Word: ranney
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...inventor of the new technique, a grey-thatched, mild-mannered engineer named Leo Ranney, beamed triumphantly at his guests. His oil mine had got off to a good start. If it lived up to its beginnings, Ranney had hit on a simple way to make old oilfields gush again. Pennsylvania's old wells, though they still yield the richest crude oil in the world, have slowed down to an average of less than half a barrel a day from each well. From his single shaft at Franklin, Ranney expects to get more than...
...Ranney's well actually works on the same principle as a coal mine. In coal fields, miners dig a shaft down to the layer of coal, then work horizontally through the layer, cutting the coal away...
Horizontal Man. Ranney reasoned: Why not drill horizontally for oil, as miners dig coal? He designed a"Ranney-well" for oil mining - a vertical, concrete-lined shaft, sunk to the oil level, and a circular chamber at the bottom from which drillers might bore horizontally into the surrounding layer of oil sandstone. By drilling 24 holes, each radiating...
During 20 prewar years Ranney's idea made no headway among oilmen, but he found that his scheme was just as good for tapping sources of water and gas. He drilled Ranney horizontal water wells in London and Lisbon and for 20 U.S. industrial plants, started a $20.000,000 water well in Paris just before the war. In Sydney, Australia, a Ranneywell yields...
When he tested his oil mine in Franklin last week,. Ranney had as backers the Pennzoil Co. and nearly a score of other companies and oilmen. They believe that the Ranneywell may be a godsend to the dwindling U.S. oil supply. Ranney believes that it could tap 60% of the 6,364,000,000 bbls. in the Pennsylvania region unobtainable by previous methods...