Sucker rod back off tool

A power tubing tong is modified by removing the gripping jaws and in attaching a sucker rod break-out adapter where the gripping jaws would normally be placed. The adapter includes a vise anvil and a vise block so that a sucker rod may be securely, rigidly fastened by a vise bolt moving the vise block so that the sucker rod is between the vise block and the vise anvil. This provides a tong capable of breaking a sucker rod joint when the pump attached to the bottom of the sucker rod is stuck. In use, the adapted tong would be used to break a sucker rod at some point between the surface of the earth and the pump when it was desired to pull the pump for routine maintenance and repair.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
None, however, Applicant filed Disclosure Document Number 316,966 on Sep. 
8, 1992 which document concerns this application; therefore, by separate 
paper it is respectfully requested that the document be retained and 
acknowledgments thereof made by the Examiner. (MoPEP 1706) 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
(1) Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to deep wells and more particularly with the 
removing of sucker rod and pump elements from oil wells for maintenance 
purposes. A pulling rig operator is one having ordinary skill in this art. 
(2) Description of the Related Art 
Most oil is produced today by reciprocating pumps which operate deep within 
the ground. Typically these wells include tubing within a casing. A pump 
is located on the bottom of the tubing. It is not unusual for these pumps 
to be located 10,000 feet below the surface of the earth. Normally, pump 
elements are attached to a sucker rod string which extends through the 
tubing to the bottom of the tubing. Normally, most of the working elements 
of the pump can be removed from the well by pulling the sucker rod 
inasmuch as working elements of the pump are attached to the sucker rod. 
Therefore the pump can be maintained or repaired by pulling the sucker rod 
with the pump elements attached to it. 
As used herein, the term "pulling" includes not only the linear upward 
movement of a string (sucker rod or tubing) but also breaking the joints 
of the individual sucker rod elements from the string. The term "breaking 
the joint" basically means unscrewing the threaded joints connecting one 
portion of the string to another. Normally the sucker rods or tubing will 
be in lengths no greater than about 30 feet so that they can readily be 
removed from the well by pulling. 
Usually the sucker rod and pump element may be removed from the well by 
upward, vertical tension upon the portion of the sucker rod extending 
above the ground. Normally this tension will pull the pump element 
attached to the sucker rod free of the portion of the pump that is 
attached to the tubing. Then, when a joint or two of the sucker rod is 
pulled above the top of the tubing, the sucker rod joint is broken by the 
use of a sucker rod tong which is normally a rather light unit which 
produces sufficient torque to break the sucker rod joints. 
Tubing tongs are heavier tongs than sucker rod tongs or tubing tongs and 
produce more torque than that produced by sucker rod tongs. Tubing tongs 
are normally used to break tubing joints. 
In certain instances the pump elements or portions of the sucker rod may be 
stuck within the well. The sticking occurs because of corrosion or other 
causes. Regardless of the cause, in certain cases, the pump element 
attached to the sucker rod cannot be freed from the pump portions attached 
to the tubing. 
When this occurs, normally the sucker rod is broken at some joint below the 
surface of the earth or ground. This is accomplished by rotating the top 
of the sucker rod until some joint in the string between the top and the 
bottom unscrews. Hopefully this might be a joint deep within the well near 
the pump. In any event, to develop sufficient torque in the sucker rod to 
cause some joint to break or unscrew, it is often necessary to rotate the 
sucker rod as many as 200 revolutions. The sucker rod string will seldom 
break or unscrew with less than 60 or 70 revolutions. 
Due to the resilience of the sucker rod material, as well as the certain 
amount of resilience in the tubing material, when a joint in the sucker 
rod string does come unscrewed, this is often a traumatic and violent 
occurrence. Energy has been stored into the down-hole strings and the 
release of this energy is a tremendous thing. In certain cases the grip or 
the element attached to the sucker rod above the top of the ground, will 
slip so that there is a release of energy at this time rather than the 
breaking of a joint down hole. In such instances, workmen are often 
injured, and equipment on the pulling rig is damaged. 
Normally sucker rod tongs will not produce sufficient torque to break a 
joint down hole. Other workers in the field have sought to solve this 
problem. 
Before this invention, others had patented related articles. For example, 
RUSSELL U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,171 discloses an adapter to use tubing tongs 
for rod tongs. However, RUSSELL is concerned with disconnecting above the 
surface of the earth as RUSSELL shows wrench 144 to hold one portion 
stationary as the second portion is rotated. 
AUSTIN U.S. Pat. No. 2,450,103 discloses a vise operated by a vise bolt to 
clamp a sucker rod. AUSTIN discloses a hand-operated wheel for rotating 
the sucker rod. The AUSTIN device was designed to break the rod string at 
some point below the surface of the earth. 
DIETZMANN discloses a sucker rod tool which holds the sucker rod by a vise 
which has a manual operation for rotating the sucker rod to break the rod 
string below the earth. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
(1) Progressive Contribution to the Art 
According to this application a sucker rod break-out attachment is 
constructed. The break-out attachment includes a vise which includes a "V" 
groove which may be clamped to the sucker rod with great force. The 
adapter is made to fit a standard, common, existing, tubing tong. The 
break-out adapter fits the tubing tong with similar structure as the 
tubing jaws would be attached within the tongs if the tongs were to be 
used in their normal manner to break out tubing. 
Some sucker rods do not have wrench flats. Often when the rods have wrench 
flats, the flats will not be at a convenient location. Therefore, it is 
desirable to attach the break-out attachment to the sucker rod by a vise 
which may be used on cylindrical portions of the sucker rod. 
With the vise tightly clamped to the sucker rod, there is far less 
likelihood of it releasing from the sucker rod with violent and traumatic 
results. Also, the tubing tongs are well adapted to exert the torque and 
also the continued operation of rotating the sucker rod at high torque for 
up to 200 revolutions. Furthermore, the equipment is heavy enough and 
adapted to be anchored well enough that when the joint breaks there is a 
minimum of uncontrolled movement and trauma. 
(2) Objects of this Invention. 
An object of this invention is to remove pump elements from deep within a 
well. 
Other objects of this invention are to break out and remove sucker rods 
from a well where the bottom of the sucker rod string is stuck within the 
well. 
Further objects are to achieve the above with devices that are sturdy, 
compact, durable, simple, safe, efficient, versatile, ecologically 
compatible, energy conserving, and reliable, yet inexpensive and easy to 
manufacture, attach, operate, and maintain. 
Other objects are to achieve the above with a method that is rapid, 
versatile, ecologically compatible, energy conserving, efficient, and 
inexpensive, and does not require highly skilled people to attach, 
operate, and maintain. 
The specific nature of the invention, as well as other objects, uses, and 
advantages thereof, will clearly appear from the following description and 
from the accompanying drawings, the different views of which are not 
necessarily scale drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to FIG. 1 there may be seen a well deep within the earth. The 
well, as shown, includes casing 10 which extends from surface 12 of the 
earth to bottom 14 of the well. 
Tubing 16 is telescoped within the casing 10 and anchored thereto by 
elements not pertinent to this invention and therefore not shown. Pump 
portion 18 is attached to bottom 20 of the tubing deep within the earth. 
As stated above the pump portions 18 may be 10,000 feet below the surface 
12 of the earth. Pump elements 22 are telescoped within the pump portions 
18 at the bottom of the well. They are attached to sucker rod string 24. 
Certain parts of the pump elements 22 are reciprocated by the reciprocal 
movement of the sucker rod string 24 thereby producing oil from the bottom 
of the well to the surface of the earth as is well known. Being well 
known, the details are not described here. 
The tubing 16 will normally be in individual sections or portions which are 
connected by tubing joints 26. Likewise the sucker rod string is formed of 
individual parts which are joined together by sucker rod joints or rod 
joints 28. FIG. 1 is schematic and it will be understood that the length 
of the tubing and the distance between the joints of tubing, as well as 
between the joints of the sucker rod, have been greatly foreshortened for 
the purpose of illustration. Often the sucker rod itself will be 11/2 
inches in diameter and up to 30 feet in length, whereas the tubing will be 
3 inches in diameter and up to 30 feet in length also. 
To practice this invention, normally a pulling rig 27 will be moved to the 
site to maintain or repair the pump elements 22. By draw-works on the 
pulling rig, an attempt will be made to pull the sucker rod string 24 by 
upward, vertical tension. It will be understood that in the majority of 
the attempts the pump elements 22 will release from the pump portion 18 
and the rod-string will move upward so that the rod joints 28 may be 
broken above the surface of the earth 12, each joint laid to one side 
until the entire pump element 22 is brought to the surface of the earth 
and maintained and repaired. 
However, in some instances the pump elements 22 will not release from the 
pump portion 20 even though maximum tension is applied to the sucker rod 
string 24. Maximum tension would be that tension where there was a 
substantial danger of the sucker rod string failing in tension. 
In such an instance it is necessary to torque the top of the sucker rod 
string to break some joint 28 of the sucker rod string. 
The detailed description to this point describes well known equipment and 
procedures that are well known to the art. 
According to this invention, sucker rod break-out adapter 30 is attached to 
mechanically powered tubing tong 32 as described in detail later. With the 
adapter 30 attached to the tong 32 then vise 34 of the tong 32 is securely 
attached to the top of the sucker rod string 24 which projects above the 
top of the tubing 16 and thus the top of the rod string is rotated by the 
tong until one of the joints 28 breaks, as illustrated by broken joint 
29.(FIG. 2) 
Thereafter the adapter 30 is removed from the string 24 and the 
disconnected portion 36 is removed from the tubing string 16 by 
conventional procedures. The tubing string is then pulled (i.e. the tubing 
raised and the joint above the surface of the earth 12 broken). This 
continues until the top of remaining rod string 38 is exposed. Stated 
otherwise, the tubing string is pulled until structure other than tubing 
is exposed. I.e., if upon the opening of any joint there is no unexposed 
structure, then another joint is pulled. 
Then the process steps identified above repeated. I.e., there is an attempt 
to pull the remaining rod string 38 with the attached pump elements 22 
from the tubing, hoping that the trauma of the breaking of the joint 29 
will have freed the pump portions 22. If this is successful, of course, it 
is pulled and the repair and maintenance steps are carried out at that 
time. If the attempt to pull the remaining rod string is not successful 
the remaining steps above are carried out. I.e., an adapter is again 
placed in the tubing tongs, another joint 28 below the surface of the 
earth is broken, the disconnected portion 36 of the rod string is pulled, 
and the tubing is pulled until again a remaining rod 38 string is exposed. 
By repeating the above, at some point the pump portion 22 will be brought 
to the surface of the earth. The pump is returned to the well by standard, 
well known, oil well servicing procedures. 
Referring more particularly to FIG. 3 there may be seen a sucker rod 
break-out adapter. The adapter has a base 40 which is designed, 
manufactured, and adapted to fit into a standard tubing tong. For 
example,, one base 49 will fit into a "JB Tubing Tong" or a "Weatherford 
Tubing Tong" or an "Oil Country Tubing Tong". The tongs named above are 
all mechanically powered tubing tongs. In fact, all three are powered by 
pressurized fluid such as hydraulic fluid or compressed air. All of the 
above named tubing tongs are built to receive a standard jaws or unit for 
fitting tubing jaws into the tongs to fit different sized tubing. However, 
in this case the elements that fit into that are merely to adapt it so 
that the break-out adapter can be fit into the tubing tongs. 
The adapter is so built and constructed to have an elongated body 42 
attached to the base 40 which has axis 44. The body has cavity 46 
around-the axis. Threaded bore 47 extends radially from the axis of the 
body 42. Vise bolt 48 is threaded into the threaded bore 47. Vise bolt 48 
bears against the vise block 50. As may be seen, the vise block has "V" 
shaped groove 52 therein. This is so arranged and adapted so that a sucker 
rod of the string 24 may be placed against anvil 54 forming a portion of 
the boundaries of the body and therefore the sucker rod can be tightly 
clamped between the bloc and the anvil as particularly seen in FIG. 4. 
Of course, as may be seen in the drawing, the vise bolt 48 has square head 
56 so that a suitable wrench may be used to tighten the vise bolt 48 
against the vise block 50 to securely clamp the sucker rod to the body 42 
of the adapter 30. 
Also, it may be seen that the cavity 46 is open on one side so that the 
sucker rod can be moved laterally into the cavity. Also from the drawing 
it may be seen that there is opening or slot 58 in the base 40 of the body 
to permit this lateral movement of the sucker rod into place. 
Those skilled in the art will know that the tubing tongs 32 likewise have 
slot 60 to accommodate this. The provision of such slots is well known and 
understood by those skilled in the art. 
It is reiterated that the base 40 of the sucker rod break-out adapter 30 
fits securely, rigidly and regularly onto the power tubing tong 32 in a 
position that is standard on many different tubing tongs as set out above. 
I.e., the sucker rod break-out adapter 30 fits onto these tongs just as 
securely and that the base would fit exactly the same as the normal 
gripping jaws would fit on the tubing tong 32 if the tubing tongs were to 
be fitted with tubing jaws to grip tubing rather than the sucker rod 
break-out adapter 30 to be attached to sucker rod. 
It will be understood that the unit upon the tubing tongs to which the 
gripping jaws would be attached is a rotatable means having an axis on the 
tubing tong for inserting cam operated tubing jaws and is identified in 
the drawing by numeral 62. 
The embodiment shown and described above is only exemplary. I do not claim 
to have invented all the parts, elements or steps described. Various 
modifications can be made in the construction, material, arrangement, and 
operation, and still be within the scope of my invention. 
The restrictive description and drawings of the specific examples above do 
not point out what an infringement of this patent would be, but are to 
enable one skilled in the art to make and use the invention. The limits of 
the invention and the bounds of the patent protection are measured by and 
defined in the following claims.