Element removal tool for system carrying fluid under pressure

Abstract

An element removal tool for use with transmission lines for fluids (such as natural gas) under pressure which permits replacement of the element, in a specific case the axle box which is coupled between a metering chamber and the indexing mechanism in a gas meter, in a fluid transmission system, without shutting off downstream-customer service, the problem of properly seating the axle box in the undergear which drives it, despite slow rotation of the driving mechanism in the metering chamber, being overcome by dual concentric shafts relatively rotatable and slidable with respect to each other, the inner shaft carrying a socket which engages, firmly, the rotatable indexing shaft of the axle box, the outer shaft carrying a socket which is adapted to firmly engage the flange of the axle box for removal and replacement of the axle box, each shaft having at its end remote from its respective socket, a knob for rotating that shaft, the outer shaft passing through and hermetically engaging a stuffing box, connected to such stuffing box being a selectively operable valve for venting gas accumulated during the process of removing a defective axle box from the metering chamber, both inner and outer shafts being retractable into the stuffing box region of the tool so as to permit the closing of a gate valve between the stuffing box region and the base sealing unit of the tool, thus permitting removal of the shafts and the attached defective axle box from the tool and further permitting the replacement of a new axle box on the tool for a re-insertion in the metering chamber, the base sealing unit having transparent walls to assist in the process of orienting the shaft of a new axle box when it is being inserted in the metering chamber.