Technology
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The History of the Ajax Iron Works
The Ajax Iron works was founded in 1877 in Corry, Pennsylvania. Originally the firm was a partnership under the name of Harmon, Gibbs and Company. The founders were C.G. Harmon, F.L. Bliss, George H. Gibbs and C.H. Bagley. In 1892, the company was incorporated as the Ajax Iron Works. The Ajax name was chosen to denote the power of the product they were building.
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Forest Oil Corporate Logo
A producer of oil and natural gas, Forest Oil Corp. is credited with developing secondary recovery of oil technique (waterflooding) in the early 1900s - a revolutionary event for the oil and gas industry at that time.
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Yellow Dog Inventor
Rare is the community oil and gas museum that doesn't have a "yellow dog" in its collection. The two-wicked lamp is an oilfield icon.
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OIL MINES / OIL SHAFTS - TARENTUM, TIDIOUTE, PETROLEUM CENTRE, FRANKLIN, FUNKVILLE (BULL RUN), PLEASANTVILLE….
“Mining for petroleum” has been attempted numerous times since the Drake Well’s completion, 1859. Nearly all the early oil shaft operations were failures. Only one - drilled during World War II - was a success in the original Oil Region (although there have been successes in other parts of the United States and foreign countries). Plans for another oil mine are underway at this writing.
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FROM THE OIL FIELDS TO DRAKE WELL MUSEUM - SAND HILL OIL COMPANY LEASE (CENTRAL POWER - COMPRESSOR HOUSE / OIL LEASE EXHIBIT)
“There also has been considerable negotiation going on recently in the Tidioute district for the purchase outright of gasoline - making leases, especially in the gas - pump territory whose gases and oil vapors are richest for gasoline making purposes. Several properties are said to be under option at this time, at what, but a relatively short time ago would have been considered very stiff prices.” - The Petroleum Gazette, March, 1916.
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YOUNG & LOCKE MACHINE SHOP / EDMUND R. YOUNG & SONS MACHINE SHOP (JACOBSON ENGINE MANUFACTURING COMPANY), TITUSVILLE, PA
The Young & Locke Iron Works, organized in 1879 by Edmund R. Young and Robert D. Locke, located opposite the Titusville Iron Works [on South Franklin Street], engaged in the business of making and repairing engines, boilers, steam pumps, and giving steady employment to 20 expert mechanics, enjoy a large and growing business, the confidence of the trade and a sound and enviable financial standing” - GEORGE A. CHASE, c. 1889.
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NATIONAL TRANSIT PIPE LINES SILVER RUN PUMP STATION (GORDON & TIBBENS LEASE, SOUTH PENN OIL COMPANY) - FROM BULLY HILL (FRANKLIN), SANDYCREEK TOWNSHIP, VENANGO COUNTY TO DRAKE WELL MUSEUM AND PARK
Drake Well Museum and Park, near Titusville, has added several outdoor displays since 1980. One of the most popular - after the California Standard Rig and Central Power - Compressor House - is a complete pipeline field pump station. National Transit Company owned and operated this station for approximately 70 years near Franklin, Venango County, PA.
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TITUSVILLE IRON COMPANY / TITUSVILLE IRON WORKS COMPANY (STRUTHERS WELLS CORPORATION), 1860 - 1971
John C. Bryan and William McMullen, Irish immigrant employees of the Brown Brothers (later Struthers Wells Company) machine shop of Warren, PA, started a machine shop / foundry facility on South Franklin Street, Titusville, 1860. This factory was the first machine shop founded exclusively for serving the oil industry. It was located “a year and a mile from the Drake Well.”
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AMERICAN OIL WORKS / PRODUCERS & REFINERS OIL COMPANY / CONSOLIDATED SERVICE STATIONS / PENNSYLVANIA “PENN - DRAKE” REFINING COMPANY, TITUSVILLE, PA (1885 - 1948)
William (Wilhelm) Teege, a native of Mecklenburg, Germany, emigrated to America, 1861. Teege settled in Titusville, where he supposedly knew Edwin L. Drake.
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JOHN KLEIN - NATIONAL TRANSIT PUMP & MACHINE COMPANY FOUR - CYCLE GAS ENGINES
John S. Klein (1849 - 1902) was born in Nassau, Germany. He arrived in America with his parents, shortly after birth, during the summer of 1849.