Idea for 'fracking' came from Civil War battlefield
When Colonel Edward Roberts of New Jersey fought in the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1862, he noticed the effect the Confederate artillery had on a canal on the battlefield. It gave him the idea for what is now known as fracking, the popular short term for hydraulic fracturing.
Fracking today involves injecting a combination of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure into a rock formation where a natural gas or oil reservoir is found. The process fractures the strata, releasing larger amounts of gas or oil than would otherwise be obtained by drilling alone. The high-tech methods used today are in sharp contrast to the first attempts, which relied on the use of torpedoes.
Col. Roberts devised the Roberts Torpedo, which was filled with gunpowder (later nitroglycerin), and lowered into a well. The hole would be filled with water which would “tamp” the explosion, preventing it from being directed upwards (thus putting his battlefield observations to practical use). This also enhanced the fracturing of the soil containing the oil reserves.
The results were immediate — some wells boosted production by 1,200% in just one week — and the Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company was born. Although Roberts obtained a patent on the Roberts Torpedo in 1866, many tried to circumvent his substantial fees by mimicking his methods late at night, coming to be known as “moonlighters.” Roberts charged a minimum of $100 per torpedo and received a one-fifteenth share of the increased oil flow. Roberts spent $250,000 to pay Pinkerton detectives to find and stop moonlighters, and lawyers to prosecute them.
http://membercentral.aaas.org/blogs/scientia/idea-fracking-came-civil-war-battlefield
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