The Ranney Process of Mining Oil

The Ranney process contemplates the sinking of a shaft, a manway and ahoisting compartment, all to the region of the oil sand. This shaft stops ontop of the cap rock above the sand, or it passes through the upper cap rock, through the sand and through the lower cap rock, below the sand. From thebottom of the shaft manway tunnels are driven on top of the upper cap rock orjust below the lower cap rock-never in the oil sand. Eventually a plat of thesecriss-crossing tunnels may resemble streets in a city. Each tunnel contains apipe line. At intervals of say 10 ft. in each tunnel, a 3-in. hole is drilled in thecap rock almost to the oil sand. A 2-in. nipple is sealed in each hole by anair-tight seal. (See Figs. 1 and 2.) A cross is screwed on the outer end of thenipple, and the pipe line is screwed horizontally into the cross on two sides.In this way each oil-receiving nipple becomes a collecting branch of the pipeline. Then a rock drill is inserted through the cross into the sealed-in oilnipple, with which drill a hole is made into the oil sand. When production issecured the drill is withdrawn, an iron plug is screwed into the fourth hole ofthe cross and the simplest form of "mine well" is complete. (See Fig.3.) If artificial forces of expulsion are employed, they may be applied to andthrough the pipe line to all nipples and all holes in the sand.