US Patent 12092257 Lead pipe spudding prior to extraction or remediation

A method for enlarging a crushed section of a ductile pipe. A wire rope having a bead or plurality of beads attached to the rope is placed in a ductile pipe. When a series of beads is used, each of the beads is sequentially larger. The wire rope is pulled through the crushed section, and the ductile pipe conforms to the larger diameter of the beads. The crushed section of pipe may be expanded so that a larger wire rope suitable for pipe extraction may be passed through. Alternatively, the pipe may be reformed and expanded to near or greater than its original size. The pipe may then be coated or a smaller slip-lined pipe may be placed within the original pipe.