Did You Know...
...that Charles Goodyear performed some of his experiments on rubber while in debtor's prison? He was there so often he referred to it as his "hotel". Chronically in debt because of poor business sense and ill health, Goodyear depended on the generosity of friends and family. Even after he unlocked the secret to vulcanizing rubber, he was unable to improve his financial situation. When he died, his estate was $200,000 in debt.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8074737 | Wireless perforating gun initiation A perforating system and method for wellbore perforating. The system comprises a perforating string having a perforating gun with shaped charges, a communication module for receiving detonation signals, and a controller associated with each perforating gun. The modu... | 12/13/2011 |
| 7621342 | Method for retaining debris in a perforating apparatus A perforating apparatus (100) includes a plurality of shaped charges (102) each having an initiation end and a discharge end. A detonating cord (116) is operably coupled to the initiation ends of the shaped charges (102). A carrier (10... | 11/24/2009 |
| 7430965 | Debris retention perforating apparatus and method for use of same A perforating apparatus (100) includes a plurality of shaped charges (102) each having an initiation end and a discharge end. A detonating cord (116) is operably coupled to the initiation ends of the shaped charges (102). A carrier (10... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7350448 | Perforating apparatus, firing assembly, and method A firing assembly for activating a perforating device comprising a module having a first chamber and a second chamber. The firing assembly comprises a firing head for transferring ballistic energy to the perforating device, said firing head having a detonator and a ... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7347278 | Secure activation of a downhole device A system includes a well tool for deployment in a well, a controller, and a link coupled between the controller and the well tool. The well tool comprises plural control units, each of the plural control units having a microprocessor and an initiator coupled to the ... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7322410 | Controllable production well packer An apparatus and method for operating an electrically powered device in a packer using the piping structure of the well as an electrical conductor for providing power and/or communications. The electrically powered device may comprise an electrically controllable va... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7284489 | Casing conveyed well perforating apparatus and method Disclosed is a device and method for externally perforating a well-bore casing. The perforating apparatus is attached to the outside of the casing itself and is conveyed along with the casing when it is inserted into the well bore. The perforation is accomplished us... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7278491 | Perforating gun connector Controlled Buoyancy Perforating technology for highly deviated and substantially horizontal wellbores may include long perforating guns assembled on a rig floor from a multiplicity of light weight and highly engineered shaped charge carrier joints. Tubular housings ... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7273102 | Remotely actuating a casing conveyed tool A technique that is usable with a subterranean well includes communicating a wireless stimulus downhole in the well and actuating a casing conveyed tool in response to the communication. ... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7259688 | Wireless reservoir production control A reservoir production control system includes a plurality of wells for producing a reservoir linked to a central computer over a downhole communication network and a surface communication network. Both the downhole and the surface communication networks are wireles... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7246659 | Damping fluid pressure waves in a subterranean well A system and method of damping fluid pressure waves in a subterranean well. In a described embodiment, pressure waves are damped by positioning a dampener in the well during a perforating operation. The dampener may attenuate the pressure waves by absorbing the pres... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7219589 | Bomb fuze event instrumentation An assembly for indicating when a transient electronic event has occurred on a mobile platform is provided. The assembly includes a housing and a flash-producing device that communicates with the mobile platform and produces a flash approximately when the event occu... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7172023 | Perforating gun assembly and method for enhancing perforation depth A perforating gun assembly (110) for creating communication paths for fluid between a formation (114) and a cased wellbore (116) includes a housing, a detonator and a detonating cord (136). The perforating gun assembly (110) includ... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7147059 | Use of downhole high pressure gas in a gas-lift well and associated methods A gas-lift petroleum well and method for producing petroleum products using downhole pressurized gas to provide lift. The gas-lift well having a well casing, a production tubing, a packer, and a gas-lift valve. The well casing extends within a wellbore of the well, ... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7147965 | Pressure-balanced battery for downhole tools Pressure-balanced primary and secondary batteries suited for supplying power to downhole tools and for powering a downhole telemetry network. The battery comprises an electrochemical generator disposed within at least a partially compliant enclosure or housing. The ... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7073594 | Wireless downhole well interval inflow and injection control An apparatus and methods of electrically controlling downhole well interval inflow and/or injection. The downhole controllable well section having a communications and control module, a sensor, an electrically controllable valve and an induction choke. The electrica... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7075454 | Power generation using batteries with reconfigurable discharge A petroleum well for producing petroleum products that incorporates a system adapted to provide power to a downhole device in the well. The system includes a current impedance device and a downhole power storage device. The current impedance device is positioned suc... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7066261 | Perforating system and method A system for perforating a well includes a plurality of perforating guns suspended in the well from the wireline or coiled tubing. A downhole electronic command circuit is provided for firing each of the guns in response to a command signal from the surface. A condu... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7057427 | Power on reset circuit A power on reset (POR) circuit for providing a reset pulse signal to a chip when power supply voltage, VDD, ramps up so that the chip always starts in a known state. The POR circuit generates the reset pulse as soon as VDD exceeds an assertion voltage. The assertion... | 06/06/2006 |
| 7055592 | Toroidal choke inductor for wireless communication and control An induction choke in a petroleum well where a voltage potential is developed across the choke to power and communicate with devices and sensors in the well. Preferably, the induction choke is a ferromagnetic material and acts as an impedance to a time-varying curre... | 06/06/2006 |
| 6962202 | Casing conveyed well perforating apparatus and method Disclosed is a casing conveyed perforating apparatus and method for externally perforating a wellbore casing. The perforating apparatus is attached to the outside of the casing and is conveyed along with the casing when it is inserted into the wellbore. The perforat... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6877562 | Oil well perforator This invention relates to the field of oil wells and in particular to the explosive and other devices that are used to perforate oil well casings and hydrocarbon bearing rocks in order to create channels through which oil and gas can flow into the well bore. Existin... | 04/12/2005 |
| 6758124 | Unique phasings and firing sequences for perforating guns A unique phasing pattern is provided that maximizes the effective perforation geometry of a wellbore. The improvement overcomes the problems associated with multi-phase guns of the past that failed to account for the fact that the gun rested on the low side of the c... | 07/06/2004 |
| 6675896 | Detonation transfer subassembly and method for use of same A detonation transfer subassembly for coupling two detonation activated tools in a work sting such that the work string may be severed between the two detonation activated tools without risk of a detonation. The detonation transfer subassembly comprises f... | 01/13/2004 |
| 6604584 | Downhole activation system A tool activating system includes a multiple control units coupled to activate devices in a tool string positioned in a well. A processor is capable of communicating with the control units to send commands to the control units as well as to retrieve infor... | 08/12/2003 |
| 6523449 | Perforating gun A technique includes arranging perforating charges of a perforating gun into groups of adjacent perforating charges. Each perforating charge of each group is aligned in a direction associated with the group. The groups are oriented to form a phasing for t... | 02/25/2003 |
| 6283227 | Downhole activation system that assigns and retrieves identifiers A tool activating system includes multiple control units coupled to activate devices in a tool string positioned in a well. A processor is capable of communicating with the control units to send commands to the control units as well as to retrieve informa... | 09/04/2001 |
| 5887654 | Method for performing downhole functions A downhole device and method for performing a function in a well. The device has a series of dedicated hydro-mechanical locks that prevent occurrence of an associated function. The hydro-mechanical locks are capable of being released directly by a respect... | 03/30/1999 |
| 5388521 | Method of reducing ground vibration from delay blasting A formation is blasted with one or more arrays of elongated, chemical, explosive charges so as to produce relatively low levels of ground vibration. The orientation and velocity of propagation of explosion in each charge and the velocity of propagation of... | 02/14/1995 |
| 5278359 | Simple multishot downhole explosive tool A downhole seismic acoustical signal source capable of selectively firing numerous, prewired explosive charges. The downhole seismic source has a firing system that uses a sequence of combinations of two conductors at a time and a downhole diode array to ... | 01/11/1994 |
| 5107929 | Drop off method for perforating gun capsule charge carriers A novel dropoff apparatus adapted for use in a perforating gun or other such apparatus adapted to be disposed in a borehole includes an embrittled carrier section connected to a further section of the perforating gun or other such apparatus. The embrittle... | 04/28/1992 |
| 5103912 | Method and apparatus for completing deviated and horizontal wellbores A method of completing a well is provided which utilizes a primary tool string and a secondary tool string. The primary tool string will include apparatus such as perforating guns and associated firing heads, and may be actuated to perforate the well. Thi... | 04/14/1992 |
| 5042594 | Apparatus for arming, testing, and sequentially firing a plurality of perforation apparatus A perforating gun apparatus comprises a plurality of perforating gun, each gun containing at least one charge and a novel arming, testing and firing apparatus. The arming, testing and firing apparatus arms a first charge in a lowermost perforating gun; ho... | 08/27/1991 |
| 5022485 | Method and apparatus for detonation of distributed charges A method and apparatus for geophysical exploration wherein a seismic wave is passed through a bore hole so at to sequentially detonate a plurality of explosive charges disposed within said bore hole at spaced intervals. A preselected seismic wave magnitud... | 06/11/1991 |
| 5007344 | Dual firing system for a perforating gun A unitary dual firing assembly includes a high explosive detonation cord with ends, each actuable by a different firing mechanism. The ends of the high explosive detonation cord are adjacent respective bulkhead membranes which, if broken, are effective to... | 04/16/1991 |
| 4991684 | Method and apparatus for detonation of distributed charges A method and apparatus for geophysical exploration wherein a seismic wave is passed through a bore hole so as to sequentially detonate a plurality of explosive charges disposed within said bore hole at spaced intervals. A preselected seismic wave magnitud... | 02/12/1991 |
| 4971160 | Perforating and testing apparatus including a microprocessor implemented control system responsive to an output from an inductive coupler or other input stimulus An input stimulus provides a necessary input to a microprocessor implemented control system. An output signal from the control system may fire one or more perforating guns of a perforating apparatus or it may change the state of a valve in a well testing ... | 11/20/1990 |
| 4960171 | Charge phasing arrangements in a perforating gun Various charge phasing arrangements in a perforating gun include those uniquely associated with phasing solely along a 180 degree circumference of the perforating gun, for use in but not limited to deviated boreholes. One phasing arrangement comprises fou... | 10/02/1990 |
| 4895218 | Multishot downhole explosive device as a seismic source A downhole seismic acoustical signal source capable of selectively firing numerous, prewired explosive charges. The downhole seismic source uses a self-contained firing circuit that is capable of receiving select and fire signals from a seismic crew at th... | 01/23/1990 |
| 4832134 | Shaped charge assembly with retaining clip A shaped charge assembly includes at least one shaped charge having an outer case. The case has a forward end and a rearward end, and has a flange defined thereon. A retaining clip is operably associated with the flange and spans the rearward end of the c... | 05/23/1989 |
