Apparatus for recovering, by means of a pipelaying craft, pipes laid on deep sea beds

An apparatus for recovering, by means of a pipelaying craft, a pipe coated with concrete and laid on deep sea beds, comprising a framework for removably supporting, and inserting into said pipe, a sealing and pulling head traversed axially by a central tube and provided with a transverse bore in proximity to that end thereof to be inserted into the pipe, and provided at its other nose-shaped end with a system for automatically coupling a pulling cable for raising the pipe to be recovered on to the pipelaying craft, said apparatus being guided on to the pipe to be recovered by means of a guide ring releasably mounted to the end of a bracket projecting from one side of said framework, and through which there is inserted a guide cable stretched between the pipelaying craft and said pipe, and being provided at its lower end with two pairs of hydraulically operable jaws for clamping the framework on to the pipe to be recovered, with a cutting device for cutting the possible damaged part of the pipe to be recovered, and with means for perforating the pipe and for inserting a locking pin provided with shoulder teeth into said transverse bore in said sealing and pulling head when this latter has been inserted into the pipe to be recovered, wherein said framework extends longitudinally with a square cross-section, in which a beam is slidably supported axially by means of four pairs of running wheels disposed in opposing pairs, and terminates at one end in the form of a shoulder plate or stop, from which a pivot extends outwards for rotating an upwardly projecting bridge which at its upper end supports, releasably by remote control, said sealing and pulling head disposed longitudinally, said bridge being made to rotate about said rotation pivot by a remote controlled hydraulic motor fixed thereto, on the drive shaft of which there is keyed a gear wheel which engages with a second gear wheel keyed on to said rotation pin, said beam being made to slide longitudinally by a remote controlled double acting hydraulic cylinder disposed longitudinally and supported by said framework, its piston being rigidly connected to said shoulder plate or stop of said beam by means of a rod.