Patent ID: 7918278

Claim:
A ball and plug dropping head for use in sequentially dropping one or more balls and plugs into a well tubing, comprising: a) a housing having an inlet at its upper end adapted to be fluidly connected in line with the lower end of a top drive, an outlet generally aligned with the inlet, said housing having an outer cylindrically shaped surface; b) the housing having an inner surface surrounding an outer bypass channel and an inner flow channel, wherein each said flow channel connects to the inlet and the outlet; c) a plurality of valving members spaced between the inlet and the outlet, each valving member having an inner valve with a flow bore, and being movable between open and closed positions and an outer valve that is positioned to valve the bypass channel; d) the bypass channel enabling fluid to bypass the inner valve when the inner valve is in the closed position; e) wherein the inner valve does not valve fluid flow in the bypass flow channel; f) wherein fluid flow flows around the inner valve when it is in the closed position and through the inner valve when it is in the open position; g) a sliding sleeve above each valving member that is configured to support a ball or plug when the valve below the sleeve is closed; h) wherein in the open position each inner valve flow bore permits a ball or plug to pass therethrough, and circulating fluid to pass downwardly therethrough when neither a ball nor plug is in the inner valve flow bore; and i) an indicator that indicates to a user when a ball or plug has passed a designated position that is below the inner valves, wherein said indicator includes a pin and a lever arm that form an acute angle and wherein the lever arm rotates the indicator pin responsive to movement of the lever arm when a ball or plug passes the lever arm.