Electrical jumper for a producing oil well

An electrical jumper in combination with a producing well comprising an oil field downhole having an electric voltage source, a plurality of interconnected conduit sections including a hollow casing having an electrical connection to said voltage source, and at least one hollow foramenous liner, said conduit sections being interconnected by joints, the bore of said liner being longitudinally aligned with the bore of said casing,

• said interconnected conduit sections being electrically conductive to provide a path of electrical conductivity extending from said electrical connection along the length of said producing well to said foramenous liner, at least one of said joints being impaired so as to impede the path of electrical conductivity across said impaired joint, said electrical jumper being positioned to bridge said impaired joint to insure full electrical conductivity between first and second interconnected conduit sections on opposite sides of said impaired joint and comprising
• a first tubing mounted in a first interconnected conduit section,
• a second tubing mounted in a second interconnected conduit section,
• said first and second tubings being composed of an electrically conductive material,
• a plurality of centering devices mounted on each of said first and second tubings,
• each centering device consisting of a pair of rings surrounding the tubing and an array of bow springs bridging between the rings and biased to bow outwardly from the tubing into contact with the bore of the associated interconnected conduit section,
• at least the first of said two rings being electrically and mechanically connected to the tubing, and
• each bow spring of said array having supplemental electrical contacts electrically connected to said electrically connected ring,
• the second of said two rings being adapted to be displaced longitudinally of the tubing relative to said connected ring, so that the outer diameter of the array of bow springs may expand or contract to maintain said electrical contacts in operative engagement with the bore of the associated interconnected conduit section.