Mining was flat in the 1950s. Longyear drillers and designers had accumulated more than 50 years of experience drilling in remote locations through a variety of bewildering geological formations.
The company was poised to make major strides in the second half of the century and to once again — as had Edmond J. Longyear in 1890 — revolutionize mining exploration.
The company had developed a new tool and technique that promised to revolutionize exploratory drilling. After six years of testing, Longyear introduced its new “wireline” to the diamond drilling industry. This small-diameter wireline equipment, patterned after much large tools used in the petroleum industry, had been under continuous development and testing since 1947 at many different company drill sites.
The wireline brought diamond core drilling within the financial reach of many small operators and cut costs of the big mining companies as well. The wireline reduced core recovery from 60 minutes to 15-20 minutes. When introduced, round-trip time with the wireline equipment in a 3,000-ft. hole was accomplished in 32 minutes, compared with 3-4 hours for conventional equipment.
The more sophisticated machinery also improved core recovery and decreased diamond loss. Within six months, the company had seven wireline drilling rigs operating with remarkable results — 98.4% core recovery.
On Aug. 14, 1953, a patent application was filed and on April 8, 1958, U.S. Patent No. 2,829,868, covering “Wireline Core Barrel,” was issued to Longyear employees A.F. Pickard and W.W. Svendsen.
— Submitted by Gary Ball, Eastern Regional Manager, Longyear Canada Inc., Moncton, N.B.
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