Apparatus for porting a side wall of a conduit from interiorly thereof

An apparatus for porting a substantially horizontal conduit from interiorly thereof comprising:

• A. a carriage;
• B. means for positioning the carriage longitudinally along the interior of such a conduit having a longitudinal axis;
• C. a brake borne by the carriage engageable with the interior of the conduit to lock the carriage in fixed position in the conduit;
• D. a rotary port forming tool having an axis of rotation;
• E. means mounting the tool on the carriage with the axis of the tool substantially radial to the axis of the conduit for adjustably positioning the tool outwardly and inwardly along said axis to and from conduit engagement, for adjustable pivotal positioning of said axis of the tool about the axis of the conduit, and for adjustably positioning the tool longitudinally of the carriage along said conduit;
• F. common powered means controlled from a position remote from the carriage for automatically concurrently actuating the brake and driving the tool whereby the carriage is locked in position whenever the tool is driven;
• and
• G. controlled means operable from the position remote from the carriage for adjustably positioning the tool to and from conduit engagement, pivotally about the axis of the conduit and longitudinally of the carriage along the conduit.

An apparatus for laterally porting a tubular liner for a passageway, which passageway has laterals sealed over by the liner, which laterals it is desired to connect in fluid communication with the interior of the liner, comprising:

• A. a carriage;
• B. means mounting the carriage for movement longitudinally of the liner;
• C. travel control means connected to the mounting means adapted to start and to stop movement of the carriage operable from a control station remote from the carriage;
• D. a television system including a camera mounted on the carriage disposed to view the interior of the liner and a screen at the control station for displaying the interior of the liner as viewed by the camera;
• E. a cutting tool;
• F. a pneumatic motor having driving connection to the tool and having an exhaust port;
• G. means mounting the tool on the carriage for reciprocal positioning between a position engaged with the liner within the view of the camera extended from the carriage transversely of the liner and a retracted position;
• H. tool control means connected to the tool mounting means operable from the control station selectively to position the tool in its extended and retracted positions;
• and
• I. a duct connected to the exhaust port of the motor having an outlet directed toward the conduit engaging position of the tool to blow debris resulting from operation of the tool therefrom.

A conduit side wall porting apparatus comprising:

• A. a carriage,
• B. means for positioning the carriage longitudinally internally along such a conduit to successive porting positions,
• C. a port forming tool mounted on the carriage for adjustable movement to and from a conduit engaging position,
• D. a pneumatically driven motor connected to the tool having an intake and an exhaust with said exhaust being directed toward said conduit engaging position, and
• E. a source of gas under pressure connected to the intake for passage of the gas through the motor and out the exhaust to said conduit engaging position to blow debris resulting from operation of the tool therefrom.

An apparatus for porting a relatively soft conduit liner installed in a relatively hard pipe having a lateral opening circumscribed by an edge of the pipe and inwardly overlaid by the liner so that the port coincides with the lateral opening comprising

• A. a carriage,
• B. means for positioning the carriage longitudinally internally along such a conduit to successive porting positions,
• C. a power driven port forming tool, and
• D. resilient control means mounting the tool on the carriage for reciprocal positioning transversely of the conduit between an outer conduit engaging position and an inwardly retracted position whereby movement of the tool outwardly to the conduit engaging position can be resisted by engagement of the tool with the pipe to overcome the resilient means.