Maybe they realized that the desperately-needed water was too far down to dig by hand, or maybe they got tired of burying friends and family killed digging deep wells. Whatever their motivation might have been, someone long ago began developing the means for drilling wells rather than digging them. Until the mid 19th century, the primary means of powering drilling machinery was by hand. The drilling rigs themselves were typically hand built from local materials and ranged from very simplistic rigs used to drill shallow wells to fairly complex systems capable of drilling over a thousand feet through hard rock. The work was steady, hard, and slow, but given enough time and effort this simple equipment could yield impressive results.
The spring-pole method of well drilling was widely utilized in the United States and Canada during the 19th century. Many “poor” oil men got their start by hammering out shallow oil wells with a simple hand-built, hand-powered, spring pole rig. Whether they were searching for oil, brine, or drinking water the simplicity of the spring-pole design allowed almost anyone with strong muscles to drill a well.
Edgar Tuttle’s 1894 treatise on spring-pole drilling is considered to be the definitive work on the subject. Here it is presented in its entirety. The work has been reformatted and some editorial notes and additional illustrations added, but nothing has been taken away from Mr. Tuttle’s original work.
Spring-Pole Drilling
Edgar G. Tuttle
The School of Mines Quarterly, Volume XVI, Number 1
November, 1894
The spring-pole drilling outfit here described, is one that can be used with advantage in making explorations where drilling to a depth of about 200 or 250 feet or less is required.
It is suitable for determining, within these limits, the depth and thickness of coal beds, stratified rocks, ore deposits, etc. It can also be used in drilling for water.
Spring-pole drilling has, to a great extent, been displaced by horse power, steam, and diamond drilling machines: but where a few holes are to be drilled, or at shallow depths, and speed is not of importance, spring-pole drilling has manifest advantage over other methods on account of it’s moderate cost, the readiness with which it can be moved from one location to another, its few requirements, and consequently small cost of operation and maintenance.
Especially is this method of advantage in countries where water is scarce and feed for horse power or fuel for steam, or diamond, drilling are not readily obtainable.
For explorations at greater depths than 200 or 250 feet a horse-power, steam, or diamond drill is necessary.
A horse-power drill is suitable for moderate speed and depths, a steam drill for greater speed and depth, and if the explorations are very extensive and deep, and speed is an object, the expense of a diamond drill will be warranted.
If a core drilling is necessary, the use of a diamond drill is at once determined.
In these cases special arrangements may be necessary for the obtaining the necessary feed for a horse-power drill, especially in dry or barren countries. If these are to be hauled, teams and wagons will be required for hauling the machinery from one location to another and hauling fuel and water.
About one-half ton of coal, or its equivalent in other fuel, and 1000 to 2000 gallons of water may be needed daily with the latter outfits [the steam-powered diamond drill], and these items may be considerably increase the cost of drilling by steam, etc., as compared to the spring pole.
The accompanying illustrations show the detailed construction of the special tools for spring-pole drilling. They can be made in any blacksmith shop, and repairs, sharpening, etc., can be kept up in the field with a portable forge if this is accessible.
Figure 1 shows the spring-pole outfit erected entirely above ground and fitted up for pipe driving and earth boring and, subsequently, drilling.
This arrangement is adopted, 1st, where the earth boring and driving of the pipe for casing to the rock are necessary either on account of the soil being wet or caving, or on account of the soil being of considerable depth, or where it can be bored and cased cheaper than it can be excavated by shafting. 2d. The same arrangement is used where the rock strata begin at the surface and rock drilling from the start is necessary. In this case the pipe driver and piping are replaced by the rock-drilling arrangements as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 shows the arrangement of the spring-pole outfit, with working platform below the surface, and in a special case where it was cheaper to sink a shaft 4 feet square through dry, tenacious soil 45 feet to the rock than to bore and drive casing pipe.
The arrangement of the platform below ground, as in Figure 2, has the advantage over the arrangement shown in Figure 1 in that the outfit is more compact and accessible. The spring pole need not be erected with its end high above the ground and the derrick is not needed.
Even if the earth boring and driving of pipe casing are necessary for considerable depth, where a pit of 12 feet deep can be excavated and a platform erected 8 feet below the surface, as shown in Figure 2, such an arrangement is best. The earth-boring and pipe driving tools can then be used from this point downwards to the rock. The pipe driver shown in Figure 1 can likewise be used in the arrangement shown in Figure 2 by attaching it to the swivel of the spring-pole rope in the place of the drill rods, which are shown in position, ready for operating, in Figure 2.
Where gravel or boulders are present in the soil above the rock, it may be necessary to sink a shaft to the rock, as shown in Figure 2, and erect either a wooden or pipe casing to the working platform to prevent dirt and water, with drillings, from falling into the drill hole.
Figures 3, 4, and 5 show the special earth-boring and pipe-driving tools used in connection with the arrangement shown in figure 1 and the drill rods shown in Figure 6, which are also used for attaching to the earth-auger in boring.
Figure 4 shows a section of the pipe fitted up with a shoe and a cap ready for driving. The shoe is beveled and pointed, so as to facilitate its wedging into the soil from the blows delivered on the cap by the pipe driver. The pipe lift, Figure 5, is used for removing the pipe from a hole. It [the pipe lift] is screwed on to the end of the pipe, being interchangeable with the cap, and by means of the rope and windlass it is lifted, assisted with screw jacks if the pipe is tight in the soil or of considerable depth.
No comments:
Post a Comment