US957785A - Electric heater for oil-wells. - Google Patents

Description

0. B. LINQUEST. ELECTRIC HEATER FOR OIL WELLS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29, 1909.-

Patented May 10,1910.

- ATTOR N EY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OSCAR B. LINQUEST, OE JAMESTOWN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ARGHIBALD F. RUSSELL. OF LAKEWOOD NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC HEATER FOR OIL-WELLS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 10, 1910..

Application filed June 29, 1909. Serial No. 505,021.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OSCAR B. LIN UEST, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Jamestown, county of Chautauqua, State of. New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Heaters for Oil-Veils, of which the following is a full clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to means for heating oil wells for the purpose of cleaning accumulated deposits of paratiinfrom the interior of such wells and more particularly my invention relates to an electric heater for the purpose just stated.

It is Well known that after oil wells have been flowing for some length .of time the crevices in the oil bearing strata of rocks become more or less clogged with paratlin deposits which interfere with the flow of the wells.

v The general object of my invention is to provide a means for removing the paralliu when so deposited and thus to provide a practicable and etiicient means for increasing the flow of the well.

Various methods have been suggested for heating wells for the purposes described bzi these devices have been lacking in elticicncy of operation and .cheapness ot manufacture and use. I

My invention provides .an cfiicient. and cheapmeansfor effectively heating any oil well so as to remove the paraiiin deposits in it; moreover it is simple and cheap in construction and likewise cheap in operation.

The many advantages resulting from the use of my invention will be clear to those skilled in the art from the acconnoanying drawings and the following description.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1v is a sectional view/oi? the casing of my device and an elevation of the heating element. Fig. 2 a section taken on the line w of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a. section taken on the line y y of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line of Fig 1. Fig. 5 is a. section til-litl'i on the line o'l Fig. '1.

It will be understood that my device is to be lowered in any suitable way into any desired part oi the well. It is in general provided with a tubular casing 1 which is dc signed to pass within the casing or other conlincs oi the well. The casing 1 is open at its top and bottom ends so that oil contained in the well may pass within the said casing 1.

Suitably secured to the lower end of the casing l is a strap iron 2. A similar strap iron is secured to the upper end or the casing 1. Suitable iron rods 4 pass through the strap irons 2 and 3 and are secured by means of nuts 5 or in any other suitable way. On these rods are mounted grooved porcelain tubes (3. The porcelain tubes (3 ext/end sul'istantially all of the distance between the strap irons 2 and 3 andpreferably they are made up of short sections but I do not wish to limit n'iyselt to this particular arrangement. The advantage of this construction is that it gives flexibility to the tubes. The tube sections are suitably grooved at predetermined spaces from each other for the pur 'iose o'l" receiving a resistance wire for conducting the electric current.

011 the iron rods 4 1' preferably mount three nuts 5, 7 and 8; the nuts 8 acting to hold the grooved porcelain tubes in place; between the nuts 7 and the nuts 8 I place rings 9 and the nuts 7 and 5 are placed on either side ot the strap irons 2 and Through the ring 3) are passed rods 10. Upon the rods '10 l mount grooved porcelain tubes of the samecharacter and in the same way as the grooved porcelain tubes are mounted on the rods 1. Although I have shown in my drawings tour iron rods on which these grooved porcelain tubes are mounted it will be umlorstoml that. I do not wish to confine myself to the exact number and arrangement of rods and tubes as herein shown but it is obvious that two or more tubes could be arranged tor accomplishing the purposes l'accon'iplish by the device herein dcscribml.

.\t suitable distances along the length of the tubes 4' and 10 I preferably place spacers 11 which are/notched on their edges so as to lit around the tubes 4 and 10. The function of those spacers is to keep the said tubes in their propr-r relation to each other. Preterably these spacers also are perforated at 13 so as to allow the electric leading wire to pass tln'ough them. Obviously the numbcr 0t spacers to be used will depend on the length of the heater element.

At the upper end of the casing l arr: nge a terminal block lei. which is secured in any suitable way to the bail 15 of the casing.

This bail 15 is secured by rivets or otherwise at 16 to the side walls of the casing. Pass ing through the terminal block are electrical connectors 17 which are secured in place in said block by means of set screws 18..

Lead wires 19and 20 passinto the connectors 17 and are held in place therein by means of the set screws 18. The wire 20 leads from one of the connectors 17 through a porcelain bushing 21. This bushing 21 passes through the top strap 3 and is held in place by it. The lead wire 20 then passes in the space between the porcelain tubes 4: and 10 and through one or more of the spacers 11 to the bottom of the heating ele- 17 and is there held in place by means of the set screws 18 in a manner similar to the means described for holding in place the end of the wire 20. The electric connections 24: and 25 for the conductors 19 and 20 lead from the electric connectors 17 in which they are secured in the terminal block l t by means of the set screws 18. -These connecting wires may lead to a generator or any other suitable source or" energy.

Having thus described the several parts of my invention I will now describe its method of operation. The generated current is turned on to the wires leading from the source of energy and it then passes through thefollowing circuit: wire 24, connect or 17, lead Wire 20, resistance winding 22, lead wire 19, connector 17, wire 25, back to the source of energy. through the heating element composed of the resistance wire 22 wound about the grooved porcelain tubes acts to produce an amount of heat which is proportional to the resistance of the resistance wires and the amount of current passing through the circuit. The heat thus generated acts upon the oil which is in immediate contact with the heating element. This generated heat is suiiicient to raise the temperature of the oil enough so that the paraiiin deposits anywhere in the well near the heating element will be atii'ected so that they will become soft and be dissolved in the oil. l Vhen the paraflin has thus been broken down the oil is bailed out of the well and thus the crevices are cleared and the clogged portion of the well allows a greater iiow of oil than was previously possible.

It will be evident from the foregoing d Scription that my invention can be ve.

This current passing est/sea cheaply and efiiciently operated and that it is capable of some variations and modifications which would be governed by varying conditions under which it might be used. I do not, therefore, wish to be limited to the exact construction herein shown and described.

The gist of my invention resides in the fact that I have provided an electrical means of heating an oil well by placing my heater in direct contact with the oil and thus raising the temperature of the oil to a degree suficient to dissolve paraffin found in the crevices of the well. With this in mind, it will be evident that some departures from the specific construction herein shown and described might be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Comparing my invention with those de vices which are used'tor heating oil wells where the heating element is contained within a water-tight or an air-tight case it will be evident that the length of life of my heating element will be much greater than that of the heating element contained in such tight cases. This is so because of the fact that the wires contained in the tight cases must be sufficiently heated so that the casing as well as the oil will be heated, while in my form of heating device, the oil being in direct contact with the wires, the wires are thus kept partially cooled by the oil and the heat is directly taken up by the oil so that the resistance wire in my device need not be as large as is necessary in another device of the inclosed type of the same heating capacity.

Having thus described my invention, wha t I claim. is:

1. An electric heater for oil Wells com-- prising two or more insulating tubes, means for spacing these tubes apart from each other, a resistance Wire wound around said tubes, means for conducting a current from any suitable source of energy through said resistance wire, and means for lowering and raising said tubes and wires in any desired position in an oil well.

An electric heater for oil wells comprising grooved p'orceluin tubes, means for spacing said tubes apart from each other, a resistance 'wire surrounding said tubes, a tubular casing open atv the top and bottom surrounding said tubes, a bail for raising and lowering said tubes and casing into and out of an oil well, and means for conducting a current from some suitable electric source of energy. through said resistance wire.

3. An electric heater for oil wells comprising grooved porcelain tubes, means for spacing said tubes apart from each other. a rc sistauce wire surrounding said tubes, a tu bular casing open at the topaud bottom surroimding said tubes, a bail for raising .idlowering said tubes and casing into and out of an oil well, a terminal block secured to said bail, means for connecting wires from any suitable source of electric energy with said resistance wire.

4. An electric heater for oil wells comprising grooved porcelain tube's, a casing open at top and bottom, means for securing said tubes in place in said casing, a resistance Wire surrounding said tubes, a bail secured to said casing, electric connectors secured in said bail, insulated Wire leads leading from said connectors to the terminals of said resistance Wire, means for securing the ends of said Wire leads in said connectors f and means for securing wires from any suitable source of energy in said connectors. 5. An electric heater for oil Wells comprising grooved porcelain tubes, means for spacing. said tubes apart from each other, a resistance wire surrounding said tubes, means for connecting said resistance Wire with a suitable source of electric energy, and means for raising and lowering said elements into and 'out of an oil Well whereby the said elements are brou ht into direct contact with"the oil of the well and thus heat the same.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

OSCAR B. LINQ UEST.

Witnesses 1 ARCHIBALD F. RUSSELL, JA MES A. RUSSELL.

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