Offshore tower

Claim 1

An offshore tower adapted to rest upon the bed of a body of water with an upper portion thereof extending above the surface of the body of water for supporting a platform thereupon, said tower comprising: a plurality of generally vertical columns extending between the bed of the body of water and the platform, said columns being generally symmetrically disposed about a vertical axis; means interconnecting adjacent vertical columns for enhancing the stability thereof; batter brace members symmetrically disposed about the axis of said vertical columns each being fixedly attached at one end thereof to one of the vertical columns at a position intermediate the length of the attached vertical column for stabilizing said vertical columns and enhancing the load carrying capacity thereof; and batter pile jacket means, one jacket means being fixedly attached to the other end of each of the batter brace members, said batter pile jacket means being adapted to rest upon the bed of the body of water for supporting and stabilizing said batter brace members; wherein the relationship of the ratio of the total height of said offshore tower to the lateral distance between adjacent batter pile jacket means at the bed of the body of water over the depth of the body of water in feet is defined by the points falling within the parallelogram ECDF in the following graph:

Claim 13

A method of establishing an offshore tower having a plurality of generally vertical column members extending the length thereof and batter brace members depending from a lateral portion of said vertical column members and batter piling jacket means connected to the free end of each of said batter brace members, said piling jacket means adapt upon the bed of a body of water comprising the steps of: selecting an offshore tower erection site in a body of water having a depth between 400 and 1,000 feet; determining the depth of the body of water at the selected erection site; constructing an offshore tower having a ratio of the total height of the offshore tower (d1) to the lateral distance at the base between adjacent batter piling jacket means (d2) lying between the values determined by the equations: (d1)/(d2) 0.00183(d3)+ 2.38 and (d1)/(d2) 0.00183(d3)+ 1.13, where (d3) is the previously determined means low water depth of the body of water at the selected erection site; transporting the constructed offshore tower to the selected erection site; and erecting the constructed offshore tower at the erection site.

Claim 14

A method of establishing an offshore tower having a plurality of generally vertical column members extending the length thereof and batter brace members depending from a lateral portion of said vertical column members and batter piling jacket means connected to the free end of each of said batter brace members, said piling jacket means adapt upon the bed of a body of water comprising the steps of: selecting an offshore tower erection site in a body of water having a depth between 400 and 1,000 feet; determining the depth of the body of water at the selected erection site; constructing an offshore tower having a ratio of the total height of the offshore tower (d1) to the lateral distance at the base between adjacent batter piling jacket means (d2) lying between the values determined by the equations: (d1)/(d2) 0.00183(d3)+ 2.38 and (d1)/(d2) 0.00183(d3)+ 1.13, where (d3) is the previously determined means low water depth of the body of water at the selected erection site; transporting the constructed offshore tower to the selected erection site; and erecting the constructed offshore tower at the erection site.

Claim 15

A methOd of establishing an offshore tower having a plurality of generally vertical column members extending the length thereof and batter brace members depending from a lateral portion of said vertical column members and batter piling jacket means connected to the free end of each of said batter brace members, said piling jacket means adapted to rest upon the bed of a body of water comprising the steps of: selecting an offshore tower erection site in a body of water having a depth between 400 and 1,000 feet; determining the depth of the body of water at the selected erection site; constructing an offshore tower having a ratio of the total height of the offshore tower (d1) to the lateral distance at the base between adjacent batter piling jacket means (d2) determined by the equation: (d1)/(d2) 0.00183(d3)+ 1.77, where (d3) is the previously determined mean low water depth of the body of water at the selected erection site; Transporting the constructed offshore tower to the selected erection site; and erecting the constructed offshore tower at the erection site.

Claim 16

A methOd of establishing an offshore tower having a plurality of generally vertical column members extending the length thereof and batter brace members depending from a lateral portion of said vertical column members and batter piling jacket means connected to the free end of each of said batter brace members, said piling jacket means adapted to rest upon the bed of a body of water comprising the steps of: selecting an offshore tower erection site in a body of water having a depth between 400 and 1,000 feet; determining the depth of the body of water at the selected erection site; constructing an offshore tower having a ratio of the total height of the offshore tower (d1) to the lateral distance at the base between adjacent batter piling jacket means (d2) determined by the equation: (d1)/(d2) 0.00183(d3)+ 1.77, where (d3) is the previously determined mean low water depth of the body of water at the selected erection site; Transporting the constructed offshore tower to the selected erection site; and erecting the constructed offshore tower at the erection site.