A Short History On Pumping Units

Pumping units have found their way into oil industry history since the early 1920s

. Through trial and error, oil companies have found a successful way to bring oil from the ground to the surface without breaking the machinery in the process. And to think this entire history all started with a conversation around the lunch table. It has gone from an experiment on a napkin to a high-tech, powerful machine capable of doing what any other machine would wet its gear box thinking about. The pumping unit has been a feat of human history.

It all started when Walter W. Trout was visiting his friend Ross Sterling, who was in the oil business. Trout, who owned Lufkin Foundry and Machine Company, had traveled around the country seeking jobs after the sawmill business declined. He had heard many stories of insufficient ways of extracting oil. Since the 1800s, oil had been extracted using a machine which had sucker rods and walking beams. It was good for a while, but when pressure stopped building up in the ground, that's when it became tough to extract the oil. Sterling had heard the same complaints, and he explained one day to Trout about an experiment he and his workers were trying out. They were attempting to create a better machine for pumping oil. He then challenged Trout to do the same. That's when Trout and his team set to work.

What resulted was the first gear-enclosed pumping unit, which was installed on an oilfield in what is now known as Baytown. The machine didn't live up to Trout's expectations, if it even lived that long. It had an insufficient method to hold much water, rendering it ineffective when its gears and shafts cracked. A friend of Trout's named W.L. Todd, also in the oil business, thought the idea was a good one, but said he would want a better counterbalance before he started buying.

Trout presented Todd with sketches of some more ideas as to how the machine could be properly counterbalanced.

Todd looked at the sketches (which were made on napkins at yet another luncheon) and told Trout to set his best minds on it. What came out was a system that worked well and efficiently. It was created in August of 1925, and was built in an oil field in Texas. It satisfied Trout and lived up to his expectations.

Today, modern pumping units are based on Trout's original designs. Even if they are more modern and trustworthy, Trout's designs are what set the ball rolling in the direction of a more efficient way of pumping oil. His original machine can be seen in the Smithsonian and many more can be seen around the country in different museums. Thanks to Trout and his hard work, we can all reap the benefits of the pumping units and the oil they give us today.

by: Art Gib

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