DOWN IN THE DEPTHS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1815, 30 July 1913, Page 10

DOWN IN THE DEPTHS.

,-e A NEW LENGTH. One of the everyday experiences in tli-iiXiiiij for oil is the attaching of a new length of drill-pipe. The .drill itself—in the case of a rotary—is a huge piece of hardened steel shaped not unlike a fishtail. . The extreme end of the tail is divided in the centre by ti cut a few inches deep, so that one half is slightly turned ono way nnct the other half is bent the other. These are sharpened bluntly (if 0110 may use the term), and serve as the cutting blades. The votary drill is carefully screwed into the drill-pipe— every part being psrfoctly and very heavily made, and the revolving action of the pipe whirls the drill round, be it lOlt. or 3000 ft. billow tho surlaoe. In the wet process, a big pump is rigged over tho drill-head, and as soon as the rotary is put in action tho pump starts to throw down tho hoie a steady how of clay puddle, in which the drill works. Of course raoro eor.its up than goes down, as the rush of puddle brings with it quantities of tin DUlverisMl rock from below. When one length of pipe is sunk to tho proper level it. udsouics necessary to fix on another length. This operation is one of git.it interest. First, the big pump is detached and drawn out of the way. A fresh collar of steel (weighing MOlb.), threaded inside like tho brecch of a modem quickfirer, is produced. It is in two parts, tho two being brought together tightly by a screw cone witli a very decided and per-fect-fitting thread. Tho lower part is given a dab of red lead, and snowed on to the top of the drill-pipe, already in the ground. -The other half has to wait for a while until tho new length of pipo (23ft. in length) is hauled in. To one end is fitted the pump, and the whole thing is hoisted into the air, until the lower end is about on a level with tho top of tho pipo already in tho ground. Then tho other half of tho collar is screwed to tho lower end of the new length of pipe. Its cone end is lowered gently into the corresponding half of the collar, and with the assistance of American • patent chain wrenches, and later of a. pair of novel "tongs" (really a clutch collar with an arm operated by a ropa attached to a small winch drum), tho t\vo parts meet in a. perfect collar, which is a strength, rather than a weakness, to the pipe-line. With the drill-pipe weighing about 301b. to the foot (and each 23ft. long), every collar weighing HOlb., and the drill and attachments weighing the best part of llcwt, one can got something like an estimate of the weight of a drilling plant. What amazes one is the dexterity and quickness with which the pipes are handled and the new collars adjusted. An operation such ns described really represents about half an hoilr's work. As saon as it is over, the engine start; with a clanking jolt, the great steel chain belts flap wildly, and oft' goes tho rotary, grinding its way to the earth's cotc. The rate at which a bore is sunk wholly depends on tho c-hurnctor of tho country. On hard boulders (uot. solid rock) a rotary drill might take a twelve-hour shift to , cut through two or three foot, and, on tho other hand, in rotten rock or strata of sott earth, it might easily get through -tOft. or SOl't. in the same time. Boulders, crystalline in character and as hard as adamant, are tho worst to deal with. ,Sometimes for hours they will play ring-a-rosy with t.lio drill before it caii get a fair bite at it. and at others it is a matter of bot'ing clean through—a long, laborious whicli tries the temper of th?. drill-blades as well as that of the i drillers*