US2729293A

US2729293A - High pressure casing packer

Info

Publication number: US2729293A
Application number: US369645A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert E Cloud
Original assignee: Cloud Packer & Tool Inc
Current assignee: Cloud Packer & Tool Inc
Priority date: 1953-07-22
Filing date: 1953-07-22
Publication date: 1956-01-03
Anticipated expiration: 1973-01-03

Description

1955 R. E. CLOUD H IGH PRESSURE CASING PACKER Filed July 22, 1953 a Mk4! Atkorngys United States Patent 1 2,729,293 HIGH PRESSURE CASING PACKER Robert E. Cloud, Independence, Kans., assignor to Cloud Packer & Tool, Inc., Wichita, Kans., a corporation of Kansas Application July 22, 1953, Serial No. 369,645 7 Claims. (Cl. 166-118) This invention relates to the oil well drilling and well treating art.

It is now quite common, after an oil well has been drilled, to treat the pay strata by oil pressure, sandfracting, hydrafracting, and like. This is accomplished after the casing has been set and comprises the introduction of the treating substance or solution into the oil bearing strata under great pressures for purposes of breaking up the strata and inducting oil flow.

Inasmuch as the matter is introduced through a pipe extending downwardly in the casing, a seal is necessary between the lower end of the pipe and the casing. Such seal means are called packers and heretofore have been very complicated and costly. Furthermore, they are most difiicult to operate and in some cases become so unmanageable that they can not be removed from their great depth of operation, and the well is thus ruined and must be abandoned at great financial loss.

Therefore, the principal object of my invention is to provide a simple but effective packer that is under the complete control of the operator at all times.

A further object of my invention is to provide a packer for oil field usage that can be set accuratedy at the desired depth.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an oil or gas well packer that may be easily and quickly removed from the well after it has served its purpose.

Still further objects of this invention are to provide a packer that is economical in manufacture and durable In use.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side longitudinal sectional view of my packer in a casing and ready for use,

Fig. 2 is a side view of my packer illustrating the method of its removal from a well,

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the device taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of the packer taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1 and more fully illustrates its construction.

In these drawings I have used the numeral to designate a well casing such as would be in a drilled well and after it has been cemented in.

The numeral 11 designates the pipe used to place the packer at the desired depth and through which the cracking or like medium is injected under great pressure. The numeral 12 designates a collar or fitting having standard right hand internal threads in its upper portion and left hand internal threads in its lower portion. The upper portion of this member 12 is threaded onto the lower end of the pipe 11. The numeral 13 designates a plate ring loosely embracing the pipe 11 and above the collar 12. This ring has four equally spaced apart cut away slits 14 in its edge portion for slidably receiving the lengths of four

elongated bolt rods

15, 16, 17 and 18 respectively. Each of these rods has a head or nut at its upper end to limit the relative downward movement of the rods through the plate ring. The numeral 19 designates a pipe section having its upper end threaded into the lower end portion of a second collar 35, which in turn has its upper end threaded into the collar 12. The numeral 20 designates a wedge slip expander keyed to but longitudinally slidably mounted around the pipe section 19. This cone bearing has four spaced apart longitudinal dovetail or like grooves 21 slidably carrying the four

wedge slip members

22, 23, 24 and 25 respectively. The lower ends of the four

rods

15, 16, 17 and 18 are secured to these four

wedge slip members

22, 23, 24 and 25 respectively.

The numeral 26 designates a cap on the top of the wedge slip expander for limiting the upward sliding movement of the wedge slips. The numeral 27 designates stops for limiting the downward sliding movement of the wedge slips. The numeral 28 designates a spacing weight member secured to the wedge slip expander by suitable means, and like the expander, slidably embraces the pipe section. Secured by any suitable detachable means to the bottom of the member 28 is a rubber or like inverted cup 29. The numeral 30 designates a spreader bell on the lower end of the pipe section capable of engaging the inside of the cup and expanding the same when moved upwardly relative to the cup. The inside of this bell communicates with the inside of the pipe section, which communicates with the inside of the collar 35, which communicates with the inside of the collar 12, and which communicates in turn with the inside of the pipe 11.

The practical operation of my device is as follows:

The unit is allowed to move downwardly in the casing until the chosen depth is reached. This is easily ascertained by suspending a plumb bob of known length from the top of the casing down to the pin 36 in the collar 12 and adding to the length of the pipe 11 that is within the casing. The downward movement of the unit is easy inasmuch as the wedge slips will slide away from the direction of travel and upwardly on the wedge slip expander. The rubber cup will be in constricted condition. After the desired depth is reached, the pipe 11 is pulled slightly upwardly, thereby moving the wedge slip expander also upwardly and forcing the wedge slips into expanding contact with the inside of the casing, thus rigidly locking the unit in place. With the wedge slip expander incapable of further upward movement, a further lifting of the pipe will bring the bell into the rubber cup, thereby spreading the same and sealing the inside of the pipe from the inside of the casing above the rubber cup. At this time the treating fluid may be passed under pressure through the pipe and unit to an area below the packer. With such great pressure below the packer, the wedge slips will only tend to lock with the casing more rigidly. Also the rubber cup becomes a one way valve seal. After the treatment of the potential well, the packer is removed. This is accomplished by turning the pipe 11 to the right, thereby unscrewing it and its collar 12 from the left hand threads on the second collar 35 as shown in Fig. 2. By

reciprocating the pipe and collar 12 and thus hammering on the top of the collar 35, the pipe shaft will be dr'ven downwardly to bring the bell down from the rubber cup, thereby permitting the cup to contract. Also the downward movement of the wedge slip expander will cause the wedge slips to ride upwardly and inwardly on the expander and out of engagement with the inside of the casing. At this time the rods come into use by their top nuts contacting the plate ring and their lower ends supporting the wedge slips, which in turn support the stop plate 26 and thus the entire packer. Inasmuch as all the packer parts are out of rigid engagement with the inside of the casing, the entire unit with the pipe 11 may be withdrawn upwardly from the well. There is no change of the wedge slips again engaging the casing during the withdrawal operation, as the weight of the major portion of the unit will be suspended from the slips which will be obviously slid upwardly and inwardly on the wedge slip expander.

Packers herebefore have been very large and elon gated. Once stuck in a well, it is impossible to drill through them or dispose of them. If for some unknown reason my packer could not be removed, it is so small that it would be easily disposed of and due to its low cost of manufacture, no great loss would be experienced. Furthermore, and more important, the well would not be. lost.

Once the unit is removed from the well, the rods may be moved outwardly from the spreader ring 13' and the unit will fall from the pipe unit 11. The only part that might be damaged and need replacing would bethe pipe fittings orcollars, which might have become damaged by the reciprocal hammering to free the slips. In case of wear, the. rubber cup may easily be replaced.

While I have described mytool as particularly adapted for use in sandfracting and like treatments, it is obvious that it may be used successfully for other purposes in the oil. and gas fields. One such use would be to seal off an upper portion of a casing from a lower portion of: the same casing, yet permitting a pipe communication through the seal if so desired.

While I show the cross pin 36 in the member 12, it may well be placed at any desired location such as the member 35. There is some advantage in having this member 36 within the member 35. Assuming that for some unkown reason the bell portion 30 would fail to disengage from the rubber cap gasket 29, it would be possibleto pass down within the casing 21 string of sucker rods. and: hammer on this member 36, thereby forcing the pipe 19 and the bell downwardly from the rubber cup. However, regardless of where the pin 36is placed,

a plumb. bob may be lowered through the pipe 11 to engage the same for determining depth.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of my high pressure casing packer without departing from. the real spirit and purpose of my. invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any. modified forms ofstructure or use of mechanical equivalents; which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a pipe section, a wedge slip expander slidably mounted on said pipe section, a plurality of wedge slips slidably mounted on said" wedge slip expander, an inverted resilient cup operatively secured tosaid wedge slip expander, a bell member= operatively: secured to said pipe section capable of enter-ing and: expanding said cup when said pipe section'is moved upwardly relative to said wedge slip expander, a pipe length, a plate on-said pipe length, a rod secured to each of'said'wedge slipsextendingupwardly and slid} ably through said plate, a stop member on the upper end of each-or said rods to limit any movement of the rods through the plate, a means for limiting the sliding movement ofsaid wedge slips on said wedge slip expandentand" ameansfor operatively detachably connecting said. pipe length to said pipe section.

2. In a device of-the class described, a pipe section, awedge slip expander slidably mounted on said pipe section, a plurality of wedge slips dovetailed and slidably mounted onsaidwedge slip expander, an invertedresilient cup operatively secured to said wedge slip expander, a'

bell member operatively secured to said pipe section" capable of entering and expanding said cup when said pipe section is moved upwardly relative to said wedgeslip expander, a pipe length, a plate on said pipe length, a rod-secured to each- 0f said wedge slips extendin'g up wardly. and. slidably through said plate, a stopmember on.the1upperendof each-0f said rods to-lirnitany movo ment offthe rods through' the'plate, a. means for-"limiting the sliding-movement of said wedge slips 011'. said wedge V rality of wedge slipsi slidably mounted on said wedge slip expander, an inverted resilient cup operatively secured to said wedge slip expander, a bell member operatively secured to said pipe section capable of entering and expandingv said cup when said pipe section is moved upwardly relative to said cone bearing member, a pipe length, a plate on said-pipe length, arodsecured to each of said wedge slips extending upwardly and slidably through said plate, a stop member on the upper end of each of said rods to' limit any movement of the rods through the plate, a means for limiting the sliding movement of said. wedge slips onsaidwedge slip expander, and a means for operatively detachably connecting said pipe length to said pipe section.

4'. In a deviceof the class described, a pipe section, a wedge slip expander longitudinally slidably mounted on saidpipesection, a wedge slip slidably mounted on said wedge slip expander, an inverted flexible resilient cup member operatively secured to the said wedge slip expander, a bell member operatively secured to the lower end portion of said pipe section capable of entering. and enlarging said cup member, a pipe, a rod secured to said wedge: slip, means for limiting relative vertical movement between. said rod and said pipe, and a means for detachably securing said pipeto said-pipe section.

5. Ina device. of the class described, a pipe section, a wedge slip expander longitudinally slidably mounted on said pipe section, a wedge slip slidably mounted on said wedge slip expander, an inverted flexible resilient cup member. operatively secured to the said' wedge slip expander, a bell member operatively secured to the lower end portionof said pipe section capable of entering and enlarging said cup member, a pipe, a rod secured to said wedge slip, means for limiting relative vertical movement between said: rod and said pipe, and a threaded fitting for detachably securing said pipe to said pipe section; one of the threads of which is left handed.

6; In-a device of the class described, a pipe section,-a wedge slip expander longitudinally slidably mounted on said pipe section, a wedgev slip slidably mounted on said wedgeslipexpander, an inverted flexible resilient cup member operativcly' secured to the said wedge slip expander, a bell member operatively secured to the lower end portion of: said pipe section capable of entering and enlarging said cup member, a pipe, a rod secured to said wedge slip, means for limiting relative vertical movement between said rod and said pipe, and threaded fittings-for enlargingsaid cup member, a pipe, a rod secured to saidwedge slip,.means-forr limiting relative vertical movement betweensaid rodand-said pipe, and threaded fittings for detachably securing said pipe to said pipe section; one of said fittings havingboth= aright hand and a left hand thread; said. bell, pipesectiou, fittings, and pipe, communicatingwith-each otheiz.

References Citedlin thez-file of this. patent UNITED S'IA'DES PATENTS S'ttnie-efal. Mar; 6, 1934 Knox June-25; 1940