I grew up on one of the last cable tool drilling rigs, that machine has all the features of one of those except a walking beam. It could be a service unit to pull well pipe out of the hole if it quit pumping.
yup, big flying pully, no pole guides for vertical operations, lots of cable. Looks like a trunk anchor yarder, should be a 3 chain loop post with a pulley on it with two extra cables someplace for the uphill end.
I was thinking exactly that, it seems the top is too skinny but if there were guide wires supporting that it could definitely work. Besides that would definitely account for the stress breaks and repairs.
My thoughts, too. It looks very akin to what was called a logging spar in the Northwest timber industry. Except up there, there was a stationary donkey engine that ran the cables. The spar would be set on top of the mountain or hill and the cables run out to drag the fresh cut logs up the hill. Then logs would be dragged by skidder or loaded onto a train to be taken to the mill. In the mid 1950's, my dad worked for Rayonier Lumber Co. And his job as a teen was to drag the spar cable down the hill to the logs, set the choker cable for the logs to be dragged up the hill.
That is used to move the new section of pipe to the well head when drilling a well. The boom is stationed vertically above the well head. One winch to extend the mast head the the proper height. The other is used to run a lead to the pipe and hoist it to the top of the mast. It is then lowered onto the threaded drill pipe where another winch operates the winch screw the new length to the drill pipe. Unless im wrong, and it's a portable flag pole.
unless its a flying pulley for dragging logs out of the woods... one might resemble the other except you don't need a flying pulley rig when you use a block and tackle to lift pipe segments that are twice as long as that pole is tall... There's not enough clearance from the pole to be a hoist
I have seen similar units used in the oil patch mounted on the back of 3/4 and 1 ton trucks. commonly known as "workover rigs" they are used for servicing the sucker rods and pump that the pump jack pulls on to lift the fluid up the well bore. we have shallow wells here in Michigan that are old and not very deep that a unit like this would have serviced way back in the day.
That's a yarder. Loop of metal sticking up by the pully is the retainer in case a flying cable comes off. The operational side of it is back past the controls and the pole goes on the side that faces away from the cable run. The loops on the side of the pole are for the guywires/cables to keep it upright. There should be a two pulley shuttle with a double hook someplace as well as a vertical pole with a heavy frame to hold the other end's skyline pulley/gather onto a tree in the work area someplace if they've got most the kit. It looks like they have the drawing "mainline" cable on it but not the skyline. You used them to log down in gullies and valleys.
Well rig!!! For pulling pump rods!! A yarder would need way more cable, and 100 years ago, they would use a spar tree steam donkey, the two things just look similar, but they actually aren’t
That Shiv on the end of the tower would be for a cable to raise the mast...afyer seeing all of it it is definately a log yarder with all the guide wires...
looks like an old log yarder, the interesting part thought is those were not popular in Minnesota really. Those are more common in very hilly or mountainous terrain where crawlers and skidding tractors did not do well.
I think thats a logging yarder like another member said probably not that strong but worked well with smaller timber very unique machine Its amazing how hard people had to work way back when thats probably the only machine they had in the woods other than man power
It looks to me to be an old drilling rig for well drilling (could of been used to drive piles as well). Unlike modern drills that rotate an auger, old machines use to raise and drop a weighted spear over and over that would slowly tamp a hole. We used a Bucyrus-Erie rig on the back of an old C60 to drill wells up until the late 60's until we switch to just instilation and service.
I’m surprised at amount of people who think it’s a yarder, no way! They weren’t using yarders in those days, even if they were, it’s too small, that is definitely a well rig, it may look like a yarder, but that’s where the similarity stops. It doesn’t actually have what it needs to yard logs. It’s definitely a well rig.
From the West Coast,I would first guess a spar tree ,pulling logs. From the other comments,sure could pull drilling pipe. Modern use,pulling stuck four wheel drive. Be slow,but with that reduction,it could extract a full size 4by out of just about any bog. Might pull the truck in half,but it would retrieve. If the original owner had a woodlot,that would be my guess. A lot of careful thought went into that. It was not just cobbled together.
It looks similar to a well pipe pounding rig I seen mounted on the back of a old truck. The one cable draws the weight up and the other pulls down to drive the pipe into the ground. Very neat machine
Oil well service rig or pulling unit. It was used to pull rods or run tubing, probably using the smaller drum, or to swab wells in by pulling the water out using rubber swab cups using the larger drum, which would give more speed.. It does not have the necessary walking beam that would allow it to drill by raising and dropping the bit. Rigs like this were common in the early days of the oil field.
Looks to me like it's an old hammer type drill rig for well drilling. The boom would be set vertically, and the interior hammer would be raised and dropped over and over, hammering its way into the ground. These were common until more modern rotary drilling equipment began to replace the old hammer drill units. I have never seen one this old mounted on a Rumley but I used to see them working mounted on an old truck bed.
Well rig!!! for pulling out rods or well casings. Its not a boom it’s a a “mast” It’s designed to pull upwards on the pump rods or well casings that’s why the winch drum isnt that big because it doesn’t need to be it only needs to pull from the top of the well which is at the ground level up to the top of the mast, to remove sections of pump rod
I think it is a pile driver. I like the yarder theory, but i think the mast is too skiny (unless it was externally braced.) If it was a pile driver, the weight would have been separate. Also, if the brake band was weak and they were dropping the weight by releasing the clutch, bad timing or a slipped foot would explain the dzmsge to the clutch and gearing.
Looks like it may have been a Yarder for pulling out logs from clear cuts. They used Donkey Winches in the PNW when it was logged in the mid to late 1800's
Given it is somewhere in the wooded upper midwest I too think it was used in logging although my first thought was pile driver or drill rig but I see no good way to either auger or pound, then I thought jib crane but again no boom, so yarder seems best fit!
Hey up mate good video very interesting does look like it could be a yarder but the drum doesn't look like it holds enough rope so I'm guessing it's for pounding water bores originally though could have been since modified for smaller yarder work's, cool machine either way thanks for showing
I have no idea what a 'yarder' is, but it sure looks like what they call a 'pulling unit' around here. Used to service oil wells by pulling the sucker rods (20' or 30' long) that screw together and go down into the well, by pulling them up and unscrewing them one at a time until they get to the pump (forget the name) at the bottom that lifts the oil. They're usually mounted on a truck, though, to easily move down the road between well locations. The steel wheels on this wouldn't allow that, so maybe it is a 'yarder'. 🤔
