tube sections attached to the tubes by circumferential welds. The reaction tubes are surrounded in the area of the weld(s) by a coaxial protective tube having one open end and defining a free annular space around the reaction tube. The protective tube prevents deterioration by corrosion of the weld(s) joining the tube sections of high-alloy steel with low-alloy extension sections with unalloyed steel extension section.

Abstract: A movable fixed-type semi-submerged construction includes a plurality of legs each having a spat tank attached to its lower end and sunken to rest on the bottom of the sea and a superstructure supported on the legs. A scouring preventing structure including a cylindrical circumferential wall formed with a large number of holes therethrough is arranged at the lower part of each of the legs so as to encircle the spat tank.

Abstract: A system for and a method of establishing an inground footing for supporting a post, pole or other such object, especially a replacement utility pole is disclosed herein. An open-ended, hollow casing of particular longitudinal configuration is utilized as the main component for the footing, and to this end, is threaded into the ground. A specific apparatus for threading the casing into the ground is also disclosed herein along with its method of operation. In addition, a method of adding strength and stabilization to the soil at a particular ground location, for example, a location surrounding the casing just mentioned is disclosed herein. This latter method is carried out utilizing a specific apparatus for injecting grout into the inground location to be strengthened and stabilized.

Abstract: A system for and a method of establishing an inground footing for supporting a post, pole or other such object, especially a replacement utility pole is disclosed herein. An open-ended, hollow casing of particular longitudinal configuration is utilized as the main component for the footing, and to this end, is threaded into the ground. A specific apparatus for threading the casing into the ground is also disclosed herein along with its method of operation. In addition, a method of adding strength and stabilization to the soil at a particular ground location, for example, a location surrounding the casing just mentioned is disclosed herein. This latter method is carried out utilizing a specific apparatus for injecting grout into the inground location to be strengthened and stabilized.

Abstract: The present invention is a method and an apparatus for reducing marine growth on an offshore oil platform member. The device uses a buoyant member coupled with a sleeve to scrape the exterior surface of the platform members. The buoyant component floats on the surface of the water and takes advantage of the ocean energy (i.e., the variation of the water's surface height due to the tidal and surge responses) to move the device up and down on the member. The liner and the buoyant member are adjusted for size and buoyancy to ensure that scraping occurs in the areas of the members that are most vulnerable to attachment of marine organisms.

Abstract: A frost damage proofed pile for installment in a frigid district where the pile is subjected to a freezing and frost heaving force, such as permanently or seasonally frozen soil terrain. A tubular sheath member is fitted over the pile surface and has a length longer than the thickness of an active or seasonally frozen soil layer of the terrain in which the pile is installed. At least a portion of said length of the pile is formed as an extensible section, and at least the lower end of said sheath member is secured to the pile at or below a position corresponding to the bottom region of said active or seasonally frozen soil layer. A fluid material is filled in a space defined between the pile and the sheath member. The frost heaving force caused to exist upon freezing of the active or seasonally frozen soil layer as well as negative friction caused to exist in summer are inhibited from affecting the pile due to sliding of the sheath member relative to the pile.

Abstract: For use with a subsea well incorporating an external conductor pipe extending upwardly above the seabed, a protector apparatus is set forth. In the preferred and illustrated embodiment, the preferred embodiment describes a longitudinally split, flange equipped, bolt joined elongate conductor clamp supported on a frame at the bottom thereof and having a plurality of appended upstanding braces. The bottom frame is adapted to be rested on a seabed and held in place by a number of anchors driven into the seabed at corners. This apparatus is selectively installed after completion of a well wherein the conductor pipe extends above the bottom, and the apparatus is subsequently removed after protecting the pipe after drilling but before installation of a platform.

Abstract: The structural characteristics of standing poles are enhanced or preserved, or changed to provide break-away characteristics, by a technique which includes forming one or more sheets about the pole. The sheets are defined by an outer jacket, a plurality of spacer members positioned within the jacket and a solidified encapsulating material which fills the jacket.

Abstract: A laminated ice suppression mat which prevents ice from forming adjacent to objects partially submerged in a body of water subject to natural icing conditions has a laminate of buoyant, thermal insulating material intimately joined to a larger laminate of a reinforcing material. A fringe of reinforcing material may become embedded in an ice sheet which forms around the mat and causes the mat to move upward and downward about the object as the ice sheet rises and falls with the changes in water level.

Abstract: A sleeve adapted to float in water and to surround a piling to protect the same from being lifted by ice includes an outer corrugated casing which can be easily gripped by ice forming therearound. Within the casing is a layer of waterproof cementitious material followed by a layer of closed cell foam plastic. The innermost surface of the sleeve, which faces the piling, is a smooth even layer of polyethylene film. Should ice form in the annular space between the piling and the sleeve, the sleeve can easily slide up or down across the outer surface of the ice without moving the piling.

Abstract: Electrically conductive metal is melted, preferably by a flame, and is sprayed onto a freshly exposed, pitted surface of a concrete member having iron embedded therein. The sprayed metal, when cooled, forms a metal cover on and interlocked with at least part of the newly exposed surface. The cover and the embedded iron are preferably joined in an electric circuit affording a direct current electromotive force, effectively opposite to that which normally would occur, in order to preclude the deterioration of the contained iron.

Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for supplementing the substructure of an offshore platform within, or in the vicinity of, the well conductors of the platform so as to add large numbers of anodes distributed vertically within the platform adjacent the well conductors. A long anode carrier apparatus is run down through the platform substructure at one or more locations to support large numbers of anodes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for supplementing the substructure of an offshore platform within, or in the vicinity of, the well conductors of the platform so as to add large numbers of anodes distributed vertically within the platform adjacent the well conductors. A number of anodes are attached to the outer surface of a number of short sections of pipe. The pipe sections are lowered down through the platform where each section is anchored to a preselected cross-bracing platform member. These anode carrier sections are connected together under water to form an elongated tubular support for the anodes.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a process of casting of repairing concrete under water whereby the concrete (mortar) to be cast to a minimum extent contacts water and leaching of the binding agent is prevented. The purpose of the process according to the invention is achieved such that a "plug" of liquid organic material based on a reactive or non-reactive synthetic resin or other organic carrier having a suitable viscosity, good cohesion and poor water solubility and with a specific gravity higher than water, but less than cement-based concrete, is introduced into the bottom of a tight formwork to contact a support cement-based concrete having a good flowability is then introduced below the surface level of the plug, the introduction initially being effected in the very plug.

Abstract: The application discloses an ice guard for protecting a vertically extending piling positioned in a body of water from damage due to changes in water and ice levels. The ice guard is concentrically positioned around a piling and extends above the surface of the body of water. The ice guard is held in place by the surrounding ice. The ice guard includes at least one longitudinally extending sleeve which is made of a buoyant material and a means for restricting vertical movement of at least a portion of the sleeve. Various longitudinally extending ribs can radiate from the sleeve to enhance adhesion of the sleeve to the ice.

Abstract: A device for removing encrusted marine growth from submerged structures and for Non-Destructive testing of welds and the like is disclosed. The device includes a flexible transparent sleeve or housing for encapsulating an area of the structure to be cleaned and a reservoir for admitting a corrosive chemical into the housing to dissolve the marine growth. The housing may also contain embedded conductors forming a magnetic yoke which, when coupled to a source of electric energy, will subject to area to desired AC and DC fields. Magnetic particle can then be admitted through the reservoir for magnetic particle testing.

Abstract: An enclosure for reinforcing and preventing loss of contents of a sheet piling or mooring cell particularly just below the water line. Such apparatus comprises metal sheets of semi-circular construction which are bolted together so as to completely and tightly encircle the sheet piling. The semi-circular parts may be made of welded portions.

Abstract: A system of forming an in situ sleeve of concrete about a pile to provide protective reinforcement for the pile. The system utilizes spirally wound paper molding tubes to define the structural components of the concrete receiving casing or mold, with the mold consisting of a pair of cooperating arcuate tube sections formed from the molding tubes through removal of predetermined width full length portions thereof. The portion removed from the first tube is of a width less than one half of the circumference of the tube and forms a section with an opening of a width normally only sufficient to receive the pile therethrough. The removed portion of the second tube is substantially greater and provides a retained section greater than the defined opening in the first formed section to lie thereover.

Abstract: The method for restoring an underwater wood, concrete or steel piling or other underwater structure includes the steps of: placing a jacket around a portion of a piling to be restored; securing the jacket in place around the piling so as to create a closed, annular space between the piling and the jacket; injecting, in at least one location at the lower end of the annular space, an epoxy resin composition into the annular space while at the same time venting the annular space in at least one location at the upper end of the annular space until the epoxy resin composition begins to escape from the upper end of the annular space. The underwater injection jacket comprises a sheet of flexible material having an upper edge and a lower edge and which is coilable into a generally cylindrically shaped jacket about an underwater piling with first and second mating edges of the sheet adapted to be secured in place relative to each other to form the jacket about the piling.

Abstract: Method of prevent marine growth on the shallow water portions of platform legs by applying a polymer coating to the legs and covering the polymer with a copper-nickel alloy anti-fouling covering.

Abstract: Blistering of a coating composition applied to a surface which is disposed adjacent to a body of water such as ocean salt water when the coating is applied is avoided by applying the coating composition to the surface while water is flowing over the surface.

Abstract: The system for the restoring and reconditioning structural pile provides an outer form which is attachable to a portion of a piling which has been eroded or corroded and has lost some of its thickness and thus its overall strength. A diameter building filler is placed into an intraform space between the form and the piling, the filler providing a protective and structural coating to that portion of the piling where corrosion or damage has taken place. In the preferred embodiment the filler is a setting material such as a suitable epoxy.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a new and improved method and apparatus for installing and thereby protecting existing offshore structures, existing platforms and flow line risers in the splash and/or wave action zone.

Abstract: A device for sealing the lower part of a column standing on or in the bottom below a body of water, comprises a plate-shaped body surrounding the column, the plate-shaped body having a flexible border strip that runs around its entire circumference. The plate-shaped body is rigid and is mounted on a rigid sleeve surrounding the column and extending downwardly in the plate, the walls of the sleeve being parallel to the walls of the column. The body and the strip are of an impermeable material. Erosion of the material of the bottom from around the lower part of the column, under the influence of water currents, is thus retarded.

Abstract: A corrosion resistant bimetallic structure which includes a pair of butt-welded steel elements having protected surfaces extending to the weld; spaced, protective overlays of corrosion resistant non-ferrous metal joined to portions of the protected surface of each steel element on opposed sides of the weld; and a non-ferrous metal bridging plate bridging the weld and joined to outer sides of the spaced protective overlays by welds using said corrosion resistant non-ferrous metal as the weld metal. The space between the bridging plate, the spaced ends of the protective layers and the steel elements adjacent the weld is sealed against ingress of corrosive liquid.In a method of making the described structure, the steel elements are welded in end-to-end alignment. Sections of each element spaced from the weld are then encased with a corrosion resistant non-ferrous metal.

Abstract: A weakened underwater section of deteriorating pile is provided with a concrete splint. One of two companion seal members is first installed below the weakened section. A split tubular form is then installed about the section. The lower end of the form provides the second of the companion seal members that engages beneath the first seal member. The form is supported from above as water is pumped from the form. The buoyant upthrust moves the companion sealing members into firm sealing engagement. After the suspension for the form is adjusted, concrete is poured into the nearly dry form. The concrete mix is not compromised by contamination with seawater and a structurally sound splint is formed.

Abstract: A device for protecting a pile from ice formations collecting on and subsequently extracting the pile as a result of a variation of tide level including a tapered guard member secured to the pile. The guard member is firmly secured to the pile by interconnecting stiffening members, horizontal stiffening rings, vertical fin members and compression rings which also serve to prevent deformation of the guard member taper as a result of interaction with the ice formations. The guard member comprises two sections connected by vertically extending tongue and groove joints.