OIL LINGO: In yesterday’s column, we shared some information
from Bob Slike Jr. regarding names for items commonly used around
early oil-drilling rigs. We threw out the terms “sand smeller,
“lazy bench” and “go devil.”
As promised, we’re giving you the definition of a sand smeller,
courtesy of Bob:
“A sand smeller was a person from a lab who came to their rig
where samples of the various sands were collected from the bailer
and kept in a box with several small compartments. The sand smeller
would evaluate them and determine what sand they were in. The depth
of each sample was marked on a small wooden marker and was stuck in
each compartment as the sand samples were collected.”
Our challenge to our readers will be to let us know if you know
some of the terms below that Bob said were commonly heard around
the early wooden Standard Rigs, National and Parkersburg Portable
Drilling Machines and still can be heard around the “spudders” and
rotary drilling machines of today.
Wrap your mind around these terms:
Alligator wrench, bailer, band wheel, bell socket, belt hall,
bit gauge, brake band, bull rope, bull wheel lever, bull wheels,
calf wheel, cants, casing drum, casing sheave, casing shoe, circle
jack, conductor, cordage, cracker, crank, crown pulley, day light
and midnight tour, derrick barrel;
Derrick cornice, derrick floor, dog house, driller’s stool,
drive pipe, dump hole, fishing tools, forgey stick, friction wheel,
go devil, guy wires, gudgeons, headache post, hurry-up stick, jack
post, jack screw, jars, jerk line, journal, lazy bench, main sills,
moon generator;
Mud grove, mud sill, pitman, pony sill, reach, rig irons, rope
socket, rope spear, rope worm, saddle, samson post, sand line, sand
pump, sand reel, sand sheave, side irons, sinker, slack tub, snatch
block, soft rope, spudding bit, spudding ring, spudding shoe;
Spudding wheel, squid, staging, stem, stirrup, stone boat,
swivel socket, swivel wrench, tail board, telegraph line, telegraph
wheel, temper screw, tool dresser, tool wrenches, torpedo line, tug
wheel, turning pins, walking beam, water table, woodpecker hole,
wrist pin and yellow dog.
ONE MORE: Raymond Tingley of Limestone, N.Y., adds another to
our ever growing list of businesses operating in the vicinity of
Bolivar Drive and East Main Street. Kentucky Fried Chicken had an
outlet where E-Z TV is now situated, he reports. It was there only
a short time, though.
