Hydraulically-actuated well packers

Claim 1

A WELL PACKER ASSEMBLY ADAPTED TO BE LOWERED ON A WELL TUBING STRING AND INCLUDING, A TUBULAR SUPPORT CONNECTED IN SAID STRING, AN ANCHORING MEANS INCLUDING GRIPPING SLIPS AND AN EXPANDER MOUNTED ON THE SUPPORT, SAID SLIPS BEING MOVABLE RELATIVE TO THE EXPANDER IN A LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION ON THE SUPPORT WHEREBY SAID SLIPS ARE MOVED TO A GRIPPING OR NONGRIPPING POSITION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THEIR POSITION WITH RESPECT TO THE EXPANDER, A PACKING ELEMENT SURROUNDING THE SUPPORT AND HAVING ITS LOWER END SUPPORTED BY THE TUBING STRING, SAID PACKING ELEMENT BEING SPACED BELOW THE GRIPPING SLIPS, A PRESSURE-OPERATED MEANS INCLUDING A PISTON AND CYLINDER MOUNTED ON THE SUPPORT AND INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE GRIPPING SLIPS AND THE PACKING ELEMENT, SAID CYLINDER AND PISTON BEING MOVABLE LONGITUDINALLY WITHIN LIMITS UPON THE SUPPORT, SAID PISTON AND CYLINDER BEING SECURED ONE TO THE GRIPPING SLIPS AND THE OTHER TO THE PACKING ELEMENT, ACTUATION OF SAID PRESSURE-OPERATED MEANS WHICH MOVES THE PISTON AND CYLINDER RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER FIRST EFFECTING MOVEMENT OF THE GRIPPING SLIPS INTO GRIPPING POSITION AND THEREAFTER APPLYING AN ENDWISE FORCE TO THE PACKING ELEMENT TO DISTORT THE SAME INTO SEALING POSITION, AND PASSAGE MEANS FOR CONDUCTING A PRESSURE FLUID FROM THE TUBING STRING AND BORE OF THE SUPPORT TO THE PRESSURE-OPERATED MEANS TO ACTUATE THE SAME.