GB2059905A

GB2059905A - Packing tubular members

Info

Publication number: GB2059905A
Application number: GB7933075A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-09-24
Filing date: 1979-09-24
Publication date: 1981-04-29

Abstract

In a pack, tubular and/or rod- like members are mutually separated and held together at each of at least three longitudinally spaced locations by separating means or dunnage comprising a lower beam (11), an upper beam (12) and preferably at least one intermediate beam (13), each beam comprising a body (15, 25) of resilient material mold formed to provide alternating planar surfaces (18) and concave surfaces (19) of not more than 180 DEG arcuate extent. Shallow channels (20, 28) are provided to receive a pack-tightening encompassing band of webbing or strapping. The beams are provided with cooperating alignment bores (20, 26) and integral dowel pins (22, 27) to assist in vertical alignment of the beams at each said longitudinal location. The beams are of an elastomeric material reinforced by a sand cement filled tube 14. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Pack formation of tubular and/or rod-like members Tubular and/or rod-like members such as pipes are commonly transported in a bound stacked pack with the members of each horizontal layer resting directly on those of the next layer below and in the interstices between adjacent members of the lower layer.

Such pack formations occupy minimum space but, because of the direct contact between all adjacent members, can lead to damage of the members during pack creation, pack transportation, pack storage and break-up of the pack as the members are removed one by one. The need to obviate the damage risk is particularly important where the said members are pipes and pipe assemblies for use in the oil and gas exploration industry (see, for example, "recommended Practice for Care and Use of Casing and Tubing" (RP SCi) of the American Petroleum Institute).

Accordingly it has been proposed to provide a bound pack of stacked tubular members with separating means (or dunnage) between each horizontal layer of the stack and between adjacent members of each layer, said separating means consisting of rigid wooden beams or blocks that, optionally, are provided with concave surfaces to contact the tubular members' outer surfaces.

It is now considered that the poor weathering nature of the wood separating means renders its use unsuitable for long-term storage and also that the inherent rigidity of the wood separating means will not provide adequate protection against the substantial shock loads commonly experienced in transporting pipes and pipe assemblies to an (off-shore) oil well rig. Furthermore the separating means heretofore proposed is complicated to assemble and no restraint is provided against sideways movement (i.e. longitudinally of the pipes) of the encompassing strap or wire band that is tightened around the uppermost and lowermost wooden beams.

It is therefore considered desirable to provide separating means for use in the pack formation of tubular and/or rod-like members, said separating means overcoming at least some of the above-mentioned and/or of other disadvantages of the separating means heretofore proposed.

According to one aspect of this invention there is provided separating means or dunnage for use in the pack formation of tubular and/or rod-like members, said separating means or dunnage comprising a first beam to be lowermost in the pack and a second beam to be uppermost in the pack, characterised in that said first beam comprises an elongate rigid member having upwardly directed resilient means shaped to provide a plurality of concave surface alternating with horizontal planar surfaces, each concave surface extending arcuately by no more than 1 80'.

Preferably the second beam comprises resilient means shaped to provide a plurality of concave surfaces alternating with horizontal planar surfaces, each concave surface extending arcuately by no more than 1 80'. Advantageously said second beam also comprises an elongate rigid member, said resilient means extending downwardly therefrom.

The resilient means of the first and/or the second beam may consist of separate shaped blocks of resilient material each providing one said concave surface and secured to the respective elongate rigid member. Said blocks may be formed in a mold (e.g. by molding or casting) integrally with the respective elongate rigid member, e.g. so as to be bonded thereto by the inherent adhesive properties of the resilient material, or may be separately formed in a mold (e.g. by molding or casting) and individually secured to the respective elongate rigid member, e.g. by adhesive or appropriate fastening means.

Alternatively, and preferably, the resilient means of the first and/or the second beam may be formed of resilient material in a mold (e.g. by molding or casting) to provide all said concave and planar surfaces thereof as a unit.

Said unit may be mold-formed integrally with the respective elongate rigid member, e.g.

such as to be bonded thereto by the inherent adhesive properties of the resilient material, or may be mold-formed separately and secured to the respective elongate rigid member by adhesive or appropriate fastening means.

Advantageously, to provide a vertically stacked pack, the separating means further comprises at least one intermediate beam having resilient material shaped on each of its upper and lower sides to provide a plurality of concave surfaces alternating with horizontal planar surfaces, each concave surface extending arcuately by no more than 180 . Preferably the or each resilient intermediate beam is formed in a mold (e.g. by molding or casting).

Optionally the or each said intermediate beam may comprise an elongate rigid member embedded in the resilient material and, where the intermediate beam is mold-formed, the two parts may be bonded to one another by the inherent adhesive properties of the resilient material.

Preferably the elongate rigid member of the or each said beam comprises a metal element of generally uniform cross-section, e.g. of channel-section or of rectangular-section hollow tubing.

Preferably the said beams are provided with vertical alignment means for aligning said beams above one another in the vertical plane. Said vertical alignment means may comprise shallow grooves (preferably moldformed) in the vertical end surfaces of said beams (and optionally also in the outer surfaces of said first and second beams) to receive a tightened band for encompassing the pack. Alternatively or additionally said vertical alignment means may comprise alignment bores through said beams to receive tie rods therethrough or intercr nnecting separate dowels between adjacent beams, or may comprise co-operating bores and integral dowels on adjacent beams. Preferably, where integral dowels are provided they are directed downwardly from the adjacent upper beam.

According to another aspect of this invention there is provided a bound pack of tubular and/or rod-like members wherein the members are mutually separated and held together at each of at least three longitudinally spaced locations by separating means or dunnage according to said one aspect of this invention.

By way of non-limiting example, embodiments of this invention will now be described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings of which Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of one form of separating means or dunnage according to this invention, and Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of another form of separating means or dunnage according to this invention.

The separating means 10 shown in Fig. 1 is for use in forming a two-layer stacked pack of pipes with three pipes in each layer. The separating means illustrated comprises a lower beam 11, an upper beam 12 and an intermediate beam 13. Where the stacked pack is to have more than two layers, additional similar intermediate beams 13 are provided between the lower and upper beams 11, 12. The lower and upper beams 11, 12 are substantially alike in that each comprises an elongate rigid member 14 embedded in a body 15 of resilient material. The member 14 is a rectangular-section hollow metal tube (typically 50 mm X 25 mm) filled to within approximately 25 mm of each end with sand cement 16 to provide rigidity and resistance to deformation.The body 15 is formed in a mold by molding or casting of the resilient material such as to be positively locked to the member 14 by the resilient material engaging the unfilled ends 17 of member 14 and also such as to be bonded to member 14 by the inherent adhesive properties of the resilient material. The mold configuration employed is such as to provide the resilient body 15 on one side with four horizontal planar surfaces 18 alternating with three concave surfaces 19 each extending arcuately by no more that 1 80' and of a curvature corresponding to that of the pipe to be received therein.The resilient body 15 of the lower beam 11 is also mold-formed with two blinds bores 21 one in each of the extreme end planar surfaces 18, and the resilient body 15 of the upper beam 12 is also mold formed with two integral dowel pins 22 one in each of the extreme end planar surfaces 18 for vertical axial alignment with the bores 21. On the remaining three sides of each resilient body 15 (i.e. the beam ends and surface opposite 18, 19), the latter is mold-formed with a shallow but wide channel 20 to receive an enveloping strap for the complete pack.

The intermediate beam 13 may likewise comprise an elongate rigid member such as 14 embedded in mold-formed body 25 of resilient material, but preferably the reinforcing member is omitted and the beam 13 consists solely of the elongate mold-formed resilient body 25. The mold configuration employed for the body 25 is such as to provide the latter on each of its two opposite sides with four horizontal planar surfaces such as 18 alternating with three concave surfaces 19 each extending arcuately by no more than 1 80' and of a curvature corresponding to that of the pipe to be received therein.The body 25 is also mold-formed on its upper surface with two blind bores 26 one in each of the extreme end planar upper surfaces 18, and on its lower surface with two integral dowel pins 27 one in each of the extreme end planar lower surfaces 1 E, the bores and dowel pins 26, 27 being in vertical axial alignment with one another and with the bores and dowel pins 21, 22 of the lower and upper beams 1 1, 12. Each end of the elongate resilient body 25 is also mold-formed with a shallow but wide channel 28 to receive the said enveloping strap for the completed pack.

To form a two-layer stacked pack of pipes, three pipes per layer, using the separating means or dunnage 10 illustrated, three similar beams 11 are spaced apart longitudinally of the pipes and the first layer's three pipes are placed one by one into the recesses provided by the concave surfaces 18 of beams 11.The absence of upstanding dowel pins on the beams 11 facilitates positioning of the pipes by manually rolling them into their desired positions, such rolling being further facilitated where the curvature of the concave surfaces extends for less than 180'. Three similar intermediate beams 13 are then placed upon the pipes with the dowel pins 27 of each beam 13 entering the blind bores 21 of an associated beam 11 such that three pairs of vertically aligned beams 11, 13 result with, in each pair, the channel 20 of beam 11 being contiguous with the lateral channel 28 of its superimposed beam 13. The second layer's three pipes are then placed one by one into the upper concave surfaces 1 8 of the beam 13, e.g. as by manual rolling; and three similar upper beams 12 are then superimposed upon and in respective vertical alignment with the three intermediate beams 13, the dowel pins 22 of the beams 12 entering the blind bores 26 of the intermediate beams 13 such that the lateral channels 28 of each intermediate beam 13 are contiguous with the channel 20 of the beam 12 above. A web or strap is then passed around each sed of three beams 11, 1 3, 12 within the channels 20, 28 and tightened to compress the beams towards one another and create a frictional gripping and pinching effect upon the pipes at each cooperating pair of oppositely-facing concave surfaces 19.This pinching effect is limited in magnitude by the degree of compressability or resiliency of the resilient material of the beams and by the movement allowed until facing pairs of planar surfaces 18 meet. The later is governed by the arcuate extent of each concave surface 19 whereby it will be apparent that, by predetermining this arcuate extent for each concave surface 19, the maximum pinching effect upon the pipes can also be predetermined.

This capability of the illustrated embodiment is important since excessive pinching of the pipes can cause them to deform and be consequently unusable e.g. for oil rig work.

Thus by pre-determining the arcuate extent of the concave surfaces (19), which are of the same curvature as the outer surface of the members to be received therein, the degree of maximum pinching of the members can be predetermined in accord with the eventual contact pressure across the abutting planar surfaces (1 8).

It will also be apparent that the moldformed channels 20, 28 provide a lateral restraint against sideways movement of the web or strap longitudinally of the pipes.

It will be appreciated that the distance 'D' in Fig. 1 is selected to be sufficiently high to enable the arms of a fork-lift truck to enter beneath the pack of stacked pipes and lift and move the whole pack in a similar manner to pallet lifting and moving.

The above-described embodiment of Fig. 1 may be modified by replacing the integral dowel pins 22, 27 of beams 12, 13 with blind bores and inserting non-integral dowel pins between each pair of vertically aligned beams 11, 13 and 13, 12 during pack assembly. Alternatively all the blind bores may be replaced by through-bores and the vertically aligned beams 11, 13 and 12 interconnected by tie rods extending through the through-bores. With either such an arrangement, the beams 11 and 12 may be wholly identical and be each utilisable as either an upper beam or a lower beam, and the intermediate beam 13 may be utilisable either way up.Furthermore, where tie rods are employed extending through aligned through-bores in beams 11, 13 and 12, the use of an encompassing band of webbing or strapping may be redundant whereby the mold-formed channels 20 and 28 may be omitted from the beams 11, 12 and 13.

In the embodiment of Fig. 2, the lower beam 11 or upper beam 12 has its surfaces 18, 19 provided by individual rnold-formed blocks 30 of resilient material, each block being molded or cast integrally with or separately secured to an elongate reinforcing rigid support member 35. As illustrated schematically, the support member 34 is of rectangu- lar-section hollow tubing (e.g. of steel) having triangular-section metal angle pieces 33 welded to one side such that the blocks 30 can be positively locked to the member 34 upon being molded or cast integrally therewith. Optionally the side walls of each block 30 may be inclined to the vertical (instead of being vertical as shown) thereby to provide an appropriately varying resiliency with degree of compression, e.g. an exponentially increasing restoring force with increasing compression.

Preferably, in each of the above-described embodiments of this invention, the resilient material employed for the parts % 5, 25 and/ or 30 is an elastomeric material, e.g. a urethane polymer or copolymer formed by the mixture or simultaneous low pressure injection of two or more chemical reagents. Conveniently such an elastomeric material is an epoxy-derived urethane copolymer obtainable from Wright a Sumner Limited of 55 Argyll Street, Kettering, Northamptonshire, England under the number CUE 02375.

Claims

1. Separating means or dunnage for use in the pack formation of tubular and/or rodlike members, said separating means or dunnage comprising a first beam to be lowermost in the pack and a second beam to be uppermost in the pack, characterised in that said first beam comprises an elongate rigid member having upwardly directed resilient means shaped to provide a plurality of concave surfaces alternating with horizontal planar surfaces, each concave surface extending arcuately by no more than 1 80'.

2. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 1, wherein said second beam comprises resilient means shaped to provide a plurality of concave surfaces alternating with horizontal planar surfaces, each concave surface extending arcuately by no more than 180 .

3. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 2, wherein said second beam also comprises an elongate rigid member, said resilient means extending downwardly therefrom.

4. Separating means according to any preceding Claim, wherein the resilient means of the first and/or the second beam consists of separate shaped blocks of resilient material each providing one said concave surface and secured to the respective elongate rigid member.

5. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 4, wherein said blocks are formed in a mold integrally with the respective elongate rigid member.

6. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 4, wherein said blocks are separately formed in a mold and individually secured to the respective elongate rigid member.

7. Separating means or dunnage according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the resilient means of the first and/or the second beam is formed of resilient material in a mold to provide all said concave and planar surfaces thereof as a unit.

8. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 7, wherein said unit is moldformed integrally with the respective elongate rigid member.

9. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 7, wherein said unit is moldformed separately and secured to the respective elongate rigid member.

10. Separating means or dunnage according to any preceding Claim and for use in providing a vertically stacked pack, further comprising at least one intermediate beam having resilient material shaped on each of its upper and lower sides to provide a plurality of concave surfaces alternating with horizontal planar surfaces, each concave surface extending arcuately by no more than 1 80'.

Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 10, wherein the or each intermediate beam has its resilient material formed in a mold.

12. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 10, wherein the or each intermediate beam comprises an elongate rigid member embedded in the resilient material.

13. Separating means according to Claims 11 and 12, wherein the mold-formed resilient material is integral with the elongate rigid member.

14. Separating means or dunnage according to any preceding Claim, wherein the elongate rigid member of a said beam comprises a metal element of generally uniform cross-section.

15. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 14, wherein said metal element is a rectangular-section hollow metal tubing filled between its ends with a sand cement.

16. Separating means or dunnage according to any preceding Claim, wherein said beams are provided with vertical alignment means for aligning said beams above one another in the vertical plane.

17. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 16, wherein said vertical alignment means comprise shallow grooves in the vertical end surfaces of said beams to receive a tightened band for encompassing the pack.

18. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 17, wherein said shallow grooves extend from the end surfaces of the first and second beams into and along the outer surfaces of said first and second beams.

19. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 17 or Claim 18, wherein said shallow grooves are mold-formed with or in the resilient material of the beams.

20. Separating means or dunnage according to any one of Claims 16 to 19, wherein the vertical alignment means comprise alignment bores through said beams to receive tie rods therethrough.

21. Separating means or dunnage according to any one of Claims 16 to 19, wherein the vertical alignment means comprise alignment bores in said beams to receive beam interconnecting dowel pins for extension between adjacent beams.

22. Separating means or dunnage according to any one of Claims 16 to 19, wherein the vertical alignment means comprise cooperating bores and integral dowel pins on adjacent beams.

23. Separating means or dunnage according to Claim 22, wherein the integral dowel pins extend downwardly from the or each adjacent upper beam.

24. Separating means or dunnage according to any preceding Claim, wherein the resilient material comprises an elastomer.

25. Separating means or dunnage according to any preceding Claim, wherein the resilient material comprises a urethane polymer or copolymer.

26. Separating means or dunnage according to any preceding Claim, wherein the resilient material comprises an epoxy-derived urethane copolymer.

27. Separating means or dunnage substantially as herein described with reference to and/or as illustrated in Fig. 1 or Fig. 2 of the accompanying drawing.

28. A bound pack of tubular and/or rodlike members wherein the members are mutually separated and held together at each of at least three longitudinally spaced locations by separating means or dunnage according to any preceding claim.