US85730A - Improvement in torpedoes for oil-wells - Google Patents

Description

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No. 85,730,v

submerged.

UNITED' S"fr urrns 1PA-TENT OFFICE- F'Rnnn'nroxonooxnn, on TI'TUsvILLn, PENNsYLvANIA.-v

IMPROVEMENT IN ToRPEDoEs Fonv oit-WELLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 85,730, dated January 12,1869. i

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

Beit known that I, FREDERICK Gnocxnn, of the city of Titusville, county of Crawford,

vand State of Pennsylvania, have invented cerv .tain new and usefullmprovements in Torpedoes for Use in Oil and other Artesian Wells;

plosive material, lowered to theproper depth,

and exploded.

Various devices and arrangements are in use for igniting the shell; among others, that of a percussion-cap, placed in the center of the torpedo-cap, and ignited by means of a weight dropped from the top of the well, the ame from the cap igniting a small quantity of powder `Within apriming-chamber, and from thence communicating with the powder at the upper end ofthe shell, or, in many cases, communicatin g directly with said powder, without lthe intervention of a priming-chamber.

W'hen the percussion-cap is used a small plunger or hammer is suspended over and almost in contact with it, said hammer receiving the blow from the falling weight and imparting it to the cap, and a rubber packing is necessarily wrapped around the hammer and nipple after the percussion-cap is inserted to render the shell impervious to water when Under the above arrangement many premature explosions have occurred from pieces of rock and other foreign substances falling into or dropping down from the sides of the well and upon the hammer while the shell is being lowered to its place.

The object of my invention is to so arrange the igniting apparatus that there shall be no risk of premature ignition from falling substances, and no packing required around any part of the shell; and an equally important part of my invention is my improved arrangement for distributing the iiame from the cap y or cartridge throughout kthe entire length of the shell at practically the same instant.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical section of my torpedo; Fig. 2, a horizontal section on line A B; and Fig. 3, a horizontal section on line C D.

a represents the cylindrical shell, madel preferably of cast metal, closed at the lower end by a screw-plug, b, and at the upper end by a cap, c. The central portion of said cap is made of the conical form shown, and the shell is lowered into the well by means of a rope or wire attached to the apex vof the cone d. Around the base of said cone two or more smallholes,`c c, are drilled through the cap, and a common pistol or riie cartridge, f, is inserted into each, iitting closely thereto, as in the breech-loading rifle, so that no specialv packing is required around them.

When the shell is lowered to the proper depth a weight, y, of the peculiar form shown, is slipped over the rope or wire and allowed to fall from the top of the well. Said Weight is made of such a form that it shall fit upon the cone d of the cap, and the lower thin edge of the weight strikes upon and i gnites the cartridge or cartridges, the, object of the cone d being to guide the lower edge of the falling weight to the cartridge.

By this arrangement of parts certainty of explosion is guaranteed, the whole apparatus is simple and cheaplyT made, and the cartridges f f are so -placed as to oifer no risk of premature explosion from accidentalcontact with foreign bodies. No packing is neces sary, and the danger of wrapping a rubber tube around a hammer and nipple upona loaded shell is avoided.

Within the shell, and communicating with each of the cartridges ff, I place one or more hollow perforated tubes, h h, corresponding in number with the number of cartridges used, extending from said cartridges to, or nearly to, the bottom of the shell. These tubes are attached to the cap c, and are inserted into the shell from its upper end. The cap is screwed in, the shell inverted and filled through the h ole in the lower end thereof, the powder entuely surrounding, but not entering, the tubes When the cartridge f is ,ignitedy the flame therefromiiashes through and completely fills the tube rvh, and'v communicates, through the Iperforations, with the powder around it.

Having thus vdescribed my improvements,

what I claim as my specific invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The described arrangement of the cone d, weight 9, and cartridges fj; said cone serving as a guide t0 the descending we1ght, as

' and for 'the purposes set forth.

2. The hollow perforated tubes lh h, in com` bination with the percussion-cartridges f f and loaded shell a, for the purpose of distributing the flame, substantially as set forth.

FREDERICK OROGKER.

Witnesses A. B. HOWLAND, J. J. HOLDEN.

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