Bail Definition

Advertisement

Bail:

1.

A curved steel rod on top of the swivel that resembles the handle, or bail, of an ordinary bucket, but is much larger.

Just as an ordinary bucket is hung from a hook by its bail, the swivel is hung from the traveling block’s hook by its bail.

Sometimes, the two steel rods (the links) that attach the elevator to the hook are also called bails.

2.

To recover bottomhole fluids, samples, mud, sand, or drill cuttings by lowering a cylindrical vessel called a bailer to the bottom of a well, filling it, and retrieving it.