A trailer-mounted pipe-handling apparatus has an elongate cradle
swivelable about a longitudinal swivel axis for loading or offloading
pipe at a well site. With the cradle horizontal, and swiveled into a
loading position, loading arms receive a pipe from a loading rack,
whereupon kicker members move the pipe from the loading arms into the
cradle. With the cradle swiveled into a neutral position supporting the
pipe, a swing arm raises one end of the cradle while simultaneously
drawing its other end horizontally along a base track, thus placing the
cradle in a tilted configuration. The raised end of the pipe can thus be
positioned above the floor of a drilling rig or service rig for
connection to the rig hoist, which can then lift the pipe out of the
cradle. Pipe may be removed from the well using a similar, reverse
procedure. The rig hoist positions a removed pipe in the tiltingly
elevated cradle, which is then lowered to the horizontal position. The
cradle is then swiveled to an offloading position, allowing the pipe to
roll out of the cradle onto an offload rack.