Патент USA US2589658

March 18, 1952
E. B. ARMSTRONG .
’
2,589,656
~WELL PACKER WITH EXPANDIBLE SEALS
Filed June 19, 19,50
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Ellis B. Armstrong
IN VEN TOR.
Patented Mar. 18, 1952
2,589,656
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE
2,589,656
WELL PACKER WITH EXPANDIBLE SEALS
Ellis B. Armstrong, Lubbock, Tex.
Application June 19, 1950, Serial No. 168,939
3 Claims. (01. 166410)
This invention relates to new and useful im
proceeds, are attained 2by the present invention,
provements in well packers of the type used for
effecting a fluid seal between pipes and either
a preferred embodiment of which has been illus
surrounding‘ tubing or the walls of a well hole.
The primary object of this invention is to pro
vide a well packer which will effect a seal with
surrounding walls upon a short stroke compress
trated by way of example only in the accompany-L
ing drawings, wherein:
Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional view of
the present invention, showing the same disposed
in and in sealing engagementv with a surround
ing tubing;
'
ing the overall length of the packer assembly.
Another important object of the present in
Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1, however,
vention is to provide a device of this character, 10 this view showing the packer in inoperative re
which, includes jars for ef?caciously breaking the
lation to the tubing; and,
sealing engagement of the same with the sur
rounding walls.
Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the
' present invention taken upon the plane of the
Still another important object of the present
section line 3—3 of Figure l, and showing con-7
invention is to provide a packer of this character 15 cealed portions of the packer in dotted outline.
capable of effecting vertically spaced sealing en
Reference is now made more speci?cally to
gagements with surrounding walls to obtain a
the accompanying drawings, wherein like nu
merals designate similar parts throughout the
various views, and in which the well packer
A further important object of the invention 20 is designated generally at [0.
The packer I0 comprises a packer body I2
is to provide a packer of the type which will
having a reduced exteriorly threaded extremity
permit a plurality of the same to be directed
Id at its lower end provided with a passage l6 _
coupled in series for simultaneous use, where
therethrough. The packer body I2 is counter
?uid pressures are very high, or where well hole
walls are irregularly shaped.
25 bored from its upper end to provide an opening
l8 communicating with the passage l6 with an
A still further important object of the present
invention is to provide a packer of this type,
annular shoulder 20 formed therebetween.
_
A bumper mandrel 22 slidably extends into
which is of simple and reliable construction,
the opening l8 and is engageable with the shoull
which will be relatively inexpensive to manufac
ture, and which packer is readily discerptible for
der 20 to limit the inward movement of the same.
either replacement or repair of parts.
A hub 24 is slidably mounted on the mandrel 22,
which is of lesser internal diameter than, the
‘ -A meritorious feature of the present invention
resides in the bumper mandrel coacting with the
opening l8, and the hub 24 is in threaded engage
packer body to constitute jars for e?icaciously
ment with the packer body I2 as at 26 so that
breaking the sealing engagement of the packer 35 the lower ‘edge of the‘ same constitutes a second
with surrounding walls.
annular shoulder 28 in the opening I8 to limit
Another important feature of the present in
outward sliding movement of the mandrel 22,
since the latter is provided with an enlarged
vention resides in the provision of coacting frusto
conical complementary surfaces of the packer
lower extremity 30.
v
The bumper mandrel 22 is provided with an
‘body and the hubs for expanding the annular 40
sealing member surrounding the same.
axial bore 32 extending therethrough in axial
alignment with the passage N5 of the‘ packer
Still another important feature of the present
body [2, and has its upper end in threaded con
invention resides in the provision of a well pack
nection 34 with a coupling hub 36. The hub 36
er which may be entirely disassembled upon
breaking two threaded connections, and the ar 45 is hollow and the upper end of the same is in
’teriorly threaded at 38 complementary to the
rangement being such that the annular packing
threaded extremity l4, so that a plurality of
seal may be replaced by only breaking one of
packers l0 may be directly coupled in series, if
'such connections.
very high overall sealing e?iciency, because of
the labyrinth gland principle involved.
desired, as will be readily understood.
,
I A "?nal important feature to be speci?cally /
A further hub 40 is slidably mounted on the
enumerated herein resides in the use of shear 50
lpins'to yieldingly'retain the packer in extended
vor inoperative relation.
7
These, together with various ancillary features
mandrel 22 between the hub 24 and the hub
36, and it will be seen upon reference to the
drawings that the upper end of the hub 40 is
provided with an annular tapered recess 42 sur
and objectives of the invention which will later
become apparent as the following description 55 rounding the mandrel 22 and that the upper
2,589,656
3
merging with an annular groove 48 that forms a
shoulder 50 on the hub 36 that is spaced from
the ?at portion 44 of the hub 40, when the hubs
3B and 40 are in close juxtaposition to consti
tute a retaining seat'for an annular, expansible
sealing member 52.
.
4
62 are brought into sealing engagement with the
tubing 10. When it is desired to break the seal
ing engagement of the well packer with the
tubing 10, this may be emcaciously accomplished
by the jarring action ?rstly of the shoulder 64
against the bottom of hub 40, and secondly the
further jarring action of the enlarged portion
end of the hub 40 terminates in a ?at portion
44. The lower end of the hub 36 is tapered as
at 46 to be substantially complementary to the
annular recess 42, the upper portion of the taper
30 of the mandrel engaging the shoulders 20 and
28. It should also be noted that the ease with
10 which the packer is disengaged from the tubing
is greatly increased due to the fact that the pack
In a similar manner, the lower end of the hub
ing rings are released independently. On rais
40 is tapered as at 54 to be complementary to an
ing the mandrel, the ring 52 is ?rst freed of the
annular recess 56 at the upper end of the hub
tubing and subsequently the ring 62, it being
24, the upper end of the hub 24 being ?at as at
58, and the hub 40 having a shoulder 60'to con 15 observed that the rings may be resilient if de
sired.
stitute an annular seat for an expansible annu
From the foregoing, the construction and oper
lar sealing member 62.
ation of the device will be readily understood and
As thus'far described, it will be apparent that
further explanation is believed to be unnecessary.
from the initial positionsof the hubs 36, 49 and
24 shown in Figure 2, inward sliding movement 20 However, since numerous . modi?cations and
changes will readily occur to those skilled in the
of the bumper mandrel 22 into the packer body
art after a consideration of the foregoing speci
[2 will cause the hubs to move into the close
?cation and accompanying drawings, it is not
relative position shown in Figure 1. t should
desired to limit the invention to the exact _con
be noted at this point that downward sliding
struction shown and described, but all suitable
movement of the hub 40 on the mandrel 22 is
modi?cations and equivalents may be resorted to,
limited by virtue of the fact that the hub 40 is
falling within the scope of the appended claims.
of lesser internal diameter than the hub 24, and
Having described the invention, what is
the outside diameter of the mandrel is reduced
claimed as new is:
in its upper portion to form an annular shoulder
64 upon which the hub 40 is. seated in Figure 2.
For introduction into the well hole, the hubs
are normally retained in the relative position
shown in Figure 2 by the provision of shear pins.
The shear pin 66 extends through the packer
body 12 into the enlarged portion 30 of the man
drel to normally retain the mandrel in its outer
most position in the packer body I2, and a sec
ond shear pin 68 extends through the hub 40
,
1. A multiple‘ packer comprising a mandrel
having an enlarged lower end, a packer body
having an opening with a shoulder formed there
in, the enlarged lower end of the mandrel be
ing slidably received in the opening and engage
' able with the shoulder to limit outward sliding
movement thereof, a ?rst hub ?xed on said man
into the mandrel to normally retain the hub 40
seated upon the shoulder 64. With the packer 40
l0 assembled for insertion into a well hole as in
Figure 2, the sealing rings 52 and 62 embrace
the tapered portions of the hubs 35 and 40 and
rest against the ?at portions 44 and 58 of the
vhubs 40 and 24, the arrangement being such that
upon relative closing movement of the hubs, the
?at portions act against the ring members 52
and 62 to wedge the same outwardly on the taper
ed portions of the hubs until the position of
the rings is closely adjacent the shoulders 50
and 60', so that the overall diameter of the
sealing rings 52 and 62 has been extended so
that they exceed the overall outside dimensions
of the hubs and the packer body.
Further packing rings 12 are recessed into the 55
inner sides of the hubs 40 and 24 to prevent the
passage of ?uid between such hubs and the man
drel.
In operation, the well packer I0 is assembled '
as shown in Figure 2 and lowered into a well
hole orgtubing 10, in which condition it will be
noted that the packing rings 52 and 62 clear the
side walls of the tubing 10. Upon the well packer
l0 reaching a predetermined position in the
tubing 10, the mandrel 22 is urged downwardly 65
into the packer body l2 ‘by the weight of the
pipe thereabove, such force being resisted by the
provision of a tail pipe, not shown, on the packer
drel exteriorly of the body, a second hub slidably
engaging the mandrel between the ?rst hub and
the body, fluid sealing means interposed between
the second hub and the mandrel, and expansible
annular packing means surrounding the mandrel
between the hubs and also between the second
hub and the body and responsive to relative
closing movements thereof respectively to expand
into operative position.
.
2. The combination of claim 1 including a
shoulder on the mandrel limiting silding move
ment of the second hub towards the enlarged
end of the mandrel.
3. The combination of claim 1, including a ?rst
shear pin in the enlarged lower end of the man
drel and also in the body and a second shear
pin in the mandrel and in the second hub for
retaining the hubs and the body in spaced rela
tion.
ELLIS B. ARMSTRONG.
REFERENCES CITED
I
The following references are of record in the
?le of this patent:
UNITED STATES PATENTS
Number
Name
7
Date
1,188,489
Rhea _-_ __________ __ June 2'7, 1916
1,926,017’
Wells ___________ __ Sept. 5, 1933
2,021,206
Spang ____________ _.Nov. 19, 1935
body l2 or slips or the like. Such compressive
force on the well packer will shear the pins 65 70
and 68.and cause the packer to assume the posi
2,216,336
2,216,358
Barnes ___________ __ Oct. 1, 1940
Spencer _________ __ Oct. 1, 1940
2,292,345
Arutunoff ________ __ Aug. 11, 1942
2,389,985
tion shown in Figure 1, so that the rings 52 and
2,390,372
Justice ___' _______ __ Nov. 27, 1945
Johnson __' _______ __ Dec. 4, 1945