Apparatus for suspending and spinning pipe

This apparatus grips and carries the weight of a suspended stand of pipe being added to a lowering vertical pipe string. The apparatus receives the end of a tilted pipe which, as it is hoisted, pivots towards a vertical position. The weight of the pipe is supported in a generally U-shaped block suspended below a travelling block in a hoisting derrick. As the pipe is hoisted the U-shaped block pivots towards a horizontal position and the weight of the pipe is increasingly supported by a thrust bearing on the block. When the pipe is aligned with the pipe string and stabbed into position, drive rollers engage the outside of the pipe and spin the pipe threads into engagement. Idler rollers and the thrust bearing are retracted to permit the pipe to enter the U-shaped opening in the block. The entire block is retracted laterally from the center line of the derrick to permit the pipe joint to pass. During removal of pipe from the pipe string the apparatus operates in reverse.