APPARATUS FOR HANDLING DOWN-HOLE PIPES

摘要

Machinery on a drill rig displaces a down-hole pipe from a horizontal orientation proximate to a drill floor to a suspended vertical orientation immediately above the drill floor. The machinery includes a guide and a wheeled carriage that travels along the guide. The carriage has a swivel that pivots about a vertical axis. A pipe clamping mechanism is connected to the swivel with a pivot joint permitting pivoting about a generally horizontal axis. An elevator displaces the carriage downwardly to locate the clamping mechanism about one end of a pipe. The elevator then raises the pipe end until the pipe is suspended above the drill floor. A hydraulic cylinder acting between the swivel and the clamping mechanism then pivots the clamping mechanism about the horizontal axis until the pipe is in a vertical orientation. Another pair of hydraulic cylinders pivots the swivel about its vertical pivot axis to locate the suspended pipe above either an opening in the rotary table or a vertical storage hole. A conveying system involving propelled and slave carriers is preferably used to convey pipe to and from the drill floor.