Device for indicating inclination

Nov. 6, 1934.

1,979,481

T. L. LYNCH ET AL

DEVICE FOR INDICATING INCLINATION

Filed June 21, 1930

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Patented Nov. 6, 1934

1,979,481

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

1,979,481

DEVICE FOB INDICATING INCLINATION

Theodore L. Lynch, Huntington Park, Harry i. Rilling, Long Beach, and Howard A. Redfield, Alhambra, Calif.; said Redfield assignor to Harry R. Staples, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application June 21, 1930, Serial No. 462,786

Claims. (Cl. 255—1)

This invention has to do in a general way with oil well drilling equipment and is more particularly related to devices adapted for use in connection with so-called rotary drilling 5 equipment whereby the operator may determine from time to time whether or not the well is following in a vertical course.

It is well known to those familiar with the art that the usual equipment employed in rotary 10 drilling operations embodies a drill bit which is mounted on the lower end portion of a string of pipe or tubing known as drill pipe, the drill pipe having provided at its upper end a squared section of tubing known as the Kelly, by means of 15 which it is rotated through the medium of a rotary table. For the purpose of facilitating the penetration of the bit into the formation and to assist in holding the gas pressure in the well, it is common practice to continuously circulate 20 through the drill string and its associated parts a pressure fluid which is ordinarily known as rotary mud.

In most formations it has been found extremely difficult to maintain a vertical course during the 25 operation of a rotary drill of the class described above, and it has become a recent practice in oil well drilling operations to survey the well from time to time to determine whether or not the bit is advancing along a vertical line or is deviating ³⁰ from its proper course. The usual procedure followed in surveying wells requires the removal of the drill string and necessitates lowering a surveying instrument into the well, such instrument being designed to record from time to time the ³⁵ inclination of the well at various depths.

It is the primary object of this invention to produce a device which is not necessarily a surveying instrument in that it produces record showing the direction and degree of the declina⁴⁰ tion of the well at various points, but which will indicate to the operator at any time during the drilling operation whether or not the well is vertical. If such an indication shows the well to be declining from the vertical, the operator may ⁴⁵ raise the bit to a point at which the drill pipe is vertical and by spinning the same rapidly and at the same time lowering it into the well, he may change the course of the hole so that the continued advance of the bit will be along a vertical ^ϋ line. In the event the formation at the point at which the well leaves a vertical course is extreme-ly hard and the operation described above is not successful in straightening the hole, it is pos₅₅ sible to cement the hole at this point and drill the same over again to obtain the desired results.

Both of the processes described above are common practice in oil well drilling operations.

It is a feature of primary importance in the device contemplated by this invention that it does not require the removal of the bit from the 60 well to determine whether or not the drill pipe is vertical, and it is a further noteworthy feature of this invention that the contemplated results are accomplished through the medium of the circulating fluid. 65

The device contemplated by this invention may be thought of as comprising means operated by the circulating fluid and actuated by a pendulum or other gravity actuated mechanism for giving a sensible indication at the ground surface when 70 the drill pipe in the region occupied by the instrument deviates from a vertical course.

The device is of simple form and construction, it does not obstruct the flow of circulating fluid through the drill pipe, and it may be used at any 75 predetermined time for the purpose of determining whether or not the drill pipe is vertical.

In a preferred form of our invention disclosed in the present application, the indicating means referred to above are of an audible nature. In 80 other words, the instrument is constructed so as to give an audible signal when it is inclined from the vertical. The device may also be constructed so that the signal is given when the instrument is in a vertical position. 85

The details in the construction of a preferred embodiment of our invention, together with other objects attending its production, will be best understood from the following description of the accompanying drawing, which is chosen for illus- ⁰⁰trative purposes only, and in which

Fig. 1 is an elevational view showing a part of a rotary oil well drilling machine and illustrating the manner in which the device contemplated by our invention may be used therein; ⁸⁵

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional elevation showing the details in the construction of a preferred embodiment of our invention;

- Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional elevation show- j₀₀ing the details in the construction of the gravity actuated mechanism which is employed for controlling the operation of the audible indicating means;.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged elevational view show- 105 ing a preferred form of ratchet member which is used in conjunction with the audible indicating means;

Fig. 5 is a plan view taken in the direction of the arrow 5 in Fig. 4; HO,

1,079,481 and the top surface of the bottom plug 34. The ratchet engagement member is held against rotation in the housing by a key or screw 44 which extends inwardly into the housing with its inner end projecting into a slot 45 formed in the 80 ratchet engagement member.

It will be seen from the construction so far described that the downward movement of circulating fluid through the barrel 25 and past , the rotor 46 will be effective to revolve the rotor 85 and will consequently bring about a relative rotation between the ratchet member and the ratchet engagement member causing vibrations which will be transmitted through the circulating fluid and the drill pipe to the surface of the SO ground where it can be amplified to produce a blinking noise through the vibration amplifying means indicated at 18.

In order that the device described above may be utilized as a means for indicating whether or 95 not the instrument is vertical, it is necessary to provide some mechanism for holding the ratchet • engagement member and the ratchet member Against relative movement, either when the well is vertical or when it is inclined from-the ver- 100 tical. In this form of our invention the mechanism last referred to consists of: means for holding the rotor against rotation when the well is vertical, such means being actuated by a pendulum which is associated with a spline coupling 105 and is arranged so as to permit relative rotation of the ratchet member and the ratchet engagement member when the well is inclined from the vertical. x

In the form of our invention shown in the HO drawing this mechanism last referred to above consists of a plurality of splines 50 which are shown as being formed upon the lower end portion of the head member 32. The upper end of the ratchet member 38 is provided with a plu- US rality of splines 51 which are arranged so as to be forced into interengagement with the splines 50 by the coil spring 41. The normal position of the ratchet member 38 with respect to the head member 32 is shown in Fig. 3, but it wifi be understood 120 that the downward component of the pressure of the circulating fluid upon the vanes 37 of the rotor 46 is effective to overcome the resistance offered by the spring 41 and to move the splines 51 downwardly from the splines 50 to a point at which the radial component of the circulating fluid against the vanes of the rotor can effect a rotation of the rotor and a consequent relative movement between the ratchet and the ratchet engagement member.

From this construction it will be seen that it is only necessary to provide some means for resisting the downward component of the circulating fluid pressure against the vanes of the rotor either when the instrument is vertical or is inclined from the vertical. Such means are shown as consisting of a pendulum 53. The pendulum 53 hp,s a notch 53α provided in its upper end portion and this notch contains a transverse pin 53b which is recessed in its mid portion where it engages an eye 55 formed on the lower end of a supporting pin 54. The lower end of the pendulum 53 is shown as being provided with a downwardly extending pin 56, the bottom of which has a recess 57 formed therein, such recess being adapted to receive the upper end 58 of a stationary pin 59 which is mounted on the mid portion of the bottom plug 34. When the instrument is vertical, the downward movement of the rotor and its associated parts in the manner

Fig. 6 is an inverted plan view taken in the direction of the arrow 6 in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 7 is a partial sectional elevation taken through the pendulum support in a plane at right 5 angles to the section shown in Fig. 3.

More particularly describing the invention as herein illustrated, reference numeral 11 indicates a bore hole which contains a casing 12 and has a dri? pipe or drill stem 13 suspended therein. The 10 lower end portion of the drill stem 13 is provided with a drill bit 14. Reference numeral 15 indicates an indicating device of the type contemplated by this invention. The upper end of the drill pipe 13 is equipped with a squared section of tubing 13' which is known as the Kelly and which extends upwardly through a Kelly bushing provided in the rotary table 16. The top of the Kelly 13' is shown as being equipped with the usual type of swivel circulating head 17, into which pressure fluid is delivered from any suitable source through a hose 17'. Reference numeral 18 iridicates an electric Vibration amplifier which has an engagement member 19 adapted to be placed upon the pipe when the indicating instrument 15 is in use. The vibrations or signals transmitted from the instrument through the pipe 13 to the engagement member 19 are amplified through the amplifier 19', which is shown as being equipped with a speaker or with head phones, as indicated by reference numeral 20.

The details in the construction of the indicating instrument are best illustrated in Figs. 2 to 6, inclusive, where the instrument is shown as embodying a barrel 25 adapted to receive subs 26 and 27 at its opposite ends whereby it is attached to or interposed in the drill pipe 13. The upper end portion of the barrel 25 is provided With a spider 28 which has a central aperture 29 adapted to slidably receive the upper end portion of a rotor shaft 30. The lower end portion of the rotor shaft 30 is slidably and rotatably received in a bearing passage 31 formed in a head 32 which is mounted in the upper end of a pendulum housing 33. The lower end of the pendulum housing 33 is internally threaded to receive a base plug 34. The housing 33 is supported in the barrel 25 by means of a flange 35 which is formed on the base plug 34 and is shown as being in threaded engagement with the lower threaded end of the barrel. The flange 35 is provided with apertures 35' to permit the passage of circulation fluid. The upper end portion of the housing 33 is held against side movement in the barrel by means of a plurality of outwardly projecting fingers or lugs 36 which are formed on the head member 32.

The rotor shaft 30 is provided with a plurality of vanes 37, the periphery of such vanes being in sliding engagement with the bore of the barrel 25. These vanes, in combination with the rotor shaft 30, will be hereinafter referred to as a rotor 46.

The lower end of the rotor shaft which projects downwardly into the pendulum housing 33 is provided with a ratchet member 38, such member being rigidly attached below a shoulder on the lower end of the shaft 30 with a key 39. The bottom surface of the ratchet member 38 is provided with a plurality of teeth 40 which are arranged so as to engage teeth 41 formed upon the upper surface of a ratchet engagement member 42. The ratchet engagement member 42 is held in yielding engagement with the ratchet member 38 by a spring 43 which is interposed between the lower edge of the ratchet engagement member

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1,979,481 pointed out above will bring the recess 57 into engagement with the upper end 58 of the stationary pin 59 and the position of these last mentioned members is such that this engagement is 5 effective to hold the splines 50 and 51 in interengagement, thus preventing the rotation of, the rotor when the instrument is vertical. It will be noted that the eye and pin mechanism forms a single point suspension for the pendulum and 10 that the notch is of sufficient width to permit universal movement of the pendulum.’ In the event the instrument is inclined slightly from the vertical (one degree in the preferred form of our invention), the pressure of the circulating fluid 15. upon the vanes of the rotor forces the same downward, and the pin 56 on the pendulum clears the stationary pin 59, permitting the splines to be disengaged and consequently permitting the rotor to revolve the ratchet member, effecting an audi20 ble signal through the amplifying system at the surface of the ground. It should also be observed that the eye 55 is slightly larger than the pin 53b so that the ratchet engagement member may vibrate relative to the pendulum during the 25 operation of the instrument.

In actual practice this instrument may be used as often as desired. The time required for determining whether or not the bit is advancing in a vertical line is very short, since the only opera30 tions necessary are to momentarily stop the operation of the rotary table, raise the bit slightly off of the formation, stop the pump, relieving the rotor vanes of a downward pressure component and permitting pendulum engagement members 35 57 and 59 to be forced out of engagement by the spring 43, and then place a pressure upon the circulating fluid by starting the pump. If the clicking sound produced by the ratchet against the ratchet engagement member is heard through 4C the sound amplifying means 18, the operator knows that the well i§ deviating from ths vertical and may take the necessary steps or precautions to straighten the same. If no such signal is received, he knows that the well is following a ver45 tical course and may proceed with the drilling in the usual manner.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that the device contemplated by this invention is of simple form and construction; there is 5C no part subjected to excessive wear; the instrument may bs embodied in the drill pipe and remain therein until the well is finished; it does not require the use of special surveying instruments which necessitate removing the bit and the 55 drill pipe from the well, and although it is not designed to indicate the direction and degree of inclination, it has a more valuble function in that it makes possible the drilling of a vertical bore hole.

CC It is to be understood that while we have herein described and illustrated one preferred form of our invention, the invention is not limited to the precise construction described above, but includes within its scope whatever changes fairly come 65 within the spirit of the appended claims.