Metal Film-Coated Stuffing Box Packing

Stuffing boxes on beam pumped wells have always required a high level of maintenance even though operators and manufacturers have constantly searched for ways to improve their performance. Essentially no documented research has been developed on which to base performance enhancing designs. It is the purpose of this paper to offer two new concepts which could benefit stui"fing box performance. Steel and rubber are known to be among the worst combinations of materials for applications where a low coefficient of friction is important. Therefore, the first concept is the introduction of a new friction reducing process which improves compatibility of steel polished rods and rubber packing. The second concept is the introduction of laboratory test equipment which can be used to objectively shed new light on stuffing box designs. Because the coefficient of friction between rubber packing and the polished rod is one of many design variables that is important, the test equipment was used to measure this frictional effect as the starting point of a research project to improve stuffing boxes overall. The information presented in this paper is only a start. It's not absolutely conclusive regarding the merits of either the new stuffing box packing or the laboratory equipment. But the results are exciting and suggest significant improvements to stuffing box performance may be in the offing.