Method and apparatus for rotary power driven swivel drilling

A drill pipe handling device for aligning an output shaft of a rotary powered drive system with a drill pipe for make up in a substantially horizontal orientation, said drill pipe handling device including:

• a base;
• a first power actuated shaft attached to said base;
• an output shaft receiving collar on said first power actuated shaft;
• first sensor means for delivering the orientation of the output shaft resting within said output shaft receiving collar and generating a first signal that is a function of that orientation;
• a second power actuated shaft attached to said base;
• a drill pipe receiving collar on said second power actuated shaft;
• sensor means for determining the orientation of the drill pipe resting within drill pipe receiving collar and generating a second signal that is a function thereof;
• alignment means for controlling the extension and contraction of the first and second power actuated shafts;
• means for comparing the first signal to the second signal and controlling the alignment means to bring the drill pipe and output shaft into alignment for make up;
• said first and second power actuated shafts comprising first and second hydraulic cylinders respectively, each rigidly and orthogonally mounted to the base;
• and
• said first sensor means including:
• a first sensor in contact with the output shaft adjacent to the first power actuated shaft and disposed for vertical displacement as a function of the orientation of the output shaft;
• means for generating a first sensor signal as a function of the vertical displacement of the first sensor;
• a second sensor in contact with the output shaft which is adjacent to the first power actuated shaft and spaced from the first sensor, said second sensor being disposed for vertical displacement as a function of the orientation of the output shaft;
• means for generating a second sensor signal as a function of the vertical displacement to the second sensor;
• and
• means for comparing the first sensor signal with the second sensor signal in generating a first signal which is a function of the angular orientation of the output shaft with respect to the horizontal.