October 25, 1887 – “Filling Station” Pump patented

Sylvanus and Augustus Bowser of Fort Wayne, Indiana, receive a patent for what will become the modern gasoline-pump design.

The patent, No. 372250, results from the popularity of a pump Sylvanus Bowser designed and sold two years earlier at Jake Gumper’s Fort Wayne grocery store — see September 5, 1885.

“Our invention relates to improvements in liquid-storage tanks or cans which are used for the storing and for measuring when the liquids are drawn out for use — as for delivery — such liquids as kerosene-oil, burning-fluid, and the light combustible products of petroleum,” the patent document notes.

October 26, 1970 – Joe Roughneck Statue dedicated

In Boonsville, Texas, Governor Preston Smith dedicates a “Joe Roughneck” statue on the 20th anniversary of the Boonsville natural gas field’s discovery.

The field’s first well, Lone Star Gas Company’s B. P. Vaught No. 1, produced 2.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas in its first 20 years. 

By 2001 the field has produced 3.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 17 million barrels of condensate from 3,500 wells in the field. 

Although Joe Roughneck began life as a character in Lone Star Steel advertising, it was soon adopted by the industry at large. A bronze Joe Roughneck bust has been awarded since 1955 during an annual Chief Roughneck Award ceremony of the Independent Petroleum Association of America.

The traditional Joe Roughneck bust — originally created by noted Texas artist Torg Thompson — continues to be presented to each Chief Roughneck recipient. As the oil patch character became popular, it prompted the company to declare, “Joe doesn’t belong to us anymore. He’s as universal as a rotary rig.”

In addition to the Boonsville monument, Joe’s rugged face today sits atop three different oilfield monuments in the state:  Joinerville (1957), Conroe (1957) and Kilgore (1986). Read “Meet Joe Roughneck.”
 
October 27, 1763 – Birth of “Father of American Geology”

Today is the birthday of William Maclure, a Scottish geologist and “stratigrapher” who created the earliest geological maps of North America. After settling in the United States in 1797, Maclure explored the eastern part of North America to prepare the first colored geological map of the United States.
 
When Benjamin Silliman (the Yale chemist whose analysis of Pennsylvania “rock oil” helped launch the American petroleum industry) organized the American Geological Society in 1819, William Maclure was elected its first president. Many geological historians consider Maclure (1763-1840) to be the “Father of American Geology.”
 
October 27, 1900 – Spindletop Well spudded
 
After drilling a 575-foot dry hole on a salt dome hill near Beaumont, Texas, Captain Anthony Lucas (born Antun Lučić in Croatia) spuds his second well with the financial backing of successful Pennsylvanian oilmen John Galey and James Guffy.
 
A former captain in the Austrian navy and an experienced mining engineer, Lucas uses a  rotary-rig and fishtail bit along with a new innovation, drilling mud, to overcome the unstable sand and clay wellbore. His efforts will be rewarded on January 10, 1901, with the famous Spindletop gusher.

October 27, 1923 – Lion Oil founded in Arkansas

Lion Oil Company is founded as the Lion Oil Refining Company in El Dorado, Arkansas, by Texan Thomas Harry Barton. 

Barton first organized the El Dorado Natural Gas Company and acquired a 2,000 barrel a day refinery in 1922. Thanks to production from the nearby Smackover oilfield, his newly formed Lion Oil Refining Company grew to 10,000 barrels a day capacity. By 1925, the company had acquired 58 oil wells that produced approximately 1.4 million barrels of oil in the first six months of the year.

At its peak in the mid-1950s, Lion Oil operated about 2,000 service stations in the southern United States. A merger with Monsanto Chemical Corporation in 1955 prompted gradual disappearance of the once familiar “Beauregard Lion” logo. Ownership of Lion Oil passed to Tosco Corporation in 1975 and Ergon Corporation in 1985. In 2011, Delek US Holdings acquired Lion Oil, which today markets gasoline, ultra-low sulfur diesel, solvents, propane, and asphalt products.  
 
October 27, 1938 – DuPont names New Product “Nylon”

A revolutionary petroleum product is revealed when DuPont chemical company announces that “nylon” will be the name of its new synthetic fiber yarn.

Invented in 1935 by Wallace Carothers at a DuPont research facility, nylon is considered the first commercially successful synthetic polymer.
 
Nylon is used for parachutes and many other vital products during World War Two. Carothers is viewed by many as the father of the science of man-made polymers. DuPont was established in 1802 near Wilmington, Delaware, by a French immigrant.

October 28, 1868 – Explosive Technology

In Pennsylvania, the Titusville Morning Herald reports on the latest oilfield technology — the nitroglycerin torpedo.

“It would be superfluous, at this late day, to speak of the merits of the Roberts Torpedo,” the newspaper article explains. “For the past three years, it has been a most successful operation, and has increased the production of oil in hundreds upon hundreds of oil wells to an extent which could hardly be overestimated. 

“Next to the discovery of oil, no invention has done more to enrich well owners, than the Roberts Torpedo. Three years ago Col. Roberts finding that nitroglycerin was the most powerful explosive agent that could be employed in torpedoes, turned his attention to the manufacture of this compound, and established a factory near this city, under the direction of one of the most experienced chemists of this country…” 

Read more in “Shooters – a ‘Fracking’ History.”

October 28, 1926 – Yates Field discovered in Texas

Using a $15,000 cable-tool rig, the Mid-Kansas and Transcontinental Oil Companies bring in the discovery well for the 26,400-acre Yates Field, in a remote area of Pecos County, Texas.

Initial flow from the Ira G. Yates 1-A is 450 barrels per day from 990 feet to 997 feet. The well site is on the northern border of the Chihuahua Desert and 30 miles from Humble Pipe Line Company’s nearest line at the town of McCamey in Upton County.
 
While Humble is building a 55,000-barrel steel storage tank and a pipeline to McCamey, four new producers come in, capable of yielding over 12,000 barrels of oil daily. In 1927, production has to be reduced to 7,000 barrels a day because of limited storage and pipeline access; however, by 1985 the field has produced more than one billion barrels  of oil.

Water-flooding technologies and carbon dioxide injection insure continued production from the field’s estimated recoverable reserves of one billion barrels. The University of Texas, which has received considerable royalties, reports that the Yates field is among the richest oilfields in the United States, rated in the top 10 for overall production and second for reserves. Also see September 14, 1929.