CA1081205A - Method and apparatus for anchoring whipstocks in weel bores - Google Patents

Abstract

APPLICATION FOR LETTERS PATENT
OF
ANDREW J. SZESCILA
FOR
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ANCHORING

WHIPSTOCKS IN WELL BORES

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A packer having an orienting device is lowered in a well bore to a desired location and turned, if necessary, to point the orienting device in a selected direction, after which the packer is anchored against movement in the well bore. A whip-stock, anchor and orienting mandrel are secured together in such manner that an orienting device on the mandrel, companion to the packer orienting device, is aligned with the whipstock. The whipstock, anchor and mandrel combination is then lowered in the well bore, the mandrel orienting device engaging the packer printing device, effecting turning of the combination to point the whipstock in the same final direction as the packer orienting device, whereupon the anchor is secured to the packer to prevent movement of the whipstock from its final oriented position, which is the direction that a suitable cutting tool is to be deflected by the whipstock to cut a window in a well casing in the well bore, to sidetrack the well bore, or to perform both of these operations.

Description

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The present invention relates to well bore apparatus,and more partic~larly to whipstoc~: apparatu~ anchored in the well bore to deflect one or rnore cutting tools, for the purpose of i . ' -1-I' 1081;~V~

l cutt~ng a ndow in casing, sidetracking the well bore, or cut- ¦

2 ting the wi,ndow and a'lso sidetracking the well bore.

3 In sidetracking a well bore, a ce~ent plug or a bridge

4 plug has heretofore been set in the well bore and a ~ermanent whipstock set against the particular plug installed in the well 6 bore. Reliance has been placed upon a slip to anchor the whip-7 s~ock in position by applying drilling string weight to the 8 latter. This arrangement is not dependable since the whipstock :
occasionally is lifted or turned by the drill string used in side- , 10 tracking the well bore~ It becomes impossible to reenter the 11 sidetracked hole with the drill string, since the whipstock has 12 been,inadvertently shifted to a position in which it is no longer 13 orien~ed with the sidetracked hole. ~
14 - An object of the present invention is to anchor a whip-` '15 stock to a bridge plug or packer set in the well bore to prevent 16 turning, or other shifting, of the whipstock in the bore.
17 A ~urther object of the invention is to provide a 18 whipstock anchored to a bridge plug or packer, the whipstock co-19 acting with the plug or packer to point in the particular direc-20 tion which is the direction in which a window is to be cut in the 21 casing and the well bore sidetracked, or in which the well bore is 22 to be sidetracked only in the event the casing has been prev,,iously 23 cut away by a casing mill.
24 In general, a packer or anchor containing an orienting , 25 device is connected to a drill pipe, or other tubular string, that 26 has an orienting sub located above the packer and aligned rota-27 tionally with the orienting device of the packer. After the ap- `
28 paratus has been lowered to the depth in the well bore at which it 29 is to be set, a survey is taken, as by lowering a survey instru-30 ment through the drill pipe into the orienting sub, or in any 31 other known manner, to determine the direction in which the orient ~¦ing device is pointed. The drilling string is then turned a ~0~12~)5 su~ficient number o~ de~rees to shif-t the orienting device arcuate so that is points in the direction in whieh the window is to be subsecluently cut by a suitable casing mill, or the hole sidetracked.
The lower en~ of a whipstock is then secured ~o a sui-table anchor device, and its tapered face or deflecting surface aligned with an orienting device of a mandrel which is to be moved within the pac-ker and into engagement with -the orienting device of the packer, which will automatically turn the mandrel and whipstock and secure it in a position in whieh the whipstoek is oriented with the device of the packer. The whipstock is then anchored to the packer -to prevent its subsequent turning from the desired direetion to whieh it has been oriented and to prevent its release from the paeker.
Thus, according to one aspect, the invention provides a method of securing a whipstoek in a well bore with the whipstoek faeing in a desired direction whieh eomprises lowering an anchor having a first direetional device into the bore hole to a desired setting depth and turning the anchor until the first directional device is pointed in the desired direction. The anchor is then set in the well bore with the first directional device still pointed in the desired direction and a whipstock is lowered into the well bore, sueh whipstoek being secured to an anehor means seeured to a mandrel having a second direetional device aligned with the whipstock. The second direetional device is engaged with the irst device to turn the mandrel, anchor, and whipstock to Eaee the whipstoek in the predetermined direction, and the anehor means : -is coupled to the anehor to seeure the whipstoek to the anehor and retain the whipstoek faeing in the predetermined direetion.
A further aspect o~ the invention relates to novel .
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apparatus adapted to carry out the ~oregoincJ method. More parti-cularly, such appar~tus comprises an anchor including a first directional device, means for determining the directlon in which said devlce is pointinCJ, means for turrlincJ said anchor to locate ~ .
said device in the direction which has been predetermi~e~ for securemellt of the whipstock, means for s~curing said anchor in the well bore with said directional device located .in the aforesaid predetermined direction, a whipstock, anchor means secured to the whipstock and a mandrel secured to the anchor means and having a second direct.ional device aligned with the whipstock.
The second directional device coacts with the first directional device to turn the mandrel, anchor means, and whipstock and face the whipstock in the aforesaid predetermined direction and the an-chor means has coupling means thereon engaging the anchor to secure the anchor means to the anchor and prevent movement of the whip-stock in the well bore to retain the whipstock facing in the pre-determined direction.
In the event that the orientation of the whipstock is not necessary, the packer can still be run and set on a tubular string, or on a wireline, after which the whipstock can be run in the well bore and suitably secured against subsequent turning by the packer.
This invention possesses many other advantages, and has other purposes which may be made more clearly apparent from a con-sideration of a form in which it may be embodied and the method of employing such form. This Eorm is shown in the drawin~s accomp-anying and forming part of the present specification. It will now be described in detail, for the purpose of illustrating the general ~, principles of the invention; but it is to be understood that such - 3a -: . . ~ .: . , ~

~081Z~5 detailed description is not to be ta~en in a limiting sense.
~eferring to the drawin~s:
F:igs. la, lb, and lc together constitute a combinecl side elevational view and longitudinal sec-tion through a well packer, bridge plug apparatus, or anchor, and a setting -tool therefore lo-cated in well casin~, Figs. lb and ]c being lower con-tinuations oE
Figs. la and lb, respectively;
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section illustratin~ the well packer anchored in packed-off condition in the well casing;
Figs. 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d together constitute a combined side elevational view and longitudinal section through a well pac-ker and whipstock combination, with the par-ts shown in one relative position, Figs. 3b, 3c, and 3d being lower continuations of Figs.
3a, 3b, and 3c, respectively;
Figs. 4a, 4b, and 4c together constitute a combined longitudinal section and side elevational view through the appar-atus of Fig. 3, disclosing the whipstock in its final oriented position with respect to the well packer, Figs. 4b and 4c being lower continuations of Figs. 4a and 4b, respectively; and JO Fig. 5 is a somewhat diagrammatic view of a milling tool being deflected laterally by the whipstock and having cut a window in well casing -through which the bore hole is to be sidetrackcd. ~ :

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~081Z05 1 As disclosed in Figs. la, lb, and lc, a well packer, 2 bridge plug, or;anchor 10 is secured to a suitable setting tool 11 3 and this combination run on a tubular string 12 to a desired depth 4 in a well casing 13 disposed in a well bore. The tubular

5 running string 12, setting tool 11, and packer 10 are then turned

6 to the required extent to point an orienting device 14 (Fig. lc)

7 in the well packer in a required direction. The setting tool is

8 then suitably operated to anchor the packer in the well casing

9 (Fig. 2). The sètting tool 11 and running string 12 are then dis-

10 connected from the packer and removed from the hole. A whipstock

11 15, secured to an anchoring device 16 and to an orienting and

12 locking mandrel 17, are then lowered on a tubular string 18 ln the

13 casing 13 until the mandrel 17 is located within the passage 19 of

14 the weil packer, the parts then occupying the positions illus-

15 trated in Figs. 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d. Continuing lowering of the

16 whipstock, anchor, and mandrel shifts an orienting portion 20 of

17 the mandrel into an appropriate relation to the packer orienting

18 device 14, so that the concave face 21 of the whipstock faces in

19 the required direction, which is the same direction in which the

20 packer orienting device 14 is located or pointing, the parts then

21 being in the position illustrated in Figs. 4a, 4b, and 4c.

22 As disclosed in Figs. la, lb, and lc, the apparatus in-

23 cludes the well packer or bridge plug 10 which has a central body

24 22 provided with the longitudinal passage 19 extending therethroug

25 A guide 24 is threadedly secured to the lower end of the body 22

26 and has one or more radial orienting pins 14 secured thereto pro-

27 jecting into the guide passage 23a to a short extent. This guide,

28 in turn, is threaded onto the upper end of a pup joint 25, the

29 lower end of which is threaded into a bull plug 26 which effec-30lltively closes the lower end of the passage 19 through the packer. ¦
31~; A lower slip structure 27 surrounds the body, engaging 32~1the upper end of the body guide 24. This slip structure has lOB~L205 1 external teeth 28 which are to be engaged with the well casing 2 and an internal expander surface 29 which tapers in an inward and 3 downward direction, this tapered surface, in turn, engaging a com-4 panion externally tapered surface 30 on a lower expander 31 5 initially secured to the body 22 of the tool by one or more shear . .
6 screws 32.threaded in the expander and received within a peripheral 7 groove 33 in the body. The body is prevented from rotating relativ~
8 to the expander 31 by a key 22b fixed in a body groove 22a and slidably fitting in an expander groove 31a. The slip structure has 10 circumferentially spaced weakened sections 34 therein so that the 11 relative downward shifting of the lower expander 31 within the slip ~2 structure causes the latter to break at the weakened sections into 13 a plurality of slip elements, which are then expanded outwardly intc 14 ¦anchoring engagement with the well casing. The upper end of the 15 lower expander 31 bears against a packing 35 surrounding the body7 16 the upper end of which bears against the lower end of an upper 17 xpander 36 having a tapered surface 37 inclined in an upward and 18 nward direction. This tapered surface engage.s a companion inter-19 al tapered surface 38 in an upper slip ring 39 which also has eakened sections 40, so as to break into slip segments upon rel-21 ative upward wedging of the upper expander.36 within the slip :
22 structure or ring, the segments then shifting outwardly into an-23 choring engagement with the wa~l of the well casing. Initially, 24 the upper expander 36 is releasably secured to the body 22 by one 25 or a plurality of shear screws 41 threaded in the expander and re-26 ceived within a peripheral body groove 42.
27 The lower end of a setting sleeve 43 engages the upper 2 end of the slip device 39, the setting sleeve being initially held 29 in an upward position along the body by suitable shear pins 44, 3 A split body lock ring 45 is disposed between the lower portion of 3 the setting sleeve and the body, this ring having upwardly facing 3 inner ratchet teeth 46 adapted to cooperate with external ratchet ~ -6-0 ~ 5 l teeth 47 on the body, for the purpose of permitting the setting 2 sleeve 43 to shift relatively downwardly along the body 22, but ~, ~ /

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' 1081Z~5 1 Ipreventing return upward movement of the setting sleeve with re-2 spect to the body. The lock ring 45 can expand outwardly suf-3 ficiently to permit it to move downwardly along the body ratchet 4 teeth. However, any tendency for the setting sleeve to move up-5 wardly will cause cam teeth 48 in the setting sleeve to engage companion cam teeth in the lock ring to urge the latter inwardly 7 and re~ain its ratchet teeth fully meshed with the body rat~het 8 teeth. The details of the body lock ring and ratchet arrangement 9 are unnecessary to an understanding of the present invention.
10 Such details are fully described in the U.S; patent ~o. 2,647,584.
11 As disclosed in the drawings, a setting assembly 11 is 12 connected to the upper end of the body 22 for the purpose of set 13 ting the upper and lower slips 39, 27 against the casing and ex-14 panding the packing 35 into sealing engagement with the casing 15 wall and the packer body itself. This setting assembly, per se, 16 forms no part of the present invention being based upon the dis-17 closure in U.S. patent No. 3,208,355, to which attention is in-18 vited. As shown in the present drawings, a setting mandrel 50 19 has its lower end provided with a left-hand thread 51 meshing 20 with companion internal threads 52 in the box 53 of the packer 21 body 22. A setting sleeve 54 is slidably mounted on the setting 22 mandrel, which has a pair of diametrically opposed longitudinally 23 extending slots 55 thro~gh which a cross-over piece or anvil 56 24 extends which is connected to the setting sleeve 54 and which 25 passes through the lower end of a piston rod 57 extending upwardly 26 through a lower cylinder head 58 of a lower cylinder 59. The 27 setting sleeve 54 engages the upper end of the packer setting 28 1l sleeve 43 when the setting mandrel 50 has been threadedly con-29 i nected to the box 53.

30 I The lower cylinder head 58 is threadedly secured to the ¦

31 iupper end of the setting mandrel 50 and also to the lower end of

32 a lower cylinder sleeve 60. A lower piston 61 is piloted over and¦

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1 ¦attached to the upper end of the pistOTl rod 57, as through use of 2 a set screw 62, and is slidable in the lower cylinder sleeve 60.
: 3 Its relative downward movement in the lower cylinder sleeve 60 moves the lower piston rod downwardly, exerting a downward force 5 on the setting sleeve 54. Reactively, the cylinder 59 moves in an 6 upward direction to pull the setting mandrel 50 upwardly which is 7 releasably connected to the body 22 of the well packer or bridge .
8 plug by the left-hand threads 51, 52. With the setting.sleeve 54 9 exerting a downward force on the packer setting sleeve 43 and the .
. 10 mandrel 5Q an upward force on the packer body 22, the setting 11 sleeve pin 44 is first disrupted, the sleeve shifting relatively 12 downwardly along the body to wedge the upper slip sleeve 39 down-13 wardly of the upper expander 36 and break it at its weakened sec-14 tions 40 into segments. When sufficient downward force has been 15 exerted on the upper expander, its shear screws 41 are disrupted 16 and the upper expander moves toward the lower expander 31 to c~-17 press the packing sleeve 35 between the expanders and expand i~
18 outwardly against the well casing. The upward force on the packer ~; 19 body 22 also causes the body guide 24 to urge the slip sleeve 27 .
20 and expander 31 upwardly to disrupt the shear screws 32 securing 21 the lower expander to the body, whereupon the lower slip sleeve is 22 disrupted at its weakened sections 34 to form segments which are 23 expanded outwardly by the lower expander into anchoring engage-24 ment with.the casing. The setting tool shifts the pac~er setting 25 sleeve 43 downwardly along the body 22 and the body relatively .. 26 upwardly until the upper and lower slip segments a~d the packing 27 are firmly engaged w;th the wall of the well casing 13, the body 28 lock ring 45 ratcheting downwardly along the body. The setting 29 sleeve 43 cannot move upwardly because of the coengagement be-30 tween the ratchet teeth 46, 47, thereby securing the slips and '~
31 packing in their outward expanded condition, which will not only 32 prevent longitudinal movement of the well packer or bridge plug in . ,1 iO81Z05 1 ¦both directions but which will prevent its rotation.
2 The lower piston 61 has a side seal ring or piston ring 3 70 on its periphery adapted to slidably seal along the wall of the 4 lower cylinder sleeve 60. The upper end of the lower cylinder sle .
5 eve 60 is threadedly attached to an intermediate cylinder head 71 6 which is, in turn, threadedly secured to the lower end of an upper 7 cylinder sleeve 72 forming part of an upper cylinder 73. This 8 upper cylinder is threadedly secured to an upper control sub 74 9 threadedly connected to an upper sub 75 for securement to an 10 orienting sub 76 attached to the tubular string 12 extending to 11 the top of the well bore. :
12 Disposed in the upper cylinder below its upper head, is 13 an upper piston 77 threadedly, or otherwise suitably secured, to 14 a tubular thrust rod or upper piston rod 78 that extend$ down-15 wardly through the upper cylinder sleeve 72 and through the cen-16 tral bore in the intermediate head 71, the lower end of the tubu-17 lar rod engaging the upper end of the lower piston 61. The upper 18 end of the upper piston has an inlet port 79 for allowing fluid 19 under pressure to pass downwardly through the central passage 80 20 in the upper piston rod, such fluid then passing outwardly through 21 n outlet port 81 in the lower portion of the tubular rod into 22 he lower cylinder 59. Leakage of fluid around the upper piston 23 s prevented by a suitable piston ring 82 mounted in its peripher-24 1 portion and slidably sealing against the wall of the upper ylinder sleeve 72. Similarly, rod packing 83 is mounted in the 26 ntermediate cylinder head 71 which is adapted to slidably seal 27 gainst the upper piston or thrust rod 78.
Z8 The lower cylinder sleeve 60 has suitable bleeder ports 29 4 therethrough to permit the fluid in the well bore externally of he apparatus to enter the lower cylinder below the lower piston 31 1. Similarly, bleeder ports 85 are provided in the upper cyl-32 nder sleeve 72 to allow fluid to pass into the upper cylinder ~ ' 1 1~8~ 5 l belo~ the upper piston 77. During lowering of the apparatus 2 through the fluid in the well bore, such fluid can pass to the in-3 terior of the t~p sub 75 through a plurality of ill ports 86, 4 fluid passing downwardly along a support sleeve 87 attached by 5 shear screws 88 to the upper end of a control latch 89 having 6 upper fingers 90 overlying a shoulder 9~ in the control sub 74.
7 The ~luid can pass through the circumferentially spaced longi-8 tudinal slots 92 in the control latch into the interior of the 9 control sub, then flowing upwardly through the tubular string 12 10 toward the top of the well bore.
11 . When the well packer is to be set, as described herein-above, a suitable trip ball 93 is dropped into the tubular string 13 and will come to rest on the upper end o~ the support sleeve.87, 14 closing the passage 94 through the latter. Fluid tmder pressure 15 is then exerted on the fluid in the tubular string to disrupt the 16 shear screws 88 and shift the support sleeve downwardly to a pos-17 ition in which the longitudinally spac.ed seal rings 89a on the sup- .
18 port sleeve cLose off the fill ports 86, the support sleeve . .
. moving downwardly of the control latch 89 and releasing its fing-20 ers 90 from the shoulder 91. The fluid can then flow around the 21 upper portion of the support sleeve 87 and in through ports 95 22 therein to the interior passage 94 of the support sleeve, and then 23 ct downwardly on the upper piston 77 and simultaneously on the 24 lower piston 61 to shift the setting sleeve 54 downwardly, the 25 cross-piece 56 moving downwardly in the mandrel slots 55 enabling 26 the setting sleeve 54 to exert a downward force on the packer set-27 ting sleeve 43. As stated above, the pressure in the setting --28 tool exerts an upward force on the cylinder mechanism 73, 59 and 29 n upward pull on the setting mandrel 50 and packer bod~ 22 at-3 tached thereto, to set the well packer in the manner above des-31 Icribed.
3Z FUI ther details of construction of the hydraulic setting 1~131ZV5 1 assembly 11 with respect to its tandem cylinder and piston ar-2 rangement, and the cross-over anvil, slotted mandrel, and setting 3 sleeve will be found in U.S. patent No. 3,208,355.
4 The orienting sub 76 for a gyroscopic single shot survey 5 instrument (not shown) is secured to the top sub 75 and aligned 6 rotationally with the orienting pins 14 in the packer body guide 7 24. This survey instrument is not illustrated since it is a .
; 8 known device, being disclosed on pages 1817 and 1818 of the 1974-:~ 9 75 Composite Catalog of Oil Field Equipment and Services. This 10 orienting sub has an orienting pin 98 extending thereinto which is 11 aligned wi~h the packer body orienting pins. A survey instrument 12 is lowered through the tubing string and a picture taken which 13 will disclose the bearing of the pin 98, which the operator can 14 read after removal from the tubing string to determine exactly 15 how many degrees the orienting sub pin 98, and, therefore, the 16 orienting packer pins 14, are removed from the desired direction.
17 Prior to setting the well packer 10 in the well casing, the tubing 18 string 12 is turned the appropriate number of degree5 to point the 19 orienting pins 14 in the direction in which the whipstock 15 is to ; 20 face, whereupon the setting tool 11 is actuated to anchor the pac-21 ker to the well casing against longitudinal movement and also Z2 against rotational movement.
23 After the packer has been set in the well casing the 24 tubular string 12 and hydraulic setting assembly 11 are rotated 25 to the rights to unthread the setting mandrel 50 from the packer 26 body box 53, the setting assembly then being withdrawn from the 27 well bore.
28 The whipstock 15 (Figs. 3a - 3d) includes a lower anchor 29 section 100 and an upper section 101 which has a partially cylin- ¦
30 drical or convex exterior 102 and a concave tapered inn~r face 21.
31 The lower end of the upper section is connected to the lower ancho 32 ~sect~on by me s of a hinge pin 103. The anchor section 100 is 1 ~08~ 5 1 threadedly secured to a connector 104 which is, in turn, threadedl 2 attached tO a top collar 105 threadedly secured to an anchor sub 3 106 having a latch sleeve 107 mounted thereon. The upper portion 4 108 of the latch sleeve is cireumferentially continuous, the 5 sleeve having a plurality of circumferentially spaced slots 109 6 opening through its lower end to provide resilient, outwardly ex-7 pandable dogs 110 which are threaded. The upper side 111 of each 8 of the threads is substantially normal to the axis o the sub, 9 the lower side 112 of said thread being tapered in a downward 10 and inward direction. The dogs can move downwardly along the 11 anchor sub 106 to a limited extent because of engagement of the 12 lower tapered ends 113 of the dogs with a companion tapered flange 13 114 of the anchor sub.
14 The details of construction of the anchor sub and its 15 threaded latch are unnecessary to an understanding of the present 16 invention, being illustrated and described in U.S. patent No.
17 2,737,248.
18 The anchor sub 106 has an extension 115 threadedly sec- ¦
19 ured to its lower end, the lower end of this extension, in turn, 20 being threadedly secured to an orienting and locking mandrel 17 21 having a longitudinal groove 20 therein. This mandrel terminates 22 in a tapéred face or mule-shoe portion 118, the upper tapered sur-23 face of which has the longitudinal groove 20 opening therethrough.
24 This mule shoe is engageable with the orienting packer pins:ll4, 25 when the mandrel 17 is lowered in the packer body passage- 23, to 26 effect a turning of the orienting mandrel 17 to place its groove 27 20 in alignment with the pins 14. When such alignment occurs, -!
28 the mandrel 17 can continue its downward movement in the packer 29 passage and along the orienting pins 14. As the mandrel 17 turns, 30 the whipstock turns with it, so that the center line of the con-31 cave face 21 lies in the same plane and faces in the same direc-~2 tion as the longitudinal groove 2Q, when the pins 14 are disposed . _1~_ lOl~lZU5 1 ~ in the latter.
2 Prior to lowering the whipstock and the parts depending 3 therefrom in the well bore, the whipstock is secured to a setting 4 tool 120 by means of a setting stud 121, the setting tool being 5 attached to a tubular string 18 for lowering the whipstock 101, 6 latch and anchor portions 107, 106 and mandrel 17 into the casing, 7 the lowering continuing until the lock ~andrel 17 and anchor sub 8 106 enter the packer passage 23. The parts continue their down-9 ward movement, the mule shoe 118 engaging the orienting packer pin 10 14 and effecting turning of the entire whipstock asse~bly, latch, ¦
11 anchor sub, and orienting and locking mandrel until the longitudinal 12 groove 20 is aligned with the orientlng p~.ns. When such align-13 ment occurs, with downweight being maintained on the tools, the 14 longitudinal groove portion 20 of the orienting mandrel slides 15 along the pins, the parts continùing to move downwardly until the 16 latch 107 enters the packer box 53, with the top collar 105 en-17 gaging the upper end of such box (Fig. 4b). At this time, the 18 latch dogs 110 will have ratcheted past the box teeth 52, and will 19 expand inherently outwardly to fully engage the dog threads 51 20 with the box threads, as shown in Fig. 4b. As disclosed in Fig.
21 4c, the orienting pins 14 are located well within the groove 20, 22 engaging the sides of the groove to prevent any signiicant 23 turning o the mandrel and the whipstock with respect to the an-24 chor, bridge pLug, or well packer 10. Any tendency for the whip-25 stock 15, and the parts connected thereto, to move upwardly will 26 cause the tapered expander surface 114 on the anchor 106 to en-27 gage the companion tapered surfaces on the dogs to shift and -~
28 retain the latter outwardly in full threaded engagement with box 29 threads. Thus, the whipstock is secured to the bridge plug or 30 packer in a desired position, with the concave surface 21 of the 31 whipstock oriented in the same direction as the orienting pins 14 !
~2 of the well packer. A suitable upward pull taken on the tubing . j.

10~31Z05 1 string will disrupt the setting stud 121 and permit the tubing 2 string 18 and setting tool 120 to be removed from the well bore.
3 Once the whipstock is set and anchored in place, a 4 milling operation can be initiated, in a known manner, through use 5 of a suitable mill ~50 attached to a drill string 151, the mill 6 being deflected laterally by the concave surface 21 of the whip-stock and in the predetermined direction, to cut a window W throug the casing as a result of rotation of the drill string (Fig. 5).
9 The apparatus and method described above is also useful lO in connection with setting a whipstock after a casing mill has 11 been used to cut away a desired length of casing in a known man-12 ner. The bridge plug or anchor is set in the casing below the re--13 moved casing section, and the hole sidetracked through use of a 14 suitable tool, which is deflected in the desi.red direction by the 15 whipstock.

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Claims (18)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. Apparatus for securing a whipstock in a well bore to face in a predetermined direction, comprising an anchor including a first directional device, means for determining the direction in which said device is pointing, means for turning said anchor to locate said device in said predetermined direction, means for se-curing said anchor in the well bore with said directional device located in said predetermined direction, a whipstock, anchor means secured to said whipstock, a mandrel secured to said anchor means and having a second directional device aligned with said whipstock, said second directional device coacting with said first directional device to turn said mandrel, anchor means, and whipstock and face said whipstock in said predetermined direction, said anchor means having coupling means thereon engaging said anchor to secure said anchor means to said anchor and prevent movement of said whipstock in the well bore to retain said whipstock facing in said predeter-mined direction.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1; said anchor having a passage in which said first device is located, said mandrel being movable downwardly in said passage to align said second directional device with said first directional device.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1; one of said devices including a pin, the other of said devices having a londitudinal groove receiving said pin to retain said whipstock facing in said predetermined direction.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 2; one of said devices in-cluding a pin, the other of said devices having a longitudinal groove receiving said pin to retain said whipstock facing in said predetermined direction.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 2; said first device in-cluding a pin secured to said anchor and projecting into said passage, said second device having a longitudinal groove receiving said pin to retain said whipstock facing in said predetermined direction.

6. Apparatus as defined in claim 1; said anchor securing means including normally retracted slips on said anchor and a setting tool secured to said anchor to expand said slips into an-choring engagement with the wall of the bore.

7. Apparatus as defined in claim 6; said anchor having a passage in which said first device is located, said mandrel being movable downwardly in said passage to align said second direction-al device with said first device, said first device including a pin secured to said anchor and projecting into said passage, said second device having a longitudinal groove receiving said pin to retain said whipstock facing in said predetermined direction.

8. Apparatus as defined in claim 1; said anchor having an upper threaded member, said coupling means comprising a threaded latch movable downwardly along said upper threaded member and into latching engagement with said upper threaded member.

9 Apparatus as defined in claim 8; said anchor having a passage in which said first device is located, said mandrel being movable downwardly in said passage to align said second direction-al device with said first device, said first device including a pin secured to said anchor and projecting into said passage, said second device having a longitudinal groove receiving said pin to retain said whipstock facing in said predetermined direction.

10. Apparatus as defined in claim 8; said anchor securing means including normally retracted slips on said anchor and a set-ting tool secured to said anchor to expand said slips into an-choring engagement with the wall of the well bore, said anchor having a passage in which said first device is located, said man-drel being movable downwardly in said passage to align said sec-ond directional device with said first device, said first device including a pin secured to said anchor and projecting into said passage, said second device having a longitudinal groove receiving said pin to retain said whipstock facing in said predetermined direction.

11. Apparatus for securing a whipstock in a well bore, com-prising an anchor, means for securing said anchor in the well bore, a whipstock, anchor means secured to said whipstock and having coupling means thereon engageable with said anchor to sec-ure said anchor means to said anchor and prevent movement of said whipstock in the well bore.

12. Apparatus as defined in claim 11; said anchor se-curing means including normally retracted slips on said anchor, and a setting tool removably secured to said anchor to expand said slips into anchoring engagement with the wall of the well bore.

13. Apparatus as defined in claim 11; said anchor having an upper threaded member, said coupling means comprising a threaded latch movable downwardly along said upper threaded member and into latching engagement with said upper threaded member.

14. Apparatus as defined in claim 12; said anchor having an upper threaded member, said coupling means comprising a threaded latch movable downwardly along said upper threaded member and into latching engagement with said upper threaded member.

15. A method of securing a whipstock in a well bore with the whipstock facing in a desired direction, comprising lowering an anchor having a first directional device into the bore hole to a desired setting depth and turning the anchor until the first directional device is pointed in said desired direction, then set-ting the anchor in the well bore with the first directional device still pointed in said desired direction, lowering into the well bore a whipstock secured to an anchor means secured to a mandrel having a second directional device aligned with the whipstock and engaging said second directional device with said first device to turn the mandrel, anchor means, and whipstock to face the whipstock in said desired direction, and coupling the anchor means to the anchor to secure the whipstock to the anchor and retain the whip-stock facing in said desired direction.

16. A method as defined in claim 15; before turning the an-chor, taking a survey of the direction in which the first direct-ional device is oriented to determine the extent to which the an-chor is to be turned to face the first directional device in the desired direction, after which the anchor is turned to the re-quired extent and then set in the well bore.

17. A method as defined in claim 15; the anchor being set by a setting assembly releasably secured to the anchor, and releasing the setting assembly from the set anchor and withdrawing the as-sembly from the well bore before the whipstock, anchor means, and mandrel are lowered in the well bore.

18. A method as defined in claim 17; an orienting sub being disposed above the setting assembly aligned rotationally with the first directional device, before turning the anchor taking a sur-vey with a survey instrument disposed in said orienting sub to determine the direction in which the first directional device is oriented to determine the extent to which the anchor is to be turned to face the first directional device in the desired direction, after which the anchor is turned to the required extent and then set in the well bore.