Device for laying submarine pipelines

Abstract

The present invention relates to devices for laying submarine pipelines, in which the pipeline, associated with floats attached to it at intervals, the whole assembly being contrived in order to produce a certain buoyancy, is equipped with chains resting upon the bed of the body of water and performing the function of a guide rope. The weight of those parts of the chains extending between the bed of the body of water and the pipeline, maintains the latter submerged at a certain distance above the bed of the body of water and the pipeline can be towed, for example by means of a tug, without any risk of it being damaged by striking said bed. The improvement which forms the object of the invention consists in attaching the chains or their equivalent, for example cables, not merely to the pipeline itself, but also to the floats. This has the advantage that when the floats are released in order to lay the pipeline on the bed of the body of water, the chains are returned to the surface by the floats themselves and can therefore be readily recovered.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.