years 1900 and 1901 the Imperial Works of the Oil Well
Supply Company was built at Qil City for the manufacture
of general oil well supplies. It began with a working force
of 800 men and at the present time employs 1,100 men.
This is the company’s largest factory and covers 45 acres.
At this plant are manufactured “Oilwell” drilling engines,
“Black Bear” gas engines, Imperial “Mud Hog” and Im-
perial “Giant Mud Hog” pumps, “Oilwell” pumping powers
and pumping equipment, “Oilwell”’ rotary drilling equipment
and other miscellaneous supplies. This factory is the home
of the famous “Imperial Rotary,” which a few years ago
quite revolutionized rotary drilling—a rotary which “makes
up” (screws together) and “breaks out” (unserews) drill
pipe, casing and tool joints without manual labor and in
less than half the usual time required for this work.
In 1900 the first boiler factory was opened at Oswego,
N. Y., with a working force of 30 men. The present boiler
factory employs 800 men and covers five acres. Here all
types of oil country boilers are made—*“A. S. M.. E.” Code
and Non-Code, “A. P. I.,” Canadian and British Burma in
locomotive type, and horizontal tubular in “A. S. M. E.”
rode type.
In 1908 a factory was built at Bradford for the manu-
facture of all types of packers. In order to take care of the
Pacific Coast trade, a Los Angeles factory was started in
1908, and at the present time covers five acres. In addition
to the factories named, the company maintains over 100
branches, located in the various oil fields of the United
States, 20 of which are branch machine shops, and the re-
mainder branch stores, with complete stocks of oil field equip-
ment. Frequently special tools must be made for special
cases, or immediate repair work is required to save time and
expense on a well. With “Oilwell” shops right in the field.
prompt service can be given.
Most of the employees of the company are veterans in the
business and their accurate knowledge is a most valuable
factor. Its engineers are constantly studying various con-
ditions and perfecting suitable equipment to meet them.
The company has exhibited and taken first prizes at the
World’s Fair in Paris, in 1900. and at Turin, Italy, in 1911.