Making and breaking of couplings between pipe sections in a drilling rig

The invention relates to the making and breaking of connections between pipe sections and a pipe string projecting from a drilling rig in a bore hole in the lithosphere, for instance in the course of drilling or lining oil or gas wells. For making of breaking a coupling between a pipe section () and a pipe string () projecting from a rotary drilling rig into a bore in the lithosphere, the pipe section () is rotated relative to the pipe string () by applying a torque up to a make-up or breaking torque. Exertion of said torque generates a reactive torque in an opposite sense of rotation. Rotation induced by a motor () is transferred to the pipe string () so that said pipe string () is rotated as well. The reactive torque is transferred to the pipe string () along a path bypassing the motor (). Thus, the make-up or breaking torque can be exerted without requiring a substantial change of the torque exerted to rotate the pipe string () at a constant rotational velocity in order to avoid changes of the rotational velocity of the pipe string (). A pipe coupling device and a pipe handler for carrying out this method are described as well.