US2046479A - Bottom hole tubing anchor - Google Patents

Description

July 7, 1936. w. o. PATTERSON BOTTOM HOLE TUBING ANCHOR Filed Sept. 6, 1935 Patented July 7, 1936 BOTTOM HOLE TUBING ANCHOR William 0. Patterson, Oklahoma City, Okla. Application September 6, 1935, Serial No. 39,382 9 Claims. (Cl. 103-202) My invention relates to an anchor for rigidly, which, while anchoring the pump-barrel, permits yet removably, positioning the lower end of well the production tubing and pump-barrel to be production tubing, and more particularly to prosuspended at the earths surface in the usual duction tubing used in connection with recipromanner, thus preventing the tendency to buckle '5 eating pumps driven by pump-rods or suckeror bend the production tubing which would be rods. present if the barrel was supported upon the well According to present practice, a pump-barrel bottom and in turn supported the weight of the is attached at its upper end to the lower end of tubing thereabove; which is simple in construca string of production tubing and lowered into tion, operation, and installation; which is du- 10 the well to a point below the normal fluid level rable; and, which will be efiicient in accomplish- 1 therein, or into the producing stratum. The ing all the purposes for which it is intended.

pump-barrel has an intake for fluid in its lower With these and other objects in view as will end and contains a reciprocatable piston which more fully appear hereinbelow, my invention is actuated by a string of sucker-rods leading to consists in the construction, novel features, and the earths surface within the production tubing. combination of parts hereinafter more fully de- The outside diameter of the production tubing scribed, pointed out in the claims hereto appendis invariably considerably less than the inside ed, and illustrated in the accompanying onediameter of the well or its casing. Since the sheet drawing, of which, tubing is suspended in the well at the earths The figure is a fragmentary vertical sectional 0 surface in orderto locate the intake aperture of view of the lower portion of a cased well showing the pump at a point above the bottom of the the device operatively installed therein, parts well, the pump is free to move bodily about withbeing shown broken away and parts being shown in the confines of the well casing, or, if it is 10- in vertical section.

cated in the well cavity in the production stra- Like characters of reference designate like tum below the casing, it is free to move about in parts in all the figures. 25 the cavity whichis invariably of greater diameter It is understood that various changes in the than that of the well. form, proportion, size, shape, weight and other When the pump is in operation, vertical movedetails of construction, within the scope of my ment of the sucker-rods and the surge of the proinvention may be resorted to without departing 3O duction fiuid, which in deepwells is under exfrom, the spirit or broad principle of my inventremely high pressure, causes constant movement tion and without sacrificing any of the advanof the pump-barrel either laterally, rotatively, tages thereof; and it is also understood that the or a combination of both. This movement not drawing is to be interpreted as being illustrative only fatigues the production tubing and suckerand not restrictive.

' rod, wears out through frictional contact the The inventive idea involved is capable of re- 5 sucker-rods, production tubing, well casing, and ceiving a variety of mechanical expressions one pump barrel, but in cases where the lower end of of which, for the purpose of illustrating the inthe barrel is within the production stratum, it vention, is shown in the accompanying drawing agitates the producing sand and causes it to be wherein:- produced with'the production fiuid, The reference numeral I indicates the lower 40 The prime object of the present invention is to section of a string of usual well casing supported limit sharply lateral movement of the: pumpat the bottom of a well 2 by concrete 3 in a usual barrel and to eliminate its accompanying defimanner. The production stratum'or sand is ini i s, v dicated by the reference numeral 4 and the Other objects of the invention are to provide numeral 5 indicates the usual cavity in the a device of the class described which is new, stratum at the bottom of the well. The refernovel; practical and of utility; which will cause cnce numeral 6 indicates the lower section of a the production fluid to travel a devious path bestring of usual production tubing which extends fore entering the pump intake,-thereby causing it upwardly to and is suitably supported at the 59 to lose by avitational stratification, much of earths surface. A string 1 of usual sucker-rod its entrained sand or other foreign particles; extends downwardly within the tubingstring 6 which includes a removable pump-anchor the from the earths surface and is driven to reinterior of which acts as .a sand-trap for collectciprocal movement by power equipment, not ing such detritus; which includes a replaceable shown. The lower end of the sucker-rod string .55 jacket closely surrounding the pump-barrel; 1 is attached to and acts to reciprocate a suitable pump-piston, not shown, which is operatively confined within a suitable pump-barrel 8. The elements described above with relation to the reference numerals l to 8 inclusive are usual ing the lower end of the tubing 8 to the upper' end of a smooth surfaced nipple 2i to the lower .end of which is connected by a coupling 22 the upper end of the pump-barrel 8. To the threads 9 at the lower end of the pump-barrel 8 is connected by a coupling 23 the upper end of a depending extension tube 24 lower intake end.

Around the nipple bored exteriorly threaded head 25 through which the sleeve-2| is free to slide. The adjacent ends of the couplings 20 and 22 act to limit the upward and downward movement of the sleeve 2| within the head 25.

'I'hreadedly connected to the head 25 is a tubular jacket 26 to the lower end of which is connected by a coupling 21 the upper end of a tubular anchor 28 having a lower closed end 29. An annular space 39 is thus formed around the extension tube 24 and within the anchor 28. At a desired distance above the bottom end of the tube 24, the anchor 28 is provided with a plurality of inlet perforations 3| for production fluid, and the lower closed end 29 of the anchor occurs at a considerable distance below the lower end which has an open of the tube 24. The space within the anchor below the lower end of the tube 24 acts as a sandtrap for receiving any detritus which may settle therein from the production fluid.

In operation, the complete device including the pump is lowered into the well by the production tubing 6 until the anchor 29 is imbedded in the sand at the bottom. During the lowering operation, the anchor 28, the jacket 26 and the head 25 are supported upon the upper end of the coupling 22. After the anchor is set upon the well bottom, the tubing is lowered sufliciently to leave the weight of the anchor supported entirely by the bottom of the well where it remains stationary'during operation of the pump. The tubing is then hung at the earth's surface in a usual manner.

If desired, the lower end of the anchor 28 may be made more or less pointed so that it may be 'tions 8| in the' jacket driven into the well bottom by using the tubing string 8 and the coupling 29 as a set of jars, similarly to the usual operation of drill-stem Jars.

annular space 30, and upwardlythrough the extension tube 24, before it can enter the pumpbarrel 8. Since the fluid must change direction of flow before entering the lower end of the tube 24, detritus entrained therein has a tendency to settle into the bottom of the anchor 28 from which it may be periodically removed by pulling the equipment from the well.

It will be understood, of course, that the end 29 of the anchor 28 may be located at any desired distance below the bottom of the tube 24; that the lower end of the tube 24 may be located at any desired distance below the perforations 3|; or that desired results might be obtained by eliminating the tube 24 and placing the perfora- 26 at a point above the lower or intake end of the pump-barrel 8 instead 2| is provided a centrally wall of jacket above the When in place, production fluid must pass through'the perforations 3|,downwardly in the of placing them in the anchor 28 as illustrated. Also, that suitable results ,could'be obtained by providing suitable shoulders around the upper portion of a pump barrel in lieu of the collar 29 and coupling 22, and the head 25 could then surround the'barrel instead of the nipple 2i.

It will, of course, be understood that the perforations 3| must be ,located below the normal fluid level in the well, whether that level occurs within the stratum 4 or thereabove in the casing l. The reference numeral 32 indicates an imaginate fluid level. a

It is not absolutely imperative that the perforations 3| in the jacket be located below the pump-intake since the anchor 28 when resting upon or imbedded in the bottom of the well will remain stationary and will thus prevent agitation of the well fluid by movement of the pump-barrel. However, if the perforations 3| were located below the pump-intake, the well fluid would not be forced to alter its direction when entering the p p,

and consequently the benefits derived therefrom would be partially lost.

Obviously, the invention is susceptible of embodiment in forms other than that which is illustrated in the accompanying drawing and described herein, and applicable for uses and purposes other than as detailed, and I therefore consider as my own all such modifications and adaptations and other uses of the form of the device herein described as fairly fall within the scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a pump anchor for reciprocating well pumps, the combination with a string of production tubing and a pump barrel supported thereby within a well, of a jacket surrounding the barrel and having a closed lower end, inlets for fluid carried by the jacket and located above the intake of the pump, and means above the barrel for slidably connecting the jacket to the tubing.

2. Organization as described in claim 1, and means for limiting movement of the jacket with relation to the barrel.

3. In a pump anchor for reciprocating well I pumps, the combination with a reciprocating pump having an intake and being supported in the well by a string of production tubing, of a jacket surrounding the barrel of the pump in a manner permitting its longitudinal movement with relation to the barrel, a closure for the lower end of the jacket, inlets for well fluid through the pump intake, and means for limiting relative movement of the pumpbarrel and the jacket.

4. Organization as described in claim 3, in which the portion of the jacket lying between the pump-intake and the closure acts as a sand-trap.

5. Organization as described in claim 3, in which the portion of the jacket lying between the' pump-intake and the closure acts as a sand-trap and is removable from. the remainder of the jacket.

6. In pump apparatus, a string of production tubing adapted to be suspended in a well, a pumpbarrel for a reciprocating pump supported by the lower end of the string and having an intake for well fluid, a jacket surrounding the barrel and having its upper end slidably supportedwith relation to the barrel, means for limiting relative movement of the jacket and barrel, a closure for the lower end of the jacket, and an inlet for well fluid through the wall of the jacket above its closed end.

7. In a pump or bottom hole tubing anchor for reciprocating ,well pumps, the combination with a string of production tubing, of a pump-barrel, a jacket surrounding the barrel of the pump having a closed lower end for seating on the bottom of the well, inlets for fluid carried by the jacket and located above the intake of the pump, and means above the barrel for slidably connecting the jacket with relation to the barrel.

8. Organization as described in claim '7, and means for limiting movement of the jacket with relation to the barrel.

9. In a pump anchor for reciprocating well pumps, the combination with a reciprocating pump having an intake and being supported in the well by a string of production tubing, of a jacket surrounding the barrel of the pump in a manner permitting its longitudinal movement with relation to the barrel, a closure for the lower end of the jacket said closed jacket adapted to set on the bottom of the well, inlets for well fluid through the wall of jacket above the pump intake, and means for limiting relative movement of the pump-barrel and the jacket.

WILLIAM O. PATTERSON.

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