US1527353A - Sand lifter - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 24, 1925.

C. P. FINDLEY SAND LINER Fi led Oct 5, 192

Patented Feb. 24, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES P. FINDLEY, OF HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE HALF T LORRAINE M. FREEMAN, 0F RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA.

SAND LIFTER.

Application filed October 5, 1923. Serial No. 666,761. 4

T 0 (ZZZ whom it may concern.

Be 1t known that I, CHARLES P. FINDLEY,

a citizen of the United States, residing at i and useful Improvements in Sand Lifters,

of which the following is a specification.

My present invention being referred to as a sand lifter, it should be understood that this invention is directed primarily to the handling of liquids containing solids in suspension, such as the oils obtainable in numerous wells which tend to become Fsanded up after alonger or shorter period of use; and my invention comprises also a systom or method of handling sand-contaminated oils or other liquids containing heavy solids in suspension.

Although there are now on the. market and in use a number of pumps that will handle oils containing a comparatively high percentage of sand, especially in the case of comparatively deep wells there is a tendency for the sand to settle back, during the ascent of the oil, with the result that the pump and adjacent parts soon become choked in a manner which prevents further operations; and it is accordingly an object of this invention to provide means associated with a pump or sucker rod, and preferably attached to the joints thereof although movable relatively thereto, for keeping the sand and oil thoroughly admixed and causing the sand to advance upward with the oil, my preferred means for the purpose referred to comprising a pair of oppositely disposed pivoted members capable of occupying either substantially vertical positions, during the downward movement of a pump rod, or substantially horizontal positions, during the rise thereof, these being preferably secured by a pair of hinged pins to apair of small and substantially flat plates, which may correspond in diameter to the diameter of the squared head commonly provided adjacent the end of a section of oil well pump or sucker rod, it being possible. to secure one of my lifters in its position of use by the mere longitudinal movement of a pivot pin, and a preferred construction being such as to permit each lifter so assembled to move up and down through a limited distance upon, and during the corresponding vertical movement of, a sucker rod.

Other objects of my invention will appear from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof, and from the appended claims, taken in connection with the accon'ipanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section showing how my sand lifting units may be associated with the sucker rod of a deep well pump.

Fig. 2 is a similar view of a single lifting unit and associated parts, on anenlarged scale, showing the relative. positions occupied during a lifting movement.

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the relative positions of parts during the descending.

movement.

Fig. 4c is a plan view of a single lifting unit of the same general character. The drop-limiting means indicated in Fig. 3 are slightly different from the type shown in. the remaining figures.

Referring to the details of that specific embodiment of my invention chosen for pur poses of illustration, 1 being a sectional sucker rod adapted to reciprocate a plunger 2, of the type currently employed in deep oil wells, or of any preferred type, and 3 being a. tubing through which the pumped oil may be delivered at the top of a well, a lateral outlet opening being indicated at 4, at the top of the well, and additional strings of tubing or casing being suggested at 5 and 6, my sand lifting units S are shown as applied to the squared portions 7 adjacent the upper ends of the respective sections 8 of the sucker rod 1; and although various alternative constructions might alternately be employed, I prefer to form my respective sand lifters from suitably shaped portions of sheet metal secured together by pivot or hinge pins, each unit preferably con'iprising a pair of oppositely disposed relatively movable wing elements 9, 9', secured by substantially parallel pins 10, 10, to a pair of interposed plates 11, 11, the described construction being in various respects preferable to a three-piece construc tion, one of its advantages being the fact that, by the organization referred to, assembling is facilitated, it being possible to insert one of the pivot pins 10, 10 in ad- Vance, finally inserting the other of these pins at the moment when the respective sections of sucker rod are being lowered within a Well tubing, or the like.

In order to permit the wing sections of my lifting unit to rise into substantiallythe positionsuggestecl in Fig. 3 .duringthedescent of a sucker rod and thereafter assume, during the elevation of said rod, substantially the horizontal position shownin Fi 2 an 7 suitable means ma 7 betorovided; C 7 I but I consider it advantageous to provide-,-

for this purpose, the substantially horizontal extensions 12, 12", shown as int-egralwitli the interposed plates 11, 11, although slight- 1y; offset relatively thereto; and it isan advantage of the constructionabove described that, although the motion, of my :lifting :plates relatively to a sucker rod isrestricted, each lifting unit is nevertheless free to play end down upon the squared section towhich it may be secured, it being'understood that the organization referred to is designedrand adapted to maintain a: substantially uniform mixture of oil and sand, or the like, throughout an extensive'verti'cal column, the-agitation effected by my-respective sand'lifters,

which optionally are pivoted in planes alternatively at right angles to one another, being effective to prevent or retard-athesubsidence of sand or the like, during the elevation of a column of liquid withwhich it may be associated; and my-described sand lifting meansmay beemployed iii-conjunction with any preferred type of pump--01 -means for initiating the upward movement of oil or sand, or a mixture thereof.

.willrbeunderstood that various features thereof might be independently employed, and also that-various modifications might be-made'without a departure from the spirit and scope of my invention as the same is indicated above and in the following claim.

What I claim is:

' In a sand lifter, the combination with a sucker rod coupling having asquare neck of a-pair of plates fitting against opposite sidesof the square neck, wings fitting against the other opposite sides of the squareneck and hingedly connected to the plates and adapted to swing upwardly and not downwardly.

Intestimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

CHARLES P. F INDLEY.

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