Patent ID: 7351010

Claim:
A method of salvaging an abandoned pipeline in a marine environment, comprising the steps of: a) providing a frame having a perimeter that surrounds a pair of opposed cutting blades, each cutting blade having a flat, planar surface and an opposing surface with a beveled cutting edge, the frame having a gate that enables the frame to be selectively placed around or removed from a section of pipeline to be cut; b) placing the frame on the pipeline by first opening the gate and then closing the gate; c) moving one of the cutting blades toward the other using hydraulics and until they overlap the other being fixed to the frame; d) wherein each cutting blade has a notched, v-shaped cutting blade; e) wherein in step “d” the pipeline is automatically centered within the respective notched, v-shaped blades prior to being severed as the blades advance relative to one another; and f) wherein guides hold the flat, planar surfaces of the blades together in an abutting, closely spaced face-to-face relationship, preventing deflection of the moving blade relative to the fixed blade in a direction that is lateral to the direction of travel of the moving blade.