Portable support method and apparatus
OwnerDennis Lee Wolffordinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A portable manway cover handling apparatus and method comprises a lightweight support unit having a mounting tab secured to a manway portal flange within portal flange bolt holes by stud bolts projecting from expandable mandrel sleeves. A structural support beam is cantilevered from the mounting tab for attachment of a force line pulling machine. A force line from the pulling machine is attached to the manway cover and all manway flange bolts removed except a single loose hinge bolt proximate of the flange bottom. The pulling machine is operated to control the rotation of the manway cover about the hinge bolt to a stable suspension position whereat the manway portal is open.
Claims6
A method of displacing a flanged pipe manway cover secured by a plurality of fasteners to a manway portal flange, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) removing at least one but less than all flange fasteners that secure said cover to a manway portal flange;
- (b) inserting a collet expanded fastener in at least one aperture in said portal flange vacated by said flange fastener removal, said collet fastener having a threaded shank projecting from an outside plane of said portal flange and away from said manway cover and with no structural portion of said fastener projecting past a sealing plane of said portal flange toward said manway cover;
- (c) penetrating a receptacle aperture in a load support appliance by said threaded shank to secure said appliance to said portal flange, said support appliance having a beam member projecting above said manway cover;
- (d) suspending an adjustable length force line device from said beam member;
- (e) attaching an adjustable length force line to said manway cover;
- (f) adjusting the length of said force line to transfer a substantial portion of manway cover weight onto said force line;
- (g) removing remaining flange fasteners to release said manway cover from said portal flange;
- and
- (h) controlling the displacement of said manway cover from said manway portal flange by controlling said adjustable length force line device.
A method of separating a pair of structural elements joined along a contiguous plane between a pair of pipe flanges secured together by a plurality of flange fasteners placed through respectively aligned apertures distributed about perimeters of both flanges, each flange having a backside plane substantially parallel with said contiguous plane, said method comprising the steps of:
- removing at least one but less than all of said flange fasteners to void corresponding apertures;
- inserting a collet fastener having a collet sleeve and a tapered collet shaft into said void apertures of a first of said pair of pipe flanges, said collet shaft having a threaded shank projecting from said first flange backside and away from said contiguous plane with substantially no fastener structure projecting past said contiguous plane into the corresponding aperture void of a second of said pair of pipe flanges;
- providing a load support appliance having a flange attachment tab
- providing at least one aperture in said tab sufficiently large to receive said threaded shank therein;
- positioning said flange attachment tab adjacent said first flange backside and said threaded shank through said tab aperture;
- turning a threaded nut element on said threaded shank to expand said collet sleeve against bore walls of said first flange aperture;
- suspending an adjustable length load support device from said load support appliance;
- attaching said load support device to a structural element supported by said second flange;
- transferring weight of said second flange structural element to said load support appliance;
- and,
- removing a remainder of said flange fasteners to separate said second flange from said first flange.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.