Drilling machine having a rotary head guide
AssigneeIngersoll-Rand Company
InventorDonald W. Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The drilling machine of the present invention includes a frame, a tower, a rotary head, and a rotary head guide. The tower is mounted on the frame and includes an elongated member. The rotary head is engageable with the drill string and slidably coupled to the elongated member for movement along the tower. The rotary head guide includes a support, a wear block, a backing bar, and an adjustment mechanism. The support is coupled to the rotary head, the wear block is slidably engaged with the elongated member, and the backing bar is coupled between the wear block and the support. The adjustment mechanism is coupled to the support and engages the backing bar such that adjustment of the adjustment mechanism moves the backing bar away from the support to move the wear block against the elongated member.
Claims22
A drilling machine for use with a drill string, the drilling machine comprising:
- a frame supported for movement over the ground;
- a tower mounted on the frame and defining a longitudinal axis, the tower including an elongated member that extends parallel to the longitudinal axis;
- a rotary head engageable with the drill string for rotating the drill string;
- a rotary head guide slidably coupled to the elongated member for movement along the tower, the rotary head guide including
- a support coupled to the rotary head;
- a wear block slidably engaged with the elongated member,
- a backing bar coupled between the wear block and the support, and
- an adjustment mechanism coupled to the support and engaging the backing bar such that adjustment of the adjustment mechanism moves the backing bar away from the support to move the wear block against the elongated member;
- and
- a guide stud connected to the support, wherein the wear block and the backing bar include apertures, the guide stud extending through the apertures of the wear block and the backing bar to maintain the alignment of the wear block and the backing bar relative to each other and relative to the support.
A drilling machine for use with a drill string, the drilling machine comprising:
- a frame supported for movement over the around;
- a tower mounted on the frame and defining a longitudinal axis, the tower including an elongated member that extends parallel to the longitudinal axis;
- a rotary head engageable with the drill string for rotating the drill string;
- and
- a rotary head guide slidably coupled to the elongated member for movement along the tower, the rotary head guide including:
- a support coupled to the rotary head;
- a wear block slidably engaged with the elongated member,
- a backing bar coupled between the wear block and the support, and
- an adjustment mechanism coupled to the support and engaging the backing bar such that adjustment of the adjustment mechanism moves the backing bar away from the support to move the wear block against the elongated member,
- wherein the elongated member includes front, side, and rear faces, and wherein the rotary head guide include two additional wear blocks, wherein each of the wear blocks of the rotary head guide slidably engages a respective one of the front face, the side face and the rear face of the elongated member.
A drilling machine for use with a drill string, the drilling machine comprising:
- a frame supported for movement over the ground;
- a tower mounted on the frame and defining a longitudinal axis, the tower including an elongated member that extends parallel to the longitudinal axis;
- a rotary head engageable with the drill string for rotating the drill string;
- and
- a rotary head guide slidably coupled to the elongated member for movement along the tower, the rotary head guide including:
- a support coupled to the rotary head;
- a wear block slidably engaged with the elongated member,
- a backing bar coupled between the wear block and the support, and
- an adjustment mechanism coupled to the support and engaging the backing bar such that adjustment of the adjustment mechanism moves the backing bar away from the support to move the wear block against the elongated member,
- wherein the rotary head guide includes first and second wear block assemblies coupled to the support and engageable with the elongated member, wherein the first and second wear block assemblies are positioned in an end to end relationship in the direction of the longitudinal axis such that one of either the first and second wear block assemblies can be adjusted to engage the elongated member and support the rotary head to allow maintenance to be performed on the other wear block assembly, wherein the rotary head includes first and second ends substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, the first wear block assembly at least partially extends past the first end of the rotary head and the second wear block assembly at least partially extends past the second end of the rotary head.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.