Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

ENGINEERING IN THE WORLD'S OIL FIELDS. 335 or other contrivance at the surface. In many fields wells are pumped in groups of twenty, fifty, and even a hundred and fifty, by lines actuated from a central station by a steam or gas engine using natural gas. These “ jerker ” lines are either wooden or iron rods, or wire ropes, suspended at intervals from swinging brackets, and are in a state of tension while transmitting motion to the bell cranks operating the pumps. A pull on the line raises the bucket of the pump, OIL WELLS IN THE SEA, NEAR SANTA BARBARA, ON THE COAST OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. In all there are some two hundred wells. Those farthest from the shore are in from 15 to 25 feet of water at low tide. They are reached by wooden piers, built sufficiently strong to withstand a fierce storm. Great care has to be exercised in. drilling the wells, so as to bring the oil to the surface without coming into contact with the sea water. Many of these submerged wells yield about two hundred barrels of oil per di which, together with the pump rods, sink by their own weight when the motion on the line is reversed. By this simple arrange- ment wells which yield only half a ton a month are often pumped at a profit. Where there is much sand held in suspense by the oil, as in the Russian and Roumanian fields, balers, or long cylindrical vessels holding from three to eight barrels each, are used for raising the Baling* liquid. These resemble closely those already described for the removal of sludge during drilling operations. Suspended from a steel wire rope wound on a drum in the derrick, the baler is lowered into the well by gravity. Once full of the oil or water which it is de- sired to raise, the oil, gas, or steam engine is thrown into gear, and the baler is brought up to the surface at a velocity frequently exceeding 1,200 feet a minute. On the Rus- sian fields balers are sometimes 60 feet in length, and diameters of 12 and 14 inches are common.