"U.S. Energy Department Awards Grant to Inventor
Mary Jo Nelson • Modified: October 11, 1987 at 12:00 am • Published: October 11, 1987
During his childhood, Ben Livingston's mother saved string, rolled it into balls and used it to mail packages. Her son is carrying the thrifty habit further with his patented Stringsaver, a device that could save oil and gas drilling companies and pipe manufacturers time and money.
The U.S. Energy Department is so impressed with Livingston's invention that it awarded him a $94,000 grant to develop it further. It is the first and only inspection equipment ever to receive financial help from DOE, a department spokesman confirmed.
"I actually didn't think of my mother's string saving when I named it," Livingston said with a laugh. "But it's a nice connection."
Waylon A. "Ben" Livingston's Stringsaver refers to the string of drill pipe that goes into every oil and gas well.
The president of TubeSonics International Inc., based in Norman, Livingston believes the device on which he holds six patents could be one of the greatest boons to the drilling industry in many years.
Besides saving time and money, it will end one of the great inconveniences of the oil patch, a tedious and expensive process of inspecting every foot of the drill string.
Its full title is the Stringsaver Portable High Speed Ultrasonic Inspection System, and its magic is in the speed, efficiency and convenience it provides.
The Stringsaver uses ultrasonic energy in a circle pattern to inspect new pipe as it is made or as it is installed into the borehole from the drilling rig.
"Or it can be installed on rigs for inspecting used drill pipe during any routine retrieval or lowering of the drill pipe into the drilled hole," Livingston said. Any "trip out or trip in," when pipe is pulled to change drilling bits could double as pipe inspection time.
In actual operation, the Stringsaver is attached to the rig, underneath the floor. It rests on top of the blowout preventer, and as pipe moves up or down, it is instantly inspected by electronic gadgets called "transducers."
Livingston explained these are crystal elements imbedded in plastic vibrators that send out sound signals. That means they tell the driller if he's got an invisible crack or some other flaw in the pipe, anything that could cause trouble later.
As the pipe string passed through the Stringsaver, it pulsed on and off, enabling the system to instantly determine the inside and outside dimensions of the tool joint, its bevel and all other measurements that would indicate whether all is well.
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