Boring or penetrating the earth inventions 03/07

20070068704 - Active buttonhole pressure control with liner drilling and completion systems: One exemplary APD Device is used with a liner drilling assembly to control wellbore pressure. The APD Device reduces a dynamic pressure loss associated with the drilling fluid returning via a wellbore annulus. Another exemplary APD Device is used to control pressure in a wellbore when deploying wellbore equipment, including... Agent: Madan, Mossman & Sriram, P.C.

20070068705 - Apparatus and method to reduce fluid pressure in a wellbore: The present invention generally provides apparatus and methods for reducing the pressure of a circulating fluid in a wellbore. In one aspect of the invention an ECD (equivalent circulation density) reduction tool provides a means for drilling extended reach deep (ERD) wells with heavyweight drilling fluids by minimizing the effect... Agent: Patterson & Sheridan, L.L.P.

20070068703 - Method for drilling and cementing a well: A method for drilling and cementing a borehole to access at least a portion of a formation of interest, comprising: drilling a borehole using a drill string including an external packer and a drilling assembly to access at least a portion of a formation of interest; using a drilling fluid... Agent: Bennett Jones C/o Ms Roseann Caldwell

20070068706 - Earth auger: An earth auger presents a shank having a spiral earth removing structure therearound. The structure first presents a series of spirally positioned housings with cutting teeth therein followed by a spiral cutting edge about the shank. The teeth are radially, vertically and angularly oriented so as to remove earth in... Agent: Chase Law Firm L.c

20070068707 - Hydraulic breaking hammer with lubricated implement guide sleeve: A hydraulic breaker hammer comprises a housing (10) with a longitudinal bore (12), a cylinder sleeve (14), and a cylinder sleeve (14) engaging rear end cover (16), a hammer piston (15) reciprocally powered in the cylinder sleeve (14) for delivering blows to a working implement inserted in a guide sleeve... Agent: Frishauf, Holtz, Goodman & Chick, PC

20070062736 - Hybrid disc bit with optimized pdc cutter placement: The invention provides an improved drill bit and a method for designing thereof. The drill bit includes a bit body, a journal depending from the bit body, and a disc rotatably mounted on the journal. The disc of the drill bit has PDC cutting elements disposed on it. Also provided... Agent: Osha Liang L.L.P.

20070062737 - A cutting element with a non-shear stress relieving substrate interface: The present invention includes an improved cutting element substrate for cutting elements. The cutting element substrate includes non-planar, non-linear interfaces with an abrasive layer of superhard material affixed thereto often using a high pressure high temperature press apparatus. The cutting element substrate includes a cant intersecting a first and second... Agent: Tyson J. Wilde Novatek International, Inc.

20070056770 - Hydrothermal mineral extraction: Described herein is a system and method for hydrothermal mineral extraction wherein the conditions surrounding hydrothermal systems are used advantageously to extract a mineral-rich brine. Specifically, hydrothermal fluid from ocean based or saline based hydrothermal systems contain a variety of minerals suspended in supercritical water and can be drawn up... Agent: Ade & Company Inc

20070056771 - Measurement while drilling apparatus and method of using the same: A method and apparatus used to transmit information to the surface from a subsurface location during the process of drilling a bore hole is described. A novel pressure pulse generator or “pulser” is coupled to a sensor package, a controller and a battery power source all of which reside inside... Agent: Martin G. Ozinga Phillips Mcfall Mccaffrey Mcvay & Murrah, P.C.

20070056772 - Autoreaming systems and methods: Methods and systems for controlling movement of a bit of a drilling assembly during reaming of an already-drilled hole; the methods, in certain aspects, including determining a ream speed for downward movement of the bit in the hole, moving the bit downward in a hole at said ream speed, determining... Agent: Guy Mcclung Pmb 347

20070056773 - Downhole impeller device: A downhole impeller device for use within a well, comprising: a body connectable to a drill string and having an external diameter smaller than the well diameter so as to form an annulus between the body and the well; and one or more impeller members extending from the outer surface... Agent: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP

20070056774 - Apparatus and methods for drilling a wellbore using casing: The present invention relates to emulsion compositions for starting a reformer of a fuel cell system. In particular, the invention includes oil-in-water-in-oil (O/W/O) emulsion compositions comprising hydrocarbon fuel, water, alkoxylated alkyl alcohol, alkoxylated alkyl ester and alkyl polyglycerol surfactants for starting a reformer of a fuel cell system.... Agent: William B. Patterson Moser, Patterson & Sheridan, L.L.P.

20070056775 - Pressure-actuated seals for rotating members: An air swivel ring includes a non-rotating member having an air inlet, a rotating member having an air outlet, and a split seal having a first sealing surface and coupled to one of the non-rotating member and the rotating member so that the first sealing surface on the seal is... Agent: Osha Liang L.L.P.

20070056776 - Abrasive wear-resistant materials, drill bits and drilling tools including abrasive wear-resistant materials, methods for applying abrasive wear-resistant materials to drill bits and drilling tools, and methods for securing cutting elements to a drill bit: An abrasive wear-resistant material includes a matrix and sintered and cast tungsten carbide pellets. A device for use in drilling subterranean formations includes a first structure secured to a second structure with a bonding material. An abrasive wear-resistant material covers the bonding material. The first structure may include a drill... Agent: Trask Britt

20070056777 - Composite materials including nickel-based matrix materials and hard particles, tools including such materials, and methods of using such materials: An abrasive wear-resistant material includes a matrix and sintered and cast tungsten carbide granules. A device for use in drilling subterranean formations includes a first structure secured to a second structure with a bonding material. An abrasive wear-resistant material covers the bonding material. The first structure may include a drill... Agent: Trask Britt

20070056778 - Sintered polycrystalline diamond material with extremely fine microstructures: A sintered polycrystalline diamond material (PCD) of extremely fine grain size is manufactured by sintering a diamond powder with pre-blended catalyst metal under high pressure/high temperature (HP/HT) processing. The PCD material has an average sintered diamond grain structure of less than 1.0 μm.... Agent: Pepper Hamilton LLP

20070051538 - Method for drilling with casing: A method for drilling boreholes using casing as the drill string and for removing a drilling assembly from the wellbore while leaving the casing in the well bore. In the method, the drilling assembly is prepared for removal from the wellbore by launching a release tool and manipulating the drilling... Agent: Bennett Jones C/o Ms Roseann Caldwell

20070051539 - Method and system for processing oil and gas well cuttings utilizing existing slurry processing equipment: A method for integrating a batch cement process with a cuttings reinjection process, the method comprising: equipping a batch cement skid with a particle classifier and a grinding pump, such that the batch cement skid sequentially implements the cuttings reinjection process and the batch cement process is disclosed. An apparatus... Agent: John W. Wustenberg

20070045005 - Rotary coring device and method for acquiring a sidewall core from an earth formation: A rotary coring device and a method for acquiring a sidewall core from an earth formation adjacent a wellbore are provided. The rotary coring device includes a coring tool having a housing with a core receptacle therein and being adapted for positioning at selected depths within the wellbore. The coring... Agent: Cantor Colburn LLP

20070045006 - Control systems and methods for real-time downhole pressure management (ecd control): Methods and control systems are provided for a wellbore drilling system having an active differential pressure device (APD device) in fluid communication with a returning fluid. The APD Device creates a differential pressure across the device, which reduces the pressure below or downhole of the device. In embodiments, a control... Agent: Madan, Mossman & Sriram, P.C.

20070045007 - Connection design and sonde housing assembly for a directional drill: Drill stem elements and connections are shown with advantages such as being mechanically robust. The absence of a side access window in a sonde housing is one design feature that provides robust mechanical properties. Further advantages of sonde housings include being easy to disassemble for access to the sonde unit,... Agent: Schwegman, Lundberg, Woessner & Kluth, P.A.

20070045008 - Magnetic face seal for rock drill bit bearings: A seal assembly for an earth boring bit uses a magnet to provide a desired contact force. The seal is located between a rotating cone and a stationary bearing pin of the drill bit. The seal has a non rotating metal face that is in sliding engagement with a seal... Agent: James E. Bradley Bracewell & Giuliani LLP

20070045009 - Improved drill bit: The invention provides a drill bit for a down-the-hole drill hammer. The bit has a head at its forward end with a shank extending from the head. The shank is screw threaded along its length. A reciprocating chuck is provided as a sleeve with internal screw threads corresponding to those... Agent: Lackenbach Siegel, LLP