US2637606A

US2637606A - Slush pump seal ring

Info

Publication number: US2637606A
Application number: US222225A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr William E Pielop
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1951-04-21
Filing date: 1951-04-21
Publication date: 1953-05-05
Anticipated expiration: 1970-05-05

Description

May 5, 1953 w. Pig-Lon JR 2,637,606

- ausa Pun? RING filed April 21. 1951 Will/(7m f. P/e/op,-L /1:

" INVENTOR.

- A TTORNEV Patented May 5, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT orrics SLUSH PUMP SEAL RING William E. Pielop, J r., Houston, Tex.

Application April 21, 1951, Serial No. 222,225

4 Claims.

. 1 This invention relates to a seal ring for use in pumps such as slush pumps. Slush pumps are used generally for the pumping; of. drilling mud in the rotary method of drilling wells and in the past considerable difficulty has been experienced with the seal ringson these slush pumps when pumping viscous and abrasive mud wherein pressures of 2,000, 3,000 and 4,000 pounds per square inch and even greater pressures may be maintained.

Under such high pumping pressures,,it has been found that one of the most critical. causesof failure in pumping mud with slush pumps has been in the construction of the slush pump seal rings. Tearing and splitting of the seal ring body as well as loss of. pressure in the pump due to excessive peripheral wear on the seal ring are among the many and varied problems by those in the field.

Itis therefore. one of the objects of this inv.vention to provide a. slush pump seal ring which has reduced. tendencies to tear and split on the seal ring body and. to wear on the peripheral surface thereof during pumping of drilling mud. Another object. of this invention is to provide a seal ring of resilient material and a reinforcing dish entirely enclosed within the resilient mate.-

rial.

.. A. furtherobiect of this inventionis to provide a. seal ring, which has a. resilient cylindrical body with a flared lip for engaging a pump cylinder and a. reinforcing dish entirely within the body and. below the flared lip so that rigidity will be provided for the base while retaining the resilient peripheral flare wear surface of the flared lip. An additional, object of this invention is to provide a slush pump. seal: ring wherein a circular reinforcing dish is utilized,.which. dish has .a plurality of studs thereon and a plurality of Other and further objects of this invention willbe readily apparent when the following description is. considered in connectionwith accompanying, drawings wherein:-

Fig. 1 is a top. view of the reinforcing. dish illustrating. thealternate relationship of the studs and holes.

'a central opening it.

satisfactory in service.

f some extent.

2, Fig. 2 is a section of the reinforcing dish on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section of the complete seal ring showing the reinforcing dish on the same section as that shown in Fig. 2.

Referring now to the details of the drawings wherein like reference numerals indicate like parts in all figures, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 show the reinforcing dish [0 Which is circular in shape and is formed by a skirt I and flat bottom 12. A curved section it is located between the flat bottom I2 and skirt II to form the complete integral reinforcing dish l0. Within said flat bottom is Positioned on the flat bottom l2 adjacent central opening [6 are three reinforcing studs 17. These studs I! may be made integral with the reinforcing dish 10 or may be welded or otherwise fixed to dish I0; however, it is preferable to form the reinforcing dish 50 by forging it from metal and therefore welding of the studs [1 to the dish l0 after the forging operation has been found to be the most It should be pointed out that metal is the most desirable material for the reinforcing dish [0 and studs l'l; however, it can readily be appreciated that other materials such as synthetic plastics may be used if sufficientstrength can be obtained for use as a reinforcing member of the dish l0.

As can be seen in Fig. 1, the studs ll are flush with the inner edge H} of the flat bottom !2;

thus, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the crossvsectional area of the reinforcing dish [0 and any one of the studs I! together form a U-shaped section.

Equally spaced between the three studs H are three openings or holes 20. These openings ,20 are alternately spaced in relationship to studs The purpose of these holes 2B is to provide an area for the resilient material of the cylindrical body 30 to pass through in order to lock the reinforcing dish Hi to the cylindrical body 30". I It can be readily appreciated that by having rubber or other resilient material in holes 2!} that z the integralness of the dish 90 and resilient body 30 will be greatly improved. Also, the tendency of. the dish I!) to rotate or slide within the body 30' is prevented. Of course, the studs ll also serve to prevent rotation or sliding of dish It to It is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the use of three studs l1. and three holes 20, but it is preferable to have a plurality of the holes. 20 and the studs IT.

The resilient cylindrical body 30 may be made of rubber, synthetic or natural, or any other synthetic materials, but for most purposes natural rubber has been found superior in performance. Resilient cylindrical body 30 is an integral body having the reinforcing dish l molded therein. The reinforcing dish I 0 is located entirely within the cylindrical body and more particularly, this reinforcing dish I!) is located in the annular resilient base 22. This base 22 is substantially rectangular in cross-sectional area. Inwardly of the base 22 is a central opening 23 in the cylindrical body 30. The piston flange side 24 of the base 22 is substantially flat. On the opposite side of the base 22 from the flange side 24 is an outwardly flared lip 28 which is of larger outside diameter than the outside diameter of the base 22 and of considerably larger inside diameter than the inside diameter of the base 22; thus, flared lip opening 31 is of greater diameter than the diameter of the central opening 23.

When the slush pump seal ring of this invention is in its normal use, it is fitted on a piston shaft. not shown, which passes through the opening 23. A piston flange, not shown, on the iston shaft abuts the flange side 24 of the seal ring body 30. To prevent the seal ring from slipping off the piston shaft in use, a retainer plate fits against an inner shoulder or retainer plate shelf 35. The inner shoulder 35 is substantially parallel to flange side 24 of base 22 and is positioned at the junction 36 of lip 28 and base 22. Shoulder 35 merges with the inner inclined surface 38 of flared lip 28 and the inclined surface 28 in turn merges with the inner beveled surface 4|. Details of a pump shaft and flange which may be used can be found in my co endin ap lication 56.835, filed October 27, 1948 now Patent No.

From Fig. 3, it can be seen that skirt H of the reinforcing dish Ill extends adjacent to the junction 38 of lip 28 and base 22. The skirt II also runs substantially rarallel to the annular reriphera]. surface 42 of the seal ring body 30. The annular peripheral surface 42 of seal ring body 30 is formed by the merger of the annu ar peripheral surfa e 43 of base 22 and the annular peripheral surface 45 of flared li 28. The annular peripheral surface 45 of lip 28 forms an outwardly sloping an le from the annular eripheral surface 43 so as to obtain the flared efl'ect necessary to provide positive sealing by lip 28 with the inside of a p mp cylin er. not shown. The studs I! are generally slightly shorter than the upper edge of skirt II, but this invention is not so limited; it is desirable to have the up er part of skirt I l substantially the same height as the studs ll. Thus. rigidity and intecra ne s can be obtained in the base 22 while maintaining flexibility of the flared. lip 28 which serves to increase the wear life of the seal rin of this invention.

The st ds l1 preferably fit just below inner shoulder 35 so that there is a narrow section 5| of rubber just above studs l7. On the inner surface of studs I1 is a narrow section 52 of rubber. It can thus be seen that reinforcing dish is entirely within resilient body 30 but is suflicient y close to the piston flange side 24, inner sho lder 35 and inner peripheral surface 55 so that a cushioned rigidity is obtained by the seal ring when it is positioned on a piston shaft and flange. Heretofore, these desirable properties and characteristics have been unobtainable; this new combination of structural features results in a cooperation which has given increased wear life and outstanding performance in the field, particularly in connection with slush pumps.

Broadly, this invention contemplates a flared lip seal ring with a reinforcing dish integrally secured entirely within the seal ring body.

What is claimed is:

l. A seal ring for slush pump pistons comprising, a cylindrical resilient body, a central opening in said body, said body comprising an annular resilient base and an annular resilient lip thereon, an internal shoulder formed at the junction of said base and said lip to provide a surface for receiving a retainer plate, annular peripheral surfaces on each of said base and said lip which surfaces merge into a unitary peripheral surface, an outwardly flared portion at the upper end of said lip so that the inherent resiliency of the ring material maintains said lip flared into contact with a pump piston cylinder, a reinforcing dish embedded entirely within the resilient material composing said ring comprisin a metal forging having a generally tubular skirt concentric with the outer periphery of said ring and having a flat bottom, said skirt extending substantially parallel to said annular peripheral surface to rigidify said peripheral surface and extending upwardly from said bottom to a level adiacent said junction so that the resiliency of said flared lip is maintained, a plurality of angularly spaced studs projecting upwardly from said bottom, the cross-sectional area of said studs and said reinforcing dish together forming a U-shaped area.

2. A seal ring for slush pump pistons comprising, a cylindrical resilient body, a central opening in said body, said body comprising an annular resilient base having a substantially flat inner end and provided with an annular resilient lip at its outer end, an internal shoulder formed at the junction of said base and said lip to provide a surface for receiving a retainer plate, annular peripheral surfaces on each of said base and said lip which surfaces merge into a unitary peripheral surface, a flared portion at the upper end of said lip so that the inherent resiliency of the ring material maintains said lip flared into contact with a pump piston cylinder, a reinforcing dish embedded entirely within the resilient material composing said ring comprising a metal forging having a generally tubular skirt concentrio with the outer periphery of said ring-and having a flat bottom, disposed substantially parallel with said inner end of the base said skirt extending substantially parallel to said annular peripheral surface to rigidify said peripheral surface and extending upwardly from said bottom to a level ad acent said .iunction so that the resiliency of said flared lip is maintained, a plurality of angularly spaced studs projecting upwardly from said bottom, the cross-sectional area of said studs and said reinforcing dish together forming a U-shaped area, said studs extending ad acent and below said internal shoulder,.spaced o enings in said dish intermediate said studs, and resilient material of said body molded through said spaced openings to improve the integralness of said body and said reinforcing dish.

3. A reinforcing dish for a slush pump seal ring comprising a cylindrical metal body composed of a. generally tubular skirt and a flat bottom integral therewith, a central opening in said bottom, a plurality of angularly spaced studs connected with said bottom adjacent said central opening, and extending upwardly therefrom generally parallel to said skirt and to a height substantially level with the upper end of said skirt and a plurality of holes in said dish.

' 4. A seal ring for slush pump pistons compris- 5 ing, a cylindrical resilient body, a central opening in said body, said body comprising an annular resilient base having a substantially flat inner end and provided with an annular resilient lip about its outer end, and internal shoulder formed at the junction of said base and said lip to provide a surface for receiving a retainer plate, annular peripheral surfaces on each of said base and said lip which surfaces merge into a unitary peripheral surface, a reinforcing dish embedded entirely Within the resilient material composing said ring comprising a rigid body having a generally tubular skirt to face outwardly in said ring and having a flat bottom disposed parallel to said flat inner end of said base, said skirt extending substantially parallel to said annular peripheral surface to rigidify said peripheral sur- WILLIAM E. PIELOP, JR.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,596,353 Hartman Aug. 17, 1926 1,833,920 Steirly Dec. 1, 1931 1,849,096 Kibele Mar. 15, 1932 2,283,460 Pumphrey May 19, 1942