US 5,313,903 AGranted

Method and apparatus for fabricating double-walled vessel hull midbody modules

AssigneesMetro Machine Corporation, Marinex International, Inc.

InventorsRichard A. Goldbach, Frank E. McConnell, J. Richard Salzer

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

The fixtures in which curved and reinforced flat plates are held while being welded, cleaned, coated and cured include fixedly mounted exterior towers and interior towers removably mounted on rollable bogies (i.e., rail cars or carriages) for ease of transport through a succession of work stations. Subcomponents fabricated on respective bogies are weldingly joined to form module subassemblies after coupling and maneuvering the respective bogies to align the subcomponents (i.e., units). A transverse bulkhead is supported on fluid cushion pallets beside the bogie-supporting rails, so that the transverse bulkhead can be positioned for welding of each subassembly thereto, to provide each respective double-walled vessel hull midbody module.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A method for fabricating at least one subcomponent for a module of a double-walled vessel hull, comprising:

(a) providing a rollable bogie with chocks for supporting the lower edges of a plurality of upended hull plate panels in a predetermined spatial relation;
(b) disposing on said bogie a full complement of upended hull plate panels having lower edges thereof supported in respective ones of said chocks, said full complement including at least two wall panels for a same first wall of the hull, and at least one wall-interconnecting panel for connecting said first wall with a second wall of the hull, said two wall panels and one wall-interconnecting panel collectively having three substantially vertically extending longitudinal edges spatially juxtaposed adjacent one another at a respective T-joint creation site;
(c) providing at least two interior towers on said bogie, including one for each cell or partial cell that will be created by welding together said full complement of panels at each said T-joint creation site;
(d) rollingly advancing said bogie along a track into a work station which includes a full complement of exterior towers flanking said track so that each wall panel is sandwiched between a respective interior tower and a respective exterior tower;
(e) activating horizontally acting jacks on said interior and exterior towers to positionally adjust and hold said wall panels and each said wall-interconnecting panel, so that all three panel longitudinal edges at each T-joint creation site are uniformly spaced from one another;
(f) welding a T-joint at each T-joint creation site thereby uniting said full complement of plates into a subcomponent;
(g) deactivating said horizontally acting jacks on said exterior towers;
and
(h) rollingly advancing said bogie with said subcomponent supported thereon along said track into a further work station.

6 more elements

Apparatus for fabricating at least one subcomponent for a module of a double-walled vessel hull, comprising:

a track extending through a plurality of work stations;
a rollable bogie having chocks thereon for supporting the lower edges of a plurality of upended hull plate panels in a predetermined spatial relation, so that a full complement of upended hull plate panels can be supported on said bogie with the lower edges thereof supported in respective ones of said chocks, said full complement including at least two wall panels for a same first wall of the hull, and at least one wall-interconnecting panel for connecting said first wall with a second wall of the hull, said two wall panels and one wall-interconnecting panel collectively having three substantially vertically extending longitudinal edges spatially juxtaposed adjacent one another at a respective T-joint creation site;
at least two interior towers on said bogie, including one for each cell or partial cell that will be created by welding together said full complement of panels at each said T-joint creation site;
a work station along said track which includes a full complement of exterior towers flanking said track so that, when said bogie laden with said panels and said interior towers is rolled along said track into said work station, each wall panel is sandwiched between a respective interior tower and a respective exterior tower;
horizontally acting jacks provided on said interior and exterior towers which are actuatable to positionally adjust and hold said wall panels and each said wall-interconnecting panel, so that all three panel longitudinal edges at each T-joint creation site are uniformly spaced from one another;
welding means for welding a T-joint at each T-joint creation site thereby uniting said full complement of plates into a subcomponent, whereupon said horizontally acting jacks on said exterior towers can be deactivated;
and
said bogie with said subcomponent supported thereon along said track rollingly advanced into a further work station along said track.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.