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US 6,746,201 B1Granted
Bundle puller with adjustable length carriage frame
AssigneeFluor Corporation
InventorsRobert R. Cradeur, John M. Dewees, James E. Edward
Life of this patent
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AssigneeFluor Corporation
InventorsRobert R. Cradeur, John M. Dewees, James E. Edward
Estimating the term…
A bundle puller having an adjustable length carriage frame is disclosed. The carriage frame includes a hinged section that can be rotated between a level or lowered position and a raised position. When the hinged section is raised, the length of the carriage frame is decreased considerably, which allows the bundle puller to be operated in narrow alleyways. The hinged section may then be lowered for operating in larger alleyways. A hydraulic cylinder lowers and raises the hinged section. A rack-and-pinion drive system is used instead of the more common screw drive system to move the sled back and forth on the carriage frame while removing or replacing tube bundles in the heat exchanger shell. Separate gear racks are attached to the hinged section and main section of the carriage frame, respectively. The separate gear racks can be raised and lowered with the hinged section.
An adjustable length carriage frame for a bundle puller, comprising:
An adjustable length carriage frame for a bundle puller, comprising:
A method of adjusting the length of a carriage frame of a bundle puller, comprising:
In a bundle pulling apparatus comprising a carriage frame having two parallel spaced apart arms, a sled slidably disposed on the carriage frame arms, means for securing the sled to a tube bundle, and a drive means for moving the sled back and forth along the carriage frame arms, the improvements comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.