Boart Longyear Co.

William V Dycus

Louis E Silay

Clifford Caneer, Jr

A continuous feed drilling system and controller includes a head assembly having first and second chucks synchronized to rotate at the same rotational velocity. The chucks are independently moveable within the head assembly and their positions are measured by linear transducers. The controller causes the first chuck to engage with a drill stem and begin rotating and advancing. The controller uses the outputs of the linear transducers to determine the linear velocity of the advancing first chuck and synchronize the linear velocity of the first and second chucks. The controller then causes the second chuck to engage the drill stem and causes the first chuck to release the drill stem. The process is repeated, alternating the roles of the first and second chucks, thus creating a continuous drilling motion.

Continuous feed drilling system

An improved drilling rig having a drillhead assembly positioned onto a mast for vertical movement therewith. The drillhead assembly is hung by cables threaded from a hoist assembly positioned at the top end of the mast. One or more cable return assemblies are positioned at the bottom end of the mast. The cables are counter-wound on the hoist assembly such that the cables roll off of the hoist assembly in the direction towards the drillhead assembly at the same rate the cables are pulled onto the hoist assembly from the direction towards the cable return assemblies. The drillhead assembly has a drive motor assembly rotatably mounted within a frame. A break-out tool assembly is mounted at the lower end of the mast. The break-out tool assembly has means for grasping rotating a length of string so as to separate the lengths of string.

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Wytheville, VA, United States of America

William V Dycus