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Oil and Gas
In 1947, the oil industry in Alberta exploded with the discovery of oil at
Leduc, and the bulk of technological advancement that has taken place in
the
province in terms of conventional oil has occurred since that date.
There were, however, smaller petrochemical discoveries in the Alberta that
extend back to 1913 at Turner Valley, and patents involving petrochemicals
date back to that year, and even before. The first petrochemical
patent recorded in the province was a well drill,
patented by Jonas Mattson and Ransom Warren of Wetaskiwin in 1907.
During Alberta's early decades as a province, oil and gas exploration
encouraged sporadic innovation, all of which illustrates the long roots
that the petrochemical industry has in Alberta. These early inventions
include a drill patented by Arthur Cools in 1915, a joint
for well casings patented in 1918 by Albert Beedham, and an
apparatus for freeing oil wells from frozen material, invented in 1930 by Russell Smith. All three men hailed
from Calgary.
After 1947 and the discovery of oil at Leduc, patents were filed regularly
for improvements to wells, pipeline and various tools, parts and processes
related to the production of crude oil and natural gas. The great
importance and large scale of development in the petrochemical industry
that subsequently took place can be seen in the vast array of patents that
were filed in the province for every stage of oil productionfrom
extraction, to transportation, to refinement.
Innovation in petrochemicals in Alberta has not been limited to
traditional means of oils and gas extraction, however, and further
demonstrates how the inventive spirit has
fueled resource and industrial
development in the province. A shining example of this is Alberta's tar sands, which, while a vast resource, present a great challengeaccessing
and refining the rich stores of bitumen, hydrocarbons that are
impregnated in sandstone, into petroleum products has required innovation
on the part of scientists and engineers, alike. The challenge of
separating bitumen from sand was taken on successfully by Dr. Karl Clark, working under the auspices of the Alberta Research
Council, who patented a revolutionary separation process in 1929. Although
the Athabasca oil sands did not start development until 1967, Dr. Clarks
processes in part laid the foundation for the industry, and improvements
to the processes of oilsands extraction, separation and refinement steadily continued throughout the 20th century.
In addition to practical concerns of extraction and refinement, inventions
in the petroleum industry in Alberta are also the result of an increased
understanding of environmental issues and the related concern of Alberta's
citizens and scientists. In the 1960s, as environmental issues surfaced,
various innovations within oil and gas attempted to control the amount of
pollution and environmental repercussions of oil extraction and
production. In 1972, for instance, Fred Babet of Pincher Creek patented a
pollution control apparatus for a
petroleum processing plant. As well, several oil companies with national
head offices in Alberta have filed pollution-control patents, all of which
shows that development and innovation in petroleum, like the importance of
Alberta's petroleum resources itself, show no signs of abating.
"Precise Ideas" by Michel Proulx "Applied Innovation" by Ernest Granson
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