Patent ID: 8764344

Claim:
A method for laying a pipe in a laying site comprising the following steps: a. providing at least first and second gripping means activatable for firmly gripping the pipe so as to be solidly constrained therewith, or for releasing the pipe; b. locating the first and second gripping means with respect to the pipe at predetermined points along a longitudinal development direction of the pipe; c. moving the first and/or the second gripping means when activated to grip the pipe, such that only a predetermined longitudinal section of the pipe is received in the laying site, the first and second gripping means being at all times arranged with respect to the pipe, and activated, instant by instant, in such a way that the pipe is at all times solidly gripped by at least one of the first and second gripping means; and d. iterating the above step until a predetermined number of predetermined longitudinal sections of the pipe are housed in the laying site; and, wherein an external surface of the pipe is covered by a sheath, and wherein a multiplicity of protection and support elements are fixed to the pipe externally thereto, each of the protection and support elements: being conformed so as to cover the sheath by receiving said sheath between walls in an internal housing, and so as to have at a periphery thereof sliding means with an external environment; having a predefined thickness between the internal housing and the periphery, and being fixed to the pipe at a predetermined point along the longitudinal development thereof and at a predefined distance from the other protection elements, and wherein the first and second gripping means, when activated to release the pipe, are arranged at a distance from the external surface of the pipe which is greater than the thickness of the walls of the protection elements, and in that depending on the predetermined points at which the protection elements are positioned along the longitudinal development of the pipe, the positioning of the first and second gripping means during said step b. and the run of the movement of the first and second gripping means in a direction are such that the first and second gripping means are activatable for gripping the pipe only at points of the longitudinal development thereof which are different from points in which the protection elements are positioned.