Wedge lock stabilizer
OwnerWilliam R. Garrettinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A drill string stabilizer in which the wall-contacting wear elements are secured in their accommodating slots by an undercut along each side and a tapered wedge-receiving notch along the underneath side for accepting one or more wedge pieces. In one embodiment, the tapered notch is along the side of an axially elongate slot and a plurality of wedges are located in securing position along one side. In another embodiment, there are tapered notches along the center between two separated sections of wear elements. In a third embodiment, the slot for the wear elements is not axially elongated but on a spiral angle. In a fourth embodiment, a pluraity of short wear elements are employed end-to-end, each with its own wedge piece and each also located on a thrust-bearing and locating pin.
Claims14
A drill string stabilizer for accommodating and retaining a plurality of replaceable wear elements thereabout for contacting the surface of the borehole during drill string operation,
- said stabilizer having a body including a plurality of longitudinal slots of substantially uniform width, each of said slots being undercut to either side so that the width dimension at the surface of the stabilizer body is narrower than the undercut width,
- at least one wear element fitting into each of said slots and conforming, on the underneath side thereof, at least on one side, with the undercut portion thereof,
- the underneath side of said wear element also including a surface at a non-parallel angle with respect to the sides of said slot, said non-parallel angled surface including an undercut surface along at least a portion thereof, and
- at least one tapered wedge bearing against said angled surface for holding said element in said slot and fitting at least in part within the undercut surface of said non-parallel angled surface and lying beneath the wear surface of said wear element.
A drill string stabilizer for accommodating and retaining a plurality of replaceable wear elements thereabout for contacting the surface of the borehole during drill string operation,
- said stabilizer having a body including a plurality of longitudinal slots of substantially uniform width, each of said slots being undercut to either side so that the width dimension at the surface of the stabilizer body is narrower than the undercut width,
- at least one wear element fitting into each of said slots and conforming, on the underneath side thereof, at least on one side, with the undercut portion thereof,
- the underneath side of said wear element also including a surface at a non-parallel angle with respect to the sides of said slot, and
- at least one tapered wedge bearing against said angled surface for holding said element in said slot said wear element including first and second longitudinal sections,
- said first section having a side conforming with a first undercut side of said slot and said second section having a side conforming with the second undercut side of said slot,
- said angled surface being at least one of the underneath facing surfaces of said first and second sections,
- said tapered wedge bearing outwardly against both said first and second sections.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.