Patent ID: 6994118

Claim:
Apparatus for repairing a main pipe line having a lateral pipe line connected thereto and in communication therewith to form a T or a Y pipe joint; the apparatus comprising: a T or Y shaped bladder assembly comprising a main bladder tube and a lateral bladder tube in communication with one another through a bladder tube juncture; a T or Y shaped liner assembly comprising a main liner tube and a lateral liner tube in communication with one another through a liner tube juncture; the lateral bladder tube and the lateral liner tube being within the lateral pipe line, with the lateral bladder tube being inside the lateral liner tube and with the lateral liner tube being between the lateral pipe line and the lateral bladder tube; the main bladder tube and the main liner tube being within the main pipe line, with the main bladder tube being inside the main liner tube and with the main liner tube being between the main pipe line and the main bladder tube; the bladder tube juncture and the liner tube juncture being located at the T or Y pipe joint of the main pipe and the lateral pipe; a first hydrophilic band surrounding the main liner tube and being positioned between the main liner tube and the main pipe line on one side of the T or Y pipe joint of the main pipe line to the lateral pipe line; a second hydrophilic band surrounding the main liner tube and being positioned between the main liner tube and the main pipe line on the other side of the T or Y pipe joint of the main pipe line to the lateral pipe line; a liquid material capable of curing and hardening and impregnating the T or Y shaped liner assembly; the first and second hydrophilic bands being made of a hydrophilic material capable of swelling in both an outward and inward radial direction relative to the main pipe line in response to being exposed to a liquid, thereby forming a seal between the main liner tube and the main pipe line on opposite sides of the pipe joint of the main pipe line to the lateral pipe line.