US 5,498,120 AGranted

Mud pan apparatus

OwnerDaniel B. Adamsinventor

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Abstract

A mud pan apparatus provided for use in combination with a well drilling device. The mud pan apparatus includes a housing having a bottom, opposed sidewalls and opposed end walls. Together, the bottom, sidewalls and end wall of the housing form a reservoir which is adapted to receive a slurry laden with earth deposits produced during the well drilling operation. A plurality of sprockets are rotatably mounted on opposite sidewalls of the housing and a chain that is provided around each set of sprockets. A plurality of space scrapers are secured to the chains so that the scrapers extend between the chains and thus across the bottom of the housing. A motor rotatably drives the pulleys which causes the scrapers to move along the bottom of the housing and up one side of the housing to thereby remove earth deposits from the housing and onto the ground.

Claims7

Dependent claims

In combination with a mud pan apparatus a well drilling apparatus for drilling a well hole comprising:

a housing having a bottom, opposed sidewalls and opposed end walls which, together, define a reservoir,
said reservoir having an inlet adapted to receive slurry laden with earth deposits via means from the well hole and a fluid outlet for recycling the slurry, via second means back to the well hole,
means attached to said housing for automatically removing the earth deposits from the bottom of said housing, wherein said removing means comprises
a pair of endless members,
means for movably mounting said endless members to said opposed sidewalls of said housing so that said endless members are spaced apart and parallel to each other,
a plurality of scrapers secured between said endless members at spaced intervals therealong,
means for movably driving said endless members so that said scrapers engage the earth deposits along the bottom of said housing and dump the earth deposits exteriorly of said housing adjacent one of said housing end walls.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.