Patent GB-734082-A (GB)
IPC: B65H51/14
Abstract: 734,082. Laying submarine cables. JOHNSON & PHILLIPS, Ltd. Jan. 13, 1953 [Jan. 14, 1952; July 4, 1952], Nos. 1045/52 and 16879/52. Class 36. [Also in Group XXX] In a device for paying out submarine cable from a ship, the cable is gripped between adjacent runs of a pair of endless bands, at least one run being pressed towards the other by fluid-pressure means acting on said run, while control of the rotation of at least one of the wheels carrying the bands is effected so that the cable is payed out in a controlled manner. As shown, the submarine cable 1 is fed from the hold of the ship over a drum 134, a set of guide rollers 22, between one pair A of endless gripping chains 3, 4, between another pair B of endless gripping chains 3, 4, and over a pulley 29 on the end of a boom 30 at the stern of the ship. The chains 3, 4 are normally undriven and are braked by a suitable arrangement such as a hydraulic pump associated with the sprocket 8 of each pair of chains, sprocket 8 being geared directly to sprocket 6. An emergency mechanical brake is also provided on the shaft of sprocket 8. In order to allow the passage of a repeater 12 on the cable 1 the frames 40 of each pair of chains 3, 4 are bodily movable away and towards one another, this being accomplished by mounting each frame 40 between blocks 187 provided with vertical grooves in which ribs 186 on the frame 40 slidingly engage, and connecting frames 40 by links 53, 56 to a pair of bell-crank levers 54, 57 each centrally mounted, the remote ends of the bell-cranks being connected to opposed runs of an endless chain 61 moved through worm gearing by a hand wheel (not shown). The frames 40 are normally locked in the gripping position by blocks 74 which are withdrawn by linkage 79-88 when it is desired to move them apart. Brackets 51 secured to the underside of each upper frame 40 ensure that the corresponding chain 3 is lifted therewith. The repeater 12 is lifted from the hold before all the cable in advance of it has been fed, and is placed in a cradle 18, Fig. 12, which is slung from an overhead rail 21 in advance of the first pair A of gripping chains by means of four corner links 170, an I-shaped frame 167, 168, and a trolley 20 having a depending link 164 engaging the centre of the I-shaped frame. The cradle 18 is composed of four longitudinal rods 144 arranged at the four corners of a square in cross-section, held in position by vertical members 137, 138, 139 at each side, and horizontal lower members 140, 141, 142, wedgeshaped blocks being arranged in its base upon which the repeater may rest. The forward end of the cradle is closed by a door 25 which is held in closed position by a wedge 26 co-operating with a bracket 156 on the cradle. When the cable in advance of the repeater has been payed out the gripping chains are braked and the way on the ship reduced. The cradle 18 is disconnected from its sling and placed on a pair of laterally spaced endless drag chains 13, 14 provided with rollers 133, Figs. 5 and 6, running on tracks 132, and trained over sprockets 15, 16, Fig. 1. Dogs 23a formed on the links of these chains engage positively with projections 24 on the cradle, the cable being now payed out at reduced speed by driving the chains 13, 14 through worm gearing which is not reversible. The set of rollers 22 is temporarily lowered out of the way while the gripping chains of set A are opened to allow the cradle to pass. After the repeater has passed chains A these are closed on the cable together with rollers 22 and set B of chains are opened until the repeater has passed through these, after which they are lightly reclosed on the cable. Cradle 18 is discharged after passing both sets of gripping chains on to a platform 27. Door 25 is now opened to allow the repeater 12 to pass over a support 34 on to a launching platform 33 pivoted to the boom 30 at 35 and maintained in alignment with support 34 by a cam 171 journalled at 172 on the boom. The gripper chain pairs A and B are now fully braked to stop paying out of the cable 1. Boom 30 is pivoted at 31 to the ship's stern and is normally held in raised position by a cable 184 fixed to a support 177 and passed around pulley 183 on the boom and pulley 180 on the support 177 to a winch 185. The repeater is launched by unwinding the winch drum and hence lowering the boom, but first the platform 27 with the cradle 18 thereon is lowered out of the way, the cradle being returned to the front end of the apparatus by suitable means. As the boom is lowered, a pinion 174 associated with the cam 171 travels on a sector 175 whereby the cam is rotated from its high position to its low position, thus ensuring that the end of platform 33 nearest the pivot 31 is well out of the way of the repeater 12. A pulley 32 temporarily supports the cable 1 while the boom is lowered. When the boom is lowered sufficiently to clear the cable 1 paying out is restarted at normal speed, the boom 30 being raised again prior to receipt of the next repeater 12, cam 171 being again rotated into high position by engagement of pinion 174 with sector 175 during raising of the boom. To initiate feeding of a cable 1 a hawser is first passed through the sets of gripping chains the after-set B which is closed on it and driven until the end of the cable can be engaged by the forward set A. The sets of gripping chains are driven through their sprockets 5, 7 which are geared together by the engagement of a clutch coupling one or both sprockets 7 to a driving motor, until the end of the cable 1 can be secured to a buoy or land connection.