Apparatus for releasing a rack chock of a jack-up rig
AssigneeFriede & Goldman, Ltd.
InventorsMorris Shear, Paul Geiger, Sr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A “frozen” rack chock of a jack-up rig is released by a moving force imparted on the rack chock by a worm gear assembly. The worm gear assembly has a tooth wheel with a plurality of teeth and a worm gear member provided with a worm thread that engages the teeth for transmitting rotational force from a drive motor to the tooth wheel. A shaft of the tooth wheel is operationally connected to the rack chock to cause disengagement of the rack chock from the contact surface of a leg chord when the tooth wheel is rotated.
Claims28
An apparatus for releasing a rack chock pressed into engagement with a contact surface, comprising:
- a worm gear assembly adapted for operational connection to said rack chock;
- and
- a means for imparting rotation to said worm gear assembly, said worm gear assembly translating said rotation into linear movements for exerting moving force on said rack chock, thereby moving said rack chock out of engagement with said contact surface, said movements having horizontal and vertical components.
An apparatus for releasing a rack chock pressed into engagement with a contact surface of a jack-up rig leg chord, comprising:
- a worm gear assembly adapted for operational connection to said rack chock;
- and
- a means for imparting rotation to said worm gear assembly, said worm gear assembly translating said rotation into linear movements for exerting moving force on said rack chock, thereby moving said rack chock out of engagement with said contact surface, said movements having horizontal and vertical components, said worm gear assembly comprising at least one tooth wheel provided with a plurality of teeth about an exterior thereof and at least one worm gear member provided with worm threads, said plurality of teeth engaging said worm threads to impart a moving force on said rack chock and thereby cause disengagement of said rack chock from said contact surface of the leg chord when the worm gear assembly is rotated.
An apparatus for releasing a rack chock pressed into engagement with a contact surface of a jack-up rig leg chord, comprising:
- a worm gear assembly adapted for operational connection to said rack chock, said worm gear assembly comprising at least one horizontal worm gear unit for moving said rack chock along a horizontal plane, at least one vertical worm gear unit for moving said rack chock along a vertical plane and wherein each of said worm gear units is provided with an independent power means for transmitting moving force separately to said at least one horizontal worm gear unit and said vertical worm gear unit;
- and
- a means for imparting rotation to each of said worm gear units, said worm gear units translating said rotation into linear movements for exerting moving force on said rack chock, thereby moving said rack chock out of engagement with said contact surface, each of said worm gear units comprising at least one tooth wheel provided with a plurality of teeth about an exterior thereof and at least one worm gear member provided with worm threads, said plurality of teeth engaging said worm threads to impart a moving force on said rack chock and thereby cause disengagement of said rack chock from said contact surface of the leg chord when the worm gear units are rotated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.