William M. McDonald
Engineering at Nocturne Ln, Houston, TX

6313755, Nov 6, 2001

Jun 2, 1999

9/324810

J. Christopher Hetmaniak - Houston TX
William J. McDonald - Houston TX
Gerard T. Pittard - Houston TX

Maurer Engineering, Inc. - Houston TX

G01V 300

3408563

A downhole buried utility sensing and data transmission system for connection at the lower end of a drill string has sensors capable of detecting the existence of various different types of buried utilities and objects and making calculations as to the radial separation distance between the detected utilities and the drill head and transmitting data between the down hole drill head to the surface. The sensors respond to material properties used to construct the utility lines or the energy fields created by the operation of these lines (pipes and cables) or from the energy associated with transmission of the particular utility service, including sound energy resulting from fluid flow and electromagnetic energy from electric currents. The system can detect and distinguish the presence of ferromagnetic metallic objects including steel pipes and structures; non-metallic utility infrastructure including gas pipelines, concrete sewer lines, telecommunication lines, and cable systems outfitted with RF tracer lines and transmitters; energized AC and DC power cable systems; and determining the approximate range, relative azimuth, and elevation of the sensors relative to the detected utility or object. The system also supports automatic cessation of drilling operations by combining the warning information with microprocessor control of drill string rotation and thrust.

5022471, Jun 11, 1991

Jan 8, 1990

7/461741

William C. Maurer - Houston TX
William J. McDonald - Houston TX

Maurer Engineering, Inc. - Houston TX

E21B 708

175 75

A deviated wellbore drilling system suitable for drilling curved wellbores which have a radius of curvature of approximately 10 to 1,000 feet relative to a vertical or near vertical wellbore comprises a drill string, a drill bit, and a fluid-operated drill motor having a curved or bent housing section for rotating the drill bit independently of the drill string. The drilling motor has an elongate tubular rotor/stator drive section containing a rubber stator and a steel rotor and the housing is bent or curved intermediate its ends. A straight or bent universal section below the bent or curved rotor/stator section contains a universal joint for converting orbiting motion of the rotor to concentric rotary motion at the bit, and a bearing pack section below the universal section contains radial and thrust bearings to absorb the high loads applied to the bit.

4828053, May 9, 1989

Jan 12, 1988

7/143005

William C. Maurer - Houston TX
William J. McDonald - Houston TX

Maurer Engineering, Inc. - Houston TX

E21B 402

175 75

A deviated wellbore drilling system suitable for drilling curved wellbores which have a radius of curvature of approximately 200 to 1,000 feet relative to a vertical or near vertical wellbore comprises a drill string, a drill bit, and a fluid-operated drill motor having a curved or bent housing section for rotating the drill bit independently of the drill string. The drilling motor has an elongate tubular rotor/stator drive section containing a rubber stator and a steel rotor and the housing is bent or curved intermediate its ends. A straight or bent univeral section below the bent or curved rotor/stator section contains a universal joint for converting orbiting motion of the rotor to concentric rotary motion at the bit, and a bearing pack section below the universal section contains radial and thrust bearings to absorb the high loads applied to the bit.

5396966, Mar 14, 1995

Mar 24, 1994

8/217352

Albert E. Roos - Houston TX
Steven W. Drews - Houston TX
William J. McDonald - Houston TX

Slimdril International Inc. - Houston TX

E21B 704, E21B 1720, E21B 402, E21B 4700

175 45

A flexible steering sub is disclosed for flexible drilling of horizontal oil and gas wells, horizontal storage wells, geothermal drilling for electric power generation; earth sciences study of and monitoring of earth movement with respect to fault movement; environmental science cleaning up of inaccessible polluted areas; coring to test rock strength prior to large scale constructions such as dams; introduction of chemicals for solution mining logging while drilling short radius well bores, and the like. The flexible sub comprises an elongated housing having a plurality of housing sections connectable at one end to an orientation sub for a PDM drill and connectable at the other end to a wire line connector. An electronics assembly including guidance directional guided sensors, directional probe and logging while drilling probe is positioned in a plurality of the housing sections, interconnected electrically, and connected at one end to the wire line connector. An articulated sinker bar and an articulated housing section spaced along the length of the housing and operable to bend in preference to bending of the housing sections containing the electronics assemblies.

5277055, Jan 11, 1994

Aug 30, 1991

7/753606

Gerard T. Pittard - Houston TX
William J. McDonald - Houston TX
Terry P. Clifton - Houston TX
William C. Herben - Houston TX

Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. - New York NY

G01M 1900

73 1101

A test stand has a base supporting standards on which are mounted a crossbar and an adjustably locatable header. The header supports an actuator for raising and lowering the crossbar which holds V-blocks for engaging the handles of an impact or impact-rotary tool and which applies downward pressure to the tool. The tool chuck is fitted to the top of a guide rod whose lower end passes with a sliding fit through a disc to which it is keyed and bears against a piston in an hydraulically pressurized cylinder. Sensors detect rotation of the disc and movement of the piston to provide information to a computer as to impact energy and rotary speed. A manifold fitted with sensors for temperature, pressure, and flow rate supplies operating air to the tool. The computer includes a database with stored information as to past history of the tool and the manufacturer's recommended operating specifications to which the measured data is compared.

4789032, Dec 6, 1988

Sep 25, 1987

7/101249

William A. Rehm - Houston TX
William J. McDonald - Houston TX
William C. Maurer - Houston TX
Curtis E. Leitko - Houston TX

E21B 708

175 45

An orienting and circulating sub is disclosed for connection in an apparatus for angular drilling in the earth. The drilling apparatus comprises a drill string extending into a substantially vertical well bore in the earth supporting a fluid operated motor and drill bit at its lower end. The drill bit is supported for angular drilling by either using a bent sub for supporting the drilling motor or be using a drilling motor with a bent housing. A surveying tool is connected above the motor for determining and controlling the direction of drilling. A mule shoe keying sub is connected to the surveying tool for orienting the position of the motor in relation to said surveying tool. The orienting sub comprises a tubular housing formed in two sections threaded together with one end connected to the surveying tool by the mule shoe keying sub and the other end connected to the bent sub or to the bent motor housing. The orienting sub has a sleeve mounted in the end of the lower housing section with a key for receiving the mule shoe for locating the sub in relation to the surveying tool. The sleeve is oriented in the housing by a system of fine grooves and splines on the sub section and on the sleeve which permit fine angular adjustment.

7487829, Feb 10, 2009

Jun 14, 2007

11/762929

William J. McDonald - Houston TX, US
Timothy F. Price - Rockwall TX, US

Dexter Magnetic Technologies, Inc. - Elk Grove Village IL

E21B 34/12, F16K 31/10

166 667, 166 665, 1663321, 1663328, 251 65

A wellbore valve includes a valve operator arranged to move axially along an interior of the wellbore, the valve operator arranged to operate a valve. A valve actuator is disposed proximate the valve operator. The valve actuator is arranged to move from one longitudinal position to another. A linear magnetic gear is coupled at an input element thereof to the valve actuator. The gear is coupled at an output element thereof to the valve operator such that motion of the valve actuator is transferred to the valve operator.

4621698, Nov 11, 1986

Apr 16, 1985

6/723792

Gerard T. Pittard - Houston TX
William J. McDonald - Houston TX
William C. Maurer - Houston TX
John H. Cohen - Houston TX
Gregory C. Givler - Houston TX

Gas Research Institute - Chicago IL

E21B 406, E21B 708

175305

A percussion boring tool is disclosed for boring in the earth at an angle or in a generally horizontal direction. The tool has a steering mechanism substantially as shown in a copending patent application and a cylindrical body with overgage sleeves located over a portion of the outer body affixed so that they can rotate but cannot slide axially. The overgage areas at the front and back of the tool, or alternately, an undergage section in the center of the tool body permits a 2-point contact (front and rear) of the outer housing with the soil wall as opposed to the line contact which occurs without the undercut. The 2-point contact allows the tool to deviate in an arc without distorting the round cross-sectional profile of the pierced hole. Thus, for a given steering force at the front and/or back of the tool, a higher rate of turning is possible since a smaller volume of soil needs to be displaced.

4387372, Jun 7, 1983

Mar 19, 1981

6/245686

Harrison C. Smith - Richardson TX
William J. McDonald - Houston TX

Tele-Drill, Inc. - Richardson TX

G01V 140

340854

An insulated point gap assembly for a toroidal coupled telemetry system wherein a drill collar (38), operable to be connected to a lower portion of a drill string (32), carries a toroidal core having primary windings (88) and secondary windings (130). An aperture (154) is laterally fashioned through the drill collar. A conductor (150) is connected to one end of the secondary and extends through the aperture and the other end of the secondary is connected to the drill collar. The conductor is surrounded by an electrical insulation member (152). In a preferred embodiment, an axially extending sleeve of insulating material (156) is applied about the drill collar at the location of the conductor (150) to further isolate the conductor 15 from the drill collar.