Skip to main content

Ram-Type

Society: ASMEMain Category: MechanicalSub Category: Minerals Extraction & RefiningEra: 1920-1929DateCreated: 1922Cameron World HeadquartersHoustonState: TXZip: 77041Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-m-z/minerals-extraction-and-refining/-227-first-ram-type-blowout-preventer-%28bop%29-%281922%29Creator: Abercrombie, James, Cameron, Harry
This mechanism allowed the manual closing of a well, saved lives and prevented surface oil accumulation at drilling sites, quickly becoming an industry standard. In the early days of oilfield operations, there was no way to control the underground pressures encountered during drilling. When an oil or gas reservoir was tapped, wells were allowed to "blow out" until pressure was reduced sufficiently to allow capping. Many inventors attempted to develop a device to control such blowouts. In 1922, oil wildcatter James Smither Abercrombie (1891-1975) and machinist Harry S.
YearAdded:
2003
Image Credit: Original Image: Flickr/Ed Schipul (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: A modern Blowout Preventer (BOP)Era_date_from: 1922
Subscribe to Ram-Type

Innovations

This mechanism allowed the manual closing of a well, saved lives and prevented surface oil accumulation at drilling sites, quickly becoming an industry standard. In the early days of oilfield operations, there was no way to control the underground pressures encountered during drilling. When an oil… Read More

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.