Patent ID: 7387469

Claim:
A marine bend stiffener for preventing excessive bending of a movable elongate member in an underwater region where it enters a tube, the bend stiffener comprising an elongate flexible sleeve having a through-going cavity for receiving and embracing the elongate member to permit some motion thereof while preventing the elongate member from being excessively tightly curved, and an arrangement for mounting the sleeve with respect to the tube, the mounting means arrangement comprising a tubular mating part which is rigidly coupled to a root end of the sleeve and is one of (a) insertable coaxially into the tube and (b) receivable coaxially upon the tube, and a locating arrangement for locating the bend stiffener axially with respect to the tube, the locating arrangement being formed such that the locating arrangement permits the mating part to turn freely through a limited angular range relative to the tube, so that in use axial loading on the bend stiffener is borne by the coupling arrangement and bending moments are born by virtue of engagement of the mating part with the tube.