Abstract: A safety sensor and warning system, for use in combination with a motor vehicle, has sensors for determining if personnel are present in one or more predetermined danger zones proximate to the vehicle, during times when the vehicle is undergoing the loading and/or unloading of personnel; if the presence of such personnel is determined within any one or more of such danger zones related warning apparatus creates a sensory warning signal whereby the driver of the vehicle is made aware of such presence by the personnel; Microwave Doppler Shift Radar detects objects by reacting to a reflected radio signal of controlled strength and frequency which shifts off its original frequency when reflected off of an object of adequate density moving into, or changing position, within the range of the radiated radio signal and its consequent reflection; the sensors for determining if personnel are present in one or more predetermined danger zones utilize this known Microwave Doppler Shift Radar Technology and are electronica

Abstract: In one form of the invention, an integrated wellhead tubing string (100) having a reduced overall height is disclosed, comprising an integrated casing (104) having a first vertical bore (110) therethrough having a first inside diameter, a second vertical bore partially therethrough and having a second inside diameter, the second inside diameter greater than the first inside diameter, a first horizontal bore (108) therethrough in communication with the first vertical bore and a second horizontal bore (132) partially therethrough and in communication with the first vertical bore and positioned above and orthogonal to the first horizontal bore, a blowout preventer (106) comprising horizontally opposed, reciprocable rams disposed within the first horizontal bore, a production tee (128) formed by a threaded coupling (130) disposed on an outer surface of the integrated casing, the threaded coupling being in communication with the second horizontal bore, a stuffing box (134) disposed within the second vertical bore

Abstract: A safety sensor and warning system, for use in combination with a motor vehicle, has sensors for determining if personnel are present in one or more predetermined danger zones proximate to the vehicle, during times when the vehicle is undergoing the loading and/or unloading of personnel; if the presence of such personnel is determined within any one or more of such danger zones related warning apparatus creates a sensory warning signal whereby the driver of the vehicle is made aware of such presence by the personnel; Microwave Doppler Shift Radar detects objects by reacting to a reflected radio signal of controlled strength and frequency which shifts off its original frequency when reflected off of an object of adequate density moving into, or changing position, within the range of the radiated radio signal and its consequent reflection; the sensors for determining if personnel are present in one or more predetermined danger zones utilize this known Microwave Doppler Shift Radar Technology and are electronica

Abstract: A safety sensor and warning system, for use in combination with a motor vehicle, has sensors for determining if personnel are present in one or more predetermined danger zones proximate to the vehicle, during times when the vehicle is undergoing the loading and/or unloading of personnel; if the presence of such personnel is determined within any one or more of such danger zones related warning apparatus such as lamps and/or horn create a sensory warning signal whereby the driver of the vehicle is made aware of such presence by the personnel as well as warning the personnel within the danger zones and others beyond the danger zone of the presence of such personnel; Microwave Doppler Shift Radar detects objects by reacting to a reflected radio signal of controlled strength and frequency which shifts off its original frequency when reflected off of an object of adequate density moving into, or changing position, within the range of the radiated radio signal and its consequent reflection; the sensors for determin

Abstract: A leak catcher for use on a pumping well around a polished rod operating a downhole pump in the well including an annular drip bowl connected with a base securable to the upper end of a well casing around a polished rod, a drain line fitting opening into a side of the drip bowl, a leak collection well formed in the bottom of the drip bowl, a horizontal liquid level switch mounted to a side of the liquid collection well, a drain valve mounted horizontally through a side of the liquid collection well, a removable hood securable to the drip bowl, and a polished rod lubricator assembly secured in the top of the hood around a polished rod. The hood may be either a solid cylindrical member formed of opaque metal or transparent plastic or may include hinged doors for access into the leak catcher without removal of the hood.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for detecting the presence and surface location of or the absence of an electrically conductive solar coating on a pane of glass. A capacitor is formed by placing a probe against one surface of the glass. The value of the capacitor is determined by the presence or absence of a conductive coating on the glass and by the location of any coating relative to the probe. Variations in the value of the capacitor are detected to selectively illuminate lights which indicate either the absence of a surface coating, the presence of a surface coating on a near surface or pane of the glass or the presence of a surface coating on a far surface or pane of the glass.

Abstract: A blowout preventer for use on wells and especially adapted to use on a pumping well during a steam flood operation including an upper housing having oppositely disposed rams for extension and retraction between the sealing and non-sealing with a longitudinal member through the blowout preventer into a well, such a polished rod of a pump, a lower housing connected with the upper housing, and a heat responsive seal assembly in the lower housing for sealing with the polished rod during steam flooding, the heat responsive seal assembly including an elastomer seal plug designed to swell to form a seal with the polished rod during steam flooding and including means to compress the seal plug after steam flooding to return the plug to an original non-sealing volume and size below the steam flooding temperature.

Abstract: A gain-controlled amplifier (24) in a sonic flow meter accepts an output signal from each transducer of a plurality of pairs of transducers (1a, 1b; 2a, 2b; 3a, 3b; and 4a, 4b) in sequence. A ramp generator (62) generates a time-varying-gain output, which increases between the transmission of a pulse by one transducer and the reception thereof by another. This time-varying-gain signal is one component of the amplifier's gain-control signal, which includes as another component an AGC value fetched from a memory (50) and rendered into analog form by a digital-to-analog converter (42). The value in the memory (50) is the difference between the time-varying-gain value and the value that other circuitry (30, 36) has determined to be necessary by monitoring the amplifier output produced during a previous operation of the same transducer pair.

Abstract: A blowout preventer for use on wellheads for sealing around tubing strings, polished rods, and wirelines, including a body having a bore therethrough and connectable on a wellhead, integral laterally opposed side chambers in the body, a closure cap over each of the side chambers, an operating screw through each of the closure caps, a seal assembly in each of the side chambers adapted to come together in the bore of the body to seal off flow through the body, each of the seal assemblies including a ram plate having only an upper backup plate and side retainer walls, and an elastic seal supported on each ram plate below the backup plate inside the retainer walls, adapted to compress together within the ram body bore for expanding and extruding sufficiently to fully seal off the bore through the body.

Abstract: A hydrophone (16) having a short-baseline array of transducers (12A, 12B, and 12C) as well as a long-baseline array of transducers (14A, 14B, and 14C) includes switches 30A, 30B, and 30C) for selectively connecting the outputs of the arrays to a cable (18) that carries the signals to processing circuitry (20) aboard an ocean-going vessel (24). The switches (30A, 30B and 30C) change state in accordance with the output of a narrow-band filter (42), which indicates whether the received signal is of a predetermined frequency and thus is likely to have been produced by an intended source. Due to the delay inherent in the narrow-band filter 42, the processing circuitry (20) thus processes the response of the long-baseline array to the first part of a beacon pulse and the response of the short-baseline array to the second part of the beacon pulse.

Abstract: A wellhead for a polished rod pumping unit to provide emergency closure of the bore through the wellhead in the event of breakage of the polished rod. The valve assembly includes a flapper valve mounted on a swivel pin for movement between a vertical open position and a horizontal closed position across the wellhead bore. The flapper valve is spring biased toward the open position. A well pressure responsive cylinder and piston assembly is mounted on the side of the wellhead with an operating rod into the wellhead against the flapper valve to move the valve from the open position to a horizontal closed position. The piston is exposed to well pressure on the one side urging the piston outwardly to the valve open position and a spring engages the piston on the opposite side biasing the piston inwardly toward the valve closed position when well pressure is not sufficient to keep the spring compressed. One form of the wellhead includes a packing assembly for sealing around the polished rod.

Abstract: A fiber optic element is used to detect the presence of chemical or biological species by measuring changes in the total internal reflection characteristics of the element produced by changes in the index of refraction of a clad or layer of a material which reacts with the chemical or biological species.

Abstract: A blowout preventer for use on wellheads for sealing around tubing strings, polished rods, and wirelines, including a body having a bore therethrough and connectable on a wellhead, integral laterally opposed side chambers in the body, a closure cap over each of the side chambers, an operating screw through each of the closure caps, a seal assembly in each of the side chambers adapted to come together in the bore of the body to seal off flow through the body, each of the seal assemblies including a ram plate having only an upper backup plate and side retainer walls, and an elastic seal supported on each ram plate below the backup plate inside the retainer walls, adapted to compress together within the ram body bore for expanding and extruding sufficiently to fully seal off the bore through the body.

Abstract: A modular fiber optic chemical sensor (FOCS) is formed using a capillary tube clad. A fiber optic core with reactive surface is exposed to a sample environment and then the capillary tube is fitted over the core. The capillary could also be porous so that in-situ measurements can be made. The capillary can be spaced from the core so that a flow channel for gas and liquid sensing is formed, or an index matching fluid may fill the channel. Measurements can be made in a compact portable modular detector unit in which the FOCS is placed between an excitation source and a detector or single ended where the excitation source and detector are at the same end of the core and a reflector is placed at the end of the core.

Abstract: A method of measuring earth formation characteristics using a pulsed neutron source computes the characteristics by using a cumulative count curve. A pulsed neutron source and detector are pulled upwardly through a borehole. The pulsed neutron source repetitively irradiates the earth formations with pulses of fast neutrons from the neutron source, creating thermal neutrons due to collisions in the formations. Detectors in the downhole instrument detect gamma rays emanating from the irradiated formations as a result of the capture of thermal neutrons. The gamma rays are cumulatively counted in a plurality of separate time bins between each of neutron pulses. The cumulative counts define points on a cumulative count versus time curve which has a mathematical expression. Count data is transmitted to a surface panel, which uses iterative least squares fit techniques to calculate the formation lifetime decay constant.

Abstract: A drill bit assembly comprised of a pilot bit and a plurality of add-on reamer sections which are sized to progressively increase the diameter of the hole in measured increments. Both the pilot bit and the reamer sections have two cutter elements which take advantage of the bi-center concept and both use knife edged cutters instead of teeth to drill the hole.

Abstract: A dump bailer is lowered on a wireline in a well through tubing for placing a cement slurry on a retainer located in the well. The dump bailer has a weight bar assembly that includes upper and lower sections that are extensible relative to each other. The upper weight bar section has an electrical contact that engages the electrical contact mounted in the upper end of the housing of the dump bailer. The lower section has a seal which separates the housing into upper and lower chambers. Cement is pumped in from the bottom, pushing the weight bar assembly upward until the contact on the upper weight bar section engages the upper contact. A detonator is located on the bottom of the lower weight bar section. Explosive force of the detonator transmits a shock wave through the cement slurry to expel a shear plug located on the bottom of the housing. The weight bar assembly pushes the cement from the slurry once this occurs.

Abstract: A shock absorber for a wireline instrument, the shock absorber having solid, cylindrical upper body, a cylindrical sleeve, and a mandrel. The mandrel has a hexagonal upper portion, a circular center portion, and a lower nose portion. A bolt connects the mandrel to the upper body, so that the mandrel can move telescopically within the sleeve, but cannot fall out of the sleeve. Three carbide cutting elements are mounted on the sleeve adjacent to alternate sides of the upper portion of the mandrel for cutting chips of material off of the sides of the mandrel as the mandrel is moved into the sleeve.

Abstract: An apparatus for testing the strength of the sidewalls of hollow tubular members such as for example metal utility poles is disclosed. The present invention provides a self-contained mechanically actuated testing device which is operable to subject a pole to be tested to a concentrated impact force of a predetermined magnitude, the magnitude being selected such that the impacting portion of the tool will penetrate the sidewall if the strength thereof has diminished below an acceptable level.