by Bruce Wells | Jul 19, 2024 | Petroleum History Almanac
Oilfield service provider Zero Hour Bomb Company produced “cannot backlash” fishing reels in 1949.
Zebco oilfield history began in 1947 when Jasper R. Dell Hull walked into the Tulsa offices of the Zero Hour Bomb Company. The amateur inventor from from Rotan, Texas, carried a piece of plywood with nails arranged in a circle and wrapped in line. Attached was a coffee-can lid that could spin.
Hull, known by his friends as “R.D.,” had an appointment with executives at the Oklahoma oilfield service company.
Since its incorporation in 1932, the Zero Hour Bomb Company had become well known for manufacturing dependable electric timer bombs for fracturing geologic formations. It designed and patented technologies for “shooting” wells to increase oil and natural gas production.
The Zero Hour Bomb Company was founded in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1932. Photos courtesy Zebco.
Zero Hour Bomb Company’s timer controlled a mechanism with a detonator inside a watertight casing. The downhole device could be pre-set to detonate a series of blasting caps, which set off the well’s main charge, shattering rock formations.
Hull’s 1947 visit was timely for Zero Hour Bomb Company, because post World War II demand for its electrically triggered devices had declined. With the military no longer needing oil to fuel the war, the U.S. petroleum industry was in recession. The company and other once booming Oklahoma service companies were reeling, and the future did not look good.
“Vast fossil fuel reserves beneath other Middle Eastern nations were being unlocked,” noted journalist Joe Sills in a 2014 article. “OPEC was beginning to take shape, and Texas and Oklahoma-based domestic oil in the U.S. was about to take a decades-long backseat to foreign oil.”
Further, with company patents expiring in 1948, “the Zero Hour Bomb Company needed a solution,” explained Sills, an editor for Fishing Tackle Retailer. After examining Hull’s contraption, a prototype fishing reel, the company hired him for $500 a month. Hull later received a patent that would transform Zero Hour Bomb Company – and sport fishing in America.
Downhole Patents and a Fishing Reel
Beginning in the early 1930s, Zero Hour Bomb engineers patented many innovative oilfield products. A 1939 design for an “Oil Well Bomb Closure” facilitated assembly of an explosive device capable of withstanding extreme pressures submerged deep in a well.
A 1940 innovation provided a hook mechanism for safely lowering torpedoes into wells. The locking method was to “positively prevent premature release of the torpedo while it is being lowered into the well.”
The July 28, 1953, patent for a canvas “well bridge” would be among the last Zero Hour Bomb Company received as an oilfield equipment manufacturer, thanks to R.D. Hull’s late-1940s design for a fishing reel (insert) illustrated in his February 2, 1954 patent.
The separate patent in 1941 patent improved positioning blasting cartridges using a plugging device made of canvas that looked like an upside-down umbrella. It automatically opened, “when the time bomb or weight reached a position at the bottom of the well.”
In 1953, an improved “well bridge” design took the concept even further — but it would be the last patent Zero Hour Bomb received as an oilfield equipment manufacturer. By then, the earliest model of Hull’s new “cannot backlash” reel was attracting crowds at sports shows.
“After trying to design ‘brakes’ for bait-casting reels, and even failing at launching one fishing reel company, Hull hit on a better way one day as he watched a grocery store clerk pull string from a large fixed spool to wrap a package,” reported Lee Leschper in a 1999 Amarillo Globe-News article.
Zero Hour Bomb Company’s first “cannot backlash” reel made its public debut at a Tulsa sports expo in June 1949.
Hull realized he needed a cover to keep the line from spinning off the reel itself and soon developed a prototype, Leschper noted. “Zero Hour officials asked two company employees who were avid fishermen for their opinions on the reel. One tied his set of car keys to the end of the line and sent a cast flying through one of the windows in the plant. The other sent a cast high over the building. All were impressed.”
Given his own Hull-designed fishing reel at about age six, Leschper recalled, the “tiny black pushbutton reel” came with 6 lb. monofilament line (see Nylon, A Petroleum Polymer) and a four-foot hollow fiberglass rod. His small rig included a hard, yellow plastic practice plug. “I wore it down to a nub pitching it across the hard-baked grass in our front yard.”
A Zero Hour Bomb Company package addressed to President Eisenhower in 1956 was submerged in water by White House security. Photo courtesy Fishing Tackle Retailer magazine.
Earlier, Hull had tested several designs before developing a manufacturing process; the first reel was produced on May 13, 1949. Called the Standard, it made its public debut at a Tulsa sports expo in June. By 1954, the reel’s simple push-button system used today was introduced.
In 1961, Zebco was acquired by Brunswick Corporation and introduced the 202 ZeeBee spincast, “an instant classic.”
Panic at White House
The regional marketing name – Zebco – became popular, but the bottom of each reel’s foot was stamped with the the name of the manufacturer, Zero Hour Bomb Company. The official name change to Zebco came in 1956 — soon after a friend of President Dwight D. Eisenhower asked the company to send a reel to the president.
According to a Zebco company history, when White House security officers saw the package labeled “Zero Hour Bomb Company,” they plunged it into a tub of water and called the bomb squad. After changing its name to Zebco, the company left the oilfield for good.
Jasper R. Dell “R.D.” Hull was inducted into the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame in 1975 after receiving more than 35 patents. At the time of his induction, 70 million Zebco reels had been sold. He retired from the former oilfield time-bomb company in January 1977 after being diagnosed with cancer and died in December at age 64.
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The American Oil & Gas Historical Society (AOGHS) preserves U.S. petroleum history. Please become an AOGHS annual supporter and help maintain this energy education website and expand historical research. For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. © 2024 Bruce A. Wells.
Citation Information – Article Title: “Zebco Reel Oilfield History.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org/oil-almanac/zebco-reel-oilfield-history. Last Updated: July 21, 2024. Original Published Date: February 20, 2018.
by Bruce Wells | Feb 20, 2024 | Petroleum History Almanac
Determined and skilled workforce inspires more to join them.
A 2019 book documents remarkable stories of women working in the petroleum industry and offers insights beyond the history of offshore exploration.
In Breaking the Gas Ceiling: Women in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry, journalist Rebecca Ponton has assembled a rare collection of personal accounts from pioneering women who challenged convention, stereotypes, and more to work in the offshore oil and natural gas industry.
Journalist Rebecca Ponton has researched and written “condensed biographies” of 23 women — all of them offshore industry pioneers
Like their onshore oilfield counterparts of all genders, these ocean roughnecks include petroleum engineers, geologists, landmen — and an increasing number of CEOs.
Offshore Pioneers
Ponton’s Breaking the Gas Ceiling, published by Modern History Press in 2019, tells the stories of the industry’s “WOW — Women on Water,” the title of her introductory chapter.
What follows are “condensed biographies” of 23 women of all ages and nationalities. Their petroleum industry jobs have varied in responsibilities — and many of the women achieved a “first” in their fields.
Ponton, herself a professional landman, interviewed this diverse collection of energy industry professionals, producing an “outstanding compilation of role models,” according to Dave Payne, vice president, Chevron Drilling and Completions.
“Everyone needs role models — and role models that look like you are even better. For women, the oil and gas industry has historically been pretty thin on role models for young women to look up to,” noted the Chevron executive. “Rebecca Ponton has provided an outstanding compilation of role models for all women who aspire to success in one of the most important industries of modern times.”
Each chapter offers an account of finding success in the traditionally male-dominated industry — sometimes with humor but always with determination.
Among the offshore jobs described are stories from mechanical and chemical engineers, a helicopter pilot, a logistics superintendent, a photographer, fine artist, federal offshore agency director, and the first female saturation diver in the Gulf of Mexico — Marni Zabarski, who describes her career and 2001 achievement.
Additional insights are provided from water safety pioneer Margaret McMillan (1920-2016), who in 1988 was instrumental in creating the Marine Survival Training Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Offshore oil and natural gas platforms typically seen at the Port of Galveston, Texas. Photo courtesy Library of Congress.
Most U.S. offshore oil and natural gas leasing and development activity takes place in the central and western Gulf of Mexico — with thousands of platforms operating in waters up to 6,000 feet deep. McMillan in 2004 became the first woman to be inducted into the Oilfield Energy Center’s Hall of Fame in Houston.
Another of Ponton’s chapters features 2018 Hall of Fame inductee Eve Howell, a petroleum geologist who was the first woman to work — and eventually supervise — production from Australia’s prolific North West Shelf. The book also relates the story of 21-year-old Alyssa Michalke, an Ocean Engineering major who was the first female commander of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets.
As the publisher Modern History Press explained, Ponton offers insights beyond documenting remarkable women in petroleum history. “In order to reach as wide an audience as possible, including the up and coming generation of energy industry leaders, Rebecca made it a point to seek out and interview young women who are making their mark in the sector as well.”
The milestones of these notable “women on water” may not receive the attention given to NASA’s women spacewalkers, but they also deserve recognition. Today’s offshore petroleum industry needs all the skilled workers it can get of any gender. The too often neglected oilfield career histories told in Breaking the Gas Ceiling should help.
Also see Women Oilfield Roustabouts.
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Recommended Reading: Breaking the Gas Ceiling: Women in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry (2019); Offshore Pioneers: Brown & Root and the History of Offshore Oil and Gas
(1997); Anomalies, Pioneering Women in Petroleum Geology, 1917-2017 (2017). Your Amazon purchase benefits the American Oil & Gas Historical Society. As an Amazon Associate, AOGHS earns a commission from qualifying purchases.
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The American Oil & Gas Historical Society preserves U.S. petroleum history. Please become an AOGHS annual supporter and help maintain this energy education website and expand historical research. For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. © 2024 Bruce A. Wells.
Citation Information – Article Title: “Women of the Offshore Petroleum Industry tell Their Stories.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org/oil-almanac/women-of-the-offshore-petroleum-industry-tell-their-stories. Last Updated: December 20, 2024. Original Published Date: February 18, 2020.
by Bruce Wells | Feb 12, 2024 | Petroleum History Almanac
by Bruce Wells | Dec 20, 2023 | Petroleum History Almanac
“I look forward to hearing anything your knowledgeable AOGHS community can tell me about my rather mysterious AC-ME Pocket Calculator.”
David Rance of Sassenheim, Netherlands, has collected a lot slide rules — analog calculating devices that became obsolete when hand-held electronic calculators gained widespread use in the early 1970s. He preserves among the largest “pocket calculator” collections in the world.
Since many of the devices he collected came from the petroleum industry, Rance emailed the American Oil & Gas Historical Society (AOGHS). Would any of AOGHS’ many website visitors have information about a refinery supply company’s slide rule?
Before computers, the slide rule, a collectible pocket calculator.
Born in England, he worked in the petroleum industry for 25 years before moving to “the main bulb-growing area of the Netherlands.” (more…)
by Bruce Wells | Oct 20, 2023 | Petroleum History Almanac
Researching her family’s distant connection to the U.S. oil patch, Marianne Jans of the the Netherlands discovered the American Oil & Gas Historical Society website. She hopes visitors to the site’s Petroleum History Research Forum might help add to her limited information about a great-great uncle who worked in Texas oilfields. He apparently was as a driller from the 1920s until the early 1930s.
Although details are scarce, Jans seeks news about her great-great uncle Ralph “Dutch” Weges — who in 1962 reportedly returned to the Netherlands by ship. His petroleum-related career included serving on merchant vessels.
Regarding his work in Texas, she has a 1927 letter of recommendation with some clues.
Marianne Jans’ scan of the August 1927 Barry Fuel Oil Company’s letter of recommendation for her great-great uncle, Ralph Weges.
“In papers he left behind, he also had a recommendation from his employer in 1927,” according to Jans. “J. Barry Fuel Oil Co. is not in your list of historic companies, so I am sending this document.” she added.
Transcription of the great-great uncle’s letter, dated August 9, 1927:
J. Barry Fuel Oil Co.
1501 Francis Avenue
Houston, Texas
Aug 9th 1927
To whom it may concern:
This is acknowledgement that Ralph (Dutch) Weges
worked for me [&] Drilled on a number of wells
which I drilled as contractor for Humble Oil and
Refining [unreadable] Northern Field, Texas and [for] Texas Pacific
Coal & Oil [unreadable] Co, Texas.
His [unreadable] careful rig [unreadable] and was specifically good in keeping
his equipment in good shape.
His work was good, wells finished properly and time
just as good as other contractors in same fields.
RJ Barry
Not finding more information about the J. Barry Fuel Oil Company, Jans learned more about the two well-documented companies J. Barry worked with as a drilling contractor.
Humble Oil and Refining Company (now ExxonMobil) was founded in 1917. The company, which would discover many oilfields, in 1933 signed an historic lease with the King Ranch. The other company referenced in the letter was the Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company.
In addition, Ralph Weges had other connections with the U.S. petroleum industry, according to Jan’s research. Her great-great uncle traveled overseas aboard the SS La Campine in September 1916.
Launched in 1889, La Campine was an early transatlantic oil tanker owned by the American Petroleum Company of Rotterdam and later by an Esso subsidiary in Belgium (it was sunk by a German submarine during World War I).
“What surprised me, was that Ralph Weges was anyway on board two ships that transported cargo for Esso, now Exxon Mobile,” Jans noted. “So he already worked for a petroleum/oil company on these ships. First as a 2nd cook and later petty officer. Two other vessels, the Anacortes and the SS Vigo, I must research further.”
As her investigation into family history continues from the Netherlands, Marianne Jans seeks information about her great-great uncle’s overseas career, the J. Barry Fuel Oil Company, and his role in Texas oilfields,
Please post reply in comments section below or email bawells@aoghs.org.
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The American Oil & Gas Historical Society (AOGHS) preserves U.S. petroleum history. Become an AOGHS annual supporting member and help maintain this energy education website and expand historical research. For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. © 2024 Bruce A. Wells. All rights reserved.
Citation Information – Article Title: “Driller from Netherlands.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org/oil-almanac/driller-from-netherlands. Last Updated: February 10, 2024. Original Published Date: October 24, 2023.
by Bruce Wells | Oct 14, 2023 | Petroleum History Almanac
Crosley Radio Company’s kerosene-heated refrigeration appliance for rural America.
Only three percent of U.S. farms had electricity in 1925, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
For most of rural America in the early 20th century, kerosene lamps extended the day. On some farms, battery-powered radios brought news and entertainment at night.
By 1927, Crosley Radio Company reported sales of $18 million — making it the largest radio manufacturer in the world.
Crosley radios were marketing with the slogan, “You’re There With A Crosley.” Founded in the early 1920s by Powel Crosley Jr., the Cincinnati-based corporation became known for innovative engineering.
Production of Crosley Radio’s Icy Ball refrigerator began in 1928, and the Icy Ball sold for about $80, complete with a 4.25 cubic foot cabinet.
Crosley, sometimes called “The Henry Ford of Radio,” would expand the company into manufacturing automobiles, aircraft, and home appliances.
He also recognized a lucrative market awaited in the millions of farm homes lacking electricity, not just for radio, but for his company’s first venture into refrigeration.
Crosley Icy Ball — Heated Refrigeration
Built on earlier patents developed for absorption refrigeration and assigned to Crosley, the radio company began production of a new appliance, promoting the device’s simplicity, durability, and economy.
With no moving parts, the Crosley Icy Ball (or Icyball) was designed to chill by using intermittent heat absorption with a water ammonia mixture as the refrigerant.
Once “charged” by heating for 90 minutes with a cup of kerosene, an Icy Ball could provide a day or more of refrigeration, plus a few ice cubes. No electricity required.
Crosley Radio Corporation bought the rights to the “icy ball” refrigeration idea from David Keith of Canada, who had applied for a U.S. patent in June 1927.
Crosley Radio’s new refrigerating appliance was simple to operate, much like Standard Oil’s “Perfection” stove and similar kerosene stoves, along with the Monitor Sad Iron Company’s popular gasoline iron.
“Especially for women in rural and farm households, kerosene provided an important bridge fuel to the newer age of gas and electricity. To ignore it is to ignore what was for many an important introduction to modern times,” explained Mark Aldrich in Agricultural History Journal, Winter 2020, “The Rise and Decline of the Kerosene Kitchen.”
Heated with a kerosene stove, the Crosley icy ball chilled by using intermittent heat absorption with a water ammonia mixture as the refrigerant.
Crosley Radio’s instructions for the “Icyball Refrigerator” stated, “The Perfection kerosene stove has been designed especially for the Icyball and is recommended.”
Production of the Crosley Icy Ball began in 1928, and it sold for about $80, complete with a 4.25 cubic foot cabinet. Crosley Radio declared sales of 22,000 for the refrigeration appliance in the first year alone.
“Refrigeration – everyday necessity to household economy and family health – is possible now WITHOUT ELECTRICITY – at a cost so low that about 2 cents a day covers it everywhere,” proclaimed company advertisements.
Rural Electrification Act
The New Deal’s Rural Electrification Act of 1936 empowered the federal government to make low-cost loans to farmers bringing electricity to rural America.
Among the most successful of President Franklin Roosevelt’s programs, the loans allowed thousands of farms to exploit the labor savings that electric lights, tools, and appliances could bring. Electrification grew from only 3.2 percent in 1925, to 90 percent by 1950.
Crosley adapted to the electrified market and made an even bigger hit with its 1933 refrigerator, the “Shelvador” Model D-35, which featured the unheard of innovation of door shelving and automatic interior lighting within its three and a half cubic feet. More electric appliances followed, and for decades the company remained preeminent in refrigerators.
Electrification of rural America rendered Crosley Icy Balls obsolete and production ended in 1938, but Crosley Radio endured.
Smithsonian Icy Ball Exhibit
Powel Crosley Jr. bought the rights to the icy ball refrigeration design from David Keith of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who had applied for a patent in June 1927 and received it on December 24, 1929 (No. 1,740,737). Crosley Radio improved the device while acquiring additional patents.
Crosley Radio Corporation sold thousands of Icy Ball refrigeration appliances (with ice maker) before production ended in 1938.
Although not on display, a Crosley Icy Ball has been preserved at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Refrigeration artifact (No. 1988.0609.01) was tested in 1998 and successfully completed a heat charge cycle, producing a temperature of 18 degrees Fahrenheit.
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The American Oil & Gas Historical Society (AOGHS) preserves U.S. petroleum history. Become an AOGHS annual supporting member and help maintain this energy education website and expand historical research. For more information, contact bawells@aoghs.org. Copyright © 2023 Bruce A. Wells. All rights reserved.
Citation Information – Article Title: “Crosley Icy Ball Refrigerator.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org/oil-almanac/crosley-icy-ball-refrigerator. Last Updated: October 14, 2023. Original Published Date: October 14, 2023.
