Professional Documents
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Dictionary of Pipeliner's Terms
Dictionary of Pipeliner's Terms
Blacktop
Tar sealed road
Bladder
Sack like container for storing water, diesel or other liquids
Blasting mats
Large mats fabricated of tires secured tightly together with bolts and
chains. Used to prevent projectiles of rock (flyrock) from becoming
airborne out of the blasting site.
Blow down
Releasing air or water pressure through valves at a test head, after
testing a section of pipe
Bone Yard
Lay down area for equipment adjacent to the pipeline area, usually
either at kick Off or the end of the line.
Boom
Pipeline sideboom tractor
Boxing a sag
Squaring off the R.O.W. at a creek/river crossing
Breakers
On hillsides and inclined slopes, the placement of sand bags or spraying
of foam to surround the pipe, as a dam, to the top of the ditch, to prevent
water flow and subsequent erosion around the pipe. Water breakers
are berms built at an angle across the ROW to divert ground water and
prevent ROW erosion.
Buckles
A deformity in the pipe resulting in an inward protruding bend, often
caused by ditch rock, bending mistakes
Buddy system
An arrangement by which two workers work together to ensure the
health and safety of each other.
Buffing
Grinding the pipe with a wire brush
Bug
The automatic welding machine that welds inside or outside the pipe on
a track
C Dolly
A trailer converter dolly, with a frame rigid in the horizontal plane that is
towed from two hitches located in a horizontal transverse line on the
towing unit, that precludes any rotation in the horizontal plane about the
hitch points.
C Train
A combination of vehicles composed of a tractor, a semitrailer, followed
by another semitrailer attached to the first semitrailer by the means of a
C Dolly.
CAD welding
Welding test lead wire on the pipe and casing
Calipers
A type of tongs designed specifically for and used for lifting pipe - faster
Cradles
A lifting device through which the pipe slides, fitted with multiple padded
rollers and wheels, used on Lower-in that rolls along a section while
supporting it. Used to lower the pipe into the ditch
Crotch
A cradle of skids which prohibits sideways movement of the pipe
Crumbing the ditch
Ahead of Lower-in removing material from the ditch that might damage
the coating or cause a buckle in the pipe.
Cutting bit
The business/cutting end of a road bore or directional drilling auger
Danger Zone
A location within 6 meters of a piece of heavy equipment
Daylighting
Exposing a utility that was previously buried
Deadman tractor
A tractor used as an anchor for a pipe section (such as on lowering-in)
or when winching equipment on steep slopes
Detonating chord
A flexible chord containing high explosives which may be used to
detonate other explosive materials
Diapers
Sorbent pads used to soak up oil spills
Ditch line
Centerline of ditch, marked by red stakes, stones or markers along the
right of way
Ditchside
The side of the right of way on the opposite side of the ditchline from the
workside, where the spoil pile is placed
Dog it
Stop heavy equipment operation
Dogleg
An irregularity in a straight line - in a pipe section, lay of the right of way
etc.
Donut
Internal brace used in bending operation when end of pipe is near the
die. Used to prevent egging of pipe
Downstream
The direction the product will flow when in the pipeline is in service
Dozer
Caterpillar tractor with a blade for pushing dirt or sand
Dragup
To quit or resign
Dragup Tank
A large tank built into the deck of a welders rig
Drawbar
Structural member of a sled, full trailer, pony trailer or trailer converter
dolly that includes a device for the purpose of coupling with a trailer
hitch, fifth wheel or hook on a sling
Drill pattern
Predetermined pattern and spacing of bore holes for loading explosives
on blasting crew
Egging
Pipe becoming out of round, during bending process
Eye balling
Judging by sight rather than using an instrument
Fill line
Small inch light wall pipe 6-10 inches diameter used to carry water from
a water source to a fill point, during testing operations
Fill point
A test point used to fill a pipe section with water for testing
Final Tie Ins
The crew that welds together or ties in, after test, the tested sections to
complete a continuous pipeline.
Flume pipe
Pipe used in ditches to control the flow of water
Flyrock
Rock projectiles ejected skyward from a blasting zone
Foreign line
A pipeline that crosses the centerline of the new pipeline under
construction
Front End
Those crews ahead of and including the welding crew
Going-out-side
The downstream side of a section or tie in
Goose
Internal hydraulically operated internal clamp used by pipegang welding
crew
Goose
Internal clamp on front end welding crew
Grousers
Horizontal lugs on tracks of tracked equipment
Hammer wrench
Large wrench with square end designed to be struck by a sledge
hammer. Used on Final Tie In crew when tightening flanges on valves
Hand
Pipeline worker
Headache Rack
Strong (reinforced steel) barrier mounted on the back of the cab of a
truck to prevent the load sliding forward and breaching the rear cabin
Pulling head
A heavy reinforced end cap for a pipe section with a towing eye, for
sustained lateral pulling of that section, used on road bores and
river/creek sections
Pup
Short length of pipe
Quad
Welding machines mounted on a tractor
Reach Rod
Long rod with wheel on end which is used to control the mandrel inside
the pipe when bending pipe
Reach Rod
Reamer
A cutting head that increases the bore hole size
Ripper
A vertical earth/rock cutting blade mounted on the back of a dozer
River weights
Circular concrete weights attached to the pipe when pipe is laid under
water or in wet swampy areas.
Roach
A berm (mound of earth) over the pipeline
Rolling Seams
Rotating pipe in a sling to locate the longitudinal factory seam at a
desired position for pipe bending
ROW
Pipeline night-of-way
Rubber boot seal
The seal between the casing and pipe on either ends of a road/river
bore
Safety Fuse
A flexible chord containing black powder which burns internally and is
used to initiate a plain detonator
Sag
A bend in the pipe that is concave - high on the ends and low in the
middle
Set in tractor
The tractor on the front-end pipegang crew that picks up each
succeeding joint and sets it into the welding clamps
Setup
The phase of pipe handling which immediately follows bending. This
crew positions the pipe advantageously for the welding crew to ensure
minimum required handling by the front-end pipegang crew. It is also
laid out as per carry back and other stakes left by the engineering crew
Sho-Fly
Access road to pipeline construction ROW
Shoot a bend
To calculate the degrees of a bend with a transit
Shotrock
Blasted shards of rock
Sidebend
A bend in the pipe that directs the pipe to one side or the other
Silk screen
Fine mesh plastic screening used to filter sediment out of flowing water
for environmental purposes
Skid
Wooden support used to build supports for the pipe
Slider
A simple type of skid support for pipe joints/sections
Sling
Looped wire rope or synthetic line used for lifting pipe
Sneaky
A manned internal pipe repair vehicle A pipeline construction project
Sourman
Equipment with used to yoyo a drag bucket at a river crossing
Spacers
Devices strapped/bolted to the pipe to prevent it being damaged by the
metal casing when the pipe is inserted into the casing. Used on road or
river bores
Spiral Pipe
Pipe with a spiral factory welded seam
Splitter
A length of safety fuse which notches at 50 millimeter (two inch)
intervals and is used to ignite safety fuses
Spoil pile
The excavated ditch material
Spoons
Long handled (12-15 foot) shovels used ahead of lower-in cradles to
remove rock from the centerline of the ditch, under the pipe, which
could cause buckles, when regulations prohibit workers entering unsafe
ditch.
Spotter
A worker designated to identify the appropriate location on the right of
way to drop a load, park a vehicle etc. to a driver or operator
Spread
A pipeline construction project
Spread Man
Construction Superintendent
Spudding
Intentional penetration as in "spudding' pipe in a bender
Squeeze iron
Iron from squeeze pump to test head
Stabber
Employee who helps line-up pipe for welding
Stemming
The material placed in the open end of a loaded hole which confines the
explosive gases
Stemming piles
Loaded bags of stemming material used in blasting
Stinger
Welding rod and holder
Straw Boss
Crew foreman's lead worker
Stringing
The crew that moves the pipe from the pipeyard to the right of way and
positions the joints along the right of way parallel to but sufficient
distance from the ditchline
Swabbing
Using a ring of pipe cut to a slightly smaller diameter than the line pipe
with an outer layer of soft rubber which is pulled through a joint of pipe
to clean out the inside of the pipe
Swamp mats
Heavily constructed pads of wood used to support equipment in swampy
areas
Tack Rig
Welding tractor
Tag line
length of rope attached to a suspended load which is used to control
swinging motion in the load
Tail chain
Chain on the end of a equipment winch line
Tamping
Compressing of explosives into a hole usually by means of a rod
designed for that purpose
Test head
A short section of pipe with a convex end cap and valves, welded to the
end of a section. Used in the filling of pipe and controlling pressure
during testing operations.
Test point
A location in a pipe section chosen to be used as a work site for testing
operations, where the welders have left two loose ends.
To the house
Going home after shift
Torpedoes/Moles/Rockets
Underground earth piercing tools
Tow cat
Tractor used to pull any equipment or vehicles stuck on the right of way.
Upstream
The direction from which the product will come from when in service
Utility
Any pipeline, buried or overhead powerline, fiber optic cable, sewer etc.
Wobble
A strike. Workers collectively refuse to go to work in support of some
demand
Workside
The side of the right of way on which the equipment and vehicular traffic
move
Yoyo
Using bucket on a drag line to get ditch depth at a river crossing
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