Landmark oil well blowout preventer recognized

Diane Kaylor
ASME Public Information

Oil well blowouts — those unexpected gushers that can create spectacular havoc during drilling operations — were first brought under control in 1922 in Texas.

The first ram-type blowout preventer (BOP) allowed the manual closing of a well, saving lives and preventing surface oil accumulation at drilling sites. The first one, now exhibited at Cameron world headquarters in Houston, is to become an ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in a ceremony this month.

In the early days of oilfield operations, there was no way to control the underground pressures encountered during drilling. When an oil or gas reservoir was tapped, wells were allowed to "blow out" until pressure was reduced sufficiently to allow capping.

The first ram-type blowout preventer.

 

 

Many inventors attempted to develop a device to control such blowouts. Nearly a victim of a disastrous blowout himself, oil wildcatter James Smither Abercrombie (1891-1975) took his idea for his ram-type preventer to machinist Harry S. Cameron (1872-1928) in his shop in Humble, Texas, where they sketched out the details on the dirt floor.

By 1922, Abercrombie and Cameron were successful by keeping their design simple yet rugged. The original design could withstand pressures up to 3,000 psi, an industry record in 1922. By comparison, today's blowout preventers can withstand 15,000 psi, working in water depth up to 10,000 feet.

Abercrombie and Cameron filed a patent application on April 14, 1922. It was granted Jan. 12, 1926. Tests and improvements led to a marketed product in January 1924.
Although the concept of rams closing around the drill pipe is used today, modern blowout preventers look very little like the original version.

The original blowout preventer was displayed at the Smithsonian's energy center in the early 1980s and then returned to Cameron headquarters, where it is now on display in the lobby exhibit area.

For additional information, visit http://www.asme.org/history/
roster/H227.html.

 

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