Well-screen.

H. RODRIGO, Sr.

WELL SCREEN.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 2, 1916.

1,256,830.

Patented Feb. 19,1918.

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TIG. 3.

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BY

ATTORNEYi.

UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE. ' , _ . .

HENRY RODRIGO, SR., OF HOUSTON, TEXAS.

WEIiL-SCBEEN.

56,830. Specification of letters Patent. Patented Feb» 19,1918.

Application, filed November 2,1916. Serial No. 129,138.

To dll whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Henry Rodrigo, Sr., a citizen of the United States,, residing at Houston, in the county of Harris and State 5 of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Well-Screens, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in a well screen. .

The object of the invention is to provide a screen of the character described particularly adapted to be used in oil or water wells for screening out the sand from the inflow ing fluid. When a well is bored it is cus-¹15 tomary to set a screen composed of one or more joints of perforated pipe therein and the fluid from the surrounding reservoir flows in through the perforations and passes up through the pipe to the surface. The 20 pipe is usually wrapped with spirally wound wire having the turns spaced a small distancespart so as to exclude the sand. Sometimes thimbles with narrow slits are secured in the perforations which act as screens to 25 exclude such sand and other similar detritus.

But when a great deal of sand is encountered, the screening surface, however composed, is liable to become clogged by the sand and the inflow of fluid entirely shut 30 off. It is the object of this invention to provide a screen of two concentrically, arranged pipes spaced apart and fixed relative to one another, both pipes being perforated and the inner pipe being wrapped with screen35 ing wire or provided with screening thimbles or some other similar screening means and the space between the pipes filled with coarse aggregate which intercepts and arrests the sand and detritus and prevents it 40 from reaching this screening surface of the inner pipe and. clogging the same.

, A further feature of the invention resides in the provision of a screen of the character described which will be simple and inex45 pensive in its construction and effective in admitting the flow of fluid and excluding the sand and detritus held in suspension therein.

With the above and other objects in view, 50 the invention has particular relation to certain novel features of construction, arrangement of parts and use, an example of which is given in this specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:— 55 Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the screen.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation thereof, and

Fig. 3 shows a plan view of a form of screening thimble employed. , δ®

Referring now more particularly to the drawings wherein like numerals of reference designate similar parts in each of the figures, the numerals 1 and 2 refer, respectively, to outer and inner pipe sections concentrically 65 arranged and spaced apart, the pipes being of such a relative diameter as to provide a space 3 between them, usually about one half inch across. These pipes are held in fixed relation by means of the collars 4 and 5 70 secured upon the inner pipe in any practical manner and to which the outer pipes are also fixed, said collars being spaced a short distance from the corresponding ends of the pipes, and the ends of said pipes 75 which project beyond the respective collars being externally threaded to receive the internally threaded couplings 6 and 7 which are secured thereon and which receive an abutting end of the adjacent section. The 8© ends of the inner couplings abut against the adjacent collars to hold them firmly against the aggregate filled in between them as hereinafter explained. Both outer and inner pipes are perforated, the perforations 8 of 85 the inner pipe being considerably larger in diameter than the perforations 9 of the outer pipe. The inner .pipe is wrapped , with spirally wound wire 10 of any desirable cross sectional contour, the turns of wire be- 90 ing spaced a distance apart so as to form a narrow spiraled slit between the turns of wire through which the fluid passes to the perforations and thence to the interior of the inner pipe. For the purpose of illustra- 05 tion, the inner pipe shown in Fig. 1 is shown as having also slitted thimbles 11 secured in the perforations, said thimbles taking the place of the spirally wound, screening wire, the slits thereof admitting, the 106 fluid but excluding the sand. In use, either the spirally wound wire or the thimbles or . any other suitable screening surface may be employed.

The space between pipes is filled with a 105 coarse aggregate as gravel, cinder or the like.

As above explained, the perforations of the outer pipe are of small diameter so as to exclude the larger particles of detritus and said outer pipe is not wrapped, or provided with a screening surface, as spirally wound wire or slitted thimbles. The inflowing fluid

Q 1,206.830 . passes through the perforations 9 of the outer pipe and the sand and detritus held in suspension therein is arrested by the coarse aggregate 12 and does not reach the inner 5 screen in sufficient quantities to clog the same so that the fluid reaches said inner screen comparatively free of detritus and passes through said screen to the interior of the inner pipe and passes through said inner 10 screen up to the surface.