Borehole drilling is a technique that is used to investigate the geology of the earth. It was pioneered by physicists at the University of Texas in 1938. The technique uses an instrument called a rotary drill, normally powered by an electric motor and sometimes with an added turbine to increase its thrust, attached to a vertical shaft and cable drum. It is generally used to obtain samples for scientific analysis or mineral extraction, but may be used for other purposes such as groundwater sampling and construction work.
Borehole drilling has been around since people first started digging holes into hard surfaces like stone or concrete centuries ago. However, it wasn’t until 1938 when physicists at the University of Texas came up with this idea that borehole drilling would become a popular tool for investigating the geology of earth.
The idea of borehole drilling was first conceived during a conversation between Dr. Patillo Higgins, Gail Ewing and Peter O’Donnell Jr., who were more interested in finding limestone deposits for use as cave decorations rather than drilling holes into hard surfaces. The trio decided that they would drill a hole vertically downward, as it was the most efficient way as they thought. By drilling this way, water didn’t pose much of a problem to them as the surrounding earth could easily let through any excess water and also melt ice that might form at night.
They eventually made their first ever borehole in Artesia, New Mexico. It was a relatively simple procedure with the use of dynamite to break concrete and picks and shovels for digging. However, after realizing the problems that they might face during this process, such as water seepage, Higgins came up with an idea—to drill through rock rather than hard surfaces like concrete or stone—and drill horizontally, which would allow the team to dig vertically without water seeping into the hole.
They eventually found that this method was successful with the use of a rock bit attached to a steel cable that ran up through the hollow center of a long wooden pole. This meant that they could drill through rock without causing too much damage. They called this new method ‘the four corner’ because the pole would rub against many surfaces. However, the team incorporated a diamond bit, which was much more efficient in breaking through rock rather than rocks themselves.
Even though Higgins started out with the intention of finding limestone for cave decorations, he ended up discovering that there were large quantities of water located deep in the earth. This led to him and his team founding a company called PASCO (which is now known as C-A-S-H, Inc.), which commercially sold drilling equipment for this purpose.
The University of Texas eventually discontinued their operation in 1952 due to lack of funds forcing Hicks to head off on his own.
As time went on, the technology improved and the techniques became more complex. Borehole drilling is now used to investigate the geology of earth for many different purposes. It is most commonly used in mineral extraction to find oil, gas, groundwater samples and bedrock core samples for research or construction work.
Industry expert, H.M. Ward provides his own insight into the history of borehole drilling in his book “The History and Development of Borehole Drilling”.
At first glance, Ward believes that it is difficult to trace back the origins of modern day borehole drilling due to its popularity among multiple users with different needs. There are many claims that the first borehole drilling instrument was invented in 1777 when Henry Maudslay created a hand-powered rock drill. However, there are also reports that this tool was created in 1819 by William Blanch, who drilled deep holes for bridge foundations.
After studying the history of borehole drilling further, Ward discovered that it was during the Industrial Revolution that borehole drilling began to become a big part of mining and industry. This was due to its efficiency in removing obstructions within mine shafts, which allowed miners to keep digging deeper into the earth. Additionally, this also represented a change from earlier times—right before 1800—when traditional tools such as picks and shovels were used to dig into the earth.
In 1838, Charles Lyddon and Sons created a metal alloy drill bit that was designed for use with steam-powered equipment. They achieved this by using high carbon steel disks as each disk had its own wear-resistant property due to the heat treatment process it went through. This also marked an important milestone as it allowed the equipment to drill deeper into harder rock.
However, ice that might form at night was still a concern for miners during this period of time. The problem with the steel alloy bits is that they would often become stuck in ice which could lead to costly repairs or replacement. To combat this, John Appold developed the first fluid-driven drill in 1843. The Appold water drill used a high pressure jet of water to blast away stones and ice that might be stuck in the borehole, thus allowing movement to continue.
Lime kilns were another common use for early borehole drilling tools. They would generally need to be built deep into the ground for this purpose. In 1790, a new type of kiln was developed that allowed limestone to be heated up and turned into lime without needing a large pit or chimney to house it. This new type of furnace used a line shaft that allowed a steam engine drive heavy machinery.
In 1823, New Zealand engineer, David Mushet, created a drill powered by steam. This drill was able to bore holes deep below the earth’s surface faster than before and with less energy expended.
The turn of the 19th century saw high demand for coal in factories for steam engines. As such, there was an increased need to mine deeper into the ground to extract more coal. One of the most notable figures in this field was William Siemens, who created a borehole drilling machine for London’s Metropolitan Railway. The device used rotating steel cutters to drill through hard rock and could drill holes atop one another without setting off an explosion.
A couple decades later, in 1863, Edward James Reed created a massive drill with rotating discs which were driven by the steam engine. The result was a tremendous increase in efficiency and thus production. This drilling machine could reportedly produce five-inch diameter holes at depths up to 1,000 feet and even more after that point.
In 1895, William Wallace Baillie patented what became known as the “rotary rock drill.” The new device used a rotary motion to drill into hard rock and masonry. It also included a number of improvements such as a water pump for cooling, a feed mechanism, and slip-rings attached to the motor shaft which allowed two drills to be run in tandem.
In 1938, University of Texas researchers Kenneth S. P. Dumble and Russell E. Hulse developed a rotary drill designed to bore holes as far as 2 miles into the earth, using a rotating diamond-tipped cutter. In 1962, Hulse filed U.S. Patent No. 3,040,494 for a core drilling device with vertical drive shaft. His invention included a unique earth bit that allowed for continuous coring of the rock at depths up to 200 feet.
In 1950, Charles G. Berquist filed U.S. Patent No. 2,650,355 “Method and Apparatus for Drilling and Sampling.” The invention was said to be able to drill through up to 15 feet of rock containing water, ice, or mud.
In 1958, Hans Pettersson created a drill for mineral exploration that was capable of reaching depths up to 2300 metres. The device used pressurized air and pumped down both drilling fluid and extracted core samples on the return trip back up through the borehole.
In 1961, William C. Hough and Lyle D. Goodson developed a rotary drill that could be used in oil fields with temperatures up to 290 ˚F (167 ˚C). They incorporated powerful but lightweight materials such as aluminum bronze alloy for the rotor shafts and parts of the mechanism known as the “slips.”
In 1978, Helmut Dugner created the well-known “Whirtal DSP” drill. The device was powered by two electric motors and could drill up to 100 feet in one minute. It also featured a number of improvements including a hydraulic system to provide lubrication for both the cutting head and pipe string.
In 1987, Zia Ullah created a downhole drill that used fluoropolymer-coated stabilizers to reduce friction. The stabilizers proved capable of handling the brittleness and thermal expansion rates found in high temperature drilling environments even.
In 1990, John J. Lambeth invented the “Lambeth jet drill,” a downhole machine that operated at speeds exceeding one meter per minute. It was capable of drilling deep holes and cutting through difficult rock such as coal seams and fragile shale formations.
Today, borehole drilling is used in oil fields, mining operations, mineral exploration expeditions, water wells, environmental projects (such as the preservation of wetlands and bodies of water), and engineering. The modern rotary drill continues to use the same basic principles as its early predecessors – a rotating cutting blade attached to a hollow cylinder that moves downhole through a combination of gravity and power from above ground.
One notable example of this is the “C-55” drill that was designed by Houston, Texas-based Casey Oil Tools. It was capable of drilling boreholes to depths of up to 55,000 feet into shale formations that are difficult to reach with other conventional drilling machines. The drill was designed for use in the Chalk River Basin near Jepara, Java, Indonesia where oil fields are located at depths greater than 20,000 feet.
A number of research groups are also working on downhole drilling technology to advance the field. For example, scientists at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio have created a drill that features an outer barrel capable of rotating at 300 revolutions per minute while housed inside an inner barrel that only rotates once every ten seconds. The design allows for a much faster rotational speed while maintaining the ability to hold back drill cuttings from being ejected into the well.
In addition, engineers at the University of Cambridge have created a lightweight downhole drill that is capable of laying fibre-optic cable as it goes through rock strata. The drill uses a single rotating cutting head rather than the traditional rotating and reciprocating components. This allows for much higher speeds that are also less energy intensive than conventional designs.
While borehole drilling has much in common with traditional rotary drill technology, there is one key difference between the two: the addition of mud circulation equipment to remove cuttings from the well bore. The first attempt at drilling an oil well with circulation equipment was in 1901 by Ira J. Rader, Charles E. Wilson and Thomas O’Donnell. They created a device known as the fountain bit that featured two cutting bits attached to the same rotating shaft. Fluid was pumped down one pipe while drill cuttings were removed through another, creating an efficient system that could remove cuttings from a well faster than previously possible.
In 1932, E.M. Marcell developed the “Marcell Drilling Mud System,” a method for drilling through shale using both downhole and surface equipment to circulate fluid. The process was refined two years later by an oilfield engineer named Cecil H. Green who created a system that used a rotating and reciprocating cutting head with on-board mud circulation equipment. This made it possible to drill thousands of feet below the surface and still maintain control over drill cuttings.
The next major milestone for mud circulation technology came in 1946 by an oil-well driller named Harvey Cameron Sr. He created the Cameron Cone Drive, a device that featured a rotating and reciprocating cutting head and used basement fluid and cuttings as propulsion to remove all matter from the well. This gave birth to the modern rotary drill.
However, Cameron’s innovation had one major drawback: it was not compatible with existing rotary designs like those used by Rader and Green. To fix this, Cameron partnered with Halliburton who had recently purchased the oilfield service company Brown & Root. Thus, in 1947, the two companies introduced Cameron’s Cone Drive design to market as a new industry standard that would eventually come to be known as “mechanical drilling.”
The mechanical drill wasn’t without its faults, however. The rotating and reciprocating bits made large cuttings that filled the well quickly and blocked the pumping system. This resulted in a costly process that was difficult to control and required a lot of time and money to maintain. In addition, Cameron’s original design only allowed for depths of around 150 feet due to the length of the bit barrel.
The limitations of Cameron’s design did not go unnoticed. In the mid-1950s, a geologist named M. King Hubbert decided to create a new type of drill that would be capable of reaching deeper underground and have more efficient circulation technology. In 1956, he partnered with Standard Oil Company (Indiana) and Seaboard Oil Company to establish a new company called U.S. Well Services that would build a redesigned rotary drill with a longer bit barrel and more powerful pumps.
The result was the first tri-cone drill, which featured three rolling cutters (two chisel cones and one bull cone) attached to the lower end of a rotating shaft. This allowed for larger cuttings to be broken up and cleared from the well. In addition, a mud pump was located at the bottom of the rotating shaft that would pump fluid to the cutting head as it rotated, thus creating a system that could “self-fracture.”
In 1958, Hubbert’s tri-cone drill went into production and was used by the oil industry. It outperformed mechanical drills in every respect, particularly when drilling through shale formations. The tri-cone drill not only had more efficient cuttings circulation, but it also allowed for much deeper wells to be drilled due to the length of its bit barrel.
The original design of Hubbert’s tri-cone drill is still in wide use today and has been modernized over the years. For instance, newer models have abandoned costly wire line cable drums for a simpler cable-free design that only uses electric wire lines to power parts of the rotating shaft. In addition, some designs now feature two cutting heads on a single rotating shaft with a mud pump located at the top of the drill to improve efficiency.
Regardless of its design, however, modern tri-cone drills still use cuttings circulation technology invented by Hubbert over 50 years ago. This will likely be the case for many years to come as he has created a well drilling method that is now used around the world and gives drillers complete control over the process.
Mud pump technology has also advanced greatly since its creation by Cameron in the 1940s. Today, specialized drillers like Halliburton can create custom mud pumps that are designed for specific drilling conditions and equipment. For instance, electrical submersible pumps (ESPs) are now commonly used with tri-cone drills that are capable of pumping fluid to great depths.
Borehole drilling – The history of the technique, from its discovery to present day.