Apparatus and method for moving the top drive of a top drive subterranean drilling system from the drilling track extending along the length of the derrick includes a movable working track, a secondary track pivotably connected to the working track, and a power assembly. The working track is connected to the derrick and is transversely movable between a first position in which the working track is aligned with the drilling track and a second position in which the working track is transversely di...

A line of detachably connected skid frames is laid down at a first drilling position for supporting an oil well drilling rig having a base seated on the frames with some of them extending away from opposite ends of the base. After the well has been completed, the rig is skidded along the line of frames to one or more nearby drilling locations, but for movement to a more distant drilling location, some of the skid frames then are temporarily attached to the bottom of the base and disconnected fro...

Mounted in the upper part of an oil well drilling derrick are horizontal crown beams having end portions projecting beyond the opposite sides of the derrick. A fast line sheave and a dead line sheave are mounted on those beams near the opposite sides of the derrick, and a crown block is mounted on the beams between those sheaves. The sheaves and the crown block are adjustable along the beams. The fast line sheave is movable outwardly into an inactive position on the adjacent projecting end porti...

An automated pipe racking apparatus for a drilling rig having an elevator suspended over a well bore. An arm support member is rotatable about an axis parallel to the well bore. A gripper arm extends from the arm support member along an axis normal to the axis of rotation of the arm support member. A gripper head assembly extends from the gripper arm, the gripper head assembly having a pair of opposed, arcuate gripper fingers, each said finger rotatable by a motor.

An oil well drilling rig mover is formed from a pair of laterally spaced dollies detachably connected by braces between them. Each of the dollies includes a beam for resting on a support, and a pair of laterally spaced wheels at each end of the beam. An arm extends outwardly from the outer end of a tiltable support member that is pivotally connected to the end of the beam beneath it. The arm can be connected to the support member in either of two laterally spaced positions. Extending downwardly ...

A foot of a reclining oil well drilling mast is hinged to a substructure. Below the mast the foot of a reclining pipe racking tower is also hinged to the substructure. Means are provided for first swinging the mast up to upright position and for then swinging the tower up to upright position in front of the mast so that vertical pipe can be moved back and forth between them during drilling operations.

Pivotally supported beside an oil well is the inner end of a boom that can be swung in a vertical plane toward and away from the well. Clamping means for gripping a group of drill pipes are pivotally connected to the outer end of the boom on a horizontal axis in such a position that pipes gripped by the clamping means can swing across the boom as the outer end of the boom is raised or lowered, whereby the clamping means can extend downwardly when the boom is in its lower position and laterally t...

As each successive stand of drill pipe is pulled out of a well hole at the bottom of an oil well derrick, it is set back in the derrick until a multiple stand set back has been formed. Then the lower end of the setback is swung out of the derrick and away from it while the upper end of the setback is being lowered. Substantially at the same time the setback is moved bodily, lower end first, away from the derrick to lay the setback down on a support.

A carriage is mounted on a track. Rigidly mounted on the carriage there may be a row of parallel vertical posts that are spaced apart to provide vertical slots for receiving reclining pipe. The carriage is movable along the track intermittently to locate each of the slots in succession at a pipe-receiving station. Preferably, the carriage is narrow and a like carriage is spaced laterally from it and is movable in unison with it.

A boom has an inner end pivotally supported in front of the bottom of an oil well drilling derrick to enable the boom to be swung in a vertical plane toward and away from the derrick. A boom extension is hinged to the outer end of the boom on a horizontal axis and extends upwardly from the boom when the latter is in its raised position. Means are provided for swinging the outer end of the boom extension relative to the boom in a direction toward the center of the derrick while the boom is being ...