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US 4,108,245 AGranted
Well cable stop for stripping operations
OwnerLucien J. Babineauxinventor
Life of this patent
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OwnerLucien J. Babineauxinventor
Estimating the term…
A tubular sleeve structure defining an upwardly opening socket and including peripherally spaced inwardly retractable and spring biased outwardly projecting stop lugs is provided for positioning above and downward abutting engagement with a stop sleeve secured in the top of an overshot tool to be passed downwardly into a well bore over the supporting cable for a tool stuck in the well bore. An abutment is provided for securement to the cable from which the stuck tool is supported with the abutment positioned on the cable above the rig floor and closely below the portion of the cable to be engaged by upper and lower clamping as additional sections of pipe are added to the string of pipe by which the overshot is being lowered into the well bore over the cable. In the event the upper and lower clamping process of the cable experiences a malfunction and the cable is dropped downwardly through the tubing supporting the overshot, the abutment will abut the tubular sleeve structure supported at the bottom of the pipe string from the overshot tool and seat within the upwardly opening socket defined by the sleeve structure to thereby prevent the abutment and the cable to which the abutment is attached from falling further downwardly through the pipe string.
In combination, a sleeve assembly for disposition about a stuck tool support cable immediately above a tubing string supported overshot passed downwardly over said cable during a stripping operation, said sleeve assembly including inwardly retractable outwardly projecting abutment means for engagement with the overshot and support of said sleeve assembly therefrom, and an abutment assembly for removable secure attachment to said cable adjacent the upper end thereof, said sleeve and abutment assemblies including upper and downwardly facing abutment surfaces, respectively, engageable with each other to stop and thereby limit a downward movement of said abutment assembly in the event the cable is dropped and the latter and the abutment assembly fall during the stripping operation, thereby catching the dropped cable by the engagement of the abutment assembly thereon with the overshot supported sleeve assembly and enabling the dropped cable and abutment assembly to be retrieved when the tubing string is pulled from the associated well.
The method of preventing accidental loss of a stuck tool support cable down a well bore during a "stripping" operation wherein a tubing string is lowered down into the bore over the cable with a tubular overshot supported from its lower end for engagement with the stuck tool, whereby the tool may be freed and upwardly retrieved with the tubing string to the surface, said method including supporting a tubular stop sleeve from within the overshot through which the cable is freely slidable, and mounting an abutment on the upper end portion of the cable against shifting therealong and with the abutment of a size sufficiently small to freely receive said tubing sections thereover and yet sufficiently large to prevent its passage through said tubular stop sleeve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.