Wear resistant drill pipe collar and method of making same

Claim 2

A wear-resistant drill pipe collar comprising, a main body having a substantially annular groove and an access opening for said groove defined therein with said groove extending around said main body from opposite locations of said access opening, said main body having an outside surface, said groove being defined by a bottom surface having opposed end edges defining a particular width for said bottom surface and a pair of opposed side surfaces adjoining said end edges, said side surfaces having outer edges spaced apart a distance less than said width to thereby define said groove having a constricted substantially annular opening, a plurality of inserts made of a wear-resistant material disposed within said groove, each of said inserts being confined by said bottom surface and said side surfaces and having an outer portion extending between said constricted opening, each outer portion having a wear-resistant exposed surface which conforms to the configuration of said outside surface, each of said inserts being adapted to be inserted in and removed from said groove through said access opening, and a plug fixed to said main body within said access opening to prevent movement of said inserts within said annular groove and egress of said inserts from said access opening.

Claim 3

A collar as set forth in claim 1 in which said access opening has a lowermost surface portion which blends smoothly with said bottom surface to define a substantially right circular cylindrical surface.

Claim 4

A collar as set forth in claim 2 wherein said main body has substantially oppositely arranged semicylindrical surfaces adjoining peripheral edge portions of said lowermost surface portion and defining enlarged areas for opposite sides of said access opening.

Claim 5

A collar as set forth in claim 3 in which said access opening has an axial length along the longitudinal axis of said collar and a circumferential length each of which is at least equal to said width to enable easy movement of each of said inserts relative to said groove and opening.

Claim 6

A collar as set forth in claim 1 in which said main body is made of a particular metal and each of said inserts is made of a metal having a greater wear-resistance than said particular metal.

Claim 7

A collar as set forth in claim 1 in which said main body is made of a particular metal and each of said inserts is made of a ceramic material.

Claim 8

A collar as set forth in claim 1 in which each of said inserts is comprised of an inner portion and said outer portion, said outer portion being made of a material having a greater wear resistance than the wear resistance of said inner portion.

Claim 9

A collar as set forth in claim 7 in which each of said inserts is a single-piece structure wherein said inner portion defines the main body of said insert and is made of steel and said outer portion is integrally fixed to said inner portion.

Claim 10

A collar as set forth in claim 8 in which said outer portion of each of said inserts is made of tungsten carbide and is integrally fixed to its inner portion as a welded portion.

Claim 11

A collar as set forth in claim 1 in which each of said inserts is made of a material containing between 90 and 99.5 percent by weight of aluminum oxide.

Claim 12

A collar as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising means fixing said plug within said access opening.

Claim 13

A collar as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising a threaded screw detachably fixing said plug within said access opening.

Claim 14

A collar as set forth in claim 1 in which said main body is made of a particular metal, each of said inserts is made of a material having a greater wear resistance than said particular metal, said pair of side surfaces are substantially annular surfaces symmetrically arranged relative to said bottom surface and converging radially outwardly therefrom toward each other, and each of said inserts has a substantially trapezoidal cross-sectional configuration when cut by a diametral plane through said main body.

Claim 15

A collar as set forth in claim 13 in which each of said inserts has an inside surface which conforms to a circumferential increment of said bottom surface and said wear-resistant exposed surface conforms to said outside surface.

Claim 16

A collar as set forth in claim 14 in which each of said inserts has circumferentially spaced end surfaces which provide a maximum contact area between adjoining surfaces.

Claim 17

A wear-resistant drill pipe component comprising, a main body having a plurality of substantially annular grooves and a corresponding plurality of access openings defined therein with each groove extending around said main body from opposite locations of an associated access opening, said main body having an outside surface, each of said grooves being defined by a bottom surface having opposed end edges defining a particular width for the bottom surface and a pair of opposed side surfaces adjoining associated opposed end edges, said side surfaces of each groove having outer edges spaced apart a distance less than said width of its bottom surface to define each groove having a constricted substantially annular opening, a plurality of inserts made of a wear-resistant material disposed within each of said grooves, each of said inserts being confined by an associated bottom surface and side surfaces and having an outer portion extending between an associated constricted opening, each outer portion of each insert having a wear-resistant exposed surface which conforms to the configuration of said outside surface, each of said inserts being adapted to be inserted in and removed from its groove through an associated access opening, and a plurality of plugs each being disposed within an associated access opening and fixed to said main body, each plug preventing movement of associated inserts within an associated annular groove and egress of the associated inserts from an associated access opening.

Claim 18

A wear-resistant drill pipe component comprising, a main body having a plurality of substantially annular grooves and a corresponding plurality of access openings defined therein with each groove extending around said main body from opposite locations of an associated access opening, said main body having an outside surface, each of said grooves being defined by a bottom surface having opposed end edges defining a particular width for the bottom surface and a pair of opposed side surfaces adjoining associated opposed end edges, said side surfaces of each groove having outer edges spaced apart a distance less than said width of its bottom surface to define each groove having a constricted substantially annular opening, a plurality of inserts made of a wear-resistant material disposed within each of said grooves, each of said inserts being confined by an associated bottom surface and side surfaces and having an outer portion extending between an associated constricted opening, each outer portion of each insert having a wear-resistant exposed surface which conforms to the configuration of said outside surface, each of said inserts being adapted to be inserted in and removed from its groove through an associated access opening, and a plurality of plugs each being disposed within an associated access opening and fixed to said main body, each plug preventing movement of associated inserts within an associated annular groove and egress of the associated inserts from an associated access opening.

Claim 19

A drill pipe component as set forth in claim 16 in the form of a collar.

Claim 20

A drill pipe component as set forth in claim 16 in the form of a coupling collar.

Claim 21

A drill pipe component as set forth in claim 16 in combination with a drill pipe, said component and drill pipe being defined as a single-piece structure.

Claim 22

A drill pipe component as set forth in claim 19 defined at one end portion of said pipe as a coupling collar.

Claim 23

A drill pipe component as set forth in claim 16 in which said main body is a single-piece homogeneous structure and said grooves and access openings are defined therein.

Claim 24

A drill pipe component as set forth in claim 21 in which said main body is made of a particular metal and said inserts are made of a material having a wear resistance which is greater than the wear resistance of said particular metal.

Claim 27

A method as set forth in claim 23 in which said forming step comprises machining said groove and inlet opening in said main body.

Claim 28

A method as set forth in claim 23 in which said providing step comprises providing said inserts made of a ceramic material.

Claim 29

A method as set forth in claim 23 in which said providing step comprises providing said inserts made of a metallic material.

Claim 30

A method as set forth in claim 23 in which said fixing step comprises detachably fixing said plug to said main body.