ESTec subsidiary invention acquires Canadian Patent

ESTec Systems Corp. (ESE: TSX Venture Exchange) is pleased to announce it's subsidiary Allan R. Nelson Engineering (1997) Inc. has been granted Canadian patent 2,436,296 for a Service Rig with Torque Carrier.

Background of the invention:
To rotate tubing within a well, drilling rigs often have top drives that are suspended from drilling masts. When the top drives rotate the tubing, torque generated by the top drives must be transmitted into the supporting structure. For this purpose, it is conventional to provide a torque tube running along the height of the mast along which the top drive slides. The torque tube is fastened to stabilize its position but not to transmit torque into the mast. In service or workover rigs, which typically transport the mast on the rear of a carrier, the masts are not designed to withstand the torque load generated by a top drive. This invention is intended to overcome this difficulty.

Summary of the invention:
A service rig, comprising a mast, a torque carrier suspended from the mast; and a brace having a torque carrier end connected to the torque carrier for conveying torque from the torque carrier into the brace and an anchored end with a fastener for attaching the brace to a substructure at a well or the back of the service rig. When the service rig is in operation over a well and has a substructure, the anchored end of the brace is horizontally offset from a point on the substructure directly below the torque carrier end of the brace. The anchored end of the brace, when in operative position, is oriented parallel to an extension of the torque carrier. The anchored end of the brace preferably constitutes an offset extension of the torque carrier. If a substructure is not available, the torque carrier extension may be anchored to the back of the service or workover rig.

The importance of this patent
This patent is part of the intellectual properties that Allan R. Nelson Engineering (1997) Inc. developed. In October 2005 we announced a deal to license to Farr Canada, a division of McCoy Corporation (TSX:MCB), a package of industrial designs, copyrights and patents, including this patent, then pending.

ESTec Systems Corp. is an Edmonton-based public company with an engineering division: Allan R. Nelson Engineering (1997) Inc. Allan R. Nelson Engineering is a group of professional engineers and technologists who carry diverse skills and a variety of professional backgrounds. They are Canada's leading forensic engineering firm, serving domestic and foreign markets, in particular in the petrochemical, mining and drilling equipment industries, and also provide mechanical design engineering for their clients.

For more information on ESTec and its subsidiaries visit www.estec.com.

On behalf of the board

A. B. Nelson
President