1870s-80s 72 foot Pennsylvania Standard wooden oil derrick

[Mik]

I've wanted to do this project for several years -- actually I WANT to do 3 of them eventually. The first one will be a pretty much scale 'operating' foreground model version - to help figure out what corners I can cut on the other two which will probably be static.

3 is really the minimum to look right....

The oil heritage folks were nice enough to scan some Jerecki (Erie, Pa) standard rig information... Which included dimensions on the lumber!

Did I happen to mention that I'm going to build this thing uncompressed, and it is gonna be HUGE? This is just the main sill and mud sills (see above drawing). This part alone is 15" long!

Assembled drill floor sills... This piece is 10" x 10-1/2"

Already 2 feet long, and that's only the base of the derrick section!. Sampson post (supports the walking beam) and headache post (keeps said beam from crashing down on your head if something breaks) are installed.

I was down with the crud for a couple of days, so I didn't feel like doing much. Today I felt a bit better, so I shaped the walking beam and started to put down the drill floor.... and promptly ran out of coffee stirrers. We're having a bit of lake effect snow, so I'm not quite dumb enough to run out for them.....

This project may take all winter, so please be patient.....

 

[C&S]

That's going to be impressive when it's finished.

Can we start a sweepstake to guess how many feet of timber one derrick will need?

 

[Mik]

13 months? Really? WOW!!

Picking up where I left off those 400+ days ago.... cutting coffee stirrers.

The derrick floor alone required 80 coffee stirrers. If Kim only grabs a dozen or so extra ones with every cup of coffee, this thing will cost a fortune! (good thing a few other folks scarf 'em for me too!)

Bored with match cutting, I decided to start work on the derrick itself. A bit of coroplast worked quite well for drawing a template upon. The legs SHOULD be L shaped, but I figured the 1:1 world would be too hard on it, so solid 3/8" square will serve

small nails are used for locating pins and to help give the joints strength

I got two sides to this point before I ran out of the 3/8" stuff. I'll need to take a ride to Grove City (14 mi away) to get more. Maybe Tuesday..... hopefully NOT a year from Tuesday!!!!

 

[Mousey]

Looking good Mik.

 

[Mik]

This morning I found 2 sticks of 3/8" stock (4 feet total) that had fallen behind a dresser... Yay! Not enough to finish the derrick, but enough to complete the two sides with some left over!

The bottom 3 sections of cross bracing were all longer than your standard coffee stirrer, so I did what the old timers did... splice 'em long enough

Derrick going up!

Once more, I used nails for locator pins on the corners. Hopefully it never gets whacked hard enough to split the legs.

While all that was drying, I decided it was time to start on the steam drilling engine. These engines cane is sizes from about 8"b x 10" s to 12"b x 15"s... the most common in this area were 10" x 10".

A couple typical identifying features of a drill engine were the large, narrow rim flywheel, and the big vertical lever connected to the link reverse (a reach rod connected to this and ran out to the drill floor)

One of the neighbors was tossing out a broken r/c car (no remote), so I decided to narrow up the rear end to motorize this thing. The flywheel and pulley are Ertl. I'll mount this to a block, then fabricate the rest of the engine around it.

 

[Mik]

All I got done on this today...

 

[Mik]

15 sec vid of the engine running. I've been trying to get rid of that #$&@ wobble all afternoon... turns out the hub is cracked. I made a compression band from a bit of Plastuct tube, and manage to get the runout down to 1/16"
http://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/j371/AlleghenyValley/?action=view&current=P1180001.mp4 < Link To http://s1082.photobucket....p;current=P1180001.mp4

 

[Mik]

Fill, sand paint, repeat -- until you get it right, or in this case, close enough.

backhead detail from brass nails and beads

Smokebox door is Kalamazoo. It's a little fancy for an oil field boiler, especially after about 1880, but it was here.

Stack transition started. I'll use a 2" sanding drum in the drill press to shape the bottom to fit the boiler.

Hard to believe, but that tiny bit of progress was 3 hours work.... much of it spent just scratching my head and disturbing the termites (aka thinking how to proceed)

 

[trammayo]

Fascinating project Mik. Inspirational (as always) - I'm following with interest but not sure I'd build one for myself - its massive!

 

[Mik]

72 feet = 36" in 1:24
Some real early rigs were as short as 36 or 40 feet tall

Later rigs were 82 feet tall or more.

The funny thing is, What I have done on the derrick itself doesn't weigh much at all.... maybe a pound or a little less.

Anyway, for your amusement, here's a few more ancient photos I found..
Rigs under construction 1865ish

drying laundry on steam lines in Cali

Another wooden rig in Indiana

A period sketch. And yes, many folks DID drill for oil in their back yards, literally.

A tank farm for loading oil

Antebellum "tank cars" were just barrels on flat cars

Followed by the wooden tanks on flat cars

 

[trammayo]

Interesting pics - and oil output still measured in barrels! Wonder how much a barrel of crude was worth in the 1880's?

 

[beavercreek]

Excellent stuff Mik. Will follow this with great relish!

 

[Mik]

I haven't been procrastinating, exactly - more trying to figure out how to do stuff that simply hasn't jelled, even yet... But here are some progress pics of the various bits, anyway

My big problem was, and still is the bull wheel... I need to make the two wheels about 3" or 3-1/4" in dia x 3/8" wide, but haven't quite figured out how to make the rims without a LOT of work -- any ideas?

Easier by far to make was the well jack...

A chopped up Ozark Miniatures railroad jack casting and a bit of 2mm square Plastruct worked really well.

Getting the center irons to look right stumped me for a few days as well...

But in the end, I think they came out OK - and it works free and easy

The big bandwheel was cut by hand, and sanded round... and it doesn't wobble too badly, so the belt should stay on

I could only afford 5 pulleys off Ozark, so my crownblock is freelanced - and simplified.

Fitting the crossbracing is a much bigger PiTA vertical like this than it looks... I've been doing a little off and on for 2 weeks. It's about 3/4 done.

The enginehouse side walls have been framed for about a week.

This morning I added the windows. Tonight I'll cut a mess of coffee stirrers to plank them

And that's where it stands tonight

 

[beavercreek]

Darned excellent Mik....
For the Bull wheels, would the large spoked wheels from something like the old, now discontinued Piko or Pola hay/farm wagon be a good fit. Perhaps someone might have a couple lying around. They looked like the rear wheels from an old west covered wagon.

Not sure if these are big enough........ Grandt line 1.5" spoked wheels www.grandtline.com/product_listing.htm

 

[Mik]

I made the framing for the beltway extension first thing this morning. On the model it's just a big empty, but on a real rig not only would the 'telegraph' rope to the engine throttle, reverse reach rod, and sand reel lever run through it, but stuff like fishing tools, spare jars and coils of extra wire rope would be stored in there as well. Handy for when you need them, but otherwise out of the way. As usual, I'm allergic to making too many details nobody will see.

Planking going on...

Jumping around a bit, the side walls of the enginehouse went up...

My usual cheater roof trusses.

The bull wheel. I remembered this morning that I had a 3" pvc pipe couple in my scrapbox (to make traction engine wheels). The spokes are tongue depressor size craft sticks.

mounted and braced. Now I just need to find the ball of surveyor's string that I put somewhere so I wouldn't lose it...........................

The freezer is about 6" too short!

Trying to visualize the layout of the boiler and enginehouse

Sand reel is a spool and two wooden nickles. I really wanted to roof the beltway with corrugated sheet. But I never got around to buying a crimper, so 'tarpaper' it will be - once it stops snowing long enough to spray the aluminum furnace tape flat black (or maybe flat olive green)

The derrick itself is probably 95% done now. The only major bits missing are the wire ropes, the walking beam stirrup and pitman, crank, and temper screw... Another day or two (or maybe 13 months!) and maybe $5 worth of parts will probably finish it. The enginehouse needs the siding on the end walls and roof. plus a bunch of details... And the beltway needs built. But first I really need to find a piece of decent plywood for a base (about 15" x 40"!)

 

[trammayo]

Well, it's coming on really well - can't wait to see it completed - massive project!

 

[Mik]

Well, Photobucket is being a pain again... about once a year I supposedly come close to or exceed their bandwidth limit, and they try to pressure me to buy their upgrade... nevermind that if they averaged it, it wouldn't even be close. So if many of the pictures disappear, they'll be back on the 2nd. But these photos are on my old account

In the past couple weeks I did a little bit more on this.

I built the (static) valve gear for the engine. Yes is has an Allen straight link, not a curved Stephensons, but once it's in the engine house you won't really be able to tell.

I framed the engine house end walls and planked them with coffee stirrers. Rather than try to cut each piece of the gable part to exact size, I cut them "close enough" (using as many leftover bits as I could) then trimmed them to final size after the glue dried - using the plywood 'truss' as a guide.

Then everything got a coat of vinegar/steel wool solution

The derrick got a coat as well. It looks a little less brand new now

I also found a piece of OSB to use as a base, but need to buy paint for it.... and unfortunately, I can't do a whole lot more until I do.