Mechanical connection means

Claim 1

Mechanical connection means for joining a substantially vertical tension line, or tether, to a tether anchoring point, comprising a female connector and a male connector, said male connector being part of the anchor and comprising a cylindrical part provided with a circular groove, wherein said connection means the male connector is vertical, the female connector capping and overlapping the male connector from above and comprising a body, a cap and a sleeve, said body being fastened to the lower end of said tether, said cap consisting of a hollow cylinder open at both ends and comprising an inside wall for bearing on the top end of said male connector, said wall dividing the cap into a top part and a bottom part, said bottom part being provided with a circular series of radial openings issuing, when the cap is in bearing position, into said groove, each opening being equipped with a radially sliding finger, the top part being suspended and free to slide axially inside a first annular chamber provided in said body, said sleeve having a bore surrounding said cap and being suspended, when lowered, for a shoulder on said cap, the axial sliding of said sleeve relative to said cap from this position creating a second annular chamber between the outside wall of the top of the cap, the inside wall of the top part of the sleeve, said shoulder and a step in said bore of said sleeve, said fingers and said sleeve having cooperating means so that the axial movement of the sleeve relative to the cap will cause the fingers to slide radially in or out depending on the direction of said relative axial movement, said cap containing a first hydraulic fluid input channel one end whereof issues at the level of the said shoulder and the other in said top part of said cap, said first channel being continued by a second channel bored into said body, the bottom end whereof issues into said top part of the cap and the top end whereof issues outside the body where it connects to a hydraulic line.