Plunger with plunger ball retention mechanism for plunger lift applications

Abstract

A plunger ball retention mechanism has an annular ring and inwardly projecting prongs coupled to the annular ring. The plunger ball retention mechanism can couple to the plunger sleeve of a plunger assembly, and the inwardly projecting prongs engage and retain a plunger ball within the plunger sleeve. The plunger ball retention mechanism can have resilient legs with the inwardly projecting prongs thereon, or the inwardly projecting prongs can be portions of a wave spring, or the annular ring can have alternating band and plate portions where the plate portions are connected to the inwardly projecting prongs, or the plunger ball retention mechanism can have a second annular ring and the inwardly projecting prongs are connected to both the annular ring and the second annular ring.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.