Auto Pax Products, L.l.c.

Joseph L Dalton, Iii

Grey Bassinger

Stuffing boxes for use with reciprocating or rotating pump rods for downhole pumps include a lower housing adapted to be mounted on a wellhead and provided with internal bores for receiving the pump rod and a packing housing engaged with the lower housing and including a central bore for receiving a packing assembly and a packing gland. The packing gland may include an annular flange for supporting circumferentially spaced bolts engageable with cooperating bores in the packing housing to adjust compression on the packing and to provide for rotatably indexing the gland to minimize uneven wear. An axially slidable bushing mounted in the packing housing or lower housing is engageable with the opposite end of the packing assembly and is provided with a transverse annular shoulder engaged by a bias spring for exerting compression forces on the packing assembly. The bushing includes a transverse end face exposed to pressure fluid to also urge the bushing into engagement with the packing assembly. An annular cavity for the bushing bias spring may be filled with a lubricant at neutral pressure provided by equal diameter portions of the bushing. An annular packoff element may be disposed in the lower housing and engaged by the packing housing to form a temporary seal during repair or replacement of the packing assembly and/or the packing gland.

Adjustable stuffing boxes for pump rods

A rotary stuffing box assembly, particularly adapted to form a rotary shaft seal for a downhole well pump includes a housing mountable on the upper end of the well tubing or other support structure and a cover threadedly connected to the housing and forming a closed chamber in the housing for holding a quantity of seal lubricant and/or coolant fluid. A resilient rotary shaft seal element is retained in a seal holder within the housing by an axially split seal retainer which is mountable in a bore in the seal holder. The retainer and the seal holder are retained between opposed transverse faces on the cover and on the housing and the seal holder engages a retaining pin on a threaded plug which closes a fluid drain port of the housing. The seal holder and retainer are operable to undergo limited radial excursion to accommodate eccentricity or excursion of the shaft. Spare seal elements may be carried on the shaft adjacent to the cover and the shaft may have a replaceable and adjustable hard faced sleeve defining a seal element engaging surface. The seal element may be changed without disconnecting or removing a pump drive structure from the shaft or removing the stuffing box from its support structure.

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Odessa, TX, United States of America

Joseph L Dalton, Iii