Marine platform with curved support leg

Claim 1

In a marine platform for drilling wells into the ocean floor at an offshore body of water, said platform including; a work deck holding well drilling equipment, and a plurality of elongated legs engaging and extending downwardly from said work deck to the floor of said body of water whereby to be fixed to the latter and support the deck beyond the water''s surface, at least one of said elongated legs having the upper end thereof retained in a substantially vertical disposition, said at least one leg being contoured along its length to define a substantially uniform arcuate configuration, said at least one contoured leg further including an outer cylindrical shell, a casing disposed concentrically of said shell and spaced inwardly of the latter to define an annular passage extending the length of said shell, a lateral positioning pile guide means fixed within said annular passage and comprising a plurality of pile guide members spaced longitudinally apart and disposed normal to the axis of said shell, said pile guide members further including a plurality of circularly arranged and peripherally spaced openings, the latter being arranged in axial alignment with openings in adjacent of said pile guide members, elongated anchor pile means extending longitudinally of said contoured leg and being registered in the respective axially aligned openings, whereby to urge a pile into a contoured configuration corresponding to the contour of said leg, and means forming a cylindrical passage in said anchor pile of a sufficient diameter to slidably receive a drill string and bit passed therethrough, whereby said drill string will follow the contour of said passage and be urged into a desired direction deviated from the vertical, prior to entering the substrate beneath said pile.