US805211A - Well-screen. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED Nov. 21, 1905. M. E. LAYNE. A

WELL SCREEN.

nuifrnn sriawnnr ornion.

e MAHLoN E. LAYNE, or HoUsToN, TEXAs.

WELL-SCREEN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 21, 1905.

Application filed June 25, 1903. Renewed January 3, 1905. Serial No. 239,426.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, MAHLON E. LAYNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Houston, in the county of Harris and State of Texas, have invented a certain new and useful Well- Screen, of which the following is a specifi cation.

My invention relates especially to Well apparatus or to means for straining liquids admitted to inlet pipes such as commonly employed in driven wells; and particularly to the construction of the sand screens used in wells. The objects of my invention are, to provide a superior form of wire adapted for making well screens and being of a sectional shape to give great strengthvand to insure the screen againstv being clogged by dirt; to provide a cheap and superior construction of skeleton frame for supporting suoli a wire screen; to provide a superior method of fixing the wire upon the frame of the screen and to generally improve the efficiency and strength, and cheapen the construction of well screens. The said objects, together with other advantages which will hereinafter appear, I attain by means of the construction illustrated in prey ferred form in the accompanying drawings,

wherein,-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of' an improved form of skeleton frame for supporting the screen.

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through my improved well screen built upon theA frame of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an end view of the skeleton frame and the screen.

Figures 4, 5 and 6 represent cross sections through the wire as wound on the frame and showing the wire in three diiferent stages in the improved mode of fixing the same in place.

Figure 7 illustrates a modified form of connecting the edges of contiguous strands of the wire@l Figure 8 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a well screen formed of my superior wire and fixed in place on a frame by my peculiar mode of interlacing the touching edges of the helix of wire, as will be hereinafter described; and

Figure 9 is a modified form of wire having edges easier to depress, shown mounted on a perforated pipe.

As is well known it is common in driven wells and other places where it is desirable to take water into a pipe from a loose material such as strata of sand or gravel, to use on the end of the pipe a screen or structure provided with small openings to stop the solid matter and allow the water to go through. It is customary to make such screens by winding wire either upon a frame or upon a perforated pipe. It is necessary in order that the particles of solid matter may not wedge themselves in the openings between the windings of the wire, to use a wire of such cross sectional form that the openings are narrowest at the outside surface and enlarge toward the interior of the screen. It is also highly desirable that the frame upon which the screen is held be .extremely solid and strong and at the same time take up as little room as possible.

In my preferred form of skeleton frame A as shown in Figure 1, I use a series of rings 9 which are provided with radially extending lugs 11 formed of such shape as to take in the bars 10, whereupon the lugs 11 may be battered down to clinch upon the rods and hold them firmly in position. The skeleton A is for the purpose of supporting the wires f orming the screen as shown in end view at Figure 3. Upon this frame may be wound any desired form of wire, but I prefer the form shown in cross section at Figure 4, which is essentially a truncated pyramid having the wider part outside, so that the spaces between the adjacent turns of wire are narrower atthe outside and grow larger toward the inner side,

so that any particles of solid matter passing through the outside edges will freely iiow through the pipe and not clog the opening.

This wire I preferably wind tightly upon the frame A so that the successive turns leave parallel slits between them as shown in Figure ping of the depressed edges of the wire on the two sides of it, as will be clear from Figure 8. Otherwise, the portions of the wire immediately above the support 10 may be battered down or depressed equally upon all the turns so that they will all just touch each other at intervals as shown in Figure 7. It will be understood that it is necessary to depress the wires so as to make them come in contact withy each other only at lengthened intervals, sufficient to lock them together and hold them rmly against lateral displacement.

IOO

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, It will be seen that by the peculiar alternate overlapping arrangement as shown in Figure 8 the successive turns of the wire are really interlaced and interlocked with each other so that they may not move either laterally or radially to the frame upon which they rest.

It is evident that' the same form of wire may be used upon any desired frame or support, such for example as the ordinaryperforated pipe as shown in Figure 9, or a frame formed of a series of bars riveted upon interior rings such as shown in my former application, No. 138,217, or any other form of support. The wire is of peculiar advantage on such supports as shown in Figure 9, because it provides for a full and free underflow over the surface of the support between the wires and in the direction of the length of the wire thereby avoiding cutting of the wire by the sand and supplying ample room for a slower flow and avoiding clogging as the fiuid passes in from the outer slits to the opening in the perforated pipe. In such cases it will be understood that the setting of the wire edgewise on the support, or making the wire much deeper than it is wide, as shown in Figure 9, not only gives additional strength and capacity perinch on the screen surface, but provides ample room for the flow whether it is directly through the opening'in the pipe, or indirectly along the surface between the wires to reach the opening. It is also evident that the interlocking feature of the wires, and the peculiar form of the frame shown may be used with any desired kind of wire. The common triangular wire may be used in building the screen when the peculiar method of attaching the edges thereof after the manner of -Figure 6 or 7 is employed, so as to hold the wires in` upright position upon their support, and it is not necessary to provide grooves in the support. And while it is evident that the wires may be arranged as in Figure 4L and soldered in place upon the rods l0, I prefer it as much safer and cheaper and more durable to lix them in place by hammering them down as heretofore described. The superior screen shown may be built entirely without either rivets or solder. It will be understood that ink many deep wells, such as oil wells, where the detritus or solid matter in the liquid is very line, and the pressure upon the liquid is very heavy due to gas or the great depth of the well, it is ordinarily very difficult to make a wire screen with sufficiently fine openings, and sufciently strong to withstand the pressure without distortion. For this reason I regard the form of wire as illustrated in Figures I and 9, as of great importance because it is very sti, and allows of the openings placed closed together and at the same time has a substantial base to withstand pressure against the supports underneath. The form of Figure 9 is at the same time economical of metal and rigid. Moreover, the

depressed center or grooved fo'rm of the outer face of the wire makes the depression of the parts to form the lugs easy, and also makes a better screening wall of the wire, since the grooved surface more readily catches sand, and aids in arching of detritus over the opening' without clogging. Many other advantages of this device will readily occur to those familiar with the art.

I-Iaving thus described my invention and illustrated its use what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is the following:

l. A skeleton frame for a well screen formed of a series of rings having pairs of projecting lugs thereon, bars lying between said lugs and clinched in place by bending down the lugs.

2. A well screen eomprisinga frame formed of a series of rings with pairs of lugs at intervals thereon, a series of bars lying upon said rings and clinched within said lugs, and a series of wires wound upon the outside of said frame and being of cross sectional form wider at the o uter side than the inner side.

3. A well screen comprising a frame-having a wire spirally wound thereon with wedgeshaped openings vbetween successive turns of the wire, said wire being of a cross sectional form of a truncated pyramid, and having thereon means to lock successive turns together, substantially as described.

4c. A Well screen comprising a skeleton frame, a series of turns of wire wrapped upon said frame so as to leave openings between successive turns thereof, and the said turns of wire being depressed and spread to touch each other atintervals along their length, substantially as described.

5. In a well screen a helix of wire having open spaces between turns, a series of lateral projecting portions along said wires to engage the adjacent turns, said lateral projections alternately lying above and beneath similar projections upon the next adjacent turns of wire on the two sides, substantially as described. l

6. A well screen com prising a frame, a helix of wire thereon, the said helix of wire having portions thereof depressed or flattened on the outer edges so that said depressed portions touch the contiguous wires and hold the wires in parallel position, substantially as described.

7. A wire for forming well screens having atintervals along its length lateral upset projections, to engage similar projections upon the outer edges of contiguous turns of the wire, for the purpose set forth.

8. In a well screen a wire having along its length occasional laterallyprojecting lugs to engage contiguous wires in the screen, alternate ones of said lugs being depressed on the outside surface lower than the adjacent lugs, substantially as described.

9. In a well screen the combination with a IOO supporting frame, of a 'series of helical turns of wire, said wire having a broadened face outermost and laterally projecting upset depressed portions at intervals along said outer face to engage contiguous wires, substantially as described.

10. In a well screen, the combination with 4a supporting frame, of a screening surface of wire having a depression on the outer face between the edges of the wire.

13. A wire for well screens having a depressed longitudinal groove in its outer face, substantially as described.

14. A well screen comprising a supporting structureand a screening surface formed of turns of band-shaped wire spaced apart and having one edge thinner than the other, the said wire being wound edgewise on said supporting structure and forming an underflow chamber between adjacent portions of the Wire and the supporting structure.

In testimony whereof I have hereunder signed my name in the presence of the two subscribed witnesses.

MAHLON E. LAYNE.

Vitnesses:

C. J. MILLER, MABEL. NoRToN.

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