Cy-Fair-area man part of team patenting well repair system

A Cy-Fair-area man recently received a U.S. patent for a system he and a team of inventors devised for making repairs in oil and natural gas wells.

Changes in pressure in a well often cause cracks in concrete components that must be repaired. The patent describes a new system for filling such cracks in which the components for the "plug" are only mixed together once they have reached the target. The elements of the plug, which have different densities, are inserted into the crack separately and then mixed by gravity.

The Houston-area inventors named in the patent are Freddie L. Sabins of the Cy-Fair area and Larry Watters of Spring. Collaborators are Boyce D. Burts Jr. and Boyce Donald Burts III of Lafayette, Louisiana. The official patent number is 7,886,823. It was originally filed on Sept. 9, 2005. The filers were represented by Bellaire-based patent lawyer Mark Gilbreth.