| 摘要 |
A cassette loaded with a resilient packing is used to connect a pipe on the sea bed to one end of a hollow shaft forming part of the crosspiece of a cardan joint at the base of an articulated column mounted on the sea bed. The resilient packing comprises a stack of rubber rings and metallic washers disposed between end rings and capable of being deformed in torsion, the packing in use being compressed between an abutment on the end of the hollow shaft in the cardan joint and an abutment on the adjacent end of the pipe. The cassette comprises a tubular body which can be fitted in or removed from a housing for a bearing of the cardan joint, the end rings of the packing projecting through the opposite ends of the tubular body of the cassette. The cassette is fitted with jacks for compressing the packing, and wedges for retaining the packing in a compressed state until the cassette is fitted in the bearing housing, whereupon the jacks are again operated to compress further the packing and enable the wedges to be removed. Release of the jacks then allows the packing to expand within the cassette and engage the ends of the packing against the ends of the hollow shaft and pipe so as to form a connection therebetween. |
