Old Tech That Works

 During the 1980's I had a job in the Southern Illinois oil field, and spent a lot of time around pulling units and spudders. A spudder is a cable tool drilling rig, and they are a rare bird today. The rig in this video is just starting a water well, and you can see the action of the drill stem as it rotates around the rope socket. The wire line untwists and twists and it is pulled up and down, and the rope socket can spin in the top of the tool string if the operator gets the speed coordinated with the stretching of the wire line. A good operator can constantly finesse the action as the line is fed out. They are using a bailer to clean out the cuttings. It has a check valve at the bottom and you will see them dump it into the pit. Not seen here is a sand pump, which is similar to a bailer. Sand pumps have a piston with a rope socket, and a check valve at the bottom that is opened by fluid coming in. The pump is lowered to the bottom, and the piston is allowed to float down the length of the tube, then it is pulled up quickly. It picks up heavy drillings that don't stay in suspension. This is fun to watch, but I was sure glad to get out of the oil field and back into forestry!