Tool for aiding the assembly of drill stabilizer to the drill collar when up the bottom hole assembly

Abstract

An apparatus and method for interconnecting a drill collar and a stabilizer in axial alignment is disclosed. The tool includes an upper plate and a lower plate held in spaced, parallel relationship to one another with the upper plate having a plurality of peripheral holes around it. A plurality of rods project between the upper and lower plates, each one of the rods being mounted at a bottom end to the lower plate and inserted adjacent its top end in sliding relationship through one of the peripheral holes in the upper plate. A spring is placed around each of the rods for biasing the top plate away from the lower plate, and an attachment pin projects downwardly from the lower plate for insertion into a kelly pin hole on an oil rig. A stabilizing pin projects upwardly from the upper plate, and a rotatable plate is rotatably secured to that stabilizing pin intermediate the ends of the stabilizing pin. A heavy stabilizer having an internally threaded end can then be placed on the rotatable plate, and a drill collar with an externally threaded end can be brought into axial alignment with the threaded end of the stabilizer. While the stabilizing pin holds the stabilizer in an upright position, the rotatable plate is rotated to threadably engage the drill collar and stabilizer. The rotatable plate is spring biased and therefore yields in response to heavy loads imposed upon it, thereby allowing the stabilizer and drill collar to be threadably interconnected without damaging the threads.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.