ARTICULATED FLUID LOADING ARM

An articulated fluid loading arm especially suited for transferring petroleum from a floating storage and loading terminal to a marine tanker. The arm comprises a support boom pivotally mounted on the deck of the terminal, a pair of fluid conduits extending along the boom from risers at the deck, and a dual-flow passage drop-pipe assembly suspended from a carriage that rides in a track on the boom. The drop-pipe assembly comprises four rigid pipe sections interconnected by swivel joints into a parallelogram-like structure, one corner thereof pivotally connected to the carriage and the opposite corner connected to a pull-in type pipe connector for releasably securing the arm to a tanker manifold. A tensioning cable extends from the pipe connector up to the carriage and then along the boom and around a motioncompensating tensioner to a dead-man winch for lowering, raising, and supporting the drop-pipe assembly, and means are provided to disconnect the drop pipe assembly from the fluid conduits at the outer end of the boom so that the assembly can be brought in on the carriage to the station deck for servicing. A tag line connected between the pipe connector and a tanker winch allows the pipe connector to be gently pulled down to connect with the tanker manifold even when the tanker is moving up and down. -1a-