Closing crude oil blowouts - using ground based remotely controlled clamps, and trolley running on rails to carry tooling as requested

摘要

A means of shutting off flow in crude oil or natural gas well heads, which have blown out. The invention claims to bring under control blow outs, giving greater protection to machinery and personnel. The novelty is due to the use of remotely controlled equipment running on rails. Rails with a U section between 10 and 30 m are laid onto large supporting plates, with turned up edges, resting on the ground. The foremost plate has a V cut out to centralise it around the feed pipe. Flexible couplings of the rails to the support plates allow for the unevenness of the ground. A second guide fastened to the foremost rail ensures that the pipe is vertical to the rails, and hydraulic jacks ensure that the rails return to the horizontal. A hydraulic fork attached to the rails, grips the projecting pipe and clamps the pipe shut.