US1447621A - Bailer - Google Patents

Description

G. B. MCDONELL ET AL BAILER Filed NOV. 16, 1.920

Patented Mar. 6, 19 23..

career entice.

GEORGE BAN IVIGDONELL AND EDWARD L. PECK, OF IBARTLESVI'LLE, OKLAHOMA, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO DOHERTY RESEARCH COMPANY, OF

NEW YORK, N. Y.

' BAILER.

Application filed" November 16, 1920. Serial No. 424,366.

To allwhomit may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE B. MoDoN- ELL and EDWARD L. PnoK, citizens of the United States, residing at Bartlesville, county of Washington, State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bailers; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which is appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to bailers, and more particularly to the type of bailers used'in the drilling of petroleumoil wells.

When drilling deep wells, the drillbit is usually Worked in water to assist inflremoving the cuttings and the materials set free by the bit. As the drilling; proceeds a mud or sludge is formed from the cuttings which is periodically removed from the well by a bailer. The bailer commonly consists of a cylindrical shell having a gravity operated check valve at the lower end arranged to be opened to admit liquid into the bailer when the bailer reaches the bottom ofthe well, and to trap liquid in the bailer as the bailer is lifted.

While drilling the upper sections of a well, and'especially when passing through relatively soft rock formation, regardless of the'seotion of the well in which the formations occur, it is the best drilling practice to use a bailer having a diameter only slightly smaller than the diameter of the well, or the diameter of'the casing of the well. Such a bailer assists in keeping a straight vertical hole andprevents formation of the obstructions and irregularities in the side walls of the hole. The full size bailer is also-very effective for cleaning the bottom of the well. It often happens that a well contains large quantities of water and in such a well the bailer is always lowered to the bottom of the well to be filled. When a filled bailer of the full size of the well is being lifted out of the well, there is little opportunity for the water above the bailer to flow to the lower end of the bailer. Accordingly, the bailer acts as a piston to raise a large portion of the water trapped above it, and this places a very heavy load on the hoisting engine. v f The primary object of the present'invention is to provide a bailer by which liquid maybe readily conducted from a point above to'a point below the bailer, when the bailer is lifted in a body'of liquid with its trapping valve closed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bailer having a cross section of substantially the area and shape of the well in which it is being used, that will permit liquid to be bypassed through it when it is being lifted with the trapping valve closed.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in. the improved bailer hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

The various features of the invention are illustrated inthe accompanying drawing in which; i

Fig. 1 is a view in vertical section of a bailer embodying the preferred form of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the bailer shown in Fig. 1, the section being taken at right angles to the section shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontalsection of the bailer taken on the line'33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of the bailer taken on the line 1-4; of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatical view of the bailer, illustrating various lengths of bypass tubes which may be used in the bailer.

The bailer shown in the drawings has the same general form and size of the bailer ordinarily used in the drilling of petroleum oil wells. This bailer consists of an outer shell '10, having a. lifting bail 12 secured to its upper end, a shoe 14 secured in its lower end, and a check valve 16 mounted over a valve seat 18 formed in the shoe. The check valve 16, commonly called a dart, is held by gravity upon the seat 18, and acts by gravity to trap liquid'within the shell 10 whenthe bailer is moved downwardly within a body of liquid. At the time the bailer is lowered into a well to be filled, the dart 16 first comes into the contact with the bottom of the well, and .the continued downward movement of the bailer tends to lift the upper end of the dart from the valve seat 18, to permit the bailer to be filled with liquid.

It is apparent that if the shell 10 of the bailer had a cross-sectional shape and area substantially the same as that of the well, and if the valve 16 closed the entire bottom liquid trapped above the bailer. Such a weight would place. a very heavy strain on an engine, and in many cases would prevent the; use of a bailer-having full size of the ho e.

To overcome these difiiculties and secure the advantages of the full size bailer for drilling, the bailer illustrated in the drawings ispro-vided with a bypass by which liquid trapped above the upper end of the bailer may flow to the lower end of the bailer. The bypass is large enough to let the waterflow from above to below the bailer fast enough to prevent the formation of a vacuum below the bailer as it is moved upwardly, so that while the bailer is moving through the liquid in the well, itis buoyed upwardly by the liquid andxdoes not place a heavy strain upon the hoisting engine.

To this end a bypass channel 20 formed in the central portion of the upper end of the dart 16 leads from the top of the dart to points at oppositesides of the dart p sitioned below theportion of the dart which contacts with the valve seat 18. A bypass tube 22 is threaded into the upper end of the dart to enclose the opening 20, and extends to approximately the upper end of the shell 10. To assist the dart 16 in making a liquid tight contact with the seat 18, the tube 22 is centered in the shell by guides 24 whichloosely surround the tube. The tube 22 isfixed in the dart and moves with the dart while itis opening and closing the valve at the bottom of the shell 10. The outwardly flaring openings at the bottom of the channel are specially designed to prevent mud in the bottom of the well from closing the channel at the time the bailer is lowered into the well to be filled.

A bailer of the type shown in the drawings is preferably made in a standard length, such bailer being longer than the commonly used bailer on account of the presence of the bypass tube 22 mounted within it. This length is determined by the amount of liquid which it may be. desirable to remove from the bottom of thewell at one time, and by the weight of liquid which may be readily hoisted by a lifting motor. Also, the type of mud or sludge in the bottom of the well and the mechanical condition of, the hoisting motor may make it inadvisable to fill the 65 bailer to'its maximum capacity. The bailer bailer and its load and also a column of of the present invention is arranged to pro vide a variable lifting volume. To accom plish this tubes 22 of different lengths may be used, in order to trap any desired volume of liquid-within the bailer.-

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the tube 22 extends to substantiallythetop. of; the outer shell 10.

In Fig. 5 is shown a tube 22 which is shorter than the tubeshown in Fig. 1, so that the volume of liquid which could be raised by the bailer ShOWILiH Fig. 5' would be substantially less than that which could be raised by the bailer shown in F 1.

' In view of the construction illustrated above, a shell 10' of the full size of the well being drilled may be used for bailing a well, and when the filled bailer is lifted from the bottom of the well, the liquid above the bailer will readily pass downwardly through tube 22 and channel 20 to a point below the bailer. By this construction the heaviest torque for the lifting motor will not be placed upon the motor until the bailer emerges from'the surface of the liquid in the well. Further, the bailer has the same simplicity of construction as that of the usual bailer, and provides, an equipment which will not. readily get out of order.

/Vhile the bailer illustrated in the drawings is particularly adapted for use in drilling oil wells, it is obvious that it is not lim ited to any'su'ch use, but may be used for bailing liquid in any type of well or shaft.

The preferred form of the invention havin been thus described, what is claimed as b o new 1s:

1. A bailer comprising, an. outer shell having a cross section of substantially the same shape and area as the bore of the well in which it is to be used, a lifting attachment for the upper end of the shell, a valve for trapping liquid in the shell when said shell is lifted, and a bypass connected to said valve arranged to permit liquid to pass from above tobel'ow said shell when the shell is being lifted;

2. A bailer comprising, a shell, a valve for trapping liquid in the shell when such shell is lifted, and a tube extending from 1.15 said valve toward the upper end of said shell, said valve being provided with an opening leading from said. tube to! a point below the trapping seat of said valve.

3. A bailer comprising, an outer shell having a cross section of substantially the same shape and area as the bore ofa wellin which it is to be used, a lifting attachment at the upper end of said shell, a valve seat at the lower end of said shell, a valve for trapping fluid in the shell above said seat, said valve having an opening therein extending. from above to below said valve seat, a tube 'clos- "ing the openin in the upper end of said valve and movable with said valve.

4. A bailer comprising, a shell, a lifting attachment at the upper end of the shell, a valve mounted at the lower end of the shell, and means to permit the lifting volume of said shell to be varied.

5. A hailer comprising a shell, a lifting attachment at the upper end of the shell, a valve mounted at the lower end of the shell, a bypass in said valve leading from the inside of the shell to a point of discharge below the seat of the valve, and means arranged to be placed in communication with said bypass opening to vary the lifting volume of said shell.

6. A hailer comprising a shell, a lifting attachment at the upper end of the shell, a valve mounted at the lower end of the shell and adapted to retain liquid in the said shell,

and means coacting with the said valve to limit the height of the liquid in the said shell.

7. A bailer comprising a shell, a lifting attachment therefor, a liquid retaining valve having a passage therethrough, means con nected to the said valve to cause the same to open when the said means comes into contact with the bottom of a well, a tube connected to the said valve so as to cut off communication with the said passage except through the tube, and means by which the height of the tube may be varied to change the lifting volume of the said shell.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

EDWARD LAWRENCE PECK. GEORGE BAN MoDONELL.

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