science · 25 April 1865 · 159 years ago
In 1865, a U.S. patent was issued, the first for a “torpedo” used in oil well drilling (No. 47,458). The inventor was Col. Edward A.L. Roberts of New York City, who had successfully experimented with it in Jan 1865 to open an obstructed well bore at the Ladies' Well on Watson Flats, near Titusville, Pennsylvania.
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