MR. ROBERT JAY WILLIAMS, PAC
Nursing at Fannin, Houston, TX

4836302, Jun 6, 1989

Oct 5, 1987

7/104838

Joe K. Heilhecker - Houston TX
Robert E. Williams - Houston TX
William H. Marshall - Houston TX

B01D 1100, B08B 308, C09K 700, E21B 2106

175 66

Method and apparatus for removing oil-based drilling mud from drill cuttings in order to prepare the drill cuttings for an environmentally safe disposal in the sea. A solvent in the range of solvents which may be condensed by ambient seawater and vaporized by heated internal combustion engine coolant is utilized in the process. The method of this invention includes the steps of transporting oil-based mud-laden cuttings to a solid feed tank wherein the oil-based cuttings are subjected to turbulent mixing to leave the surface of the cuttings substantially free of oil. The cuttings are then transported to a countercurrent flow column and subjected to countercurrent, laminar flow of solvent in order to separate oily solvent and fines smaller than a chosen diameter from the heavier solids. The heavier solids are cleaned of any remaining oil-based muds, separated from cleaning solvent and ultimately returned to the sea environment. The method includes the further step of treating the oil-based mud laden solvent for separation of remaining solvent for return of the solvent to the continuous process and for recycling of the recovered oil-based drilling mud into the drilling mud system.

5389097, Feb 14, 1995

Jun 22, 1994

8/277984

John K. Bennett - Houston TX
Mark Maxham - Richardson TX
William H. Marshall - Houston TX
Robert E. Williams - Houston TX

Novatec Medical Products, Inc. - Houston TX

A61B 1736

606 34

A monitoring device for detecting adulteration of an article used in critical use applications such as a surgical glove where the gloves are worn by the surgeon and are exposed to the body fluids of a patient. The device includes the detection of a particular value of electrical condition, preferably resistance or impedance, as well as the first and second derivatives of electrical condition. These values are monitored in a substantially continuous manner and are smoothed and filtered to determine when a hole or thin spot in the glove occurs. In addition, the device includes an autoranging function which maintains the measured voltage in a prescribed range, thus allowing the device to operate at a higher level of accuracy for a greater period of time than a device without the feature. Also, the device warns the health care professional when the electrical properties of the gloves have degraded to a point where the device may no longer reliably detect holes in the gloves.

4123354, Oct 31, 1978

Nov 7, 1977

5/849158

Robert E. Williams - Houston TX

Exxon Production Research Company - Houston TX

B01D 1500, B01D 3314

210 40

Suspended droplets of oil are removed from a waste water stream by the method of the present invention. The oil and water mixture is injected into a partially submerged, vertical pipe and is contacted by an endless oleophilic, fibrous cord which is drawn through the pipe and which selectively removes the oil droplets from the waste water. Preferably, the fibrous cord is drawn upwardly through the pipe in a direction counter-current to the flow of the waste water. Oil which coalesces on the fibrous cord is squeezed from the cord at the surface while clarified waste water is discharged from the lower end of the pipe. If used to clarify waste water from an offshore rig the pipe is vertically positioned adjacent the rig.

4867238, Sep 19, 1989

May 18, 1988

7/195764

Jack H. Bayless - Houston TX
Robert E. Williams - Houston TX

Novatec Production Systems, Inc. - Houston TX

E21B 4324, E21B 43243, E21B 4327

166261

Viscous oil in a geological formation is recovered by producing hydrogen peroxide near the formation, injecting hydrogen peroxide into the formation to effect its decomposition and reaction of oxygen with resident hydrocarbon, and recovering oil in response to injection of hydrogen peroxide.