US2592197A - Side-plug hydraulic cellar gate - Google Patents

Description

Patented Apr. 8, 1952 UN [TED iiSTATES PATENT OFFICE 2,592,197

' SIDE-PLUG HYDRAULIC CELLAR GATE :Erank J Schweitzer, .In Brea rCalif. appiicati n'octobe'r 27, 1947,;sefia1 mrvsaass il-Claim.

This invention is-a cellar-control gate; that'is, it is a form of valve used in'deepwell operations to make a complete-shut off of fluid flow ina well casing, or to close onto an installedproduction pipe in a well. Control gates of this general type include inner closure or ram assemblies "which are often operatedby hydraulic or other fluid pressure. A serious" objection to some formsof" pressure fluid operated gates is the great amount of time and labor involved in assembling the rams and their attached power source and the usual practice of removing the piston and its pressure chamber whenever a ram" assembly is removed for any reason .Moreover, such .a ram and power plant hook-up makes for constructional expense.

Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a cellar control gate and power hook-up which wholly eliminates the need of dismounting the power plant merely to enable the insertion, adjustment or removal of a gate assembly. A further object of the invention is to provide a control valve or gate structurein which the ram assembly is of such form of installation in the gate shell that the assembly can be laterally shifted from the shell at will while its fluid operated power plant remains permanently sealed in its normal place of attachment on and to the shell.

Also, an object of the invention is to provide for the easy, safe and effective intercoupling of the removable ram assembly, and for the ready disconnection of the assembly, as to its operating piston or other actuating device, as the case may be. And, in this connection, it is an object to provide a ram connection of such type that there are no extraneous fasteners, couplings or specially adjustable hitching parts included, or needing manipulation.

To secure simplicity, low cost of construction and utmost ease of interconnecting a gate assembly, as it is installed, and as easy removal, a feature of the invention is to provide a connecting device of such a form that it is only necessary to bodily shift a ram assembly into its normal position in the gate shell whereby to secure full, reliable and direct interconnection of the assembly to a complementary part of the fixed, sealed and readied power plant.

The invention resides in certain advancements in this art as set forth in the ensuing disclosure and having, with the above, additional objects and advantages as hereinafter developed, and whose constructions, combinations and detail of means and the manner of operation will be made Figure-4 is-a sectional-detail IKE-139) longitudinal section and of the ramassembly=and piston rod connection.

" Theillustrated control gate embodies a substantial, 'cuboidal main body or shell 2 having top and bottom faces 3 and 4 for attachment of desired well head fittings, not shown. A large bore hole 5 passes from-top to bottom of the shell for receptionof tools or pipe, as needed. The bore hole is -intersected by an upper chamber 6 in which is longitudinally operative a pair of opposed and cooperative closure or-gate assemblies, of which only the right-hand assembly 1 is shown and which is of a form to close tightly onto a pipe when disposed (centrally) in the shell bore hole 5.

In a lower longitudinal chamber 8 is operative a pair of opposed and cooperative ram assemblies 9, of which only the right-hand one is shown; Fig. 1, being in outer operational position as to the hole 5. The ram assembly 1 is shown in Fig. 2 in its innermost position.

Rigidly fixed on opposite ends of the shell 2 are dual, right-hand and left hand cylinder blocks Ill and H, which are substantially permanently installed in that they do not have to be removed either for installation or removal of the mentioned ram assemblies. In the upper cylinder chambers l2 of the said blocks are power pistons l3 (only the right-hand one being shown). The piston l3 has a rigidly affixed piston rod 14 working through its chamber wall [5. The rod I4 is axially threaded at Hit and receives a complementary threaded portion of a tail-rod l6 extending axially from the piston l3 and through the cylinder head ll; its outer end being flattened at l6f for application of a tool whereby to rotate the rod and effect axial motion of the piston rod l4, when and if necessary.

A distinguishing feature of this invention is the construction and arrangement of parts for the reliable connection of each piston in the control gate to its relative control valve or ram as- 3 sembly, and for the insertion or removal of any gate ram assembly from the shell 2 without disturbing the rigidly attached power cylinder blocks; which may be integral with the shell if desired.

Therefore One side of the shell is provided with a suitable number of windows 20, one for each ram assembly is very practical, one longitudinal pair of the windows opening into the upper valve chamber 6 and the lower pair opening into the lower chamber 8, so that each window will ex- Pose its respective, installed assembly. Each window is tightly closeable by its respective plug 21 which is fixable by bolts 22.

Means are provided whereby to interconnect each ram assembly to its respective piston rod by the mere straight shift of an assembly in through its shell window and into the intersecting upper or lower valve chamber, as the case may be; disconnection is had by an opposite or extracting operation of the ram assembly. The description of one such connection will suflice for all since they are alike. Each ram assembly includes a body block (9) Fig. 4, having a T- section channel 90 provided in and along its face opposite the inwardly projecting end of its relative piston rod. Each such rod has a rectangular, transverse head or spline 25, Fig. 4, slidably fitting in the presented channel 90 of an assembly as such a block is pushed in through a window 20 while the piston spline 25 is at the outer and registering position to enter the near end of the block channel 90, Fig. 3.

The spline 25 thus constitutes a device slidably interlocking the inner end of a piston rod to an assembly block and prevents the piston rod from rotating with the tail rod I6 should it be necessary at any time to effect outward movement of an assembly 9, as in the absence of motive pressure fluid in a piston chamber.

The open gate 9', Fig. 3, is in register with the window 20 and its top and bottom faces aline with and are guided by the cooperative, respec tive inside top and bottom guide faces of the chamber 8, as seen in Fig. 2, at gate 9. The top 4 and bottom faces of the gate 8-9 fit the respective faces of the window 20 whose top and bottom faces are coplanar with the gate guide faces as clearly seen in Fig. 2, at gate 9.

Normally the gate assemblies are shifted in either direction by operation of the power pistons, in which event the tail rods merely reciprocate with the pistons (without screw function). Each gate ram assembly has its own power piston, and either upper or lower pair of the assemblies can be power driven concurrently if desired.

The principle of lateral insertion or removal of the several ram assemblies without need of removal of any part of the actuating pistons and cylinders, or their rods, and the manner and the means of connecting each assembly to its rod is made clear in the above disclosure.

What is claimed is:

A side-closing, well cellar gate assembly characterized by and including a shell having a flow hole from top to bottom and a gate chamber opening laterally from said hole and having inner top and bottom gate guiding faces and a ram gate slidably fitting said faces and having an axis of motion at a right angle to the axis of said hole for opening and closing functions; said shell having a side window whose top and bottom faces are coplanar with said chamber faces and said window being located at the locale of valve open position in the shell, and a side closure for the window.

FRANK J. SCHWEITZER, JR.

" REFERENCES CITED The following references are'of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name. Date 1,565,650 Kee Dec. 15, 1925 1,858,927 Gray May 17, 1932 2,035,319 Hughes Mar. 24, 1936 2,154,955 Mueller Apr. 18, 1939 2,282,363 King May 12, 1942

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