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WebSource of Howard Hughes Fortune
Howard Hughes, eclectic, reclusive and sometimes nutty billionaire was not a Horatio Alger rags to riches story. What was the source of his fortune? If you saw the movie about his life, you probably know the answer. Most of us think of his work during World War II with the Spruce Goose, the largest aircraft of its time or his buying up the casinos in Las Vegas and wresting it away from underworld control. But these ventures were not the source of his wealth, an extraordinary tool was.
Many people my age only know of Hughes exploits through comedy skits on SNL and magazine articles that were based on hearsay. From the 1960s until his death, Hughes had shunned the spotlight he had craved as a young man. During my life, he had always been reclusive and my thoughts are if that is what he wanted then so be it. But did you know he was president of RKO pictures? For tech geeks like myself, his aviation exploits are what interested me. I knew of his racing airplanes, and his efforts to build the Spruce Goose, the maligned adventure that finally flew but never attained anything like what he had dreamed.
Do you know what the tool that created the fortune was and why it was revolutionary? Give us your answer in the comments section below.
If you have a piece of trivia or history involving tools, home improvement, building science or mechanical e-mail me, hjones@latitude3.com and we can possibly use it as one of our questions either here or on the radio show on Monday Nights.
Diamond bit for oil drilling
Hughes Tool had a patent for a rock bit used for drill holes in hard rock while drilling for oil. It was not necessarily diamond pointed but rather comprised of three hard steel cones carried in three radial axes 120 degrees apart located in a plane normal to the axis of the drill hole. As the drill bit is rotated the weight of the drill shaft bears down on the toothed cones rotating at the bottom of the hole. Actually the weight of the drill shaft can actually be a hundred or more tons which would quickly destroy the (Huges) drill bit. Typically the drill bit lifting winches can control the hundred ton weight so that only a few tons force is applied to the bit. The conic surfaces of the three cones are covered with short stubby points to apply high unit drilling pressure. These points sometimes may have embeded diamonds. A Hughe bit may last for many hours of drilling or can last only less than ten hours if the going is rough.
Bill you are exactly right. In fact the bit looks very little like a traditional bit. To me the bits used in oil fields always reminded me of a device my mom used in sewing that was a roller with teeth. Several years a friend of mine who is a PhD in metallurgy patented a new metal to be used in these bits. The existing bits were having problems in the Russian fields and he came up with a metal that would take the abuse of the Asian subterranean rocks.
I saw that drillbit this morning at the Evergreen Aviation and space museum in McMinnville Oregon!
An amazing place—the Spruce Goose and lots of other planes Helos and space vehicles, including an ICBM in silo and a Mercury space capsule!