Claims
- 1. A drilling apparatus comprising:
a) a magazine for holding a plurality of pipes, the magazine including a plurality of vertical columns; b) a drive head including a drive member adapted to be coupled to a pipe, the drive member being aligned along a drive axis; c) a first drive mechanism for rotating the drive member about the drive axis; d) a second drive mechanism for moving the drive member axially along the drive axis; e) a pipe transfer member for transferring pipes between the magazine and the drive head, the pipe transfer member defining a pipe receiving region for receiving a pipe, the pipe transfer member being movable to a transfer position where the pipe receiving region is positioned beneath the magazine; and f) a plurality of independent pipe stops, each of the independent pipe stops positioned adjacent to one of the plurality of vertical columns.
- 2. The drilling apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the independent pipe stops includes at least a first pivoting arm positioned adjacent to a discharge opening of the vertical column.
- 3. The drilling apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the independent pipe stops includes first and second pivoting arms positioned adjacent to a discharge opening of the vertical column.
- 4. The drilling apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pipe transfer member is aligned with any one of the plurality of vertical columns when the pipe transfer members is in the transfer position.
- 5. The drilling apparatus of claim 1, further including a release mechanism configured to selectively engage one of the plurality of independent pipe stops when the pipe transfer member is positioned in the transfer position.
- 6. The drilling apparatus of claim 5, wherein the release mechanism engages one of the plurality of independent pipe stops only when the pipe receiving region of the pipe transfer member is empty.
- 7. The drilling apparatus of claim 5, wherein the release mechanism includes a release member positionable in an actuating position to contact one of the independent pipe stops and release a pipe contained within the vertical column.
- 8. The drilling apparatus of claim 7, further including a pipe lift, and wherein the release member is configured to selectively engage the pipe lift such that the pipe lift moves the release member from a non-actuating position to the actuating position.
- 9. The drilling apparatus of claim 8, wherein the release member is sliably connected to a mounting plate of the release mechanism, and is configured to selectively move relative to the mounting plate at a sliding connection from the non-actuating position to the actuating position.
- 10. The drilling apparatus of claim 8, wherein the release mechanism includes a roller interconnected to a linkage, the linkage being coupled to the release member and configure to move the release member between an engagement position and a non-engagement position for selective engagement with the pipe lift.
- 11. The drilling apparatus of claim 10, wherein the roller is moveable along a ramped surface to pivot the linkage such that the release member is positioned in the engagement position when the roller is at an upper region of the ramped surface and the release member is positioned in the non-engagement position when the roller is at a lower region of the ramped surface.
- 12. The drilling apparatus of claim 10, wherein release member is positioned in the non-engagement position when the pipe receiving region of the pipe transfer member contains a pipe.
- 13. The drilling apparatus of claim 12, wherein the release mechanism further includes a spring chamber configured to compress when the pipe receiving region of the pipe transfer mechanism contains a pipe, the release member of the release mechanism being positioned in the non-engagement position when the spring chamber is compressed.
- 14. The drilling apparatus of claim 5, wherein the release mechanism is configured to translate to a home position when the transfer member is positioned in alignment with the drill head.
- 15. The drilling apparatus of claim 14, wherein the release mechanism includes a spring configured to bias the release mechanism to the home position when the transfer member is positioned in alignment with the drill head.
- 16. The drilling apparatus of claim 14, wherein the transfer member in configured to engage the release mechanism when returning to the transfer position beneath the magazine, such that both the release mechanism and the transfer member move to the transfer position in concert.
- 17. The drilling apparatus of claim 16, wherein the transfer member engages a pin of the release mechanism to move the release mechanism from the home position to the receiving position beneath the magazine.
- 18. A drilling apparatus comprising:
a) a magazine for holding a plurality of pipes, the magazine including a top end, a bottom end, and a plurality of columns extending between the top and bottom ends, the magazine further including independent pipe stops positioned adjacent each of the; and b) a pipe transfer member for transferring pipes to and from the magazine, the pipe transfer member defining a pipe receiving region for receiving a pipe, the pipe transfer member being movable to a position in which the pipe receiving region is located beneath the magazine.
- 19. The drilling apparatus of claim 18, wherein each of the independent pipe stops is located at the bottom end of the magazine.
- 20. The drilling apparatus of claim 18, further including a release mechanism interconnected to the pipe transfer member, the release mechanism being configured to actuate a selected pipe stop to release a pipe from one of the columns of the magazine.
- 21. The drilling apparatus of claim 20, further including a pipe lift, and wherein the release mechanism actuates a selected pipe stop when the pipe lift is raised to transfer a pipe from the one column of the magazine to the pipe transfer member.
- 22. A drilling apparatus comprising:
a) a magazine for holding a plurality of pipes, the magazine including a plurality of vertical columns; b) a drive head including a drive member adapted to be coupled to a pipe, the drive member being aligned along a drive axis; c) a first drive mechanism for rotating the drive member about the drive axis; d) a second drive mechanism for moving the drive member axially along the drive axis; e) a pipe transfer member for transferring pipes between the magazine and the drive head, the pipe transfer member defining a pipe receiving region for receiving a pipe, the pipe transfer member being movable to a position where the pipe receiving region is positioned beneath the magazine; and f) a plurality of individual pipe stops, each of the individual pipe stops being positioned adjacent to one of the plurality of vertical columns.
- 23. The drilling apparatus of claim 22, wherein each of the individual pipe stops is configured to be separately actuated.
- 24. The drilling apparatus of claim 23, wherein the individual, separately actuated pipe stops are positioned at discharge openings of the vertical columns.
- 25. A method of drilling comprising:
a) storing a plurality of pipes in a magazine, the magazine including a plurality of columns with independent pipe stops positioned adjacent to each column; b) positioning a pipe transfer member under a selected column for transferring pipes to and from the magazine; c) raising a pipe lift and releasing a pipe from the selected column; and d) lowering the pipe lift and transferring a pipe from the selected column to the pipe transfer member.
- 26. The method of claim 25, wherein only a single pipe is transferred by the pipe transfer member.
- 27. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of raising a pipe lift and releasing a pipe from the selected column further includes:
a) positioning a release member in an engagement position; b) raising the pipe lift to engage the release member and further raising both the pipe lift and the release member; and c) wherein raising both the pipe lift and the release member includes raising the release member to actuate one of the independent pipe stops to release a pipe from the selected column.
- 28. A method of drilling comprising:
a) storing a plurality of pipes in a magazine, the magazine including a plurality of columns with independent pipe stops located adjacent to each column;; b) positioning a pipe transfer member under a selected column for transferring pipes to and from the magazine; and c) raising a pipe lift and returning a pipe from the pipe transfer member to the selected column of the magazine.
- 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of raising a pipe lift and returning a pipe from the selected column further includes positioning a release member in a non-engagement position and raising the pipe lift without engaging the release member.
- 30. The method of claim 29, wherein raising the pipe lift without engaging the release member includes raising the pipe lift without raising the release member to actuate the independent pipe stops.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/970,093, filed Oct. 2, 2001, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/321,988, filed May 28, 1999, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,502, which applications are herein incorporated by reference.
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09321988 |
May 1999 |
US |
Child |
09970093 |
Oct 2001 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09970093 |
Oct 2001 |
US |
Child |
10391230 |
Mar 2003 |
US |