US1079689A - Well mechanism. - Google Patents

Description

'P. D. BOWLER & W. D. DUTTON.

WELL MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 1'7, 1912.

Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

an I 6 Z/CMZL @Q/ UNITED STATES PAETENT OFFICE.

PAUL D. IBOWLER AND WILLIAM D. DUTTQN, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA,

ASSIGNORS T0 LAYNE 86 BOWLER CORPORATIONXOF LOS ANGELES, GALI- FORNIA, A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

WELL MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Application filed October 17, 1912. Serial No. 726,373.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, PAUL D. Bowman and WILLIAM D. DUT'roN, both citizens of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Well Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

In general our invention relates to deep pumping wells comprising a sectioned casing containing pumping mechanism and sunk often several hundred feet into the ground. The same is termed a pit casing and has a smaller sectional well'casing protruding sometimes several hundred feetfarther from its lower extremity and adapted to lead water, oil or other fluid up to the pumping mechanism in the pit. When the pit casing is sunk into gravels themselves bearing water or oil, it may be suitably perforated and screened, so that the fluid passes directly through it to the pumping mechanism within. In this sense the pit casing) is also a Well casing of large diameter, ut for purposes of clearness this member will be uniformly referred to only as a pit casing in this specification.

In the old methods of installing deep well casings the practicewas to drill and ream a well bore large enough to receive the well casing and then the upper portion of thewell bore was enlarged forming a pit bore for receiving the pit casing. The well cas-- ing was then lowered section after section through the pit bore into the well bore until set in the latter at a proper depth, there being a coupling member carried on that section of said well casing calculated to rest at the bottom of the enlarged .pit bore. The pit casing carrying at its lower extremity another member adapted 'to lock with said coupling member on the well casing, was then lowered section after section into the pit bore, and if all went well the coupling members on the pit and well casings cametogether and effected the coupling and sealing of the opening, between the two casings. In practising this method the well casing was necessarily installed before the pit casing, due to the construction of the coupling members, and this sequence sometimes introduced very objectionable conditions.

As the pit casing is lowered through the pit bore it often encounters projecting boulders and other matter which it unseats .and precipitates to the bottom of the pit burying the coupling member of the well casing which isthere located. In this event the member on the pit casing is intercepted by the boulders, so that it cannot reach and couple with the coupling member on the Well casing, the only alternative being to leave the casing disconnected and the opening between the same unsealed. In operatin a casing system so disconnected sand and ot er matter will heave up through the unsealed opening into the pit casing and will soon seriously interfere with the pumping mechanism and practically cripple the well.

The invention embodied in this application relates to a novel form and combination of parts whereby a well casing may be easily and properly coupled toa pit casing in accordance with the best modern practice, and whereby the opening between the pit casing and the well casing may be substantially closed.

Among other features of novelty the invention is characterized by the following points:

(a). The pit casing may first be set into the earth, the well casing may then be sub vsequently lowered into position through the set pit casing, and the closure means may then be connected to the pit casing whereby theopening between the pit casing and the Well casing is substantially closed; With a combination of parts such as this, no boulders can be dislodged and precipitated onto the coupling or closure element so as to interce t the pit casing and closure means, an thereby prevent the connection of the coupling member or closure means with the pit casing.

(b). The closure means is loose with respect to the well casing so that the well casing may move upwardly or downward-1y through the closure means so as to accommodate itself to any settling, heaving or shifting of the earth portions into which it penetrates. Even with this provision the Well casing will not ordinarily settle so far as to become suspended from the closure member and so as to throw its weight onto same, nor will the well casing heave upward so far as to strain the closure member. The

"well casing is free to move up or down 5 by obviated. Also by haviiigithe closure means loose with respect to the well casing, the particular point at which the closure means is connected to the well casing is not of such great moment, because the well casing may be lowered until it rests practically on the bottom of the well bore, and the relatively loose closure means will then accommodate itself to the closure supporting means on the pit. casing and will insure a thorough closure between said pit casing andthe well casing. -Each of the above features are somewhat independent of the other, and either may be employed advantageously without the other Either of said features, therefore,.are sufiicient to impart novelty to the construction. This application shows several forms of our .invention and notice is hereby given that the novel matter herein shown in Figs. 5 and 6 and herein described forms the subject matter of, land is claimed in our copending application, Serial Number 747 ,81 1, fiiledFebruar 11, 1913.

' The accompanying invention.

Figure 1 is an axial section through a portion of the pit casing and coupling embracing theinvention. Fig. 2.is a sectional plan of the same taken on line w Fig. 1. Fig.

of coupling embracing the invention. Fig. 4 is an axial section of the bushing used in connection with the coupling in Fig. 3. Fig.

5 is a plan section along j is an axial section of the coupling shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a vertical section through a pit and well casing as installed and shows the layers of soil and gravel through which the casin are set.

A In the invention as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 7, the hollow cylindrical drum 1, comprising several sections 1 Fig. =7, and termed a pit'casing, has a" cast head 2, attached. to

its lower end-by any. suitablev means 2', said head having the-internal tapered coupling screw 3, and the external auger blades 4:

attached by means of bolts 5. After the elongated cavities constituting the well and the pit bores'A and B respectivelyhave been formed in the ground thepit casing 1 is sunk by turning it, while in a vertical posiv vtion sothat the auger blades 4 ream the pit bore to a diameter slightly larger. than the sections 1 to sink freely and follow the auger to the bottom of the pit bore. The pit -easing is said to be se .when the bottom of the pitbore is reached.

The smaller cylindrical well casing 600mrawings illustrate the i 3 is an axial section through a second form line a", Fig; 6,- 40 showing a third form of coupling. .Fig. 6

the pit casing, thus permitting head .2 and posing several sections 6 is then lowered through the set pit easing into the well bore B until its perforated and screened portion C extends mto the water or oil bearing gravels indicated in Fig. 7. Thou h the pit casing may also be perforate% and screened so as to perform in part the duty of a well casing, most of the water will be led up to the pit through the well 6,. and it is essential therefore that the said well casing and pit casing be intercoupled and that the openin between them be sealed against heaving o the quicksand, clay or gravel without. The means for efiecting this coupling and sealing will now be described.

Onthe upper section of the well'casing 6, which is provided with metallic strips 7 forming a substantially continuous key 8,

is carried loosel a solid coupling and sealing bushing 9 iaving an aperturelO' and key slot 11 adapted to register with key 8, so that the bushing is slidably and nonrotatably mounted on the said section of the well casing. The bushing is also provided externally with the tapered threads 12, so that when the easingis lowered into the pit, the tapered threads 3 and 12 of the coupling head and bushing respectively will 'find each other automatically. The well casing at this stage of the installation extends through the pit casing to the surface of the earth and by turning the same from above, bushing 9 will screw ome in coupling-head 2, thus sealing the opening between the two casings and slidably coupling them together. The well casing will now settle in the well bore and by use of an inside cutter may be cut a few feet above the coupling so that the upper surplus portion may be withdrawn and leave the space within the pit free for the introduction of pumping machinery not shown in the drawings. It should be particularly noticed that the feature which makes this advantageous sequence of coupling operations possible is the factl that the coupling head has coupling entrance for the bushing from .above. In some prior forms of such mechanism the coupling head only had coupling entrance for the bushing from below so that it was necessary first to install the well casing and then install the pit casing into the wellcasing. As has been sulted sometimes in the burial of the bush- ..ing andmade it impossible to connect the head and bushing together. If preferred, however, the removal of the upper surplus portion of the well casing may be effected by the followin means. A collar 13, having a lower right emale thread 14 and upper left female thread 15., is screwed on the final uppermost well section 6, which is equipped for the purpose with threads 14' at its upper extremity. A setting pipe 16, running through the pit casing to the surface, is provided with left threads which are screwed home into the left thread 15 of the collar. When this construction is used the setting pipe is rotated from above until the right-threaded bushing 9 screws home hard in the coupling head after which a further forced rotative effort applied to the setting pipe will result in unscrewing the left threaded connection 15, and permitting the setting pipe to be withdrawn from the pit casing. To secure this advantageousmode of screwing the coupling into the coupling head and of detaching the setting pipe from the collar and the well casing, it is merely necessary that the screw connection between the coupling bushing and the coupling head he threaded oppositely from the screw connection between the setting pipe and the well casing or collar, so that the same rotation of the setting pipe tends to tighten the connection between the coupling bushing and coupling head, while it tends to loosen o-r unscrew the connection between the setting pipe and the well casing. After the casings have been set as above the wellv casing 6 will settle into the well bore, and collar 13 will serve to prevent said casing from becoming lost by sliding through and out of the coupling bushing 9. If later the soil should fall or sink causing either the pit or the well casing to settle, the sealing bushing will permit the two casings to slide on each other and accommodate themselves to their changed surroundings, thus avoiding the straining and breaking tendency experienced when the coupling is of the usual rigid type.

In the form of coupling shown in Fig. 3 the threads of the head or casting 2 have been formed at the level of the auger blades 4, this change decreasing the actual length of the piece.

In the form of coupling shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the auger and coupling head 2 is internally formed with a tapered aperture 17 adapted to cooperate with a split annular frusto-conical bushing-18. This bushing is formed in any suitable number of independent sections, four being shown; and each section being provided with two apertures 19 and 20 starting from faces 21 and 22 in a recess wand passing through to the splitting diameters'23 and 24 respectively.- Thesections, which are formed about a central circular aperture 27 are loosely held together by bolts 25 and nuts 26, the said bolts passing through apertures 19 and 20.

In using this form of coupling the well and pit bores are first drilled, the pit casing is set, the .well casing is then lowered into the well bore, and the spli annular bushing is finally slipped over the well casing and al-\ lowed to slide down through the pit casing until it falls into aperture 17. At this point the sections of the bushing will be driven against the well casing by the tapered face of the aperture,

and the weight of the well casing frictionally drawing on the sides of the bushing sections will bind the same tighter onto itself and produce a very eflicient seal and grip between the two casings. portions of the sections are so chosen that their sides practically close together along the splitting diameters 23 and 24 when the well casing is gripped, and with this provision it is seen that the coupling bushing acts also to seal the opening between the. pit and well casings.

. In connection with all of the foregoing mechanism it should be noted that the closure means 9 and the closure supporting means 2 may have many dif ferent forms and need not be screwthreaded to eachother as in the preferred construction described. Any mode whatsoever for connecting or disconnecting the closure means with the pit casing whenthe well casing has been subsequently lowered into position through the set pit casing, would be sufficient. Viewing the invention from another viewpoint, it would not even be necessary to provide any means for connecting and disconnecting the closure means to the pit casing so long as the closure means was sufficiently heavy as when made out ofmetal, or other heavy substance, to retain its position against upheavings of rock or sand or other portions of the earth; and solong as said closure means were loose with respect to the well casing so that the latter may move through the closure means and respond with any settling or heaving tendency in the earth. The following crude view of the applicants construction illustrates the scope which it is intended to cover.

It is obvious that the tapered and threaded walls 3 of the closuresupporting head 2 substantially constitute a shoulder, and instead of forming this shoulder along a downwardly tapering wall, the same may have any other suitable form, like a square fiat shoulder, for instance. The closure means 9 may then be formed as a heavy flat bushing or washer made out of metal or other sufiiciently heavy material. No screw 'threads or other connecting features would then be necessary as the weight of the closure means would be sufficient for the purpose. No key, or no key-way, would, of course, be necessary. Such a washer could be lowered onto the closure supporting shoulder just as the washer or bushings hereinbefore set forth are lowered onto the head 2. In view of the cap 13 the washer would prevent the well casing dropping out from the pit'casing, and in this sense, would effect a true coupling relation between the well and pit casing. Such a crude construction, along with many others, is actually embodied in the more perfect The size and proform of well mechanism shown in Fig. 7

and all these constructions lie within the spirit of this invention.

We claim a 1. In combination a pit casing, a well casing, and heavy metallic closure means loose with respect-to said well casing but firm'with respect to said pit casing, for substantially closing the opening between the well casing and the pit casing.

2. In combination a well casing, a pitcasing, closure supporting means on said pit casing, and heavy metallic closure 'means loose with respect to said well casing and normally supported on said closure supporting means for substantially closing the opening .between the well casing and the pit casing. 1

3. In combination a pit casing, a well casing, and closure means loose with respect to said well casing, said cl'osure means being adapted to substantially'close the opening between the well casing and the pit casing,

. ing of smaller diameter than the pit casing,

a coupling head on said pit casing, a couplingbushing for said coupling head, said head having coupling entrance for said bushing'from above, so as to connect said bushing and head together, and said bushing substantially closing the opening between said pit casing and well, casing.

6. A pit casing adapted to be sunk into the earth, a coupling member secured thereto, a'well casing adapted to be lowered into said sunk pit casing, a coupling bushing on said well casing, said coupling bushing having a screw-threaded connection with said coupling member, and operating means between said well casing and said coupling bushing for operating said coupling bushing so as to efiect the connection between said bushing and said coupling member after said well casing has been lowered through said pit casing.

'7. A pit easing, a coupling member s'ecured thereto, a screw thread on the coupling member, a coupling bushing having a thread adapted to engage the thread of the coupling member, the coupling bushing having an aperture and a key slot in said aperture, a well casing adapted to pass through the aperture in the bushing, and a key rigidly attached to the well casing and adapted to register with the key slot in the bushing.

8. A pit casing, a coupling member secured thereto, a screw thread on the coupling member, a coupling bushing having a thread adapted to engage the thread of the coupling member, the coupling bushing having an aperture and a key slot in said aperture, a well casing adapted to pass through the aperture in the bushing, a key rigidly attached to the well casing and adapted to register with-the key slot in the bushing, and a collar attached to the-upper extremity of the well casing, said collar having a left female thread adapted to receive a left male thread on a setting pipe.-

9. A pit casing, a coupling member secured thereto, a tapered internal screw thread on the coupling member, a coupling bushing having a tapered external screw thread adapted to engage the thread of the coupling member, the coupling bushing having an aperture and a key slot in said aperture, a well casing adapted to pass through the aperture in the bushing, and a ke rigidly attached to the well casing and a apted to register with the key slot in the bushing.

10. A well casing, a setting pipe, a screwthreaded connection between said well casing and said setting pipe, a 'pit casing, a coupling head on said pit casing, a coupling bushing on said well casing, said coupling "head and said coupling bushing bein adapted to efi'ect a screw connection witi each other, the screw connection between said well casing and said setting pipe being opposite in direction to the screw connection between said coupling bushing-and said coupling head, so that the same rotation which tends to tighten the screw connection between the coupling bushing and the coupling head tends to loosen the connection between the setting pipe and the well casing.

In testimony whereof. we have hereunto set our hands at Los Angeles, California, this 10th day of October, 1912.

PAUL D. BOWLER. WILLIAM D. DUTTON.

In presence of- ROBERT A. Sure, JOHN A. WINSTROATH.

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