Two Cy-Fair-area inventors receive patent for oil well tube-gripping device

Two Cy-Fair-area inventors are members of a team that received a U.S. patent last week for an improvement to oil and gas well operations it devised for Weatherford International.

The invention described in the patent is an improvement on gripping tubes that are lowered into an oil or gas well under construction. The makers claim their gripping mechanism is safer than previous methods, offers greater redundancy and is easier to monitor from the surface.

The Houston-area inventors named in the patent are Albert C. Odell II of Kingwood, Richard Lee Giroux of Cypress, Tuong Thanh Le of Katy, Gary Thompson of Katy, Karsten Heidecke of the CyFair area, Doyle Frederick Boutwell Jr. of the Katy area and Michael Hayes of Houston. German inventors Joerg Lorenz of Burgwedel and Bernd-Georg Pietra of Wedemark also are named in the patent.

The patent's official number is 7,874,352 and it was originally filed on Dec. 12, 2006. The filers were represented by intellecutal property law firm Patterson & Sheridan, whose Houston offices are located at 3040 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 1500. The patent is owned by Weatherford.

Weatherford International is one of the world's largest oil and natural gas services companies. Originally founded in Texas, it is now based in Geneva. The company has offices throughout the Houston area.