center of the joint 66 to enable the tubular joint 66 to move from the horizontal fig1 a to the vertical fig1 b by causing the rolling or sliding member 64 to move upwardly either by its own motor not illustrated or by any conventional hoisting apparatus the single joint 66 is moved upwardly towards the mud tool 18 in the operation of the system illustrated in fig1 a the load of the tubular string 10 is first transferred to the spider 14 after the joint 70 has been added to the string 10 and the mud tool 18 has finished its filling operation at this point in time the elevator 30 has opened its slips the stabber 20 has opened the guide 24 has opened the tong 21 jaws are retracted the backup 32 jaws have been opened and the manipulator arm 60 has gripped the next joint 66 to be installed in the string 10 the frame 34 is then lifted and the stabber 20 is pivoted up and the mud tool 18 is extracted from the string 10 as the mud tool 18 clears the upper end of the string 10 the mud tool 18 is positioned outboard of the frame 34 in a path directly in line with the upwardly moving joint 66 as illustrated in fig1 b referring now to fig2 the frame 34 is positioned such that the upper end of the tubular string 10 is located to allow the stabbing guide to be installed properly at this point in time the joint 66 is ready to be moved laterally and thus be located inside the frame 34 if desired as illustrated in fig1 b the mud tool 18 can.