US1815290A - Casing hook for oil wells - Google Patents

Description

B. DEDMAN CASING HOOK FOR OIL WELLS July 21, 1931.

Filed May 28. 1928 gums! 6 Sheets-Sheet l July 21, 1931. a. DEDMAN CASING HOOK FOR OIL WELLS Filed May 28, 1928 6 Sheets-$heet 2 July 21-, 1931. B. DEDMAN 1,315,290

CASING HOOK FOR OIL. WELLS Filed May 28, 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 4 Bryant Dedzrzan July 21, 1931. B. DEDMAN CASING HOOK FOR OIL WELLS Filed May 28, 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Bryant Dedman July 21, 1931. a. DEDMAN CASING HOOK FOR OIL WELLS Filed May 28. 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 gnuentoz .Bz gani Badman abl ozwgta mu w w li b July 21, 1931. B. DEDMAN ,815,29

CASING HOOK FOR OIL WELLS Filed May 28. 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 I I I I l I gmnntov Bl yani Badman Patented July 21, 1931 BRYANT DEDMAN, OF GLEN ELLYN, ILLINOIS CASING HOOK FOR OIL WELLS Application filed'May 28, 1928. Serial No; 281,148.:

This invention relates to hooks of the type employed for supporting and handling the casings and drill pipes and drill stems used in construction andoperationof oil and gas 5 wells.

Hooks of this type arecommonly used, in putting in or pulling well casings, to support a section of the casing while, it is" being screwed or unscrewed from theother sections. The separation of the sections is-effected by rotating the casing or drill rod, at a point below the jointto be broken, by means of a rotary table, while the section above the joint is held stationary. by suitable tongs or by holding stationary the casing or drill rod, at a point below the joint to be broken, by means of a lockedandsuitably hushed rotary table while the section above the joint is rotated by means of tongs.

In either procedure some meansis-provided to take up the weight of the upper sec tion during the breaking of the joint; the weight of the section rests on the screw threads of the joint and tends to grindofi and damage the threads. To obviate this damage to the screw threads and to'save time, it is common to support the section being removed by a casing hookprovided with a compression spring of suchstrength as to support the said section during the breaking ofthe taper threaded joint andlater after parting of the threads to automatically lift said section high enough to free it from all interference with its former mating member.

0 Good examples of this type of casing hook is disclosed in the patent to Wigle, No.

14,253, reissued January 23rd, 1917'; Keim,

No. 1,572,390, February 9th, 1926; and Montgomery No. 1,536,617, May 5th, 1925.

The main object of the present invention is to so contrive the springs that the hook will have only a small excess spring lifting capacity at the bottom of its travel over that required at the top of its travel and thereby provide ample section lifting capacity at the top of hook travel without excessive lifting pressure. on the partially disengaged threads at or near the bottom of the hook .travel, that is, the pointat which jointsare broken, and

thribles ble of handling these loads efliciently and withoutunnecessary-shock within the hook mechanism itself.

In one typical size and type of. casing hooks, similar to VVigle in common use, the

spring when merely supporting afourble load (that is at the top of the travel o-f. the spring) is compressed about three inches (3") and, at the bottom ofits travel.( when the spring efl ect is used toraise the. section during theunscrewing of the jointlhas a further compression-of about seven inches (7 making a total. compression of ten inches.

Now, since the: ordinary fourble load for this size hook is. about 2500 lbs.,.and:this causes a three .inch compression of the spring, it is obvious that a ten inch compression of the spring means that a load of over 80001bs. is imposed thereon at the start of the unscrewing operation or over three times in' excess of thatrequired imposed upon partially disengaged threads. The presentday made up fourble joints are decidedly taper. threaded and separate at. about one inch of vertical travelbetween the soulders; that is, when the spring wouldbe. compressed atabout 7,500 lbs.. Since. the load of the fourble alone at this instant of joint separation is only 2500 lbs., there is a force of 5000v lbs. acting. to throw the load upwardly with an evident tendency to rip out threads immediately be fore and at the point of release. The shock on the spring. andother mechanism of. the hook in this case is sometimes great enough to jar loose partsof the assembly; and in- .all events, imposes a great strain on such parts with consequentrapid deterioration thereof.

Field operators complain about what they term unnecessary strength in the springsemployed, and demand hooks. with lighter springs, but they do not realize that lighter springs in these old type hooks will not carry the fourble load to the top of the loaded hook travel, which, to meet present day methods, should be at least 7 on the larger size hooks, the distance required to lift the pin clear of the box when unscrewed.

The present invention is designed to practically eliminate excess pressure on partially unthreaded joints of the sections and excess shock to both joints and hook mechanism due to recoil when the section is released. It is designed to carry the fourble load, for example, 2500 lbs. at the exert a lifting force only slightly in excess of the fourble load, in this example, 3000 lbs, at the bottom of its travel. The result of this arrangement is that the toggle and spring construction exert sufiicient force, at the instant of separation of a section from the cas ing, to lift the fourble load substantially without shock to the desired upper limit of travel.

The main objects of the present invention are, therefore, to provide an auto-compensating spring swivel casing hook capable of efliciently handling the thribles or fourbles in rotary drilling, and to eliminate practically all shock to the parts of swivelled spring casing hooks due to recoil of the springs.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the detailed description proceeds.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a central vertical section through one form of the casing hook taken on the line 11 of Figure 2 Fig. 2 is a plan view of the casing hook;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the casing hook shown in Fig. 1 with part of a side plate broken away and a part section to show the internal construction of the casing hook;

Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a cylindrical pivot block in which the casing hook supporting rod is mounted to slide;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional detail of the pivot connection between one of the spring elements and the sides of the casing enclosing the mechanism of the casing hook;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary central vertical section of a modification of this invention, the section being taken on the line 88 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary detail illustrating means for adjustment to take care of varying loads on the hook;

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8 8 of Fig. 8

Fig. 8 is a side view taken on line 8-S of Fig. 8

Fig. 9 is a plan view of a modification shown in Fig. 8

top of its travel and to.

Fig. 10 is an elevation of the invention shown in Fig. 8, but drawn to a smaller scale and with parts of the casing broken away to disclose the parts co-operating with the invention more fully;

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary sectional elevation taken on the line 11-11 of Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 is an exploded perspective view of a cylindrical block in which the rod of the casing hook shown in Figs. 10 and 11 is adapted to slide when the parts are assembled;

Fig. 13 is a perspective view of the hooksupporting cylindrical rod;

Fig. 14 is a horizontal section taken on the line 1414 of Fig. 10;

Fig. 15 is a central vertical section of another modification of this invention taken on the line 15-15 of Fig. 17

Fig. 16 is a vertical section taken on the line 16-16 of Fig. 15;

Fig. 17 is a horizontal section taken on the line 1717 of Fig. 15;

Fig. 18 is a fragmentary plan View of the device shown in Fig. 15;

Fig. 19 is a horizontal section taken on the line 19-19 of Fig. 16;

Fig. 20 is a central vertical section taken on the line 20-2O of Fig. 15;

Fig. 20 is a fragmentary detail illustrating another method of varying the spring compression to accommodate difierent loads; and

Figure 21 is a section taken on the line '2121 of Figure 20.

As shown in Figures 1,4, and 5, 1 designates a hook adapted to receive the bights of a casing elevator 2 (see Figure 4). This hook 1 is formed integrally with a cylindrical rod 3 slidably mounted in a rectangular block 4 having trunnions 5 and 6 extending from opposite sides thereof to receive the apertures 7 and 8 in arms 9 and 10, respectively, of the yoke 11.

The block 4 is provided with a cylindrical bore 12 to form a guideway in which the rod 3 reciprocates. The rod 3 is provided with shoulders 13 and 14 adapted to contact with the lower and upper ends, respectively, of block 4, at the upper and lower limits of travel, respectively, of the hook 1. In this particular case, the block 4 is seven inches shorter than the distance between the shoulders 13 and 14 in order to restrict the movements of the hook to the seven inch limit above referred to.

In order to facilitate assembling of the block 4 and the rod 3, the block may be formed of two halves as shown in Fig. 12; and these halves, when assembled around rod 3, are riveted together and to the plates 17 and 18 by means of the rivets 19.

The upper end of rod 3 is screwthreaded into a cap 20 which is then looked non-rotatably by a pin 21 to said end. The shoulder 14on rod 3 is formed by the lowerendof a bushing 22 which is slid-ably mounted on rod 3; and race members -23"and 24 and rollers 25 of a roller bearing are interposed b'etween the bottom of cap 20 andthe top of bushing 22.

The bushing 2 hasdiametrically opposite ears 26 and 27 formed thereon to receive the bifurcated ends 28 and 29 of cylinders31 and 32, respectively; and pins 33 and34 serve to secure said'ends pivotally to said -ears26 and 27 respectively.

Cylindrical rods 35' and 36 are mounted slidably in cylinders 31 and 32, respectively, and have their lower ends pivotally connected by pivots 37 and 38 to the side walls 39 and 40 of casing members 41 and 42.

The casing members 41 and 42 are spaced apart by and are fixed to the side plates 17 and 18 by the bolts 43 and nuts The pivots 37 and 38 each comprises a cy'- lindrical rod having a cap 45 formed on'one end to seat against one of the sides of members 41 and 42, and this rod has a transverse slot 46 cut in its periphery just where it passes through the side 39. (See Figure 7). A plate 47 is pivoted at one end to swing freely on the wall 39 so that its end may seat in slot 46 and lock the pivot securely to the casing. To hold the plate 47 in looking posi tion, a machine screw 48 engaging a threaded hole in wall 39 may be used.

A pin or rod 49 having one end thereof secured by a chain 50 to th'e wall of casing member 42 to prevent loss thereof is shaped to slide through a bore 51 in the polygonal top of cap 20, to prevent turning of the hook and casing when it is desired to hold the same. This rod 49 has a coilspring 52 secured to a pin 52 and abutting the cap 2.0; and a locking pin 53 passes diametrically through slot 53' in rod 49 near itsother' end to be held in locking engagement with one end of cap 20 by the compression of spring 52 after the pin 53 is beyond the slot 53 and turned one quarter of a revolution that is, 90 degrees toward the bottom.

The cylinders 31 and 32 and piston rods 35 and 36 are surrounded by compression springs 54 and 55 which abut at their opposite ends against shoulders 56 and 57'and 58 and 59 to form yielding supports for the sleeve 22.

The dotted line position of the parts (Figure 1) show that while the bushing 22 travels seven inches before it contacts with the upper end of block 4, the coil springs 54'and 55 are compressed only about one-half of this distance and about one-fourth of their length. On the scale shown in the drawing, the springs exert at their bottom position an upward force of about 3000 lbs; and at'the top of their travel, an upward force ofabout 2500 lbs. which is almost correct when the hook is to be used for handling 6 fourbles.

Since the upward force just referred to decreases with the extension of the spring during the unscrewing of the section, it follows that the force remaining at the instant of separation of the section from the casing (after: about 1 of travel) the force is just about sufiicient to raise the free section to the upper limit of its travel with very little shock to the parts of the casing hook or to threaded joint being separated.

The form of the invention shown in Figures 8 to 14, inclusive, is substantially the same as that already described, so far as the principle involved in its operation is concerned. This form does not include any roller bearings to permit the hook supporting rod to rotate; and it is therefore assumed thatthe rotary movement can be taken care of by a common type double swivel roller bearing hook and suspending (bail shown) the section above the joint being broken.

As shown in Figures 8 and 10, the bail 60 of a common doubie swivel hook, as at present used, to permit turning of the hook where no provision is made in the casing for this purpose, is hung from a bail having bifurcatedarms 61 and 62 provided with alined bearing apertures 63 and 64, respectively, to receivea pivot pin 65. The pin 65 is provided with a head 66 at one end thereof, and has a retaining washer 67 secured to its other end by. a headed screw 68 the pin being secured in said apertures 63 and 64 by said head and washer. The bail 60 receives the usual gudgeon 60' for supporting the common double swivel hook (not shown).

The pin 65 is rotatably mounted in a. horizontal bore 69 formed in bearing cap 70 which is screwthreaded and pinned on to the lower end of a cylindrical rod 71 slidably vertically in arectangular cylinder block 72.

The block 7 2 is formed in two parts 73 and 74, provided with suitable cooperating recesses and projections to prevent lengthwise separation of said parts when assembled. These parts 73 and 74 are provided with registering bores 75 to receive bolts 76 for securing said parts together between casing plates 77 and 78. The parts 73 and 74 are also provided with semi-cylindrical recesses 79 and 80, adapted, when the parts are assembled, to form a cylinder in which rod 71 is mounted to slide.

The upper end of rod 71 is provided with a. shoulder 81 adapted to contact with the upper end of block 72 to limit the downward movement of the hook 60; and the rod 71.is provided with a key slot 82 adapted to receive a key plate 83 seated in a recess 84, formed in the part 74, and provided with apertures 85 adapted to register with the bores 75. The plate 83 is securely held in position by the bolts 76 when the parts 73 and 74 are assembled.

The plates 77 and 78, between which the cylinder block 72 is bolted, are bolted in turn to casing members 86 and 87 by bolts 88, and extend upwardly above said members to form bearing plates 89 and 90, for a pivot pin 91. \Vaehers 92 and 93 space the plates 89 and 90 from side plates 9 1 and 95, of a traveling block 96, apertured to provide bearings in which the projecting ends of the pivot 91 are seated.

The upper end of rod 21 is flattened on opposite sides to provide oppositely disposed bearing lugs 97 and 98 apertured to receive pivot pins 99 and 100, respectively. Cylinders 101 and 102 are swung on the pins 99 and 100, respectively; and pistons 103 and slid able in said cylinders 101 and 102 are pivoted to the casing members 86 and 87 on pivots 105 and 106, respectively, the pivots being detachably secured to the casing members by locking plates 107 and 108 in the same manner as the corresponding pivots of the construction shown in Figure 4:.

The cylinders 101 and 102 and the pistons 103 and 104 are provided with shoulders 109, 110, 111 and 112 to form abutments for the ends of compression springs 113 and 11 1.

The modification just described operates similarly to that shown in Figures 1 to 7 except that the hook supporting rod is keyed against rotation in the block 7'2.

The modification shown in Figures to shows a very compact arrangement of parts in which the toggle linkages, connecting the springs supports to the hook, are floated on bell cranks. In this form of the invention the casing comprises a pair of substantially circular plates 115 and 116 having tween the cap 131 and alined pivots 117 and 118 secured thereto, to pivot the arms 119 and 120 of a yoke for sup porting the casing hook.

The arcuate ends 121 and 122 are hinged at their upper ends on pins 123 and 124, respectively; and have their free ends 125 and 126 flattened to be bolted to the lower end of the cylinder block 127 which is bolted or otherwise fixed between the sides 115 and 116 by bolts 128.

The hook rod 29 is mounted to slide verticaliy in block 127, and is provided with a shoulder 130 to limit the upward vertical movement of the rod in the block. The upper end of the rod 129 is screw threaded and pinned into cap 131, and roller bearing members 132, 133 and 13 1 are interposed bea sleeve 135 to permit the rod to rotate freely in block 127 and relatii .y to sleeve 135; the lower end 130 of whicn forms a stop to limit the downward movement of the rod 129.

The spring supports for the hook in this form of the invention are similar to those shown in the forms already described, but are pivoted to the casing so as to normally stand substantially vertical. These supports comprise lower piston members 136' and 137 pivoted at their lower ends on pivot pins 138 and 139, respectively, secured by cotter pins 1&0 and 141 between the side plates 115 and 116.

The lower ends of members 136 and 137 are expanded laterally to form bushings 142, extending between the side plates 115 and 116 to center the supports between said plates; and the cylindrical piston parts thereof are capped by cylinders 1 12 and 14:3 sliding thereon. The upper ends 14% and 145 of these cylinders are flattened to form bearings for pivot pins 1 16 and 147 which are locked in said ends by the set screws 148 and 149.

To connect the pivot pins 146 and 1 17 to the hook rod 129, bell cranks 150 and 151 are pivoted to swing on pins 152 and 153 fixed to the side plates 115 and 116. The bell cranl-t 150 comprises a bushing 15 1 extending between the walls 115 and 116 and pivoted on pivot 152. Two arms, 155 and 156 extend radially from said bushing and have their free ends pivoted to the lower ends oi links 157 and 158 which are pivoted to opposite ends or" a bearing ear 159 formed on the sleeve 135.

The upper arms 160 or bell crank 150 are p otally connected to pivot 1&6, while the upper arms 161 of bell crank 151 are pivotally connected to the pivot 1&7. The links 162 and 163 are pivot-ally connected at one end to a bearing ear 164 also formed on the sleeve 135 opposite to ear 159 and at their lower ends are pivoted to arms 165 and 166.

The links and bell cranks are symmetrically arranged relative to the axis of the rod 129, and serve to convert a small compression of the springs 167 and 168 into a comparatively large downward movement of the rod 129, and vice versa.

Tn all the modifications disclosed herein,

the side plates or hinged end plates may be readily moved to give access to the parts enclosed in the casing whenever it becomes necessary to replace or repair parts thereof. In all of these devires the increasing mechanical advantage of the toggle construction offsets the decrease in spring pressure resulting from decrease in compression from normal spring compression in cases where the spring carries the whole load directly.

By proper design the mechanism could be designed to provide he same load c Tying capacities at the top and bottom of the spring travel. However, the constructions disclosed herein provide an excess load carrying capacity at the bottom of the spring travel in order to provide sufiicient lifting force at the bottom to accelerate and carry the load the usual seven inches to the top of the spring travel.

The seven inch travel of the load is the normal travel required by present day construction. It must be understood, however,

that this.-invention is; not to, be. limited in any;' way;. to. constructions designed to effect thIlSaSGVQDJ inch. lift, astheparts maybe relativel y proportioned andr designed to take care of any desired lift. The seven inch lift issmere-ln described herein in order to give a specific; example of? the construction and uses of the invention.

The compression of the springs in these devices may be regulated by inserting washers, similarto washer 170 (Fig. 20) between the ends of the springs and the abutment shoulders on the cylinders and pistons around which the springs are coiled.

The compression of the springs to accommodate different loads may be regulated by mounting the pivot pins of the springs in bearings eccentrically mounted 011 the casing. For example in Figs. 8 S and 8 the pivot pin 106 is rotatably mounted in the casing and extends beyond the opposite sides of the casing.

One side of the casing has a square opening 171 adapted to receive a squared por- --tion 172 of the pin 106 and the latter has a spline 173 engaging a corresponding slot in the eccentric bearing arbor or cylinder 174. Beyond the squared portion is an enlarged head 175 preferably flattened on two "sides and the opposite end of the pin is threaded to receive a nut 176. By unscrewing the nut 176, the pin may be displaced axially to disengage the squared portion 172 from the opening '171 where it normally holds the pin 106 from turning, so that by applying a wrench tothe head 175, the pin 106 may be turned to correspondingly rotate or turn the eccentric collar or cylinder 174: whereby to adjust the compression or tension of the spring without disconnecting the parts. Then, by again engaging the squared portion 172 with the opening 171 and tightening on the nut 176, the parts are held in adjusted position and the shaft or pin "106 held from turning. By having the hearing at the end of the piston 10 1 enlarged to rotatably receive the cylinder and the latter keyed to the pin, it is obvious that the ad justment is controlled by the rotation of the pin or shaft, 106*. By this means, rotation of the pin causes rotation of the cylinder to raise or lower the piston 104 against the pressure of the spring 114-.

The use of shims or washers to regulate the initial spring pressure would necessarily involve disassembling of the several parts for each or the two different adjustments 5, whereas the eccentric mounting could be operated from outside the casing to effect the C6; adjustment without disconnecting any of the parts of the hook.

What I claim is: 1. A block, a hook rod' slidable and rotatable in said block, compression springs K pivoted at one end to said block on opposite sides of said rod, and means connecting the otlierends of said springs pivotally to said ro 2. A block, a hook rod slidably journaled in said block, and toggle mechanism pivoted to said block and pivotally connected to said rod tosupport said rod yieldingly on said block.

3. A block, a hook rod reciprocable in said block, means on said block and said rod to limit the reciprocation of said rod, and means pivoted to said block on opposite sides of said rod to support the rod yieldingly in one of its limits of reciprocation.

4. A" block, a guide fixed thereto, a hook rod' gageable with the ends of said guide, spring members having one end of each pivoted tosaid block on opposite sides of said rod and connected to said rod to form a toggle linkage supporting said rod with one of its stops in contact with one end of said guide.

6. A block, a guide integral with said block, a hook rod slidable in said guide, means on opposite sides of said guide carried by said rod through a predetermined distance in either direction, compressible yielding means pivoted to said block, and rod to resist sliding thereof in one direction and arranged so thatcompression of said means througha predetermined distance results in movement of said rod through a greater distance.

7. A block, a guide fixed to said block, a hook rod slidable in said guide and having a shoulder engageable with one end of said guide, a cap fixed to the other end of said rod,

a sleeve rotatable on said rodbetween said cap and the other end of said guide, an antifrlction bearing between said sleeve and cap,

and yielding means pivoted to said block and sleeve to hold said rod normally with said shoulder against said one end of the guide.

8. A block, a cylindrical guide fixed to said block, a hook rod slidably and rotatably mounted in said guide, a shoulder on said rod engageable with one end of said guide, a stop fixed to said rod yieldable toggle mechanism pivoted to said block, and slidably and rotatably connected to said rod to engage said stop and maintain said rod normally with its shoulder in contact with the end of said guide, said rod being slidable through said block a predetermined distance against the yielding. resistance of said mechanism.

9. A block, a rod slidably and rotatably mounted on said block, means for limiting. the'sliding movements of said-rod in each direction on said block, and yielding toggle mined position on said block.

10. A block, an anti-friction bearing, a hook supported by said bearing, resilient toggle mechanism symmetrically arranged relative to said hook and supporting said bearing, and means on said block to carry the load when the said hook ias been moved a predetermined distance from its normal toggle supported position.

11. A block, an anti-friction bearing, a hook passing through and supported by said bearing, resilient toggle mechanism pivoted to said block and including a sleeve slidable on said hook and in supporting contact with said bearing, and a stop member on said block positioned to support said sleeve and carry the load on said hook when the said mechanism has been moved to a predetermined position.

12. A block, an anti-friction bearing, a hook passing through and supported by said bearing to rotate freely thereon, a sleeve rotatable on said hook, resilient means pivotally connected to opposite sides of said sleeve and to said block, and a stop fixed to said block to support said sleeve and bearing when the resilient means been compressed a predetermined distance.

13. A block, an anti-friction bearing a hook passing through and supported by said bearing to rotate freely thereon, a sleeve rotatable on said hook and in supporting contact with said bearing, resilient means pivoted to said block and connected to said sleeve to support said bearing yieldingly, and a stop on said block to engage said sleeve and transfer the load from said resilient means to said block.

14. A block, an anti-friction bearing, a hook passing through and supported by said bearing, a sleeve rotatable, on said hook, yielding means pivoted to said block and sleeve to support said bearing, and means to relieve the load on said yielding means when the sleeve has moved through a predetermined distance.

15. A block, a hook, a sleeve in which said hook is rotatably supported, spring members pivoted to said block on opposite sides of said hook, bell cranks pivoted to said block on opposite sides of said hook and having one arm of each pivoted to the free end of the adjacent spring member, and links pivotally connecting the other arms of said bell cranks to said sleeve.

16. In a casing hook for oil wells and the like, a block, a guide fixed to said block, a rod slidable in said guide and having a shoulder engageable with one end of said guide, a shoulder at the other end of said rod, a sleeve rotatable on said rod between said shoulder and the other end of said guide, an

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