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The Drill String
Cable Tools
Rope
Temper Screw
Down Hole Tools, 1880
Rope Socket
Sinker Bar
Jars
Auger Stem
Bit
Bailer
Fishing
Wrench Circle
Quotes
Bibliography

Down Hole Tools, 1880

The following is a brief summary of some specifics of the drilling tools in use in Pennsylvania in 1880.  The lengths include the collar pin and box where applicable.

 

Length

Diameter

Weight

Rope socket

3' 6"

 

80 lbs.

Sinker bar

8' 0"

3 1/2"

540 lbs.

Jars

7' 4"

5 1/2"

820 lbs.

Auger stem

30' 0"

3 1/2"

1020 lbs.

Center bit

3' 3"

3 1/2" (?)

140 lbs.

Total

52' 1"

2100 lbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total length of string of tools

62' 1"

Total weight when "strung up"

2100 lbs.

 

 

A detailed drawing of cable tools by H.M. Chance appears in Carll (1880) and is here shown in three sections (below).  This is probably the best known depiction of the tools of that time (1870's - early 1880's).  Note that the pins of the joints were straight in the illustrations.  Taper thread joints appeared about the middle of the 1880's and into the 1890's and hence could not be shown by Mr. Chance.  By 1900 they were common.

The assembled drill string (bit, auger-stem, jars, sinker bar and rope socket) in the middle drawing is 61' 10" long including some rope at upper end of the socket as shown in the diagram.  The string is at the left side of the middle illustration in this series.  After Chance in Carll, 1880.
 
 

 
© 2004, Samuel T. Pees
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