Miscellaneous Rigs

I can't precisely identify some of the rigs in the photographs that follow. That aside, these abandoned machines fascinate me, and I imagine that they will do the same for you. Call them modified, homemade or some model that wasn't in my catalogs. All of them have more or less the same working wheels which are all crammed into a rather dense arrangement, typical of the portable cable tool drilling machines that you have seen earlier in this chapter. You'll see some spooled wire line, wheels and reels, sheaves, a litter of paraphernalia in a working radius around the rig, and a definite sag or disarray that signifies that the machine is beginning to return to contour. Helping that process are fallen trees which have crashed against some of the rigs through the years.

The big wheel on the outside, the one that you are apt to see first, is usually the band wheel. It was connected by belt and pulley to the engine. If these are wooden, most are, they may still have a faded coat of paint, usually red, but recently "Pete", Dan and I saw a blue one. Most of the rest of the wheels and fittings are cast iron or steel, but a few may be wood.

Car and truck engines were sometimes used as prime movers for these drilling machines.

This portable drilling machine (skid-mounted) is still in position at the well on the lease where it was working years ago. The steel mast has fallen, but nobody saw that happen. The mast landed without much destruction.

The crown pulley at the top of the mast wasn't damaged when the mast fell. It was made by Alten's of Lancaster, Ohio.

This side view of the preceding rig shows that a rubber tire was used for friction drive.

This front view shows the cased hole that the portable machine was working on.

The lease rig was operated by a gasoline engine seen here.

The lease rig used several thin drive belts, the tracks for which can be seen on the pulleys. Gasoline engine is at left foreground.

Broken pipe wagon on lease near rig. Left tire of the wagon is a Firestone Heavy Duty, Gum Dipped, right tire is a Heavy Service TRAXION. Coil of wire rope at left.

Geologist Carl Burgchardt from Warren, Pa., stands by an old, abandoned rig in Oil Creek State Park. The rig had a wooden A-frame mast (not shown) which collapsed long ago.

Faded red paint still lingers on these wheels. This is the same rig in Oil Creek State Park as was pictured above.

The Oil Creek State Park rig had a wood ladder-type mast which is shown here where it fell, broke in pieces and now rotting. The crown pulley is seen in the foreground.