Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to earth
S drilling equipment and more particularly to an apparatus for
handling rods in the making or dismounting of a string
during a drilling operation. It also relates to a mobile
camp provided with the essential boring elements which camp
is suitable to be displaced from one drilling location to
another.
DESCRIPTION OF THl~ PRIOR ART
The boring of holes through the earth requires the
freguent handling of drill rods to be brought to or taken
away from a vertical drilling mast, also called tower or
derrick, and a rod storage rack to assemble or disassemble
them into or from a rod string. Use is made, for this
purpose, of rod-handling devices suitable for feeding the
rods to the mast from a nearby storage rack and returning
them to it from the derrick. Whenever the bore to be
drilled, and consequently the mast, is to be inclined, the
handling has to be done manually which is of course a
tiresome job which may further be dangerous. Indeed, it
must be considered that the heavy rods may have
approximately 10 feet in length with a diameter of about 2"
to 4". They may further have to be moved on a distance of
several feet as well as shifted lengthwise, that is lifted
and lowered in order to place them and remove them on and
from the mast and coupled and uncoupled to the drill head.
This manual operation, as will be gathered, is not very
productive.
Also, the existing drilling equipment is designed
to be rigged up on the drilling site and it has to be
dismounted, at least in part, whenever a new drilling
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location is selected.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to avoid the above
noted drawbacks by providing a rod-handling apparatus
capable of gripping a drill rod and move it angularly in a
vertical plane so that it may reach the angular position of
the drill mast so that it may be applied to it.
Another object is to provide such an apparatus
allowing the rod to be moved lengthwise so that it may be
adjusted to be coupled to the drill head of the mast.
Yet another object lies in providing an apparatus
of the above type which may ~ransport the rod between a
nearby storage rack and the mast.
Still another object of the invention resides in
providing a mobile drill camp having an enclosure capable of
containing a drill mast pivotable in a vertical plane; a
storage rack for drill rods and a rod handling apparatus of
the aforesaid type.
More specifically, the invention essentially
proposes an apparatus for handling elongated rods which
comprises a horizontal stationary base over which is mounted
a support member movable in a first direction along the base
Z5 and, over the support member, an elongated rod-handler arm
movable in a second direction normal to the first one. The
arm is provided, at one end, with a rod handler capable of
pivoting in a vertical plane and provided with a rod-
gripping device capable of gripping one of the rods. This
latter device is equiped with a mechanism which allo~s the
gripping rod to move lengthwise while being gripped. The
invention also proposes a mobile drill camp having the above
described rod-handling apparatus.
A search of the prior art was carried out before
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the filling of the present application and has revealed the
following patents:
United States Patents:
3,061,011 W.W. PAGET 1962
3,840,128 SWOBODA, Jr. et al 1974
3,874,518 SWOBODA, Jr. et al 1975
3,883,009 SWOBODA, Jr. et al 1975
4,531,875 R.J. KRUEGER 1985
4,715,761 J.R. BERRY et al 1987
4,738,321 D. OLIVIER 1988
4,762,185 B.K. SIMPSON 1988
None of these patents discloses or suggests an
apparatus or mobile camp as above described as will be seen
from the description that follows of a preferred embodiment
having reference to the appended drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT
Figure 1 i8 a diagrammatic top plane view of a
mobile camp made according to the teaching of the invention;
Figure 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation view;
Figure 3 is a diagrammatic perspective view of the
rod-handling apparatus;
Figure 4 is a plane view of the rod-handler;
Figure 5 is an end view of the rod-handling
apparatus;
Figure 6 a cross-section along line VI-VI;
Figure 7 is lateral elevation view of the rod-
handling apparatus; and
Figure 8, a cross-section along line VIII-VIII.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown a
mobile camp 1 including a sleigh-like vehicle 3 with xunners
5 so that it may be moved over the ground when hitched to a
tractor by a towing structure 7. The vehicle may of course
alternatively be wheel-mounted.
Vehicle 3 has a floor platform 9 and an upright
frame 11 rising from the floor, defining an enclosure 13
suitable to contain a magazine or storage rack 15, on one
side of the vehicle center line 17, and a rod-string
handling mast 19 extending up from the floor platform along
the center line 17. The enclosure is also meant to contain
other sundry equipment so that the camp may be said to be
self-contained and thereby moved from one drilling site to
another without having to dismantle the drill mast 19. The
latter has one end pivoted, at 21, on a floor bracket 23 and
made to swing in a vertical plane by a hydraulic power jack
25. The construction should be such as to allow the mast 19
a total swing of about 75 in the vertical plane, i.e.,
between 17 and 92, for instance. In the low position, the
mast and other equipment in the enclosure 13 should be
within the height permissible under official road
regulations. This applies to the rods 27 in the rack 15
which would then be made to lie over the floor platform 9.
In the rack, the rods are slightly inclined so as to form an
angle of 80 with the floor of the platform as shown in
figure 2. The mast 19 has the usual drill head 29 movable
along it and serving to rotate the rod string and force it
down into the ground; the lowermost rod being of course
provided with a drilling tool, such as trepan. Finally, the
' enclosure 13 defines a top opening circumscribed by a
horizontal chassis 31 of the frame 11.
The apparatus for handling the rods essentially
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comprises a horizontal stationary base 33 secured to the
side members of the chassis 31. Mounted on the base 33 for
displacement transversely of the center line 17, in a first
direction indicated by arrow a, is a support member 35 in
the form of a platform. An elongated rod-handler arm 37 is
provided on the support platform 35 for displacement
lengthwise in a second direction, indicated by arrow b,
normal to the first direction, that is parallel to the
center line 17. Provided at the end of the arm 37 away from
the support member or platform 35, is a rod-handler 39 of
which the lower end is pivoted, a~ 41, to the arm 37, so
that it may swing in a vertical plane along arrow _; the
swing axis being perpendicular to the arm's longitudinal
axis, i.e. perpendicular to the second direction _. The
apparatus of the embodiment further includes a pair of rod-
gripping devices 43 spaced from one another and so as to
swing in the vertical plane as the whole rod-handler 39.
Finally, means are provided on each gripping device 43 for
moving the rods lengthwise; such means being detailed
hereinafter with respect to the description relative to
Figure 4.
With the above arrangement, it will be appreciated
that a rod 27 may be gripped by the rod-handler 39 from the
storage rack 15; moved along arrow _ to be placed facing the
drill mast 19; pivoted to the same angle as the mast, along
arrow c; moved along arrow b so that it may operatively be
connected with it and finally moved down to be coupled with
the drill head 29. The reverse operation is of course also
; possible.
Referring to figures 3 and 4, it will be seen that
the rod handler 39 includes a central square post 45 having
a longitudinal axis lying in the aforesaid vertical plane
and that the two rod-gripping devices, only partly detailed
; in figure 3, are spaced along the post so as to grip the rod
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27 at two locations thereon.
As the two devices are identical, only one need be
described which is particularly shown in Figure 4. It is
seen to comprise a first jaw 47 fixed to and projecting
laterally of the post 45; having an inwardly curved face 49.
It also has a second jaw 51 projecting laterally of the post
45 but pivoted ~o it, at 53. Its inner face 55 is concave
like that of face 49 of the first jaw 47. Boths jaws are
hollow so as to include concave walls forming the inner
faces 49, 55, and having roller openings. A driving roller
57, having a roughened concave periphery, is housed in the
first jaw 47 and projects slightly, at 59, out through the
jaw's opening. Similarly, the second jaw 51 has an idler
roller rotatably mounted within it and having a concave
periphery projecting slightly out through the jaw's opening,
as at 63. The driving roller 57 is rotated by a hydraulic
motor 63, mounted on the jaw 47. When the jaws 47, 51,
close in on a rod 27, the latter is firmly gripped between
the rollers 57, 61, and may be difiplaced axially by the
action of the driving roller 57. The roughened surface of
this driving roller 57 may be obtained by a series of ribs
extending parallel to the rotation axis of the roller.
The second jaw 51 is pivoted, at 53 as aforesaid,
by a bell-crank lever 65 of which the apex is pivoted at 67
to the outer end of the jaw. Lever 65 has one section 69
inwardly curved at 71 and positioned for drawing a rod to be
gripped between the cooperating jaws 47 and 51. It also has
a driving section 73 of which the free end is connected to a
rod 75 of an extensible power jack 77 pivoted to the free
end of a bracket 79 solid with and projecting laterally of
the post 45 on its side which is opposite to its other side
having the jaws 47, 51. The pivoting motion of the lever 65
is limited by a first stop lug 81 solid with and projecting
up from a finger 83 extending from the jaw 51 and by a
~ 3 2 ~ 8
second stop lug 85 projecting up from the said jaw 51 but on
the side of the driving section 73 opposite to the side of
the lug 81; both lugs 81 and 85 being thus on the pivot path
of the lever driving section 73.
When the jack 77 is extended, the bell-crank lever
65 first pivots clockwise around axes 67 to drive a rod
between the two jaws 47 and 51 until its driving section 73
hits the stop lug 81 at which the jaw 51 is forced to pivot
also clockwise to bring the gripped rod against the first
jaw 47. When the jack 77 is retracted, the lever 65 rotates
counterclockwise untils its driving section 73 comes against
the stop lug 85 to bring the jaw 51 to rotate
counterclockwise and release the rod.
To assist in dislodging a rod 27 from the stack
lS stored in the rack 15, the fixed pivot jaw 47 is provided
with a straight thin guide finger 87 projecting outwardly
away from the jaw 47 and adapted to be inserted between two
adjacent rods 27 and cooperate with the curved lever section
69 in drawing a rod between the jaws 47 and Sl.
The rod-handler 39 is made to pivot about the axis
41 (figures 2 and 3) by means of another extensible
hydraulic power ~ack 89 connected to the rod-handler arm 37,
through a bracket 91, and to another bracket 93 of the
handler post 45. The angle of swing of the rod-handler 39
is adjustably controlled by a thin roà 95 pivoted at one end
to the bracket 93 and slidable through a rockable block 97
(figure 3) at the top of the bracket 91. Stop nuts 99, 101
(figure 5), are screwed along the rod 95, on either side of
the bracket 91 to provide the adjustable swing.
Referring now to figures 3, 5 and 6, it is seen
that the rod-handler arm 37 is made up of a pair of parallel
channel members 103, 105, having their webs upright and
their lower flanges slidably guided over the support
platform 35 by a pair of guide angles 107, 109 secured to
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the platform 35, as by welding, on either side of the
channels. The latter are held in parallelism by transverse
brace plates 111, 113, at either end; by the axle structure
41 and by the bracket 91. Movement of the rod-handler arm
37 in the second direction aforesaid is obtained by a power
jack 115 of which the rod is connected to the transverse
plate 113 and the cylinder connected to a bracket 117 fixed
to and upstanding from the support platform 35 between the
channel members 103, lOS. As will be appreciated from
figure 5, extension of the jack 115 will move the rod-
handler arm 37 leftward and the contraction will move it
rightward, in the second direction along arrow b, in figures
1, 3 and 5.
The means responsible for moving the support
platform 35, and thus the arm 37 in the direction _ in
figures 1, 3 and 7, are of a similar construction.
Referring to figures 3, 7 and 8, channels 119, 121 and 123,
with webs upright, have their lower flanges secured to the
stationary base 33, itself fixed at his ends to the chassis
31 at the top of the frame 11 (figures 1 and 2). The
support platform 35 has two pairs of guide angles 125, 127,
; on its underface which guidingly receive the upper flanges
of the channel 121, 123. A power jack 129 is housed between
the channels 119, 121; having its rod mounted on a braket
131, fixed to and downwardly projecting from the support
platform 35 and having its cylinder supported by a cross-
plate 133. Figures 7 shows that extension and contraction
of jack 129 moves the support platform 35, and the rod-
! handler arm 37 thereon, in the first direction a aforesaid.
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