US2753943A - Control device for well tools - Google Patents

Description

July 10, 1956 c. K. MORGAN CONTROL DEVICE FOR WELL TOOLS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 27, 1952 July 10, 1956 c. K. MORGAN CONTROL DEVICE FOR WELL TOOLS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 27, 1952 INVENTOR. GHIQELES l6. MOEGZQH United States Patent CONTROL DEVICE FOR WELL TOGLS Charles K. Morgan, Sierra Madre, Califi, assignor, by

mesne assignments, to Lane-Wells Company, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application June 27, 1952, Serial No. 295,977

8 Claims. (Cl. 166-216) surface operations and installations in well boreholes.

One of the best known of such control devices is the so- -ca1led J pinand slot'arrangement employed in connection with the control cage apparatus usually associated with various types of packers, liner hangers, and the like devices. Such J pin slot types of control means and the like lock and latch mechanisms are usually employed to position and to maintain certain elements of the apparatus or-tool in given relative positions at certain times such as that, for example, required during the running-in of a given tool into the well casing, and the subsequent manipulation thereof While in a remote location within the Well to release certain elements required to permit a given action or operation in the well, such as, for example, to set the slips of a packer or liner, control a valve or other flow device, or fire a perforator gun.

In control devices, such as the J pin and slot latching mechanisms as heretofore employed in connection with hook wail type packers, for example, it has been more 'or less conventional practice to design such apparatus to be actuated by turning the running-in tubing string or drill pipe upon which the tool is suspended in the well borehole to the right and to the left to respectively place it in latched and unlatched condition. The reverse order of action may obtain in certain cases, but, in any event, with the conventional latching mechanism, it is usually necessary to turn the tubing or drill string to the left at some stage of the manipulation thereof in the Well. The tubing or drill pipe strings upon which such apparatus are suspended are usually made up of sections coupled together by right-hand threaded joints. Less frequently, left-hand threaded joints may be employed for certain purposes, but regardless of the type of the threaded connections employed, whether right-hand or left-hand, the turning of the tubing string in the direction opposite to the hand of the threads employed in the couplings is necessary at some stage of the manipulation of the conventional J slot type of control device, and this tends to unscrew the joints and may possibly result in the disconnection of one or more of the tubing or drill pipe sections. The turning of the tubing or drill pipes counter to the threaded couplings is particularly dangerous in a crooked well borehole or under other conditions which impose relatively high friction to the rotation of the tubing or pipe. Many long and costly fishing operations have resulted from the disconnection of couplings under the foregoing conditions.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to eliminate the hereinbefore-mentioned dangers by providing a well apparatus control device which can be actuated throughout its full cycle of operation without the neces- 2,753,943 Patented July 10, 1956 sity for turning the tubular string or drill pipe upon which it is suspended in a direction tending to loosen or unscrew the couplings.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a well apparatus control device which can be actuated throughout its full cycle of operative steps by rotation of the tubing or drill string in one direction only.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a well apparatus control device to perform the service heretofore performed by the conventional J type of latching device, but in which the parts can be actuated between latched and unlatched position by means of rotation "of the tubular supporting string in one direction only.

Other objects, advantages, and features of novelty Will be apparent and brought out more fully hereinafter.

In the drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, and in which like reference numerals designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal View, partly in section, of the bridging plug assembly as it appears just 'prior to being set in a well borehole or casing;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detail View, partly in longitudinal section, of the lower portion of the tool shown in Figure 1, the section being taken along line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1, showing the bridging plug after being set in a well casing;

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view in longitudinal section, taken along line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary elevational view showing the latching collar portion of the tool; and

Figure 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view, taken along line 77 of Figure 6.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the tool of this invention is shown in association with a packer which is conventional and not part of the tool, the packer being adapted to be lowered in a well bore or casing C and having a cage sleeve 10., the lower end of which is open and in which a mandrel i1 is positioned, the mandrel having a lower end portion 12 which extends out below the lower open end of sleeve it). A slip cone member 47 is suitably mounted on mandrel Y11 and carries a plurality of slips 48 secured to slip reins 49 connected to cage sleeve 10. A packer sleeve 56 is slidable on mandrel 11 and with respect to slip cone member 47, and a plurality of deformable packer rings 51 are carried by sleeve 56 between a valve seat 52 thereon and slip cone member '47. A head 53 secures a valve 54 at the upper end of mandrel 11 for seating on valve seat 52.

The lower end 12 of the mandrel 11 has external threads 13 for engagement with internal threads 14 of a sub 15, which is functionally a part of the mandrel, the lower end of the sub being fonned with threads '16 for attachment thereto of pipe, tubing, or a tool of any desired type. Sub 15 is formed with an enlargement 17 providing an annular shoulder 18, the enlargement 17 being either an integral part of the sub .or comprising a collar secured thereto, as by welding as shown at 17a in Figure'Z, or in any other equivalent manner. The upper end of sub 15 provides an annular shoulder 20, the purpose of which will be more fully explained. hereinafter, and the upper end of the sub is also formed with external righthand threads 21, which are square-cut, as shown. The lower end portion of mandrel 11 has .a reduced external diameter, forming a shoulder 22. 7

A collar 23 of generally cylindrical shape .is suitably secured, as by welding as shown at 23' in Figure 2, to the lower end of'cage sleeve 10, and the lower ends of a plur ality of bowed cage springs '24 are secured to the collar 23 by screws 25 or other suitable means, the upper ends of the bowed cage springs being similarly secured to an upper collar 23a slidably carried by the cage sleeve 10. The lower end of the collar 23 forms an annular shoulder 26, and a stop element 27 is suitably secured to or formed so as to extend downwardly from shoulder 26. A similar and cooperating stop shoulder element 28 is secured to or formed so as to extend upwardly from the annular face 18 of the enlargement 17 of sub 15. Collar 23 has an internal cylindrical bore 30, the upper end of which tapers inwardly at 31. An annular sleeve 32 slidahle longitudinally on mandrel 11 serves as a cam element and has a cylindrical outer surface 33 and an upper, inwardly inclined or tapered cam surface 34 which terminates at the upper end of the sleeve, forming an annular end shoulder 35 which is engageable with shoulder 22 of the mandrel 11 during operation of the tool. Cam sleeve 32 also has a lower end portion 36 of reduced external diameter, thus forming a lower inclined cam surface 37.

Collar 23 has a cut-out window-like opening 38 extending through the wall thereof, of substantially 90 de grees of arc, as shown in Fig. 3 and an external circumferential annular groove 39 of substantially rectangular cross section is formed around the outside surface of the collar, the groove 39 ending at both ends in the cutout opening 38. An arcuately shaped nut segment 40 is dimensioned to fit into said opening 38 with only suflicient clearance to permit free radial sliding motion therethrough, and is retained therein by an external web plate 41 which extends between the upper and lower outer edge portions of the collar opening and is secured thereto as by welding 41a. The outer curved surface of nut segment 40 is formed with an undercut slot or recess 42 normally forming a circumferential extension of the before-mentioned external circumferential slot 39 in collar 23 and in which are positioned the end portions of a pair of semicircular leaf springs 43 of rectangular cross section. The springs 43 are secured to the nut segment 40 within the slot 42 by setscrews 44 and are of such size and shape as to extend from the slot 42 in the nut segment 40 around the opposite sides of the collar 23 in groove 39 therein. Nut segment 48 has internal, modified, square threads 45 and at the upper side thereof, and displaced from the adjacent endmost thread of the nut segment, an inwardly extending, arcuate projection 46 which serves as a cam follower capable of riding over cam surfaces 33, 34, and 37 of the annular cam sleeve element 32. The lower edges of threads 21 and the upper edges of threads 45 are modified in shape by being tapered inwardly, as best seen in Figure 7, to facilitate release and firm reengagement of the nut r segment 41) with respect to the sub 15.

In the operation of the invention, the packer is run or lowered into the well bore or casing C to the desired position, with the parts positioned as shown in Figures 1 and 2, rotation of the cage sleeve 16 relative to the casing C being prevented by the frictional engagement of cage bow springs 24 with the wall of the well bore or casing. The packer setting operation is then initiated by righthand rotation of mandrel 11 a suflicient number of turns to screw the threads 21 of sub 15 downward out of threads 45 of nut segment 40. During this movement, the cage collars 23 and 23a and cage sleeve 10 may be forced to move upwardly, or the mandrel may be lowered slightly, in order to permit complete disengagement and separation of the nut segment from the sub threads 21. The mandrel is then shifted downwardly to a position where shoulder 22 thereof is brought down into engagement with the shoulder 35 of cam element 32. Further downward movement of the mandrel 11 then forces the cam follower projection 46 of nut segment 40 to ride up and outwardly along cam surface 37, as best shown in Figure 7, and from there onto cam surface 33 of the annular cam element 32, in which position the nut segment 40 is moved outwardly in the opening 38 of the collar 23 such that the threads 45 of the nut segment are completely 'free of threads 21. Further downward movement of the mandrel will then push the cam element 32 downward completely through and to a position below nut segment 40, as shown in Figure 5, after which the nut segment will move radially inward in the opening 38 under the action of springs 43 into contact with the exterior surface of the mandrel. The resultant downward movement of the mandrel relative to the cage sleeve results in the lowering of the slip cone 47 into the slips 44, thereby wedging the slips into gripping engagement with the surrounding casing. Upon continued lowering of the mandrel, after thus setting the slips 48, valve 54 is seated on valve seat 52. Further downward movement of the mandrel compresses the packer rings 51, and the setting of the packer is thus completed, as shown in Figure 4.

Release of the packer is accomplished by raising the mandrel through the still-set packer, during which movement the shoulder 20 of the sub 15 is brought up into engagement with the lower end portion 36 of the annular cam element 32, while at the same time the upper cam surface 34 of the cam element is moved up into engagement with the lower end of the nut segment 40, nut segment 40 being thereby moved radially outward by the passing of cam surface 34 under the lowermost threads 45 of the nut segment, and, as projection 46 moves off the cam surface 33 and down over surface 37, the nut segment springs radially inward for reengagement of the threads 21 and 45. In the event the nut segment threads do not immediately engage the sub threads, as illustrated in Figure 7, a partial rotation of the tubing string, mandrel, and sub will efiect such engagement, and engagement of stop 28 with stop 27 will limit further rotation to prevent an overrunning of the nut segment threads by preventing the collar 23 from being drawn closer to sub shoulder 18 than an amount substantially as shown in Figure 2.

It is to be understood that the foregoing is illustrative only, and that the invention is not limited thereby, but may include various modifications and changes which maybe made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a well apparatus control device the combination comprising: an elongated mandrel; a relatively short, externally threaded portion on the exterior of said mandrel; a tubular sleeve member concentric with and shiftable longitudinally and rotationally on said mandrel; a nut segment guidedly supported by said sleeve member with limited freedom of movement laterally with respect to the longitudinal axis of said sleeve member; resilient means biasing said nut segment toward a laterally inward position relative to said sleeve member; internal threads formed on the inner side of said nut segment adapted, When so positioned, to operatively engage the threads of the said externally threaded portion of said mandrel; a concentric annular wedge member slidable longitudinally on said mandrel between a first location with one end thereof adjacent one end of said threaded portion thereof, and a second location with the opposite end thereof adjacent a stop shoulder on said mandrel spaced longitudinally from said one end of said threaded portion, said annular wedge member having a maximum outside diameter at least equal to'the outside diameter of said external threads of said threaded portion of said mandrel, and having the opposite exterior end portions thereof tapered to reduced diameter at the ends to form longitudinally oppositely facing, converging wedge surfaces, whereby, when said sleeve member and said nut segment supported thereby are moved longitudinally toward said annular wedge member and said externally threaded portion of said mandrel, said annular wedge member is urged, by contact therewith by said nut segment, first longitudinally into said first location, and said nut segment then rides up the taper of said wedge member wherewith it is moved laterally outward in opposition to said biasing means and upon continued movement rides over said wedge member to a position with the internal threads of said nut segment located opposite to and resting upon the external threads of said externally threaded portion of said mandrel; and means attached to said sleeve member for frictionally engaging a surrounding well borehole wall whereby said mandrel and said sleeve member may be moved longitudinally and rotationally relative to one another.

2. In a well apparatus control device the combination comprising: an elongated mandrel; a relatively short, externally threaded portion on the exterior of said mandrel; a tubular sleeve member concentric with and shiftable longitudinally and rotationally on said mandrel, the wall of said sleeve member having a lateral opening therethrough; a nut segment guidedly supported in said opening with limited freedom of movement laterally therein, with respect to the longitudinal axis of said sleeve member; resilient means biasing said nut segment toward a laterally inward position relative to said opening in said sleeve member; internal threads formed on the inner side of said nut segment adapted, when so positioned, to operatively engage the threads of the said externally threaded portion of said mandrel; a concentric annular wedge member slidable longiutdinally on said mandrel between a first location with one end thereof adjacent one end of said threaded portion thereof, and a second location with the opposite end thereof adjacent a stop shoulder on said mandrel spaced longitudinally from said one end of said threaded portion, said annular wedge member having a maximum outside diameter at least equal to the outside diameter of said external threads of said threaded portion of said mandrel, and having the opposite exterior end portions thereof tapered to reduced diameter at the ends to form longitudinally oppositely facing, converging wedge surfaces, whereby, when said sleeve member and said nut segment therein are moved longitudinally toward said annular wedge member and said externally threaded portion of said mandrel, said annular wedge member is urged, by contact therewith by said nut segment, first longitudinally into said first location, and said nut segment then rides up the taper of said wedge member wherewith it is moved laterally outward in opposition to said biasing means and upon conitnued movement rides over said wedge member to a position with the internal threads of said nut segment located opposite to and resting upon the external threads of said externally threaded portion of said mandrel; and means attached to said sleeve member for frictionally engaging a surrounding well borehole wall whereby said mandrel and said sleeve member may be moved longitudinally and rotationally relative to one another.

3. In a well apparatus control device the combination comprising: first and second concentric cylindrical members rotationally and longitudinally slidable relative to one another; a relatively short threaded portion on the first cylindrical member; a threaded nut segment guidedly supported by the second cylindrical member with limited freedom of movement laterally and positionable, by movement of said first and second cylindrical members relative to one another, into operative engagement and disengagement with the said threaded portion of the first cylindrical member; resilient means biasing said nut segment laterally toward said first cylindrical member; a wedge member slidable longitudinally on said first cylindrical member between a first location with one end thereof adjacent the nearest end of said threaded portion, and a second location longitudinally spaced from said first location, said wedge member being formed with its laterally opposite ends tapered to form axially oppositely facing inclined surfaces rising from the surface of said first cylindrical member, whereby, when said nut segment is moved together with said second cylindrical member toward said wedge member and said threaded portion, said wedge member is first urged by contact with said nut segment longitudinally into said first location, and then said nut segment rides up the taper and over the body of said wedge member in opposition to said biasing means, to a position with the threads of said nut segment positioned opposite to and resting upon the threads of said threaded portion of said first cylindrical member; and means by which said pair of concentric cylindrical members may be moved longitudinally and rotationally relative to one another.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 in which the said means by which said pair of concentric cylindrical members may be moved relative to one another includes means attached to one of said concentric cylindrical members for frictionally engaging a surrounding well borehole wall.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 and casing gripping slip means coupled to one of said concentric cylindrical members and a tapered slip expanding means coupled to the other of said concentric cylindrical members, said expanding means being engageable with said casing gripping slip means to Wedgingly extend said casing gripping slip means into gripping engagement with a surrounding borehole wall upon longitudinal movement of said concentric cylindrical members relative to one another.

6. Apparatus according to claim 3 and casing gripping slip means coupled to one of said concentric cylindrical members and a tapered slip expanding means coupled to the other of said concentric cylindrical members, said expanding means being engageable with said casing gripping slip means to wedgingly extend said casing gripping slip means into gripping engagement with a surrounding borehole wall upon longitudinal movement of said concentric cylindrical members relative to one another.

7. In a well apparatus control device the combination comprising: first and second concentric cylindrical members rotationally and longitudinally slidable relative to one another; a relatively short threaded portion on the first cylindrical member; a threaded nut segment guidedly supported by the second cylindrical member with limited freedom of movement laterally and positionable, by movement of said first and second cylindrical members relative to one another, to operatively engage the said threaded portion on the first cylindrical member; resilient means biasing said nut segment laterally toward said first cylindrical member; a wedge member slidable longitudinally on said first cylindrical member between a first location with one end thereof adjacent the nearest end of said threaded portion, and a second location longitudinally spaced from said first location, said wedge member being formed with its laterally opposite ends tapered to form axially oppositely facing inclined surfaces rising from the surface of said first cylindrical member, whereby, when said nut segment is moved together with said second cylindrical member toward said wedge member and said threaded portion, said wedge member is first urged by contact with said nut segment longitudinally into said first location, and then said nut segment rides up the taper and over the body of said wedge member in opposition to said biasing means, to a position with the threads of said nut segment positioned opposite to and resting upon the threads of said threaded portion of said first cylindrical member; stop means to stop the aforesaid motion of said nut segment and second cylindrical member relative to said first cylindrical member when the threads of said nut segment have thus reached the said position opposite the threads of said threaded portion; and means by which said pair of concentric cylindrical members may be moved longitudinally and rotationally relative to one another.

8. In a well apparatus control device the combination comprising: first and second concentric cylindrical members rotationally and longitudinally slidable relative to one another; a relatively short threaded portion on the first cylindrical member; a threaded nut segment guidedly supported by the second cylindrical member with limited freedom of movement laterally with respect to the longi- "7 tudinal axis of said second cylindrical member and positionable, by'm'ovement of said first and second cylindrical members relative to one another, to operatively engage and disengage the said threaded portion on the first cylindrical member; resilient means biasing said nut segment laterally toward said first cylindrical member; a wedge member slidable longitudinally on said first cylindrical member between a first location with one end thereof adjacent the nearest end of said threaded portion, and a second location longitudinally spaced from said first location, said wedge member being formed with its laterally opposite ends tapered to form axially oppositely facing inclined surfaces rising from a point adjacent the surface of said first cylindrical member, whereby, when said nut segment is moved together with said second cylindrical member toward said wedge member and said threaded portion, said wedge member is first urged by contact with said nut segment longitudinally into said first location, and then said not segment rides up the taper and over the body of said wedge member in opposition to said biasing means, to a position with the threads of said nut segment positioned opposite to and resting upon the threads of said threaded portion of said first cylindrical member; stop means to stop the aforesaid motion of said nut segment and second cylindrical member relative to said first cylindrical member when the threads of said nut segment have thus reached the said position opposite the threads of said threaded portion; means to prevent rotation of said nut segment relative to said threaded portion in one direction but permitting relative rotation therebetwecn in the opposite direction when said nut segment is in engagement with said threaded portion; and means by which said pair of concentric cylindrical members may be moved longitudinally and rotationally relative to one another.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Ware Feb. 12, 1952

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