Abstract: An apparatus for a top drive drill rig lifts a stand of the drill pipe into engagement with the drive stem in the derrick. The apparatus includes a set of elevators mounted between the drive head by a link assembly. The link assembly includes two link sections connected together by a swivel joint. An upper hydraulic cylinder is connected between the drive head and the upper link section. A lower hydraulic cylinder is connected between the upper and lower link sections. These cylinders may be retracted to pull the stand of drill pipe upward into contact with the drive stem.

Abstract: An improved method and apparatus of transmitting data signals within a well bore having a string of tubular members suspended within it, employing an electromagnetic field producing means to transmit the signal to a magnetic field sensor, which is capable of detecting constant and time-varying fields, the signal then being conditioned so as to regenerate the data signals before transmission across the subsequent threaded junction by another electromagnetic field producing means and magnetic sensor pair.

Abstract: An improved feedback system for use with an oscillator carried in a bore hole is provided. The feedback system connects the output legs of a well bore oscillator to the feedback nozzles of the oscillator. It consists of a detachable housing that contains two compliance chambers. Each chamber has a supply port and an exhaust port. Inertance passageways allow fluid to pass through each chamber.

Abstract: An earth boring bit with an improved extended jet nozzle constructed with a tube having only one curved entrance near the head of the bit and a straight region adjacent the exit of the nozzle, with the curved region being smoothly convergent without substantial disruption or deflective surfaces from a maximum cross sectional area adjacent the head to a minimum cross sectional area in the straight region. The velocity of the fluid flowing through the tube increases gradually from a minimum adjacent the head to a maximum at the exit, with the ratio of minimum to maximum being substantially three to one.

Abstract: An earth boring bit having a cantilevered bearing shaft and a compensator system to equalize the pressure of the lubricant with the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling fluid surrounding the bit. A rigid face seal assembly, positioned between the cutter and bearing shaft of the bit, moves axially in response to, and to compensate for, dynamic pressure changes in the lubricant adjacent the seal. The positioning and sizing of resilient energizer rings in relationship to the geometries of the mating grooves between the cutter and shaft and the rigid sealing rings of the face seal assembly minimize axial seal movement relative to cutter and shaft during drilling to enhance seal life. A threaded bearing lug receives an internally threaded bearing sleeve. The journal bearing surface is approximately midway between the shaft seal groove, a portion of which is on its bearing sleeve and another portion on the cutter seal groove.

Abstract: A method and device are shown for manufacturing rotary rock bits. The method eliminates repositioning errors in robotic welding operations by combining a cutting torch and a welding torch on a single, rotatable bracket whereby a bit can be welded at a single station without multiple rechuckings. The quality of the weld tie-in between any two intersecting seams (radial-radial or radial-axial) results where the groove for the latter seam in each pair is cut after the first seam in the pair has been welded.

Abstract: A method for manufacturing an earth boring drill bit and bit produced thereby are shown. The bit has rotatable cutters with a plurality of milled teeth, each of the teeth having opposing flanks. A first tube hardfacing is applied to a selected one of the opposing flanks, the hardfacing comprising a metallic binder with wear-resistant particles dispersed throughout the binder. The other of the opposing flanks has a second tube hardfacing applied thereto. The particle size of the wear-resistant particles differs between the first and second tube hardfacings so that the resulting difference in abrasion resistance of the tooth flanks produces a self-sharpening effect as the tooth wears.

Abstract: An improved earth boring bit of the type having diamond cutting elements and a fluid passageway to direct drilling fluid toward a borehole bottom during drilling, a metal nozzle with a cylindrical, threaded exterior and a noncircular throat having a minimum cross sectional dimension to receive a mating wrench and a length to resist damage from the torque required to make-up and break-out the nozzle for threads in the body of the bit.

Abstract: A bit is shown for use in drilling earthen formations which includes a body having a bit face on one end and a shank on the opposite end which is connected in the drill string. The bit body has a tubular bore which communicates with an interior bore of the drill string for circulation of fluids. The bit face increases in external diameter between a nose and a gage region of the bit. A fluid opening communicates the bit face with the tubular bore for circulating fluid to the bit face. A plurality of fluid courses are disposed on the bit body, the fluid courses becoming ever wider and ever deeper along their entire disposition from their lowermost incorporation through the gage region thereof.

Abstract: An inside blowout preventer for use in an earth boring drill string has features to reduce erosion. The blowout preventer has a valve body for connection into the drill string with a longitudinal passage extending through the body. The ball seat is located in the longitudinal passage. A ball storage location is located below the seat, and offset from the longitudinal passage. A ball is carried in the storage location during downward flow, and moves into the longitudinal passage to seat against the seat if the upward flow is sufficient. The storage location is located in an area of the longitudinal passage which has a much larger flow area than through the seat. The downward flow impinges on a portion of the ball. A communication passage extends from the storage location downward to a reduced diameter section of the longitudinal passage.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a steel bodied bit is shown in which a hardfacing of a highly conformable metal cloth containing hard, wear resistant particles is applied to the bit face as well as to the interior of the bit nozzle openings. By hardfacing the nozzle openings, fluid erosion in the region of the openings is eliminated.

Abstract: An earth boring bit having a lubrication system that includes a pressure compensator and seals to confine lubricant within the bearings between rotatable cutters and shafts, the seals being of the asymmetrical shear/compression type, each half of which having a load deflection curve resulting from components satisfying the following criteria:D.sub.H >A.sub.p SandD.sub.C >A.sub.p S[(S-1)/S].sup.1/2Where:D.sub.H =Assembly deflection of shaft seal ring with bearing thrust faces in contact (in.);D.sub.C =Assembly deflection of cutter seal ring with bearing thrust faces in contact (in.);A.sub.p =Axial cutter play (in.);S=Ratio seal to cutter movement.Also preferably, D.sub.C .perspectiveto.D.sub.H [(S-1)/S].sup.1/2.

Abstract: A matrix bit is shown of the type having a metallic mandrel with a connecting end for connection in a well pipe string leading to the well surface. An opposite end is covered with a cast matrix material which defines a central bit body. A plurality of integral blades are formed of the cast matrix material and extend axially and radially from the central bit body. Each of the blades is reinforced by a metallic extension which is contained within the matrix material and extends coaxially with each blade.

Abstract: An earth boring bit having a cantilevered bearing shaft and a compensator system to equalize the pressure of the lubricant with the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling fluid surrounding the bit. A rigid face seal assembly, positioned between the cutter and bearing shaft of the bit, moves axially in response to, and to compensate for, dynamic pressure changes in the lubricant adjacent the seal. The positioning of the seal groove and seal assembly in relation to the bearing surface is such that rigid face seal movement is decreased relative to axial cutter movement during drilling to enhance seal life. Preferably the ratio of rigid ring movement to axial cutter movement is substantially one half to one.

Abstract: A method for hardening a selected region of a steel bearing surface of an earth boring bit using the steps of stretching a rubber protector over a seal region to be protected from treatment (the rubber being selected from the group consisting of silicone, neoprene and nitrile), exposing the bearing surface and protector to a medium (selected from the group consisting of carburizing, nitriding, carbonitriding, siliconizing, chromizing and boronizing) of the type for altering the chemical composition of the steel to be hardened, heating the medium and bearing surface, cooling the bearing and protector, and removing and cleaning the surface.

Abstract: A method and apparatus allows dynamic data to be recorded in a drill string for later playback at the surface. The system includes a transducer located in a sub in the drill string which provides electrical responses to a analog to digital converter. A timer circuit provides timer pulses to the converter to cause the response to be converted into a digital value for storing in a recorder. The timer pulses are also used to address the memory location. The timer circuit has the ability to provide a variable number of timer pulses at a variable frequency and at variable intervals. A surface timer circuit provides simultaneous timer pulses to a counter to indicate at the surface which memory location is being filled at any given time.

Abstract: A preset torque limiter sub having a pin member and a box member. The pin member is connected to a section of drill pipe and has a male connection at one end. The box member is connected to a second section of drill pipe. The male connection and the female connection are connected together. Whenever the torque on the sub exceeds a selected amount, the pin member and the box member can rotate with respect to one another. However, whenever the torque on the sub is below the selected amount, the pin member and the box member are held rigidly together.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are treatments for the manufacture of earth boring drill bits having abrasive wear resistant seal surfaces. The external surface of the bearing pin is surface treated, as by carburizing, in one region and simultaneously boronized over the remaining friction bearing region in a one step operation.

Abstract: An earth boring bit of the "air cooled" type that includes an air passage access system, including a generally vertical passage with an opening on the exterior of the leg or in the shank cavity that forms part of the body of the bit. This vertical passage is accessible through the opening by removal of a core that expands or retracts by altering the pressure exerted against it by two plates and a threaded fastener.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing an earth boring bit of the type having a bearing pin which extends from a head section of the drill bit for rotatably mounting a cutter. A container is provided having opposing end openings with sidewalls therebetween which define a container interior. The container is placed over a portion of the head section so that the pin extends within the interior of the container. A spring spacer is then installed within the interior of the container about at least a portion of the circumference of the bearing pin at at least one axial location. The container is then packed with a particulate treating medium, the container is covered, and the pin and container are placed into a furnace for a time and at a temperature sufficient to activate the treating medium.