LAKE MILLS, Wisc.– The North American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT) has
chosen HammerHead Trenchless Equipment’s Same Path™ gas line slitting technology for recognition as an industry-leading innovation in 2016. Each year NASTT judges choose just two products contributing to the advancement of trenchless solutions to receive its Abbott Innovative Product Award. Judging and presentation take place during the annual NASTT No-Dig Show, held this year in Dallas, Texas, March 20 through 24.
HammerHead Same Path Gas Line Slitting Technology is a tooling system for replacing natural gas distribution pipe that cannot be replaced by traditional bursting methods. The tooling is designed for use with the HammerHead line of cable winches.
HammerHead Trenchless Equipment, a Charles Machine Works company, originally designed
the tooling at the request of Ditch Witch in California. Mike Anderson, Ditch Witch Bay Area, Central & Southern California president, and two in-house HammerHead equipment specialists, Kevin Campbell and Cameron Zoucha, had identified a need for better gas line slitting technology. HammerHead engineering worked with them to develop the tooling and methodology successfully used in the field by the Ditch Witch in California group since its introduction.
Anderson said, “We needed to help a customer frustrated by existing tooling that tended to either bunch up the pipe or high-center and get stuck. We turned to HammerHead engineering, which has a history of developing solutions for unique problems.”
HammerHead Same Path tooling is designed to overcome those issues while simultaneously splitting old pipe and installing new pipe.
“Usually you expect tool design to come as a result of trial and error,” Anderson said. “In this case it was trial and success, an effective product within weeks of our initial request that surpasses any gas line slitting system I’ve seen to date.”
HammerHead Same Path Gas Line Slitting Technology is designed for replacing half-inch to 4-inch natural gas distribution pipe and may also be used to decommission inactive gas lines that will be left in the ground. The unique slitting process follows the existing pipe path, reducing the likelihood of contact with other utilities.
Same Path tool string components include expanders, connectors, and slitting tools with replaceable hardened-steel blades, breakaways and beacon housings. Used in conjunction with the HammerHead line of cable winches and Subsite® electronics, the tooling’s string design permits virtually trouble-free pullback in PVC, HDPE, MDPE and Aldyl-A pipe and limits torque on new MDPE or HDPE replacement pipe to within approved manufacturer’s standards.
Same Path gas line slitting technology is available from HammerHead Trenchless Equipment or from authorized dealers worldwide. Authorized dealers can be found online at www.hammerheadtrenchless.com or by calling 800.331.6653. (International: + [1] 920.648.4848).
Photo 1:HammerHead® Same Path™ gas line slitting technology is a tooling system specially designed to replace natural gas distribution pipe lines that are not good candidates for traditional bursting methods.
Photo 2:Same Path™ gas line slitting technology is designed for use with the HammerHead® line of HydroGuide® cable winches. A HydroGuide winch’s self-deploying downrigger simplifies setup time and places hydraulic pulling power directly in line with the slitting operation.
Photo 3:The Same Path™slitting head has been retrieved all the way back to the extraction cage, never having left the path of the in situ pipe. The pipe line is now unequivocally decommissioned or, if new product pipe has been attached to the slitting head, it is replaced in the same smooth operation.