A Facebook post I saw recently got me thinking about the pace of advancement in the recent years versus advancements made in the past. I entered the drilling industry in 1975 — 47 years ago — so let me use that for an example. I have seen the innovations introduced since then. What about the 47 years before that? That takes us back to 1928. Have we, was an industry, advanced as much in the past 47 years as in the 47 years previous?
First, I’ll squeeze in this 1927 invention from The Driller’s Drilling through History page: “George E. Failing introduced the first portable rotary rig to the industry. The idea first came after he mounted an existing rig on a 1927 Ford farm truck, adding a power take-off assembly to transfer power from the truck engine to the drill. The new portable rotary rig could drill ten 50-foot-deep holes in a day.”