Patent ID: 6915868

Claim:
An elevator apparatus for manipulating well bore tubing having a collar, comprising: a circular body having a top and a central cavity around a body axis, the cavity having a diameter allowing the collar portion of tubing to pass longitudinally therethrough, a plurality of petal plates having radially inner and outer portions, horizontally supported on and spaced apart around the top of the body, and one or more actuators operatively associated with the petal plates, for moving each petal plate radially inward, substantially normal to the body axis, over the body, into the cavity, an extent sufficient, in combination with the other petal plates so extended, to prevent passage of the collar portion of the tubing through the cavity, thereby to hold the tubing with the elevator, in which said body is a fulcrum for the petal plates when they are extended into the cavity and hang tubing within the elevator, and wherein the elevator apparatus further comprises a counterforce member in operative arrangement with the petal plates for opposing leverage imparted over said fulcrum to the portion of the petal plates radially outward from said body, wherein the counterforce member is a circular member surrounding the cavity, spaced radially outward from the body and at least partially located above and adjacent the outer portion of the petal plates at least when they are extended into the cavity.