:. . DEEP WELL DRILLING The Principles and Practices of Deep By WALTER H. JEFFERY Copyright, 1921, by W. H. Jeffery. Published by W. H. JEFFERY COMPANY. Printed by OILDOM PUBLISHING COMPANY To the drillers of the United States and of Canada, the men who have developed modern practices of well drilling at home and abroad, this volume is re-. spectfully dedicated. 41 PREFACE Well drilling is an ancient craft, although comparatively a modern industry. Deep well drilling as practiced today began with the drilling of Drake's first oil well at Titusville, Pa., in 1859. The business of drilling deep wells for petroleum, stimulated by the wonderful development of the internal combustion engine, has since spread to many parts of the world and has developed into one of the foremost industries of the United States, requiring the services of an army of experienced drillers. The search for petroleum is destined to lead the driller to the uttermost parts of the earth. These men learn both the theory and the practice of their craft by working in the derrick. Several schools now offer courses in petroleum technology and the University of California has a course in well drilling methods. It is to be hoped that some of our universities and technical schools may add to their curricula a complete course in deep well engineering. For the drilling of a well 5,000 feet deep, or drilling in a foreign country where the geological formations may not be known are both engineering undertakings. Although rule of thumb methods have, to a large degree, been followed by the well driller, yet his work is beset by many difficulties and unforeseen obstacles that are often overcome only by his own ingenuity and resourcefulness. There are several valuable technical works covering, in a general way, the different branches of the petroleum industry or descriptive of drilling practices in certain localities, also during the past few years the U. S. Bureau of Mines has performed an admirable service in studying the problems of the driller and at frequent intervals publishing technical papers covering various phases of the subject. However, so few books have appeared that describe in detail modern well drilling practices, that the author was led to attempt this work. 463293 |