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Transcript of Ion Basgan a Romanian Inventor A6O
Gabriel I. Năstase
ION BASGAN
A Romanian Inventor
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan
(1902-1981)
Gabriel I. Năstase
ION BASGAN
A Romanian
Inventor
“Personalities of Science and Technics” Series
AGIR RAPANA
Publishing House Publishing House
Bucharest - 2000THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS IN ROMANIA
© AGIR PUBLISHING HOUSE, 2000
All rights of this edition are reserved to the publisher.
Address: 118 Calea Victoriei,
Sector 1, 70179 Bucharest,
e-mail [email protected]
© RAPANA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 2000
Address: 13 Almaşul Mic
Sector 4, 75443 Bucharest, bl. B11, sc. 2, ap. 12,
Tel. 629 82 93
The original edition:
Gabriel I. Năstase, Ion Basgan : Un inventator de geniu
English Translation by Daniela Stoicescu
EDITION CD-ROM, 2002
Publishing Adviser: Gabriel I. Năstase, Dan Bogdan
Front and Back Cover: Camelia Bogoi
Computer editing: Aurel Alexandru
Edited: 25.08.2000; Printing Sheets: 11,75
AGIR Publishing House
ISBN 973-99296-5-6
RAPANA Publishing House
ISBN 973-96815-5-7
FOREWORD
I have heard long ago speaking about Ion Şt. Basgan and hiswork, but only now there was written a biography, in the true sense ofthe word.
To the credit of Mr. Gabriel I. Năstase and his family, we cannow enjoy reading it.
The book did not captivate me from the very start: but, soon,
after the first pages, I had the curiosity to carefully read the whole
book, in which I found interesting elements concerning his work and
tragical elements concerning his relationships.
Ion Şt. Basgan (b. on 24 June 1902, in Focşani – d. on 15December 1980, in Bucharest) comes from a family of priests, whosespiritual exercise had been present throughout generations. However,he dedicated his life to science and technology and succeded to writean unbelievable legend of his own self.
The pages to come speak in detail about his evolution. Wewould have to point aut that on 18 May 1934 he gets the Romanianpatent no. 22.789, and on 21 December 1937 the American patent no.2.103.137, covering the heavy proportional pipes drilling and thesonic drilling, thats is „rotor-percution drilling”.
The inventions of the Romanian engineer Ion Şt. Basganconcern the progress of all types of drilling and they effectively putthem into practice.
On 27 December 1941, the USA gouvernment blocked thepatent of the Romanian citizen. It is very curious that, withinAmerican oil industry, Ion Basgan ideas are applied, bringingfabulous sums of money to the oil industry companies. He would havehad the right to cash 8,6 billion US dollars, as copyright, according toan expertise dating from 1965.
In 1961, Ion Basgan starts a recuperation trial for hisinventor rights (he had paid the taxes for the protection of hisAmerican patent for 17 years), charging 118 American oil companies.
Nowadays, we begin to understand „the Americandemocracy”, favouring the theft of his rights.
He was told that the patent no. 2.103.137 had been and wasstill blocked; the poor man fights with the US Administration and on13 October 1965, the State Department of Justice unbocked thepatent, which had a symbol effect. World War II ended twenty years
ago, but the blockage of the patent was still valid, for the benefit ofAmerican companies.
This late gesture had its „legal” reason, since in 1961, the oilcompanies had shown a death certificate in front of the Americanjustice, of the medical doctor Ion Basgan (the inventor’s cousin)asserting that the inventor had died and that the trial should havebean declared closed.
A justice system which does not check the papers does notdeserve our respect.
Ma. E. Ion Şt. Basgan spent a long time abroad, during 1966,1967, 1969, 1971, 1974, a.s.o., in order to set up his defence, andwasted much energy and hope.
Everything was futile. The is a fact that the Romanianinventor understood, step by step.
In 1967, an anonymous engineer from Dallas told him inLondon: „We shall be in court with you for years, and afterwards withyour sons, but we shall never pay back!”.
While in Rome, in 1966, he was proposed by the JewishOrganization „Saint” to become an Israeli citizen, for the sum of 10million US dollars, so that he might get the help to recuperate those8.6 billion US dollars and bring them to Israel (Bild am Sonntag, 25-26 May 1969).
On 2 January 1973, Ion Şt. Basgan was making a TVdeclaration for the editor Cornel Rusu: „I found in the USA a specialtarget enterprise dealing with acquiring inventions made in theEastern Europe. There I was told that it is common knowledge that thegreat majority and the most interesting inventions came fromRomania”.
Nevertheless, Ion Şt. Basgan is pursuing his way: on 11 June1974, he sends the USA government a request, including 21documents and claiming for his inventor right. The answer wasnegative.
At his proposal to set up in USA a foundation including 34sections (hydrotechnics, sonics, oil-industry, water duction, a.s.o.)with the money he could get from his copyright, the USA, governmentdid not bother to answer.
Let’s see together that „the editor Balcar from München, afterobtaining a few of the Romanian inventor’s papers, claims exageratedfinancial rights in order to give them back to the owner! Moreover,
Ion Basgan understands that those papers werw used in technical andscientific espionage, in favour of an American oil company”.
Ion Şt. Basgan had no chance. Any of his attempts to defendhis invention was blocked by the American „democratic”mechanisms, which allow the theft under the cover of some slogans,and, afterwards, it givers the theft the legal authority, through specificinstitutions.
Therefore, a great world power is stealing in fine style andafterwards it proves that it was „right” to do it.
This method had been applied to other Romanian citizens aswell. I remember the famous case of Nicola Tesla (Nicolae Teslea), anextraordinary Romanian engineer, whose inventions brought the USAhuge incomes, as well as the status of „an advanced technologycountry”. Poor Tesla! He was declared to be insane; his laboratorywas put on fire and he died in a hotel room; he had not evensucceeded to build himself a house. Now, the Tesla technologies areup to date again. But the USA are not obliged to pay for benefitingfrom the 900 patents of Nicola Tesla.
The great powers are stealing, everything and the tragedy ofIon Şt. Basgan draws us the attention, once more, on the goodintentions with which hell is paved and wich are put forward in frontof the curtain pompously called „democracy”.
The name of Basgan raises the problem of its ethimology andwe fiind the answer in this book: his name comes from the village andthe river in the county of Bacău – Bazga, code 5.531.
I have been several times in the village of Stroieşti, in theregion of Râbniţa, in Transnistria. Its citizens know that, at the end ofthe 19 century, a so-called Mazgan built a water-mill in their village,but they do not know his origin. They also want to write a monograpyof their village, but they do not have documents any more, because theRussian invaders stole them and destroyed them, with a specialpurpose.
I am not aware that in our country, especially in Ardeal, therecould be a village or a river called Mazga, but the words: mâzgă
(slime), mâzgălitură (scribbling), a mâzgăli, mâzgăleală (scribble)a.s.o. could be an answer to our question.
Moreover, in the Bucharest telephone directory there arenames like: Mazga (2), Mâzgăneanu (8), and Mâzgăreanu (3), as wellas: Bazga (2), Bazgan (7), Nazgă (2), Bazgu (1), Bâzgă (1), Bâzgan
(3) and Bâzgă (3). We can conclude that these names have the same
ethimology and come from the Romanian territory. This must beknown by the citizens of Stroieşti from Transnistria!
They should also know that the great empires are stealing infine style, if they did not fiind this aut till now! Moreover, afterstealing, they proceed to forgery, through cosmetical operations, andwork aut false histories, force-imposed, as „sacred truths!” theRomanian thesaurus is still in Moscow from 1917 after an agreementbetween two allied governments and we are sill waiting for it to bereturned. In front of the great powers, which are stealing us, thoselittle peoples, we have the moral duty to defend ourselves and tomemoriye everything nothing should be forgotten.
There will come a time when history will be re-written underreal coordinates and history does not forgive. Thus, one can find autwho was the inventor and who stole the invention who worked hardand who robbed; who was the bad guy at a given moment, in a givenspace.
Profesor Ma. E. Nicolae P. LeonăchescuPresident of the Romanian Society of Thermotechnicians
Bucharest, 6 March 1997
REMEMBER ION BASGAN
I often remember Basgan… A very pround man, shy, quiet,
who could talk in an odd rhythm of silences, a deprived man, maybe
too often, but refusing to ever blame those who made his life hard
with their injustice.
I remember him, firstly, when he talked about himself, notwith-out hesitations (and only after much insistence) and when heagreed to speak with me, with a new-born hope (and a sheer trust) inthose acknow-ledgements, usually late, of Time and Life, written in a
recuperating cycle of history, which still finds those deprived alive,very rarely. He wanted to believe that the long postponed day ofmoral recuperation, due to a certain period of time refractory to the“Basgan modality” – and all those periods of time, at plural – toomany and full of people, and too tight-handed to personalityappraisal, that the long postponed day had arrived, secretly, to hishouse and was determined to ring the bell.
It was by the end of June 1975. then, he lived in the block offlats Leonida – and he was 73 years old – and a big lawyears housefrom the USA, with many famous names on the front of its legal fame(among them there was Nixon’s father-in-law) was ready to start atrial for a legal recuperation of those 8 billions US dollars, to whichBasgan was entitled for his patents, largely used until 1945 and whichthe American Administration had blocked in banks, when the USAentered the World War II. (And there were so many people aroundBasgan, who were interested to help him!).
Today he would have been 95 years old and he would havebeen still disappointed by the obscure ways of human justice. And,sometimes, why not say it?, of human beings…
From the very beginning, during our first meeting, confessedto Basgan that I was working on a book (and I am still working on it)about the Romanian great scientists I had the luck to meet in their fullpower of creation – Onicescu, Macovschi, Moisil – and Ion Basgancould not have he been forgotten from the memories to come which Iwas ever interested to publish…
“And what do you want to write about me?”asked Basgan,with a soft smile.
My intention was very clear, and yet equally confused was myattempt to anticipate the future disclosure…
I told him, or at least I tried to answer him, that would write“about our ancient temptation, so human, to penetrate the greatdepths of our Terra…”, about our need (and thriving) to be able toexploit sometime the huge oil deposits, beyond the temporaryboundary of 2,000 metres, to which science and technology stopped inthe 30 30 before a young engineer, absolutely courageous, who hardlywas, in 1935, older than the great foreseers (he was 33 years old)could stagger the inertia of his time, bringing about an essentialrevolution in drilling…
“I wasn’t a foreseer, he protested. I have calculatedabsolutely everything, very rigorously…
All the foreseer check rigorously their great provisions, instrange kind of mathematics, unknown to us…”.
We had talked much and several times, before publishing – on12 July 1975 – my first essay on Basgan and his dreams – I called it“Towards the Depths of Earth” – an essay which, when I reread itnow, after more than two decades, I still find it appropriate and realand maybe less coded that could have been forced to do it, against myown will, by “the sonic drilling” and the explanation of “the Basganeffect”. I wrote that there was a time when “geological maps still paida tribute to improvisation and estimation, and the pure drilling, thepenetration to areas hopefully extractive did not exceed – at least untilthe 4’th decade of our century – the 2,000 meters of depth!”.
“May I call it the boundary of impotence?” – I asked Basgan.“The boundary of inertia – preferred Basgan. The boundary
stimulating the self-surpassing…”.And now that I brought about that essay of July 1975… The
fact that deepened then, at the middle of the 3rd decade, the lack ofsatisfaction of those who worked in drilling was not only theunsatisfactory level of 2,000 meters, but also the special difficultiesencountered: “the penetration of drilling equipment, even to thisdepth, clearly poor, could not avoid the serious direction deviations(15-20 degrees against the vertical), the permanent column bendings,the dangerous pipe breaks, the quick ruining of the extraction hooks.
Did we reach – there were some voices – the limits of science?Did Earth itself was against this geo-investigation and thesaurusattacks to the depth fortune of its deposits? Modern equipment whichallows today to geo-physicists and geo-chemists to unveil the secret ofEarth, from measurements of various charact6eristics of the gravityfield, from constant recordings of same radiations and vibrationreflexion, from detecting of important particles… did not exist then.And even if we admitted it existed, the modern world eas increasinglyrequesting the exploitation of newer and newer deposits… Mankindreached – as 1 told him then – one of those limit situation which putsthe, basis of a drama in science – as in art.
“Do you write plays? Basgan asked me.I tried and wrote a play starting from such a case, having the
topic of drilling: “If love didn’t exist…”, being obsessed by thequestion (and the song): “What girls would do / If love didn’t exist? /They’d die like leaves / In autumn, like white-frost”. Otherwise: Whatwe, people, could do, without our great passions?…
“We2d die suffocated by inertia, by obtusities, stricken by ourown indecisions” – Basgan continued my thought.
I remembered well his last words, which I used in the end ofthat essay, about a creator who could confirm his call, exactly bydecidedly refusing to fall into conformism, into “the already-known”,into the “we cannot do it otherwise”. The only way in science, as inlife – due to an original scientific interpretation – towards a truly newsolution and – referring to Basgan – towards the one the mostimportant aquirements of this century.
I quote again from this first essay: “Reconsidering the wholeprocess and phenomenon, interpreting the principle of Archimedesfrom the applicative angle of great depths at which drilling isperformed”, declaring very simply what the specialty literature callstoday: “the Basgan effect” and thus setting up the heavy metallicproportional pipes drilling, modern science succeds in penetratingdown to 9,000 meters depth! Transmitted in its general lines, since thefirst world oil congress (in 1933), patented in Romania in 1934, andin the USA in 1937, this paper is world-wide known. But Ion Basganwouldn’t stop here, at “this bundary of 9,000 meters”. “Starting fromthe principle of remote transmission and capture of sonic energy(founded by George Constantinescu), Basgan succeeds in adding tothe old Rotary drilling system the advantages of vertical penetrationof the sonic drilling system. The new patent, registered back in 1967,allowed theoretically the spectacular penetration towards depths oh –who would even suspect it 60 years ago? – 15.000 meters. What isgoing to happen next? And when? Beyond and above any economicadvantage, this penetration towards big depths had the role tocertainly complete, through an appropiate information, theunderstanding suggested today by geomagnetic and gravimetricresearchers, the study of emissions of radioactive origin, the modernseismology and – why not? – the volcanology. Let’s think therefore –we invite our readers – to this permanent progress of humanknowledge and to this fascinating penetration toward’s when speakingof Basgan’s merit – “with a feeling of pride”.
Let’s go back now to my wonderful companion in the summerof 1975, to what Ion Basgan was…
I remember that he told me about his school years and aboutthat spiritual toughness he was to acquire during his entire life, aboutthe innocence and special education acquirements, about the happylife spent in the Internal High-School in Iaşi, a school of will, of
perseverance and of devotion for an ideal… Since nobody graduatedthis school without having an ideal. About his departure to theSuperior Mining and Metallurgy School in Loeben (Austria), in 1920,where he made himself known through his native potential, then abouthis doctor degree which foreshadowed the revolution of the ancientRotary drilling system, about the prize “Ma. E. Cornel Nicoară” ofthe Romanian Academy, in 1936, about which I found something, andabout which Basgan felt obliged to admit… that he was awarded.During our conversation I made up in my mind those seven difficultyears – 1925-1932 – during which he acquired a productiveexperience, absolutely determining, at the famous, at that time,“Steaua Română”, a school-enterprise of new extractive technologies.
“I think you care much about those seven years, very difficultyears, which foresaw those seven years which were to bring arevolution in the drilling…”.
“Which renwed the other years, he corrected me. Whichchanged them, which directed them on other coordinates. As for therest…”. “The seven difficult years” parable, in science, at least, is notnecessarily accompanied by the seven happy years… In science – althe years are difficult! And coming back to the years of my thought:there is something else which surprised me and it still surprises me…
Undoubtedly, Basgan was also a very good economist. He hadbright ideas at that time – however unaccepted – about which he usedto speak shyly, as about a common fact, which could not be avoided tohappen, despite his deep conviction that those ideas, essentiallyreforming, would be the necessary capital for important changes inthe economic life of our country. When he was only 30 or 31 yearsold, he already founded, together with Gogu Constantinescu, “TheEconomic Association for the Study of Conjuncture … At the sametime Academy of High Commercial and Economic Studies inBucharest … And there are still many things to be mentioned hereabout the new tools and equipments, many of them extremely original,which he was to present and manufacture, during 50-70, discoveringthus new oil deposits, experimenting various extractive installationsinto the hard rocks of Dobrogea. However, we put a full stop to ourlong “remember”…
Today, there is, finally, in the town of Focşani, the town whereBasgan was born, on 24 June 1902, a street bearing his name…Maybe, there will be a memorial plate in Iaşi, sometime … Maybeanother one in Bucharest: “Here there lived between…” Hopefully
there will be founded a “Basgan prize” of the Romanian Academy.But all these late acknowledgements will only immortalize a name andwill speak too little about the unique character of Basgan, about thecourage of his ideas and about that injustice of the world whichdeprives sometimes a researcher, years after years, of his own merits.I am greeting this book – is a holy initiative for reminding a spirit –and a noble thriving of a son – and I mention the engineer Ion Basgan– to snatch the name of his father from silence and oblivion.
Dorel Dorian
Bucharest, 24 June 1997
MEMORIES
ON THE ROMANIAN INVENTOR
MA. E. ION BASGAN
Such a well-documented and valuable paper dedicated by Ma.E. Gabriel I. Năstase to the great scientist, the engineer Ion Basgan, isdoomed to wake up my most remote memories.
I had the honour to be introduced to the oil-industry engineerIon Basgan, in January 1945, during the foundation of the StudiesCircle of the National Liberal Party, in the house of Sabina
Cantacuzino, in 37, C.A. Rosetti Street, the headquarters of the club ofthe above mentioned party since 27 August 1944.
Amourg hundreds of the National Liberal Party and of theFărcăşanu, there were present the three great members of theBrătianu family: Dinu, the President of the party; Constantin (Bebe),the Secretary-General; and the great historian I.I.C. Brătianu, thevice-president of the party, who delivered the opening speech.
Welcomed enthusiastically almost at every and of the exposedproblem, Professor Gheorghe Brătianu formulated the new prospectsof the liberal doctrine within economic problems. After widelyreferring to the world economic situation, after the devastating WorldWar II, Professor Brătianu stated:
“Within the new world economic policy situation, my opinionis that, in a dried and exhausted Romania, the traditional andhistorical formula of our party, concerning the economic problems:“Through ourselves…” when stating this formula, the audiencestarted to strongly applaude. But, following the idea of hisargumentation, I knew what he was going to say and I could hardlystop from laughing. When the enthusiastic applause stopped,Professor Brătianu continued his thought, mostly embarrassed …“must be forgotten”.
In my capacity as president of the Studies Circle of theNational Liberal Youth, I used to often take part in the seriousspeciality studies as well. Almost at the same time the LeberalEngineers Circle “Vintilă Brătianu” was also founded. This circlewas named in the memory of the energetic and uncorruptible leader ofthe economic policy of the party, Vintilă Brătianu. Then, the engineerBasgan told me that he had several opportunities to put his technicalknowledge to the benefit of the Liberal Party and that he was verymuch appreciated by Vintilă Brătianu. This declaration wasconfirmed by my father-inlaw, the lawyer Gheorghe Lazăr, who wasalso a member of the economists circle, lead by the President of theNational Liberal Party.
Strictly referring to the present paper, I remember that out ofthe mission mentioned by the author, on the page 237, I met ProfessorGrigore Vasilescu (with whom I used to play bridge), engineerBasgan, and I was a close friend with the civil engineer GeorgelVeniamin, today living in Paris. I also met the lawyer C. DinuPopescu-Galaţi, who was a member of the Brussells Bar Associationand who died several, years ago. At the page 246 of the biography,
where the matter came about Dinu, the author makes anextraordinary synthesis of the engineer Ion Basgan, concerning theeconomic programme of the National Liberal Party, which wascentered on a trade supported by a healthy agriculture, with the targetto stimulate production, importations, exportations and industry, incase there were material and intellectual conditions.
The reversing of the priorities by the communists (a naturalreversing, as matter of fact, because the heavy industry was absolutelynecessary for Rusia in order to fill up the catastrophic technologicalgap after World War II) was destroying Romania, as did the reversingof staff election, starting from a healthy origin and not from a value.
Another problem is to be noticed in the well-documentedbiographical paper of Ma. E. Gabriel I. Năstase, that is the turninginto account of the creative intelligence of Romanians of the Europeanstates.
Starting from the beginning of 18th century – the IlluminationCentury – for the orthodoxe, vegetative and corrupt Europe – allforeign observers of Romanian realities, starting with Antonio Mariade Chiaro, were amazed, one by one, by the cleverness of theRomanian people, especially by its intellectual smartness whichallows it to easily grasp, in a very quick period of time, any know-howtaken from foreigners, irrespective of its sophistication and domain.
This special gift does not stop to be compromised those daysin Romania by the obscure medium: ideological, bureaucratic,orthodoxe and corrupt. However, abroad, in amedium good forcreativity, the Romanians can make miracles, even today.
The lesson is finite: we have the duty to put at the disposal ofthe Romanians, situated intellectually above the average, allopportunities available, from special schools to universities and to thenecessary material incentives. Otherwise, they will emigrate, the waythose 700.000 Romanians emigrated, between 1990-2000, out ofwhich at least half of them were above the average.
In the well-documented paper of Professors AlexanderHellemans and Bryan Bunch (recently translated into Romanian byDiana Constantinescu and published by Orizonturi Publishing House)we fiind only two Romanian world scientists: Henri Coandă and GoguConstantinescu.
The huge economies obtained through the exceptionaltechnological innovation, experimented on a huge scale and due to theengineer Ion Basgan did not bring profit either him or the Romanian
people, but to the world economic system, whether capitalist orcommunist. The two antinomic systems have two elements in common:a permanent one, that is the corrupt bureaucracy (exploiting duringcommunism, sometimes limited during capitalism) and anotherelement experienced between 1940-1980, that is the concept of LordKeyness, synthesized in the profundly non-liberal formula: Full-
employment.
The great wealth obtained in the USA between 1983-2000 isvery much due to the initiative of the great president, Ronald Reagan,under the double influence of the conservatory experience in GreatBritain of Lady Margaret Thatcher and that of the Chile President,Augusto Pinochet, that is the replacement of the Keynessian systemwith the managerial monetarism of James Burnham and MiltonFriedman.
A society, either capitalist or communist, which does notrespect its commitments and which does not rightly encourage thecreative and the innovation activity of individuals who are born inthat society, is a descalifying and obscurantist society and, to betterexpress the idea, is an underdeveloped society. In other words, thesociety is blocked, regressive, bankrupting and backwarded.
This is the way Romania has been for half a century and wehardly could see that is has an intention to get off the darkness andmoors in which it arrived with communism.
Yet, an American society which does not understand to fulfillits commitments, the most elementary ones, towards creative peoplesand towards creative individuals, who work for this society, has thesame odd shadow.
Senator D.A. Lăzărescu
Bucharest, 21 July 2000
I dedicate this book to those who guided my steps through thewilderness of life, who gave me a peaceful home and a happychildhood, with all the tenderness of their heart. Their behaviour andcouncils taught me to appreciate and promote authentic values thatare to be found in our fellow men, sometimes offer us generously: thehappiness of creation.
I dedicate this book therefore to my mother, Maria Năstaseand to the memory of my first teachers: my father Ion Năstase,mygrandfather Ştefan Năstase and my uncle, Nicolae Năstase.
I hereby bring my acknowledgements to all those who werenear me to confort and to counsel me, with all their heart, in the hardtimes of my life.
G. I. Năstase
I N T R O D U C T I O N
redestinated to offer Romanian science and technology aseries of far reaching achievements in the domain of oil-drilling improvement, Ion Basgan was, still is and shall
remain one of the most brilliant Romanian inventors. Inspired bythe new ideas of sonicity, Prof. Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan produced over50 technical and scientific works that were printed in severalspecialized technical publications of various countries.
As a disciple and collaborator of the father of sonicity, GoguConstantinescu, Ion Basgan, the oil – industry engineer, distinguishedhimself in the realm of technical and scientific creation by manifoldexceptional achievements, in the domain of oil industry, that laterbecame world-wide priorities.
His special achievements pertaining to the oil-drilling techniquewere appreciated by George (Gogu) Constantinescu, the father ofsonicity, as well as by other Romanian and foreign specialists:‘Method for improving the output and perfecting rotary oil-drilling, bypercussion-rotation and hydro-mechanical pressures absorption’(Romanian Patent No. 22.789/1934) and ‘A new oil-drilling systemtaking into account hydrostatic pressure and long-distance sonicenergy transmission by means of proportional heavy oil drilling rodsand sonic oil drilling (USA Patent No. 2.103.137/1937).
Ion Basgan was born at the beginning of this century on the 24th
of June, 1902 in Focsani, an old town in Vrancea county, South ofMoldavia, in an over three hundred year - old family. His mother wasknown to be the offspring of an old Transylvanian shepherds’ family.The peaceful life of this honorable family and its offsprings is in itselfa living example of the general truth that native intelligence hasalways been a state of the spirit of the Romanian nation and a symbolof its perenial existence.
Endowed with an authentic intellectual capacity that wassustained by an unusual spiritual strength and a strong determination
P
to study, Ion Basgan had graduated the Primary School No. 2 ofFocsani and then attended the Secondary ‘Boarding’ School of Iaşi.As a pupil, he would always receive scholarship grants and prizes: hispropensity for study allowed him to receive outstanding schoolperformances. On the 5th of June 1920, he graduated the secondaryschool and was awarded a ‘Steaua Română’ (‘Romanian Star’)scholarship for the courses of the Superior School of Mines andMetallurgy (Montanistische Hochschule 5, Leoben, Austria) between1920 and 1925. In 1933, he was awarded the doctor degree in technicalsciences. Ion Basgan became famous thanks to the applications of hisRotary drilling method that became the most extensively utilizedmethod in all the oil – producing countries.
Based upon the principle of sonicity, the new drilling systembrought about a technical revolution for the American oil industry.That was how the American economy would substantially increase itsprofit, through yearly savings of 1.8 billion dollars. Unfortunately, IonBasgan, who died at 15th December, 1980 and his descendants did notbenefit from the Patent ownership rights, to say nothing of the factthat the Romanian Academy (that awarded Ion Basgan the Dr. CornelNicoară prize in 1935), the Institute of Oil and Gas, as well as the‘Politehnica’ University of Bucharest have failed on many occasionsto render the due homage to Ion Basgan, the Romanian scholar whohad dedicated his life and work for the Romanian science and not only.His entire existence was a living proof that native intelligence is adominant feature of the Romanian nation and not a mere accident of fate.
Many of the technical achievements of Ion Basgan, the inventor,represented the topic of extended debates in several periodicals andtreaties, while they were also sources of inspiration for other specialistsin their attempt to improve the oil drilling technique. The Foreword toone of Ion Basgan’s works that had been published in the formerUSSR, in 1935, mentioned the following assertion of Prof. K. Tiscenkoregarding the outstanding practical results that were obtained inoil production by former USSR and USA when applying Basgan’sinvention: ‘compelling the oil – boring system to vibrate during rotarydrilling and thus setting an alternative dynamic load on the base, asignificant increase of the driller travel can be achieved. A.Z.N.I.I.tested this principle and proved that the driller starts to operate againunder the action of longitudinal vibration, at the end of its travel. In1938, this principle was practically tested in Romania at the oil wellno. 471 of the Ghirdoveni oil field. Positive results were obtained
when testing the implementation of the Basgan method, that confirmedthe high drilling speed, its costs reduction and higher quality, throughperfectly vertical boring.
Essentially, the Basgan method is based on two principles,namely: the sonic oil drilling and the technique of heavy proportionaloil rods. Therefore, the percussion rotary drilling, that is the sonicdrilling permits the driller to perform percussion on the oil drillerbottom, while the driller still rotates. The percussion shocks are a resultof the sonic effect, inducing a certain level of the driller vibrations. Themethod of the sonic drilling as applied in other countries also is basedon the vibrations produced by mud pumps into the oil rig and the longdistance transmission of energy through the drilling rigs, withoutbottom vibration apparatus.
Ion Basgan emphasized the importance of utilizing heavyproportional rods at drilling rigs, whose load is equal to the loadapplied on the driller in order to avoid deviation of drilling bores androds brake. The above mentioned process enables the oil producer toperform vertical drilling with a 30 to 50 % economic output, ascompared to that of previously applied oil drilling methods.
Scientific works of American scientists, Murray Hawkingsand Norman Lamont of the Louisiana University (California, USA),American, French, German and Russian university courses (of Prof.Moore, Prof. Evescenko, Prof. S.I. Siscenko, etc.) have focused on theoriginality of the Romanian conception, namely Ion Basgan’s idea, aswell as on its contribution to the development of the Romanian science.
After thorough research, studies and calculation, Ion Basganproved that with the field method, the application point of theArchimede force lies at the lower end of the drilling installation andnot at the gravity center of the drilling rig that is introduced into thedrilling mud.
Thanks to his inventions (patented in Romania and USA), thatare of great importance as a result of their practical economic effects,namely: drilling by means of heavy proportional rods and the sonicdrilling, Ion Basgan’s name is written on the panoply of renownedRomanian inventors. This is how through Prof. Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan,Romania has contributed one of its most valuable inventions to thetechnical and scientific international patrimony.
The outline of the professional carrier of the Romanian scientistmay be rounded up by adding to it a further dimension, that of asubtle observer of the political events, although he never got involved
in the deeper political interplay, in spite of the frequent demands ofcontemporary politicians. His existence was mainly marked by hispropensity for technical and scientific creativity less than for politicalincertitude. Nevertheless, his fine political contribution proved hislove of his people and the national interests of his country.
Ion Basgan was and still remains, through his work andcreativity, an inventor of genius for the Romanian people, whoseundying creation already belongs to the entire world.
I am indebted for the completion of this monographic descriptionto Dipl. Eng. Ion (Ginel) I. Basgan, the son of the inventor Dr. Eng.Ion St. Basgan, for his kindly permitting me to study the documentsof the family archive, which I found to be a valuable support for adocumented description. I express my gratitude to Dipl. Eng. Ion Basganfor his beautiful words that came as a conclusion of Ion Basgan’smoral image as a remarkable Romanian scientist and technician.
‘At last the time has come to bring forth and pay for the debtsof our nation towards my father. It is to be regretted the fact thatthe Romanian Academy, the Politehnica University of Bucharest, theTechnical University of Constructions of Bucharest, the TechnicalMuseum “Dimitrie Leonida”, the Institute of Oil and Gas and othershave failed to remember my father for a commemoration or ananniversary to the memory of he who was brilliant inventor, aspecialist who has brought about a revolution in the deep drillingtechnique. The only people to remember that Dr. Ion Basgan has beenthe son of this country were the citizens of Focsani, his native town.
Since the reader shall find a lot of information regarding myfather’s life and work, I would rather share with those who takeinterest in the personality of this man, a few ideas that might round upthe picture of the personality of the inventor. No matter how beautifuland full of fruit may be the crown of a tree, one can fully appreciate itprovided one also knows how deep its roots are in the soil whichsustains and ensures its life. I shall always cherish in my heart themoral testament that has been handed in by one generation to theother of the Basgan family. This moral dowry has been committed tous also through the permanent concern of our father for the educationof his children by continuous instruction and respect for work andhonest earning.
He was apparently a tough man, to the extant that to him thevery presence at the table at the right time when dinner was servedwas a part of the every day education. He was not at all indifferent to
the way we learnt, how we did our homework. He had noticed forinstance my early practical natural dispositions for technique. Now,not only do I take interest in such activities, but they represent a realrelaxation and refuge from everyday life. When I was a school boy, hestarted sharing with me some of his preoccupations and the problemshe had to face in the achievement of his inventions.
Unfortunately, life brought to our family also unpleasant difficultmoments, such as the repression of the communist regime, that weregenerated by the aberration of this political system. The contemporarysituation and the events of Hungary had been hanging over andthreatening the peaceful life of our family. My father would have tosearch for new jobs, to get rid of the persecution from the part of theRomanian repressive organizations. The family felt his anxiety andrevolt. Generally, when a man is harassed, he cannot either work orcreate as he would under normal living conditions. Nevertheless, myfather succeeded through tremendous efforts to prove that he was andremained a man involved in science and technique, who takes nospecial interest in politics, yet takes part in political events when he isrequired to pass a specialist’s judgement, because he was persuadedthat when deprived of a competent scientific, technical and economicsupport, political decisions can become an extremely dangerousweapon against the people and his country. That is why the functionof adviser which he had to perform on various occasions implied a lotof responsibility and it had a significant professional effect incontemporary political decisions.
Although he had had the chance to live in other countries forthe rest of his life, where special material and spiritual advantageswere offered to him, my father denied every such of opportunity,because he had never imagined that he could live far away from hisnative land and work for the prosperity of other nation. With thisconception in view and an unusual moral strength, for almost half acentury he had suffered humiliation and degrading by citizens of hisown and by strangers. That which most made him strong and fit forfacing life was: family, real friends, work and the thought that hisachievements were one more proof that Romanians are endowed withan exceptional creative force who has often opened new ways for theprogress and civilization of mankind during its entire history.
Unfortunately, my father could not fully enjoy the fruit of hiscreative work. After he had died, there were some signs of the recognitionof his creative activity and original achievements in drilling, to say
nothing more of the financial benefits that have been and are stillobtained as a result of applying his inventions, that entered into banksother than the Romanian banks, with unknown destinations.
I can say, honestly, that the universal dimension of my father’spersonality had a positive effect on my life, as did the love that weshared in our family and the trust we put in God almighty.
The spirit that characterized my familiy existence was a realblessing to me and made me understand that honest work and lovetowards mankind are the way to real success in life, that man aloneis capable to create and gain a place for himself in the everlastingmemory of mankind.
That is why, this work represents a special event to me, and asuccessful tentative editorial event to Dr. Gabriel I. Nastase, a youngman of science and spirit’.
Unfortunately, a lot of the family documents, including photos,were either lost after the earthquake of 4th March, 1977, or had beenconfiscated by the state security, as Ion (Ginel) Basgan, the son,declared, which could add even more to the real picture of Ion Basgan.
Dr. Gabriel I. Năstase
LIFE AND WORK
on Basgan was born on the 24th of June in 1902, in Focsani, a
town in the Vrancea region, South of Moldavia, under the
star of creativity, of the spirit of truth and beauty. He was
going to grow into one of the most remarkable figures of the
Romanian science and technology, as well as a restless fighter for the
defence of national interests. As nothing happens by chance on this
Romanian land overthrown by passions, neither was the almost
divinely birth of this man on a legendary shepherds’ land. The history
of the Basgan family has deep roots in the Romanian land and each
new generation had added to the dower of the new - born child Ion
Basgan.
It is admitted that the name of “Basgan”1 comes, by analogy to
other names, from “Bazga”, a place located by the river with the same
name, in the northern part of the Falciu district, north of Raducaneni.
It seems that the etymological origin of the name, though no
longer to be found in the dictionary is ‘buzzing’ or humming.
Old documents of the Saint Bishopric of Husi (that are kept by
the State Archives in Bucharest and Iasi, the Biographic Journal and
1 The first ‘Bazgans’ spelled their name with a ‘z’ instead of ‘s’. The
change was initiated by the three priests, the sons of Ion Basgan’s grand father,
priest Ion Bazgan the 3rd
.
I
the Genealogy of the “Bazgan”2 family) are attesting the ancestral
presence of the Basgan family in Romania, namely ‘priest Bazga’ is
mentioned to make the part of his estate of Bunesti – Falciu a donation
to Neariul, the contemporary Minister for Internal Affairs. Bazga
priest’s donation was confirmed by the voivode Moisa Moghila on the
17th January, 1631 (7139 from the making of the world). A later
attestation is that of the 17th July, 1654, when it is mentioned that
Varvara, the daughter of priest Bazga sold their part of estate from
Bucharest and Cobisesti to Darie Spataru.
In 1780, the priest Ion Bazgan the 1st was born, whose
documentary presence was attested only in 1826.
In 1800, the priest Ionita Bazgan the 2nd
was born. He married
Simina of Davidesti, Falciu district in 1823. His earthly life ended in
1830 and his wife Simina died in 1863.
The priest Ion Bazgan III, the son of Ionita and Simina Bazgan,
was born in 1824. He grew as an orphan from the age of 6 and was
educated by mother Simina. His spiritual education was marked by the
years that he passed in her company and his steps were guided
towards the ecclesiastical seminary of Socola – Iasi. Then he would
marry Elinca, the daughter of Vasile Zugravu and have 10 children by
her. Ion Bazgan III, the grandfather of the brilliant scientist Ion
Basgan lived to the end of his life (the 28th April, 1876) in the village
Armasani, county Averesti, in the Falciu Distirct.
The tenth son of the priest Ion Bazgan III, called Stefan Basgan,
was born on the 30th of June, 1874 in Averesti county, in Armasani
village, the Falciu district. He attended the primary theological school
and the seminary at Husi and he ended he theological studies with a
scholarship at the Seminary ‘Veniamin Costache’ of Iasi. He attended
the Faculty of Theology in Bucharest between 1896 and 1900 with a
scholorship at the Theological Boarding School. Stefan Basgan IV had
lived in Focsani as a priest, a member and the president of the
Spiritual Consistory of the Roman Diocese, as well as a member of
the Diocesan Assembly until the 15th of February, 1974, the day when
he shall be parted for ever from the earthly world.
On the 5th September, 1901 he had married Maria (born in
1882), the daughter of the priest Vasile Ban of Gagesti, Vrancea, who
2 Ludovic Cosma, The Bigraphic Journal and the Genealogy of the
Bazgan Family, the Romanian Printing House, Galati, 1944.
was the descendant of a shepherds’ family who had come to Vrancea
from Transilvania across the Carpathian mountains. Stefan Basgan
shall have five children (three boys and two girls).
His first - born child was Ion Stefan Basgan.
*
* *
Ion Ştefan Basgan graduated the Primary School No. 2 of
Focşani and would be awarded school prizes during all these years.
Between 1909 and 1913, he attended the courses of the Boarding High
School in Iaşi, with a scholarship and obtained the graduation diploma
no. 1.295. He had been learning mathematics from Gheorghe Lascăr
and Ion Roianu, and natural science from Teodor Bădărau, the
Headmaster of the High School. These and other teachers of the time
had been for the young man Ion Basgan a symbol of the work for
truth, beauty, determination and creativity.
Between 1920 and 1925, Ion Basgan would attend the courses
of the Superior School of Mines and Metallurgy in Leoben – Austria
with a scholarship and he obtained the graduation Diploma 10 on the
17th of July, 1925).
While still a student he would be the president of the Romanian
Society ‘Sonda’ (Oil Well) of Leoben and he would carry out the
student practice in 1924, at the oil mines of Pechelbronn (Alsacia –
France), where he would study the oil exploitation process through the
mine galleries.
Born as it were under a lucky star, Ion Basgan came out sane of
two duels to which he was challenged in the first and the fourth year
of study, as well as out of a railroad accident (as a result of the
collision of two trains at his arrival in Pachelbronn).
Mention shoud be made here of an apparently insignificant, yet
relevant event to the spiritual character of the young Ion Basgan: in
1922, when he was the president of the students’ ‘Sonda’ society, he
refused to join in the right – wing students’ movement. Other students
of this society followed him in his attitude. Soon after this event, the
great historian of the Romanian nation, Nicolae Iorga, would appreciate
their attitude in a letter which he sent to the young student personally.
Later in July, 1929 the engineer Ion Basgan, who at that time
was the chief in charge of the Scaiosi field, would meet Nicolae Iorga,
a representative personality of both the Romanian and the universal
culture, who was then visiting the site. He remembered Ion Basgan
and would invite him to hold a lecture on ‘Oil Industry’ at his
University in Valenii de Munte in July, 1929.
Ion Basgan, a student at the Superior School of Minesand Metallurgy in Leoben – Austria.
When he was back in Romania, in 1925, Ion Basgan would
work as an engineer on the fields of the ‘Steaua Româna’ Society and
in December, 1925 he attended the courses of the Military School of
Artillery Officers in reserve in Craiova. He shall do the military service
at the 4th Regiment of Heavy Artillery in Focsani. In July, 1926 he
resumed his work on the Moreni field, that belonged to the ‘Steaua
Română’ Society, together with other outstanding contemporary
engineers, such as: Victor Dumitrescu, Cardas I. And Marinescu C. In
Dr. Ion Basgan when attending thecourses of the Military Sc
hool of Artilery Officers in Reserve(Craiova, 1925).
August, 1926 he shall pass his exam for the function of chief of
exploration in the oil industry and natural gas (Patent no. 39).
At this time, the lucky star of his destiny would shine to
lead him towards even deeper research studies in geology and
hydro-technics. Under these favorable conditions to his
profession, Ion Basgan would intuitively remark that the activities
that had been performed in oil drilling before were rather
empirical. In August, 1926, he published his first work in the
Annals of Mines No. 8/1926 on the ‘Oil Region of Moreni Gura
Ocnitei’, in both Romanian and French, in collaboration with the
engineer I. Cardas.
Yet, as life is not made of lucky moments only, sadness,
troubles and hardships made their way into the early days of the
young scientist: Ion Basgan was deeply hurt by the death of his
brother Vasile Basgan, by a tragical accident in Lion, France.
Ion Basgan’s brother Vasile Stefan Basgan was born in
Focsani in 1908. He attended the primary school courses in
Focsani, and the secondary courses in Iasi, at the Boarding
High School, which he graduated when he was only 16 years
old (in 1924), by passing two- years exams in one year. Then
he joined his brother Costica Stefan Basgan in Lion and
attended the chemistry engineering university courses. Just a
few days before his graduation, the young Vasile Basgan died
by electrocution in his bath, on Easters day, in 1929.
The short life of Vasile Basgan had been a case in his epoch,
both sensational and tragical. Ion Basgan had to gather his strength to
bring back from France the body of his brother, so that he may find a
restful place for it on the land of his country, in Focsani.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan together with his parents, Stefan andMaria Basgan, when he was attending the courses
of the Military School of Artillery Officers in reserve (Craiova,1925).
G. G. Longinescu wrote about the untimely death of Vasile
Basgan in the ‘NATURE’ review of science dissemination (year XVII,
no. 6, the 15th of June, 1928) the following words to comfort the
family: ‘Let God not give man the full measure of what he can bear.
God forbid that one should ever drink the cup of bitterness that the
priest Stefan Basgan of Focsani had to drink. He lost Vasilic, a dear
son of him, on the first Easter day, who died as if thunder stricken in a
bath of Lyon by an electrical circuit. That was a deep sorrow to his
parents and a great loss to our people. The readers of ‘NATURE’ have
already been acquainted with the brilliancy of this worthy young man
from his letters of gratitude to his professor, N. Negru of the Boarding
Hich School of Iasi. They are sparkingly witty writings testifying for a
strong determination to work by a young man as we need today. It is
rather strange how this nation is deprived of its educated young man,
of its men of valour quite at the time when we need them more: two
years ago, we lost Emanuel Sudan, the winner of the swimming
contests, who died while swimming heartily in the Black Sea, at
Balcic. One year ago, Preda Bratasanu, the electician engineer with a
University degree in mathematics, which he had obtained at twenty
years only in Paris, was falling down from an industrial rig to die an
unknown death, instead of living to be one of the brilliant engineers of
Romania. And now, fourty days ago, we lost a distinguished young
man who had graduated from high school when he was only seventeen
and was studying Industrial Chemistry in Lyon with Victor Grignard,
the renowned chemist, the Nobel prize winner and a good friend of the
Romanian people. After only three years of study, when he had
obtained brilliant results, he received the Diploma in mathematics and
chemistry. He died at 20, at a time when other young men of his age
were just graduating from high school. An awful accident has stiffled
his life in the bud. The tree of his life was not allowed to bring forth
fruit and thus be a joy to the teachers who had made him grow. His
father had to taste of bitterness instead of sharing the delight of his
son’s professional ascension to the highest position that he would have
deserved. No human words can ever express the grief of parents when
their child is lost and that of the entire nation who shall read them. Let
God comfort the berieved father and give a peaceful place to his
innocent son.
Having surpassed this difficult moment of his life, Ion Basgan
undertook the management of the Scaiosi field in the Teleajen Valley
that belonged to the ‘Steaua Română’ society, where he carried out a
series of exploitation works of the fields in this area. In June, 1929 he
published in the Romanian Annals of Mines No. 6 and No.11 a record
of the first tests in the country of the explosion engines in drilling:
‘Motoare Waukesha in the rotary drilling’ (‘Waukesha Engines in
Rotary Drilling’). As alredy mentioned before, the renowned Romanian
historian and patriot, professor Nicolae Iorga, had been from the very
beginning aware of the real ability of the young Basgan and in July,
1929 he invited him to hold a lecture on the topic ‘Oil Industry’ at the
‘Nicolae Iorga’ University in Valenii de Munte. In October, 1930 Ion
Basgan published his work ‘Exploatarile Petrolifere de pe Valea
Teleajenului’ (‘Oil Exploitation in the Teleajen Valley’) in the Annals
of Mines. In the same year he was appointed director on the ‘Steaua
Româna fields of Moinesti. Taking advantage on the position he had
earned, he kept working even more intensely in the field of hydro-
technics and sonicity research with applications in the drilling technique.
One year later, in 1931, he was appointed deputy of the Inspectorate
of Oil Drilling on all the filds of the ‘Steaua Româna’ Society.
On the 15th December of the same year, as a result of a
premeditated murder that took place in the Hospital of Valea Rea in
the city of Bacau, another brother of his died, the physician Constantin
Stefan Basgan, who had graduated from the Faculty of Medicin of
Lion, France. He had been born in 1904, in Focsani. He attended the
primary school courses and a part of the secondary school courses
there, which he continued at the Boarding High School of Iasi. When
he had passed his high school graduation examination, Constantin
Basgan subscribed to the Medicine Faculty of Bucharest. Because of
the students’ movement of 1922, he would leave to Germany, later to
France, intending to cross the Ocean into America. Professor Bonnet
asked him to remain in Lion. When he was back in his country, he was
appointed chief physician of the Valea Rea Hospital, in the Bacau
District. Unfortunately, his life ended there with a sudden death by a
deadly shot from an insane post master.
As soon as he recovered his strength after his brother’s death,
on the 31st December, Basgan decided to withdraw from the ‘Steaua
Româna’ Society, in order to dedicate himself to the publication of the
results of his technical and scientific research and to sustain his
doctor’s degree.
With this end in view, he settles down in Bucharest in 1932,
working out the first theoretical notions of the Basgan effect, as well
as the new laws of the Archimede principole and the sonic drilling.
Ion Basgan together with his master, George Constantinescu, with
Nicolae Malaxa, Alexandru Perieteanu and others founded the
‘Association for the Study of the Romanian Economic Situation’. He
would work as a referent and the leader of the oil and mines section,
publishing on this occasion economic reports and syntheses.
The objective of this association was to study the relations
between the private companies and the state industry. His personal
attitude regarding the state policy in oil industry shall be reflected in a
series of publications containing documents in which he stipulated the
development framework of the Romanian oil industry and the country
industrialisation, while taking into account the material and power
resources existing in the soil of his country. He would recommend the
nationalization of the oil industry and the total industrialization of the
country, focusing on the role of the state as compared to the private
initiative. The uncompliant spirit of the young Basgan was not at all
appretiated by the private financial providers of the Association, who
shall finally withdraw their financial support of the association. Since
the fall of 1933, the ‘oxigen baloon’ of the association activity had
been provided by the National Bank for a certain period of time.
In the same year, the Romanian Academy published his work
entitled ‘Form and Operation of the Rotary Drill in the Oil - Bearing
Formations of Romania’ with an Introduction by Prof. Eng.Ficsinescu.
This work was introduced to the Academy specialists by its President,
Prof. L. Mrazec.
In 1933, the Romanian Academy published his work ‘Vibrating
Phenomena and Their Effect on the Drill Operation in the Rotary
Drilling System’, when Prof. Nicolae Vasilescu – Karpen had made its
presentation in high terms.
In April, in the framework of the lectures cycle organized by
IRE at the ‘Politehnica’ Society, Ion Basgan held a lecture on the
topic ‘Oil Policy in Keeping with the Situation of Oil Exploration and
the Fuel Question’.
Upon the request of the Association of the Mining Engineers,
Ion Basgan would hold the same lecture in Moreni, in front of certain
specialists who were particularly interested in the new achievements
in the domain of the Romanian science and technology.
In May, 1933 Ion Basgan held a conference lecture at the
‘Politehnica’ Society in Calea Victoriei, on the topic ‘Technique and
Scientific Interpretation of the Rotary Drilling System’.
On the 7th of July, 1933 Ion Basgan would hold his Doctorate
dissertation at the Montanistische Hochschule of Leoben, Austria.
Caius Brediceanu the Romanian Secretary of State in Vienna had also
joined in the solemn ceremony.
Ion Basgan delivering his lectureat the first World Oil Congress (London, 1933).
On the 20th of July 1933 Ion Basgan shall join in the first World
Oil Congress in London, by his appointment as the official delegate of
Romania, through the Ministery Decision No. 34.555/1933.
Ion Basgan would speak in the name of his country at the
opening session of the Congress and hold the lecture ‘Scientific
Consideration of the Technics of Modern Drilling’.
In August and September 1933 he attended the summer courses
of Political Economy of the London University.
In September 1933 he was appointed honorific professor at the
Department of ‘Oil Study’ of the Academy of Higher Commercial and
Industrial Studies. In November 1933 his article ‘Technics and a
Scientific Approach of the Rotary Drilling System’ was published in
the AGIR Bulletin and the Annals of Mines. In the same month he had
a radio interview ‘Comments on the Occasion of the World Oil
Congress of London’. Later, L’Independance Roumaine would publish
his speech.
In April, 1934 his Doctor degree work entitled ‘Die Arbeitsweise
und Form des Rotary Meissels’3 was published at Vienna with an
Introduction by Dr. Eng. George Constantinescu., the father of sonicity,
containing the following report on the scientific research contained
herein:
‘The treatise that Mr. Basgan presented us on the vibration
phenomena of the rotary drilling has introduced us to an important
problem whose solution seems to be out of reach at the first sight.
It may be said that the problem was solved, while admitting
in advance that the described phenomena represent the result of a
continuous harmonic vibrating phenomenon with one or two
frequencies, yet in reality it could be a changing phenomenon, with
multiple frequencies and even changing frequencies, eluding therefore
mathematical analysis.
When reading this treatise, one should not misregard the fact
that Mr. Basgan started, as a result of his practical experience, from
the analysis of the results he has obtained and which proved that in
reality it is a continuous vibrating phenomenon that is manifest and
corresponds to his own calculations on the basis of the results of thesonic theory.
This is an important step forward, because when including the
remarks, that one derives from practical experience, into a simple
mathematical theory, one may easily calculate something that practical
experience never shows.
In our case, for instance, one can predict frequencies, rod
lengths and drill loads at which drill rods may brake. This is a step
forward, a serious and deeply thought work in a domain that has been
totally neglected by now’.
In the same month, Ion Basgan would hold a conference lecture
on the topic ‘Scientific Rotary Drilling’ at the Association for Science
Progress in Romania.
3 Ion Basgan, Operation and Form of Rotary Drills, Hans Urban Printing
House, Vienna, 1934.
In May, 1934 Ion Basgan’s Patent No. 22.789 ‘Heavy
Proportional Rods Drilling and Sonic Drilling’, including the
application of the Basgan effect was registered in Romania.
Romanian Patent no. 22.789, May, 1934.
In August, 1934 Ion Basgan shall receive and be a leader of the
visit of the professors and students of Leoben in Romania.
On the 15th of December, 1934 he undertook the leadership of the
Romanian Oil Society of the group ‘Mica Redeventa’(‘Small Due’).
Since 1935, Ion Basgan had been applying the new Basgan
drilling methods on the oil fields of the Romanian Oil Society with
exeptional results.
The same year, his work ‘Scientific Grounds of Modern Drilling
Methods’ was published by the Mejdunarodnaia Kniga Publishing
House in Moscow and Baku of the former USSR, with an Introduction
by the renowned scientist S. I. Siscenko.
In 1936 his article ‘Important Factors in the Achievement of a
National Oil Policy’ was published in the Industry and Commerce
Magazine of the 31st of March, 1936.
Ion Basgan was awarded the Nicoara Prize at the suggestion of
President L. Mrazec for the former’s work ‘Oil Policy in Keeping with
the Situation of Oil Exploitation and the Fuel Question’.
Basgan violently accuses the contemporary government of lack
of patriotic feeling, regarding their economic policy: ‘the state has not
carried out exploitation works and the resources that were legally
allowed to this particular purpose have been embezzled and used to
other purposes’.
Mention should be made here of Ion Basgan’s position
concerning the activity of certain anonimous mining companies: ‘a
possible nationalization of the anonimous mining companies would
have brought about the increase of the national capital and therefore
the state would have had a leading role in the management of the
companies, resulting in a support to the national economic interests in
the sense of a better management of the resources and rendering them
profitable. Industrialization of the country is essential in this respect.’
Professor L. Mrazec would drew a report on the above
mentioned work in which the following aspects are mentioned: ‘It is a
brochure of 51 pages that was published in the IRE Bulletin,
Romanian National Institute for the study of fitting out and
exploitation of energy resources, 3rd
year, no. 4.
The brochure is in fact the extension of a conference topic held
on the 19th of April, 1935 within the cycle of conferences that were
organised by IRE, in which mostly the technical youth would come up
to speak their own mind. It is a draft presenting the economic situation
of our country, while focusing mostly on the national character of the
problem.
The author, who is a member of the Institute of Economic
Situation and a referent in oil, has access to numerous precise data.
Statistical tables and several diagrams are a key to the understanding of
the text. The work is divided in several chapters dealing with various
aspects of the oil problem, from the international and national point of
view. There is a right appreciation of the principles of the law of mines
of 1924 that have set the oil policy on the path of rational
nationalization and increase of the national welfare, that was abandoned
in 1929. The author mentions as a conclusion the main shortcomings of
the natural resources policy, oil policy in particular, while focusing also
on the competition between oil and coal in our country, as one of the
many-sided shortcomings of our economic policy under all governments.
The text is a good mirror to a sense that we generally see in our
engineering body to be stronger that with politicians and economists
in our country. It is that national sense and sincere patriotism from
which a revolt against the general indifference stems out regarding
Romanian oil policy. This particular optimistic attitude gives the
conference a specific character.
It is to be encouraged this attitude of an engineer who is
employed in a private enterprise to tell the truth and be confident that
at least some of the achievements that were ruined by the latest seven
years policy may be still recovered.
In October, 1936 Ion Basgan published his work ‘The Role of
the State in Industrialization’ in the AGIR Bulletin, no. 10 and the
report he had presented together with engineer Rusu Abrudeanu on the
industrialization of the country was published in the AGIR Bulletin,
no. 9 and 11.
After a trip that had been organized by AGIR to Poland, Basgan
published the article ‘La Pologne Productive’ in the Annals of Mines.
On the 6th of June, 1937 Ion Basgan married Anisoara
Frunzescu. Their wedding trip included Austria, Germany and France,
the Rin Valley. At the end of the wedding trip, Ion Basgan joined the
2nd
World Oil Congress in Paris and he presented his work ‘The Role
and the Required Weight of Heavy Rods for Drilling’, that would be
published in the Congress Works.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan and his wife Anisoara Basgan (Frunzescu)on their wedding ceremony (in Sinaia, 1937).
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan with his wife Anisoara Basgan.
In the same year, he would present at the Mining Congress of
Leoben, Austria, his work ‘New Oil Fields in Romania’ that would be
published in the Annals of Mines no. 10/1937, at the Mining Congress
of Leoben and Bohrtechnicker Zeitung – Vienna and reviewed in
USA, Germany and other countries.
r.Eng. Ion Basgan with his wife Anisoara Basgan
and Pache Protopopescu (in Moreni, 1937).
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan and his wife Anisoara Basganat the oil rig Moreni – Piscuri.
On the 21st of December, 1937 he was granted the Patent
No. 2.103.137 by the USA for the Basgan heavy rods drilling, the
sonic drilling applying the Basgan effect and the transmission of the
sonic energy through drilling rigs.
American Patent No. 2.103.137 of 1937.
Principle diagram of the oil drilling solutionas described in Patent No. 2.103.137 of 1937.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan with his wife Anisoara Basganand their son Ginel.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan at the baptism of his son Ion (Ginel) Basgan
and the latter’s godfather, the engineer Grozescu.
On the 16th of June, 1938 the Basgan family witnesses the birth
of their first son Ion I. Basgan (Ginel). In the same year, Basgan starts
on his own the first research and geological explorations in Vrancea
and Bacau in search for oil, gold and sulfur.
In February, 1938 Ion Basgan concluded contracts for the imple-
mentation of his invention ‘Drilling by means of heavy proportional
rods’ at several Romanian oil companies: ‘Petroliera Româna (Agree-
ment No. 17.833 of February 1938; Redeventa (Agreement No.
29.545.26 of February, 1938), Comitetul Geologic, Sovromcar-
bune, Societatea Mica and the Ministry of Metallurgy.
On the 8th of February, the Romanian Oil Society and ‘Redeventa’
Society were certifying to Ion Basgan that his Patent (No. 22.789 of
18 May, 1934) was utilized by the above mentioned societies.
In May, 1939 Ion Basgan presented on the occasion of the
Congress of the Association of Engineers and Technicians of the
Mining Industry (A.I.T.I.M.) the Economic Report of the oil section.
This report would later be published in the contemporary daily magazines
and quoted by Prof. Virgil Madgearu in his work ‘The Evolution of
the Romanian Economy’.
In the same year, he was called up as sub – lieutenant to an
artillery regiment in the city of Tg. Mures and in the village Apa –
Satu Mare.
Upon the braking up of the second world war, on the 1st of
Septembre, 1939 Mr. Rabe, an American, came up to Bucharest with
the intention to buy Ion Basgan’s USA Patent
As a result of a misunderstanding regarding the payment of
Basgan’s Patent application, he entered an action against the ‘Steaua
Română’ society. It is surprising to have the result of the expert
appraisal of Prof. D. Germani, who would stand in defense of the
classical interpretation of the Archimede Principle instead of mentioning
the progress brought about by Basgan’s invention.
In 1940 Basgan would intensify the recovery of oil waste and
the production of oqokerity and petrolatum wax by means of vacuum
distillation. With this end in view he founded the Igenco society for
the export of this product.
In June 1940, he was concentrated at the Fortifications Direction
of the War Ministry in Mărăşeşti, then at the Engineer Troops
Direction for the management of exploration wells of Dobrudja in
search of drinking water.
On the 12th
of October, 1940 the Öl Und Kohle magazine,
no. 40 of Berlin published his article ‘Charakteristic Des Rumänischen
Erdöl es’.
Ion Basgan as well as other Romanians were deeply impressed
by the murder of the two Romanian scientists, Nicolae Iorga and
Virgil Madgearu by the legionaries on the 27th of November, 1940.
Life nevertheless goes on: Ion Basgan and his family joyfully
welcome their second son, Constantin (Dinu) Basgan who was born
on the 23rd
of February, 1941.
On the 22 of June, 1941 Romania would join in the world war.
The Basgan family had to take refuge to Sinaia and Slănic Prahova.
More diligently than ever, under war conditions, Basgan shall
intensify his activity as a leader of the working procedures of the
Igenco and Romanian Oil Societies, as well as of the drilling
operations from the Engineer Troops Direction in Dobrudja in search
for drinking water.
In 1942, he undertook the leadership of the actions that were
taking place within the National Union of the Oil Industry (UNIP),
that aimed to annul the ‘Romania - Germany’ Fischer Protocol and the
introduction of favourable amendments to the National Oil Industry
into the New Oil Law.
He therefore starts a series of negotiations with the small oil
producers, in order to create a large national oil enterprise, in keeping
with the new Decree - Law of Oil and National Capital.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan and his dear ones (Focsani, 1941).
The frilling of ten water wells in Dobrudja was finished and
they were stopped up in order to be used by the Romanian army later
in the war. Even later, these wells would be put into service again by
the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Committee of Waters after
1954 and were used for the green area revival on the Romanian Black
Sea Shore.
He shall intensify oil wells exploration within the Romanian Oil
Society of Răsvad, Dragomiresti – Targoviste and other sites. Basgan
will also undertake graphite explorations on his own at various
locations in Gorj and Hunedoara Districts.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan with his father Stefan Basganand his son Ion (Ginel) Basgan (Focsani, 1941).
When he noticed the importance of the oil exploitation by large
oil companies, Basgan would take steps for providing material
incentives to these enterprises, while also paying the farmer owners
for their subsoil exploitation.
In 1943, Ion Basgan was appointed technical adviser of the
‘Mica’ industrial group for the exploitation of its oil structures and
fields.
On the 20th
of October, 1943 Ion Basgan received the
notification regarding the Blocking Order (Distraint) No. 2.427,
according to the USA legislation, of the 17th of December 1941.
On the 10th
of September, 1945, Prof. P. Moore of USA
published Ion Basgan’s article The Effect of Archimede Pressure onthe Drilling Oil rig in ‘Oil and Gas Journal’. That was a further
scientific recognition of the Basgan effect as it had been described in
his Patents of 1934.
On the 18th of October, 1945 he received a certificate from the
Romanian Academy attesting his collaboration with this remarkable
institution.
In February, 1946 in the wake of a correspondence with Prof.
D. Germani, Ion Basgan received a favourable answer from him
regarding the expert appraisal that was carried out in 1939 on Ion
Basgan’s Patent of 1934. This letter entitled Ion Basgan to continue
the law suit with the oil magnates.
In the same year, Bernhard Paris published a thorough work in
which mention was made of the Romanian scientist and the
importance of the Basgan effect, in the Bulletin of the French
Association of Oil Technicians (No. 60/1964, p. 67, Paris).
On the 30th
January, 1947 Ion Basgan’s Romanian Patent
No. 37.743 ‘drilling by means of Rotary Hammer’ was registered and
in July he opened again the law suit with the ‘Steaua Română’
Society. In July, the experts Prof. A. Beles, Prof. G. Mardan and Prof.
C. Teodorescu confirmed through the expert appraisal, which they had
handed in, the progress brought about by Ion Basgan’s Patent of 1934
to the drilling science and technique.
In 1948, Ion Basgan was appointed General director of the
Golden Society. As a result, in a few months he succeeded to increase
approx. 8 times the yearly mercury production by substantial changes
that he brought about to the society organisation and by a shut down
of unprofitable gold explorations.
In July, 1948 after the nationalisation of gold and silver
exploitaiton, he was appointed president of the Commission for the
Inventory of the mining assets that had been nationalised in the
Brad area, including the exploitation fields of Banat and Ardeal
(Transilvania).
On the 8th of February, 1949, the professors of Luisiana
University of USA Hawkins Murray and Lamont published in the
A.P.I Drilling and Production Practice a study document which, in
fact, through its wide laboratory experience brought about a
confirmation of the Basgan effect and the importance of the Patents.
In 1950, as a result of the activity which he was carrying
out at Sovromcarbune, he undertook a series of work trips to the
coal fields of the Valea Jiului, where he opened up several mines and
implemented his innovations as an application, in practical drilling.
In June, 1951 he got a transfer to Industrial – Export, then in
march 1952, he joined the General Direction of Supply and Sales of
the Ministry of the Oil Industry and in October 1952 he was
transferred to Sovromutilajpetrolifer, as a specialist in drilling, in
order to direct and approve the design and production of drilling
equipment for export. He was also appointed Head of Quality Control
over the nine Romanian metallurgy factories.
In 1953 he was called out of production and appointed a
member of the Ministry of Metallurgy for the organisation of the
Industrial Exhibition ‘The Planned Economy of the Popular Republic
of Romania in Full Progress’.
On the 1st of November, 1953 Ion Basgan was a member of the
Board at the Drilling National Conference in Ploiesti when the Soviet
adviser Ghevinian showed to the audience the way Basgan drilling
methods were applied at Baku, in USSR. On this occasion the Soviet
adviser offered him a book written by Basgan himself and published
in USSR.
On the 7th of December, 1953 Basgan was appointed the
President of the Commission for the Approval of Internal Norms of
the Ministry Metallurgical Sector by the Order No. 1.909.
The 18th of December, 1953 was an ill-fated day for Ion Basgan
and his family. The death of his wife Anisoara Basgan filled their
souls with grief and mourning.
In 1954, Ion Basgan was appointed by the Central Committee
of the Romanian Woking Party to join the Commission for the
examination of the heavy dill rods and their supply to the oil industry.
In the same year, he would publish his article ‘The Quality of Sovrom-
utilajpetrolifer Products’ in the ‘Metallurgy’ magazine of the Ministry.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan with his wife Anisoara Basganand their children Ion (Ginel) and Constantin (Dinu).
Thanks to his inquiring spirit and his propensity for the creative
activity, Ion Basgan would start preparing his examination to be a
lecturer at the Oil and Gas Institute. He received the lecturer
certificate on the 10th of February, 1954 from Sovromutilajpetrolifer.
In November, 1954 Sovromutilajpetrolifer was dissolved and he
was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture as a specialist in oil and
water drilling. Mention should be made that for his innovation ‘Heavy
pipes for wells drilling’, Basgan would receive an incentive which had
much more an emotional and moral value rather than a material one.
It was the official recognition of a special effort in the sphere of
technical and scientific conception which he did for his country.
For 12 years, Basgan carried out his activity at the Ministry of
Agriculture and the State Committee of Waters as a designer,
producer of drilling works and a president of the national Commission
of Water Drilling Coordination.
He was the manager and co-ordinator of about 1000 water wells
all over the country, of which about 300 in Dobrudja. On this occasion
he made an inventory of the water layers and resources that was to be
used for the development of this field.
Ion Basgan with his family: Ion (Ginel) Basgan, Constantin (Dinu) Basgan,Sorin Basgan, Angela Basgan, (born Cazaciuc), his second wife, Angelica NicolBasgan (Ion Basgan’s niece, the daughter of (Ginel) Basgan) and Florentina
(Tita) Basgan, the wife of Ion (Ginel) Basgan
On the 13th of April, 1955 he would marry Angela Cazaciuc and
on the 16th of March his third son was born, Sorin Basgan.
In May, 1957 he held the conference ‘Drinking Water Supply in
Dobrudja’ at the Ministry of Agriculture, ASIT. This conference
would be published later in the magazine of the Agriculture Ministry
and in the ASIT magazine, ‘Hidrotehnica’ no. 1/1958 and in the
Documentary of the Design Institute for Land Improvement.
In June, Ion Basgan received from the Foreign Affairs Ministry
a Certificate attesting that he was the victim of political persecution
from fascist governments, as a consequence of the responsible
patriotic policy regarding the national welfare that Ion Basgan had
been leading during the Second World War.
On the 15th of July, 1957 Ion Basgan held a lecture at the
‘Science and Technics Courses of the Romanian Popular Republic’ on
the topic sonicity in ‘Oil Explitation and Water Supply’.
One of his articles, confirming the weight calculation of the
heavy drilling rods of the 1934 and 1937 Patents, was published in the
World Oil magazine no. 4 of the USA.
In October, 1958 Ion Basgan held another lecture at the
Agriculture Ministry, ASIT on the topic ‘Drinking Water Supply in
the Country’.
One year later, his work ‘Drinking Water Supply in the Country’
would be published in the ‘Hidrotehnica’ magazine no. 8/1959. Ion
Basgan also carried out ‘The Technical and Economic Memorial.
Drinking Water Supply in Baragan’.
On the basis of the Notification no. 3.439 of the 15th of
September, The County Council of Constanta addressed the Ministry
of Agriculture in order to solicit Ion Basgan as an assistant in the
execution of some works for rising the living standard of Dobrudja
and the seaside by supplying drinking water, as a confirmation of the
special contribution that Ion Basgan had had in 1941 to the discovery
of water sources in Dobrudja.
In January, 1960 Ion Basgan notified the Romanian Government
on his Patent property rights, when the Romanian and American
negotiations started.
In March, 1960 the Romanian and American Agreement is
concluded for the regulation of accounts, without taking into account
Basgan rights. As a result of this event, on the 16th of September the
193rd
session of the Scientific Council took place at the Oil Ministry,
under the leadership of the Minister Mihail Florescu.
On the 27th of December, 1960 the first reaction is registered in
the USA magazines, namely by Mrs. Virginea M. Mc. Cann.
Basgan’s colleagues from the Agriculture Ministry also
supported him in his fight for gaining his author rights.
In 1961, when the legal procedures started, the oil companies
brought in front of the American law court a death certificate of the
physician Ion Basgan, the inventor’s cousin. Therefore, the law suits
were suspended: Basgan, the inventor, was no longer alive. Furthermore,
evidence was brought by the American court that the USA Patent
No. 2,103,137 that was Basgan’s property was still under distraint by
the American Government since the second world war and con-
sequently its author had no right to claim the due royalties. This was
the end of an epoch in Basgan’s attempt to claim his author rights.
THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE USA
For the Civil Action File … No. …
Having as object the claim against the infringement of Patent No. 2,103,137
Claimant: Ion Basgan
against the defendants: (the names of the 118 defendant companies).
The claimant Ion Basgan summons to judgement all the above mentioned persons and respectfully claims
that:
1. This action is for the infringement of the Patent right and the jurisdiction is based upon the
Law of the USA Patents, the Act of the 19th of July, 1952, c. 950, 66 Stat. 799, Title 55 of the
USA Code, including Sections 281, 283, 284, 285 and 209 of this title and Title 20 of the USA
Code, Section 1400 (b). According to our information and belief, the infringement against which
we are claiming in the present action has been and still is taking place in … and in other areas of
the USA.
2. According to our information and belief, all the above mentioned defendants have regular and
stable headquarters for their affairs in … and /or have their residence in …
3. On the 21st of December, 1937 the claimant received Patent No. 2,103,137 for the rotary
drilling apparata of oil wells with all legal forms fulfilled and since that date the claimant has been
and still is the owner of this Patent.
4. Every one of the above mentioned defendants had been infringing the above mentioned
Patent in the past for an extended period of time by manufacturing, selling and using the oil wells
rotary drilling apparata that make the object of that Patent.
5. According to our information and belief, each of the above mentioned defendants was duly
notified that he infringed Patent No. 2,103,137.
Therefore the claimant requires that each of the above mentioned defendants should be compelled to
pay damages amounting to five hundred thousand dollars, excepting those that are mentioned on the list
below, for which our claims of payment are higher (as mentioned for each of them). We also require that
law suit expenses should be paid for us.
STANDARD OIL COMPANY (NEW JERSEY) twenty million dollars
THE TEXAS CO. ten million dollars
GULF OIL CORPORATION five million dollars
STANDARD OIL COMPANY (INDIANA) five million dollars
SHELL OIL COMPANY five million dollars
SOCONY MOBIL OIL COMPANY five million dollars
STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA five million dollars
CONTINENTAL OIL COMPANY four million dollars
In the same year, his works ‘Simultaneous Rotary PercussionDrilling - Sonic Drilling’ was published in the ‘Petrol and Gas’
magazine, No. 3 and the ‘Drilling by Means of Heavy ProportionalDrilling Rods’ in the ‘Petrol and Gas’ magazine No. 4.
Both works were handed in at the Romanian Academy Board
(with the Registration No. 37,540 on the 6th of December, 1961 and
1,666 of the 19th of January, 1961.
In the meantime, the Oil Ministry undertook the testing of the
Basgan method at Roşiori - Râmnicu Sărat, by drilling two similar oil
wells, of which one was based on the Basgan drilling methods at
2,300 meters. The well that was drilled by applying the Basgan method
was drilled in 56 days with no technical incident that would cause
material damages, while the other well was drilled in 70 days to the
effect that the drilling rig was broken and 1,100 drilled meters were lost.
After a correspondence that Ion Basgan had held with the
renowned inventor, the engineer Gogu Constantinescu, the latter accepted
the invitation of the Romanian Academy to hold the conference
‘Debates in Sonicity’ on the 5th of October in the Romanian Academy
Hall. On this occasion, Gogu Constantinescu would share his joy with
the inventor Ion Basgan for the success that the Basgan sonic drilling
had registered in America.
On the 22nd
of December, 1961 Ion Basgan held a lecture on the
topic ‘Applications of Sonicity in Drilling and Extraction’ at the Science
and Technics Courses of the Academy of the Popular Republic of
Romania.
On the 17th of September, 1962 Ion Basgan presented the
Report No.599 to Mihail Florescu, the minister of Oil with the real
results of the testing of the Basgan drilling methods at Roşiori. The
SINCLAIR OIL CORPORATION two million dollars
SUN OIL COMPANY two million dollars
UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION one million dollars
XOUNGSTOWN SHEET & TUBE COMPANY one million dollars
HUGHES TOOL COMPANY one million dollars
FOSTER WHEELER CORPORATION one million dollars
REED ROLLER BIT COMPANY one million dollars
SUPERIOR OIL COMPANY one million dollars
LAWYER OF THE CLAIMANT,
report also maintains the misinterpretations of several engineers from
the Oil Ministry regarding the above mentioned testing.
In 1964 the American specialist U. T. Okon published his
Doctorate thesis under the guidance of Prof. P. Moore. His work,
which contained a series of remarks regarding Archimede’s pressure
on the drilling rig and the importance of drillcolars, would confirm
Basgan’s discoveries and inventions and their implementation would
put an end to the controversy regarding this problem.
In the same year, as a director of studies and professor, Ion
Basgan would organize courses in drinking water supply for specialists
all over the country, at the Agronomic Institute.
In 1965, in the framework of the State Committee of Waters
(I.P.A.C.H.), Ion Basgan elaborated the Technical Instructions
Regarding Design, Execution, Exploitation And Maintenance of the
Network of Hydrological Survey Wells for Hydro - Amelioration
Works’ (published by C.S.A., I.D. 24 - 65).
On the 13th of October, 1965 the USA State Department of
Justice issued the Divesting Order SA 838 that stipulated the
restitution of the Patent No. 2,103,137/1937 to Ion Basgan and his
restoration to his rights, as a result of the discussions that had been
held by the Romanian delegation under the leadership of Gh. Gh. Dej
with Lyndon Johnson, the President of the USA. In December he
receives the Address No. 20,530 of the Ministry of Justice of the USA
(of the 30th of November, 1965), through which he is informed on the
Divesting Order SA 838 and the restoration decisions.
On the 4th of May, 1966 he met Eng. Daniel Farcaş, a delegate
of the German group Lommen - Reiter - Dresner - Bank in order to
conclude a co-operation agreement, for the recovery of his rights in
the USA. On the 21st of May, consul D. Stancu from the Foreign
Affairs Ministry required that the agreement should be concluded with
engineer D. Farcaş of Western Germany. On the 16th of June, the
Council of Ministers ratifies the authentication of the agreement with
engineer D. Farcaş. The convention stipulated the obligation that Ion
Basgan should receive one million DM.
From that moment, events take place rapidly, as follows: on the
22nd
of June a session takes place at the Romanian National Bank with
the American lawyer John Vintilă; on the 23rd
of June, the managerial
staff of I.S.P.I.F. approves of a time out of production for Ion Basgan
to defend his cause abroad. On the 8th of July, engineer D. Farcaş
informs Ion Basgan about the expert appraisal that had been carried
out by the German group in the U.S.A., evaluating his author rights at
8.7 billion dollars.
Because of bureaucratic time-consuming procedures, on the 16th
of July it was the deadline for the front payment of the DM amount of
money with no money being paid at all.
Institute of Hydro-Technical Studies and Research (I.S.C.H.).
In the forefront: Eng. Ion Iacovache (Office of Standards, Inventions and
Marks), Prof. Dimitrie Leonida, scientist George (Gogu) Constntinescu,
Dr. Eng. Sorin Dumitrescu (Director of I.S.C.H.) and Director of the Water
Direction of UNESCO between 1969 - 1989, Matei Marinescu, member of
the Academy, Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan, Prof. Dr. Eng. Dumitru Cioc.
In the second row: Technician Stefan Popa, Dr. Eng. Alexandru Măruţă,
Engineer Dumitru Cristea and master Tudor Ardeleanu.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan attending to the explanations of Dr. Eng. Alexandru
Măruţă to the Romanian scientist George (Gogu) Constantinescu, at a test
stand of I.S.C.H. in the domain of sonicity applications, and pulsating sonic
pumps, in particular, following the ideas of Gheorghe Hossu, the President of
the State Committee of Waters (Bucharest, 1963).
Iosif Constantin Drăgan who was at that time in Spain at Palma
de Mallorca wired Ion Basgan, informing him that he agreed to join in
defending his case from the 22nd
of August. In this sense, Iosif
Constantin Drăgan required a short presentation of this situation that
had caused so much controversy. Luckily for Ion Basgan, for his state
of his spirit, Constantin Drăgan was not the only person that offered to
help him: on the 10th January, 1967 the Beckers of R.F.G. visited Ion
Basgan in Milano and offered him a support in his case.
On the 24th of January, Ion Basgan arrived in Conniston and
joined Mrs. Eva Constantinescu, the widow of George Constantinescu
in a memorial procession at the scientist’s tomb. There also the
audience was very much deceived because the tomb had neither cross,
nor memorial plate. This was another example of ingratitude of the
living Romanians towards their forerunners and the renowned scientist
George (Gogu) Constantinescu, in particular.
On the 13th of March he sent the dissertation ‘Limitation of the
Effect of Archimedes’ Pressure and Sonic Energy - Essential Conditionsfor the Future of Deep Drilling’ to the French Institute of Oil and to
the 7th Congress of oil in Mexic (April, 1967). His Congress dissertation
focused on the idea that the future of deep drilling would be
represented by the simultaneous rotary percussion drilling. As a result
of the success he had with this lecture, Ion Basgan decided to apply
for another Patent containing an improvement of the former regarding
deep drilling. This Patent would be registered in Romania, Italy, France,
USA and Portugal. As a matter of fact, this new embodiment of the
technical conception would create a new perspective in the field of deep
drilling and offer a chance that man could dream to the achievement
of new methods that should enable him to break through the
lithosphere and explore the interior of the earth down to the so-called
‘Mohorovici layer’, where he may find extended oil fields supplies.
The Trade Chamber of Bucharest published in its ‘Romanian
Engineering’ magazine the article ‘Romanian Contributions to theDevelopment of Theory and Practice of Modern Drilling’, about the
inventions, the work and the contribution of Ion Basgan.
On the 29th of March, Ion Basgan would join the Congress of
the Inter-Parliamentary Union, where he had the occasion to meet
Prof. Tudor Drăgan, Eng. Ion Iliescu and Constantin Stătescu.
On the 5th of April, Ion Basgan would join Dr. Iosif C. Drăgan
and engineer Morariu at the general session of the ‘Oil Union’ in Rome.
On the 7th of April, Ion Basgan returned to Milano, where he
started to elaborate his new Patent on the sonic drilling at 15 km.
Later, on the 18th of April, Ion Basgan would be utterly
surprised by the conduct of his former colleague, the engineer Eng.
Rică Georgescu, in his initiative to publish the translation of his book
on the Archimedes’ Principle. According to the Basgans’ documents,
‘intrigues and obstacles’ would arise from the American oil group
under the leadership of engineer Rică Georgescu. On the 16th of May
Ion Basgan would apply at the Dominicis company for registration of
his new Patent on sonic drilling at 15 km, in Italy, France, USA and
Portugal.
On the 29th of May, the Dominicis company would cash in the
registration fees for his Patents’ files in the above mentioned countries.
After several months, on the 4th of July, he would meet the
Romanian delegation of the Agriculture Ministry under the leadership
of engineers Montz and Lăzărescu Ion. On this occasion he discussed
the documents and the projects of hydro - amelioration and irrigation
that had been provided for Romania by Italy.
On the 5th of July, Ion Basgan had a meeting in Milano with Dr.
Iosif C. Drăgan and the lawyer E. Minolli, discussing the possibility to
open legal actions in the USA for his author rights.
This attempt would be a failure, because Dr. Iosif C. Drăgan
required hardly acceptable collaboration conditions, arguing that trial
expenses were rather high.
On the 16th of August Ion Basgan hold a lecture about his
inventions at the Galusta Gulbenchian Foundation.
On the 6th of October he joint Aristide Sain in Paris to discuss
with the ambassador V. Dimitriu, who would hand in a memorial to
the finance minister of France on the Basgan case for its support in
the USA.
After ten days he met the president of the oil group M.A.R.E.P.,
François Emanuelli, where he was received together with Guy Henry
and in the evening he would visit engineer Wallace, a specialist in
American patents. The M.A.R.E.P. meeting where he had handed in
the documentation regarding his inventions aimed at a possible future
collaboration on the oil fields of France.
When he was back in Bucharest, on the 8th of November he was
received at the Ministry of Foreign affairs by the deputy minister
George Macovescu. At the discussions that he had on the 14th of
November with engineer Tuzu Constantin, General Director of
Inventions, the latter speaking more or less in earnest expressed his
regret that Ion Basgan was still alive, because otherwise the Romanian
state might have been a little more concerned with him and at least
would have built him a statue in Bucharest. Engineer Tuzu was
aware of the Romanian psychology, his character and his way of
appreciating the remarkable people of its nation. He knew very
well that several generations would deal with Ion Basgan’s work until
the national and why not the international public opinion would
appreciate his crucial inventions in the domain of drilling.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan and Iosif Constantin Drăgan.
Back in Romania again, he would be fully engaged in his
creative activity and submitted on the 24th of November a new Patent
on sonicity No. 50,615. On the 29th of November, he held the
fascinating lecture in the Ministry of Agriculture ‘To the Centre of theEarth’ in front of an extended audience.
On the 30th of November, the academician Remus Răduleţ
informed Ion Basgan that his discoveries would bring about a change
to the written information already existing in the Encyclopaedia and
the specialized treatises.
The 1st of December, 1967 was a noteworthy day for Ion
Basgan: his article ‘To the Centre of the Earth’ was published in the
‘Informaţia’ newspaper in Romania, while in Italy, he received the
Italian Patent No. 796,419 for the sonic drilling at 15 km.
The following day he received the visit of a Portuguese
delegation under the leadership of the ambassador Calveltt Magalhaies
and Dr. Saraga.
On the 20th of December the consul D. Stancu from the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs would require detailed information from Ion
Basgan regarding his international activity and as a consequence the
daily magazines would besiege with questions the ministries and the
government in defense of his case. Unfortunately, there was a little
effect that did not match by far the effort that had been deployed by all
those who had understood that a great injustice was being done to Ion
Basgan and to Romania.
On the 26th of December, the lawyer John Vintilă came to
Romania from the USA, in order to state the case for the Romanian
inventor. The same day, his invention No. 50,912 was registered about
the exploitation of salt by means of upward salt pits.
On the 29th of December, after he had spent some time to study,
Ion Basgan elaborated the monograph of the Prof. Eng. D. Leonida.
On the 29th of January, 1968 engineer Dan Bodnărescu held a
lecture on the ‘Basgan effect’ and its applications at the Ministry of
Mines in front of an extended audience of specialists.
During the lecture several Directors from the managerial staff
of the Ministry confirmed the advantages of Basgan’s discovery.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan, his wife Angela and their son,
Sorin Basgan.
Yet, on the 7th of February, a group of oil-industry workers of
low professional and moral standards ‘discreetly’ submitted a written
Note to the Council of Ministers against Basgan’s inventions, about
which Ion Basgan would only learn two years later.
Ion Basgan had understood by then that he had been fighting a
loosing battle and that there were tremendously high interests at stake,
unfortunately not in Romania but somewhere abroad. This was also
confirmed at the session of the Council of Ministers under the
leadership of the vice prime-minister Gaston Marin and some
‘reassuring’ measures were taken to uphold Basgan’s case.
On the 29th of February, 1968 the State Office for Inventions –
The General Direction of Standards and Inventions that was represented
by engineer Boabă, engineer Bujor Almăjan and engineer Tuzu
Constantin acknowledged the application in Romania and the USA of
the Basgan methods of his Patents No. 22,799 of 1934 and 2,103,137
of 1937.
On the 1st of March, 1968 Ion Basgan applied for his retiring on
a pension from I.P.I.F. with the aim of gathering strength in order to
fight for his moral and material rights.
Although there was much rumor about Ion Basgan’s achievements
in the technical and scientific domains and the spectacular results of
the applications of his inventions, the case of Ion Basgan was still kept
within the ‘theoretical boundaries’. At a more concrete practical level,
his rights were systematically eluded and he himself was treated with
indifference. Moreover, on the 27th of May, the managers of I.P.I.F.
meanly required him to return the wages he had cashed during his
sojourn in Italy, on account that the financial procedures had not been
performed on a regular basis.
On the 15th of October, Ion Basgan received the visit of the
editor Gian Carlo Bussoli of Sweden, together with a delegate from the
Foreign Affairs Ministry. He informed Basgan that he was proposed for
being awarded the Nobel prize and in this sense, he intended to have
an interview with Basgan on his inventions. The interview was
broadcast on the radio station ‘Voce del Mondo’ of Rome. The
broadcasting of this interview had a wide international effect.
In 1968, Basgan was glad to learn about his being mentioned in
the book ‘Passion of Science’, a work written by the remarkable
historians of the Romanian science and technique, Dinu Moroianu and
I.M. Ştefan. This book included a presentation of the main steps in the
achievement of Ion Basgan’s inventions, as well as a synthesis of the
way in which they had been carried out. This presentation was a
synthesis written by Ion Basgan in his beautiful, clear and romantic
style that was specific to whatever he did.
On the 29th of January, 1969 Basgan met engineer Zadic, the
representative of a German company who was interested in a
collaboration to uphold his cause.
The success he had in the domain of his professional relations
fortified his spirit and made the inventor much more confident in his
fight against cheating and injustice.
Yet, even higher obstacles made him the more skeptical about
ever recovering his author rights.
Moreover, most of the contacts that he would establish were
more often than not underlined by hidden, selfish, unfair interests.
The inventor squandered away his strength, stepping down from
the stage of creation, going deep into actions and discussions that were
meant to ruin his health and waste his time.
He was invited to join dinner protocols at various embassies:
that helped him to become even more renowned and appreciated for
his special achievements, that had brought a revolution to the drilling
science and technique.
In fact, Ion Basgan would only have the opportunity to find out
that the world around is tough, unjust and inhospitable, because it has
always been governed by money.
In spite of the contacts that the Romanian inventor Ion Basgan
had at the top and the relations he had established, his case would still
remain unsolved, a wish that could not come true. The more Ion
Basgan traveled in order to settle his case, the more he would become
aware that everything was lost to him. Nevertheless, what he gained
indeed it was friendship ties that he established and made to grow
firm, which proved a real support to him while fighting injustice.
Moreover, he succeeded to understand how intricate it was the
mechanism of trials in democratic countries and how unfair there had
often been the decisions of law courts when the interests of third
parties were at stake.
On the 28th of June, 1969 he had once again the opportunity to
see how far the interplay of occult interests can reach. The editor
Balçar, getting hold of certain works of the Romanian inventor, would
require incredibly high fees in return. Ion Basgan would learn that the
above mentioned works were a source of information in the technical
and scientific espionage in favor of an American group of oil-magnates.
As a matter of fact, Ion Basgan had been engaged in a solitary
battle, the risks of which he had been ignoring. He had disregarded the
fact that in democratic countries the economic competition assumed
the toughest forms of manifestation. The agreements he had concluded
with various lawyers’ companies would not come to their term, because
of their exaggerated financial claims and the brigandist tendencies that
were manifested by some of their representatives in their relations
with Ion Basgan.
On the 22nd
of July, 1969 Ion Basgan still had the strength to be
enthusiastic about the remarkable achievement of the USA, namely
the moon flight by APOLLO XI: he sent a congratulation message by
wire to the White House in the USA.
He would wire to the Romanian Government, in order to have
his claims made open to the USA on the occasion of the visit of
Richard Nixon, the American President, to Romania.
On this occasion, he would become aware of a similar attitude
in Romania regarding the recognition of his author rights. Everything
he had written and done in support of his case were but a useless
‘concert’ of his own claims.
He had lost his hope of the recognition of his own rights, when
Sarchiz Halajian of New York informed him on the 21st of February,
1970 that certain USA oil companies had made a deposition of a
substantial amount of money in a secret account for a possible future
payment for the utilization of the Basgan Patent.
A network of schemes would be built up around this new
situation and further obstacles were ‘raised’ when the good and the
evil forces would clutch again, while using the whole range of
proceedings: from espionage to the art of diplomatic eloquence.
Whose case would such actions defend? Definitely not that of, either
Romania, or Ion Basgan.
The 25th
of August was a day for the Romanian inventor in
which he shall meet again a true friend, a man who believed that
honor was the highest form of the manifestation for the human
character: he received the visit of Jean Thibaudet Philbert, the vice-
mayor of Lyon, France. During the war, in order to enable the
proceedings of the Divesting Order SA 838 in the USA and be
restored to his rights, Ion Basgan had registered his own USA Patent
on the latter’s name, which Philbert returned him before 1965.
A few sun rays appeared on the murky sky of the Romanian
inventor. By that time in Romania, the campaign in favor of backing
up Basgan’s case attained higher proportions. The range of those who
were fighting for the recovery of his rights extended from Nicolae
Ceauşescu, the Romanian president down to the engineers who were
in charge of the oil extraction works on the oil-fields. Sonic drilling at
15 km was tested and it was taken the decision of producing the
Basgan drilling installation in Romania.
The USA Patents were issued with a governmental security and
a 17-year validity. Therefore, Patent 2,103,137 had legal validity from
1937 to 1954 and Patent 3,507,341, from 1970 to 1987 4.
Annuities were paid for 17 years for both patents. As we have
already mentioned, the beginning of war would lead to the divesting
of Patent 2,103,137 by the USA government until 1975, when the
administration of the President L. Johnson annulled the divesting
order that had been laid on the Patent. Ion Basgan came into his own
rights through the Divesting Order SA 838, with the following issue:
‘All the rights, titles and interests of Ion Basgan for and ensuing from
the Patent No. 2,103,137, including all those resulting from royalties,
as well as all the damages and profits that may be recovered according
to the law or equity, that had been made through retroactive
infringements’. On the basis of the economic agreement that was
concluded between Romania and the USA on the 30th of March, 1960
and the Notice of the Oil Ministry that was passed by the scientific
council no. 193 of the 16th of September, 1960, as well as according to
the state lawyers, 118 files were opened in the USA in the name of Ion
Basgan through the Chamber of Commerce for claiming minimum
125 million dollars. These files were closed by the American law
courts, with the objection that the Patent was still under the Divesting
Order at that time.
Ion Basgan negotiated with Western-Germany lawyers and
engineers of the Dresdner Bank group the recovery of rights and the
financing of this action. They assimilated these rights to the Hebrew
rights that had been confiscated by Germany during the war and
which Germany had to pay back entirely after the war. Western-
Germany engineers estimated an economic contribution amounting to
30% of the economic profit that resulted from the utilization of heavy
proportional rods in drilling, and made a technical and economic expert
appraisal while taking into account the extent of the drilled areas in
the USA. They confirmed that Basgan’s drilling method had been
90 % applied in oil, mining and other drilling industries in the USA.
The Western-Germany expert appraisal showed that, according
to the official statistics of the USA, about 60 million meters were
yearly drilled by applying the Basgan drilling methods, that would
result in an output of 30 % (namely, at least 30 dollars / sq m). That
4 The case of these Patents was undertaken to be continued by the three
sons of Ion Basgan: Ion I. Basgan, Dinu I. Basgan and Sorin I. Basgan.
amounted to a saving of 30 billion dollars that the Basgan Patent
would bring to the American economy in 17 years.
As a result of the Western-Germany expert appraisal, it was
decided that a royalty of at least 10% of these savings was due to the
Romanian inventor and, according to the Divesting Order SA 838
there were added also interests, gains, damages, effective losses,
including interests, honorariums and charges. It was stated as a
conclusion that the rights of Ion Basgan amounted to about 8.6 billion
dollars in the USA.
The most important Printing House of the Federal Republic of
Germany, Springer Verlag backed up the conclusions of this expert
appraisal by publishing an entire page in the Bild am Sonntag of the
25th and 26
th of May, 1969 in order to state Ion Basgan’s case, that had
become a European case, as well as an interview with the Romanian
inventor.
DOCUMENTARY NOTE
Ref: Project 7/66, USA Patent 2,103,137
1- A Romanian citizen has an invention, that the entire world oil industry has
been using since 1934 up to the present.
1/1- This invention was registered in 1934 at the American Patent Office
1/2- Upon the registration, he paid all the taxes for 17 years of Patent protection.
1/3- On the 21.12.1937, the inventor received the Patent granting letter, ‘Letters
Patent 2,103,137’, from the ‘City of Washington USA’ Patent Office.
1/4- In this ‘LETTERS PATENT’, that is in German ‘Patent granting letter’,
America as a state governed by the rule of law guarantees and protects by its
own legislation the author and the patent owner against any abusive
utilization of the Patent (see 1st page of the USA Patent).
1/5- All the companies, either large or small, that made deep drilling for oil, natural
gas, ore and water utilized this patent against the law and without payment,
that is to say, they have consciously ignored and broken Patent granting laws.
2- In 1939 / 190, the author and owner of the Patent tried to sell globally this
Patent to an American company. The sales procedures were interrupted
under war conditions.
2/1- He tried again to sell this Patent through 2 advertisements in the specialized
magazine “OIL AND GAS” of 8.04 and 22.04,1948, but with no favorable
results.
3- On the 20.10.1943, this Patent, including all its pending rights and
obligations, was put under distraint through the Blocking Order No. 2,427,
according to the USA Law of the 17th of December, 1941.
4- As a result of the intervention of the author and owner of the Patent to the
American Ministry of Justice, at the United States Department of Justice,
the Foreign Properties Office, the Blocking Order No. 2,427 of 20.10.1943
was declared void through the Deblocking Order SA 838 of October 1965
and the author of the Patent received back all his legally acceptable rights;
the following are textually specified:
a) Accumulated author rights, 17 years of Patent protection + 4 years of war
+ 18 months of prolongation according to the Peace Treaty of February,
1947, that is 22 and a half years of Patent protection until 1963.
b) Interests
c) Lost revenue
d) Compensation for damages
e) Expenses, honorariums, charges, etc.
5- The author and owner of the USA Patent 2,103,137, through the contract of
the 16th of June, 1966 and by agreement with his Government, according to
the legislation of his country has appointed me, the engineer Daniel
Farkasch to turn to account his rights irrevocably by either collection of
payments, agreement, assignment or sale.
6- The USA Patent 2,103,137 was utilized illegally and without payment at a
rate of 90% by the American oil companies, therefore committing a flagrant
breach of the American Patent legislation.
7- The payment claims are as follows:
7/1- It was established that the American oil companies performed 1.011.130
drillings = 1,182,770,80 m from 1938 to 1963, that is in 22 and a half years
of Patent protection.
7/2- The average cost per one-meter of drilled area amounted to 78.72 US dollars / m
between 1938 and 1963 for carrying out deep drilling in Louisiana, Texas
and California.
7/3- The cost savings that were brought about by the USA Patent 2,103,137 as
admitted by the specialists are at least 30% per one-meter of drilled area,
with reference to the costs per one-meter of drilled area by applying the old
drilling methods.
7/4- Author rights are usually established by negotiation. Yet, international
practices and law courts would acknowledge and award at least 10% of the
cost savings to the author and owner of the Patent.
7/5- Summary:7/5a- Actually drilled meters x average cost
1,182,770,480 m x 78.72 dollars / m ……… 93,107,692,185.000 - dollars
7/5b- 30% cost savings obtained through the application of the USA Patent 2,103,137
93,107,692,185.000 x 30% ………………… 27,932,307,655.000 - dollars
Claims of the Patent owner
7/5c- author rights: 10% of the savings
27,932,307,655.000 …………………………….. 2,793,230,765.000 dollars
7/5d- interests: 5% per year x 22 ½ years = 112.5% …. 3,142,384,605.000 dollars
5,935,615,370.000 dollars
7/5e- delivered gains: 10% ……………………………... 593,561,537.000 dollars
6,529,176,907.000 dollars
7/5f- loss compensation: 15% ………………………….. 979,376,555.000 dollars
7,508,553,442.000 dollars
7/5g- 15% expenses, honorariums, taxes, etc. …………1,126,283,016.000 dollars
7/5h- Global legal claims ………………………….…. 8,634,836,458.000 dollars
8- This global calculation regarding the drilled surface expressed in meters in
the USA extends to all the Oil Companies that have carried out drilling
directly or indirectly.
9- These global legal claims amounting to 8,634,836,458.000 dollars are
addressed to the 150 to 200 American oil companies and are expressed in a
percentage, according to their effectively drilled surface expressed in
meters.
10- Taking into account the fact that the United States of America are also a
State governed by the rule of law, it would be impossible, even out of the
question that, the American legislators should be aware of and allow this
Patent infringement by their own oil companies, namely that they still
utilize this method illegally and without payment.
11- It is generally admitted that American companies themselves are the biggest
hunters of Patent infringe. No sooner have they heard about their Patents
being infringed, than they institute legal proceedings and huge claims.
12- The importance and significance of this Patent has already resulted from the
fact that the USA laid a distraint upon the above mentioned Patent at the
beginning of the war, according to the USA Law of the 17th of December,
1941 as a property of the enemy, through the Blocking Order No. 2,427 of
the 20th of October, 1943. The latter is acceptable also according to the
International Law.
13- When the legal claims of the author and owner of the Patent 2,103,137
where confirmed in writing through the Deblocking Order of the 13th of
October, 1965 (S.A. 838) by the Ministry of Justice as a supreme authority
of the American law courts, this decision may be already regarded as a kind
of decision for the payment of the legal claims by the Patent infringers.
14- On the one side, it is known that taking into account the present conditions
of the USA dollar in America, the payment of these legal claims may yield
currency and political fluctuation, on the other there is absolutely no danger
that this legal claims against Patent infringement should result in currency
fluctuation, if we are to consider for instance that TEXACO, the 2nd oil
concern of America had in 1964, according to the balance-sheet official
reports, a turnover of 3.75 billion US dollars and the positive sold was
577.000 thousand US dollars, of which the Company retained in 1964 a net
income of 281.000 thousand US dollars.
15- According to our European notions, these Patent claims are a gigantic amount
of money, representing 3.5 billion DM, a half of our Federal Budget,
respectively. Therefore, to my estimate, there should not be ignored the
possibility of a Governmental approach of this Project.
In the autumn of 1966, Ion Basgan leaving his country, in order
to state his case, with the approval of the Central Committee of the
Romanian Communist Party and the President Nicolae Ceauşescu,
arrived at Rome, where Saint, the Jewish organization, offered him to
become a citizen of Israel for 10 thousand dollars and assured him that
the amount of 8.6 billion dollars where to be brought to Israel. Ion
Basgan refused this offer (that was made public also by the Western
Germany magazine Bild am Sonntag of the 25th and 26
th of May,
1969) and carried by himself the burden of his case.
Ion Basgan was becoming doubtful of the extension of his
inventions application in Romania, as well as the recovery of his USA
author rights. He would always remember what an adversary of his, a
certain engineer of Dallas, had told him once at a Conference in
London, in 1967: ‘We shall be suing you for dozens of years and thenwe shall proceed with your sons, but we won’t pay!’
In the following years, there were some attempts from the oil
companies to pay Ion Basgan his author rights. Here is what Ion
Basgan declared on the occasion of an interview that he had with the
German newspaper Bild am Sonntag of München on the 25th and 26
th
of May, 1969: ‘After some time, a banker offered me a chequerepresenting over 5 thousand dollars (20 billion Deutsche marks)from the part of “a group of interested persons”. In exchange, I wassupposed to resign my claims to this group. They engaged themselvesto uphold my interests by suing at law the oil companies. I was supposedto receive in exchange 50% of the profit. It was absolutely evident tome that this “group of interested persons” had unfair intentions. Theymeant to draw me in. Therefore, I was compelled to reject their so-called offer’ (the text was translated and adapted).
Professor Ion Basgan would later reject other similar “offers”
also: he would not admit compromises, as he wished to entirely
recover his legitimate author rights for his invention.
Things were becoming worth in Romania again, as if somebody
were synchronizing the evil events that were happening on the one
side and on the other of the ocean, as far as the Basgan case was
concerned. Hearings and written statements were piling without the
expected results showing up. It was a routine interplay, a game of the
nerves in which the weakest and the powerless had to surrender to the
most powerful.The promises that the authorities of the Romanian ‘golden
epoch’ made to him would remain a mere talk in the middle of the
human vanity fair. Ion Basgan would nevertheless pursue his fight
abroad, under difficult conditions, without any financing from his own
country, yet he would always keep in his own hands his legal rights
against the shameful proposals of foreign financiers and great lawyers.
To begin with 1971, Ion Basgan would resume his activity in
order to uphold his case, making a series of trips abroad.
The frequent encounters he had with his old friends shall refresh
him and revive his wish to stand firm and face the hardships of life.
He was deeply branded by the unspeakable attitude of editor Balçar of
Münnich, who would withhold the printing of his books Archimedes’Principle and Sonicity, while he retained also his manuscripts.
On the 18th of March, the ambassador Constantin Flitan of Paris
made a report of his discussions with the President Nicolae Ceauşescu
about the Basgan case to the Romanian inventor. The latter would in a
way recover his confidence for some time, although it was for a short
time only. In fact it was but another illusion: he was alone on the
battle field.
During a dinner party that was offered by Prof. Willi, the
adviser C. Oprişan, who had been back from the USA for some time
then, would confess to Ion Basgan that American lawyers lacked the
courage to fight against the companies that had not paid for the author
rights to the Romanian inventor.
When he had surpassed the psychological effect of the discussion
with the Romanian adviser, Ion Basgan would undertake a series of
actions in which certain personalities were involved, having multifarious
relations in various societies including that of the lawyers and
business men.
On the 10th of May, Ion Basgan concluded an agreement of
financial support with a financing party that was represented by Josef
Mandl.
On the 30th of June, he was advised by Jack Cooper at the
Kenyon Patent Company of New York, who confirmed the validity of
his USA Patent 2,103,137. The lawyer Jack Cooper avowed that he
had worked for the oil magnates in 1960 during the law suit that was
carried against them by Ion Basgan.
Privately, everybody would rend justice to Ion Basgan and even
sympathize with him, yet officially things would remain unchanged,
moreover the case procedures and its supporters were slow and
inefficient.
The lawyer H. Ellis Cox (a relative of the President Richard
Nixon) sent a written confirmation to the President Nicolae Ceauşescu
on the 19th of July that he had undertaken the case of Ion Basgan in the
USA and asserted that it was a right suit.
In the meantime, Romanian and American secret services were
shadowing the progress of the case, stepping in discreetly now and
then to uphold or block its actions, according to the interests of the
parties that were involved.
Between the 3rd and the 7th of October, Ion Basgan carried out
his professional activity at the Oil Documentary Center, in order to
elaborate an international bibliographic research study, that should
provide a confirmation of the Basgan effect and of the inventions in
which it had been applied.
Eventually, he would complete this work, which would be a
success in the domain of oil exploitation.
On the 19th of October, 1971 the legal advisers Hubbell, Cohen
and Stiefel sent a study to Mr. H. E. Cox, regarding the validity of Ion
Basgan’s USA Patent No. 3,507,341 .
On the 20th of November, 1971 on the occasion of a discussion
taking place with Horia Hulubei and Henri Coandă, Ion Basgan took
the opportunity to tell H. Coandă that the Coandă effect in oil
exploitation, the utilization of laser in drilling and other methods
could not bring the intended results, because they had been neglecting
the Basgan effect. The renowned scientist H. Coandă agreed to
organize a collaboration, within the institute he had founded, in
support of Ion Basgan’s assertions. Unfortunately, this would
never happen.
Later, in 1973, the Watergate conflict of the USA would destroy
everything that it had been achieved in the domain of the USA and
Romania relations in upholding the Basgan case, although on the 7th of
April, the Institute of Legal Research within the Academy of Social
and Political Sciences of the Socialist Republic of Romania sent a
document to the lawyer H. E. Cox of New York attesting that Ion
Basgan was going to be restored to his rights.
On the 22nd
of June, 1973 Ion Basgan sent a Memorial to
Gheorghe Oprea, the adviser of the Romanian President with the
following documents in Annex: 1) the legal report Cox - Hauser -
Rosenzweig (of the 24th of May and the 1
st of June, 1973); 2) the
Memorial No. 12,162 to the State Council of the 11th of June, 1973; 3)
the Attestation made by the Institute of Legal Inquiries of the 7th of
April, 1973; 4) the Science and Technics magazine No. 5/1973.
Ion Basgan together with his sons, Ion (Ginel) and Sorin Basgan,
and with his nieces (Ginel's daughters) – Predeal, 1973.
On the 24th
of the September, 1973 Ion Basgan was informed
by the adviser Gheorghe Oprea that no financing was allowed for his
case in the wake of the proposal made in this sense by the Foreign
Trade Bank.
On the 10th
of October at the meeting with Hayorth - World
Patent Development and Cox Baudler, they informed the Romanian
inventor that they were not ready for the discussions and Milică
Marinescu withheld the support he had been offering before.
On the 16th
of October on the occasion of meeting the lawyer
Densan, a Patent specialist, the latter handed Ion Basgan the report
that contained the confirmation that two enterprises, namely
Hughes Tool Company and Humble Oil Refining Company had
been applying the USA Patent No. 3,507,431 and presented him a
report from the Columbia University. The American Law ‘Laches’
stipulated compulsory prosecution for claims and immediate legal
action, so as to avoid sanction for lack of interest.
On the 17th of October, the lawyer H. E. Cox handed a
photocopy to Ion Basgan of a letter from the ambassador C. Bogdan,
showing that Romania supported the Basgan Case.
On the 9th of November, the Romanian inventor came in for an
interview with Andrei Brânduş at the Voice of America and the FreeEurope, regarding the application of his inventions in the USA and in
other countries.
On the 17th of November, he visited the exhibition Interocean
1973 in Dusseldorf, that had been organized on the topic of the
Northern Sea drilling.
On the 18th and 19
th of November, he met Kutka and engineer
Martin Licht, in order to examine the possibilities of further extending
the registration of the Patent 3,507,341 / USA.
On the 12th of January, 1974 Ion Basgan discussed collaboration
opportunities in the domain of drilling, with Ali Mohamed Masmudi
El Schurmani of Tripoly, Libia.
On the 28th of January, 1974 the engineer Cristescu, who was a
specialist in drillings at the Oil Ministry, confirmed to Ion Basgan the
proficiency of the operation of drill collars in drilling, both in
Romania and the USA, where he had been on a documentary visit, at
the proposal of the Romanian Ministry.
On the 3rd
of March, the Romanian inventor sent a memorial
to the joint Romanian
and American Economic Council in the matter of his USA claims, on
the address of Manea Mănescu.
On the 15th
of April he receives from the engineer Valentin
Turcu a series of proposal of co-operation with the Norse Company of
Norway.
Besides these co-operation proposals and work appointments,
Ion Basgan was also involved in working out a Memorial between the
3rd
and the 25th of May that he addressed to the USA Congress, in
which he presented the list of testimonies and witnesses reports, that
had been involved in his case regarding the recovery of his author
rights.
On the 26th of May, when he was invited to the Griffins in
Staten Island, he would finish the last details of his Memorial to the
USA Government. On the 11th of June, he submitted the Memorial
together with 21 documents. Although nobody could deny his scientific
achievements, he was nevertheless required to change his Romanian
citizenship for the American one as a legal solution for the payment of
his legal rights.
His answer was definitely negative. Moreover, Ion Basgan
suggested to the Americans the setting up of the Basgan
foundation. That was an answer that would leave any American
speechless.
In fact, one of Ion Basgan’s oldest dreams was to set up a
Foundation with the money that he should have received as his author
rights royalties. The inventor intended to work together with his three
sons within this Foundation. The Foundation would include an insti-
tute with 34 sections, covering also the specialization domains of the
inventor (hydro-technique, sonicity, oil, water supply). A museum was
also intended to be set up within the Foundation, that should highlight
the contribution of the Romanian nation during their entire existence
as a people in the Romanian geographical area to the progress of
world culture and technique.
On the 14th
of June, before his leaving, he concluded the
collaboration and financing convention with the lawyer William
Griffin.
On the 18th of June, as it was expected, the Director of the USA
Ministry of Commerce, Scherman Abrahamson sent a written notice
to Ion Basgan, mentioning that he was not in a position to legally
support his case. As for the lawyers, they found the solution of the
ratification of the Divesting Order, that granted backdated author
rights, through the ratification of this document in the American
Congress.
On the 22nd
of April, 1975 Ion Basgan sent reports on the
Basgan case to the minister Bujor Almăşanu , the minister Ion Avram,
the vice-prime minister Gh. Oprea and to I. Ursu.
On the 20th of May, he received the visit of the jurist Florea, to
whom he would hand in the Patents for Japan.
On the 10th of June, Prof. C. C. Giurescu would hold a cycle of
conferences on the Romanian contribution in the domain of world
science and technology, in Germany at Munich, Frankfurt and other
cities, presenting the work of Ion Basgan, G. Constantinescu, Elie
Carafoli and other Romanian scientists.
On the 11th of June, the architect Vogel, the adviser of the
Agriculture minister, required consulting from the Romanian inventor
Ion Basgan in the domain of the foundation of a joint company for
water supply and irrigation in Libia and Maroc.
On the 12th
of June, as a result of his receiving a work from
I. Mocanu with the title ‘Aspects of the Technical and EconomicEspionage’, Ion Basgan was glad to see that, as far as he was
concerned, the problem was even more complicated, with many
underground ties leading to obscure areas full of unforeseen
events. The author’s point of view as stated in the above
mentioned work entitled Ion Basgan to think that the stakes had
already been laid down and that he was fighting a loosing battle
and that it was impossible for him to win the fight for his author
rights.
The adversary was much stronger than he, who was himself a
dreamer and a progress originator, to put it otherwise, a ‘naïve
inventor’ as he had once said about himself.
‘As compared to the case of Gh. Constantinescu and to that ofHenri Coandă, with Ion Basgan there had been even more situationsin which the intelligence theft on behalf of Romanian inventors hasbecome manifest in a typical form of their intellectual propertyinfringement. In this respect, the Romanian inventor Ion Basgan is atelling example: he was en enthusiastic advocate of sonicity principlesand a disciple of Gh. Constantinescu. The main Patents of engineerBasgan are: the Romanian Patent No. 22,789/1934 ‘Method forIncreasing the Output and Improving Rotary Drilling by RotaryPercussion and by Damping Hydromechanical Pressure’, and theUSA Patent No. 2,103,137/1937 ‘A New Drilling System That Takesinto Account Hydrostatic Pressure and Long Distance Sonic EnergyTransmission by Means of Heavy Proportional Rods and SonicDrilling’.
The proclamation of the state of war between Romania and theUSA at the end of 1941 had among other effects also the sequestrationof the assets that were on the territory of Northern America andbelonged to Romanian citizens: these included also the Patent ofengineer Basgan, for which the American oil corporations shouldhave paid the royalties, that were stipulated by internationallegislation, to the Romanian inventor for using his above mentionedPatents.
The uninterrupted continuation of the exploitation of theseassets required that the capital and patents of the citizens belongingto the states that were at war with the USA should be intrusted to acustodian, who was responsible for the administration and ac-counting of the income the respective assets would bring at the endof the war. Unfortunately, they ‘forgot’ about Ion Basgan. Thereforethe large American oil companies were allowed to assume freely theresults of the Romanian inventor’s work and discoveries, years onend, thus depriving both him and Romania of high currency amounts.Up to the present moment, there have not yet been identified practicalor legal ways to recover the damages that resulted from the
‘omission’ that had been probably organized by the directly in-terested parties`.5
The Diary of the famous Romanian scientist and technician Ion
Basgan ended the 27th of September, 1975 with an affectionate note in
which he specified that his son Sorin Basgan was leaving for nine
months to Medgidia to fulfil his military service.
Dr. Ion Basgan and his family:
Angela Basgan, Constantin (Dinu) Basgan, Sorin Basgan,
5 I. Mocanu, Aspects of Technical and Economic Espionage, Military
Printing House, Bucharest, 1975.
Ion (Ginel) Basgan and Florentina (Tita) Basgan.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan, Prof. Eng. Emil Prager and academician Matei Marinescu at the
Symposium of the Technical Museum ‘Prof. Eng. Dimitrie Leonida’ (1980).
The Basgan’s archive still contains a correspondence of Ion
Basgan, senator Eduard M. Kennedy and the Inspector for Registered
Patents and Marks, C. Marshall Dann, dated 1977.
On the 15th
of December, 1980 the Romanian inventor Ion
Basgan departed from this world, for which he had worked and
created extensively.
Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan at the Technical Museum
‘Prof. Eng. Dimitrie Leonida’ (the 4th of December, 1980).
TECHNICAL ACTIVITY
on Basgan graduated from the High School of Mines and
Metallurgy (Montanistische Hochschule 5, Leoben – Austria,
with the Diploma No. 10, of the 17th of July, 1925, that was
validated through the Report No. 44 of the 22nd
of April, 1926, by the
Ministry of Public Works and the Report No. 1,902 of the 13th of
February, 1961 by the Superior Commission of Diplomas.
He started his practical mining activity at the coal mines of
Seegraben-Leoben (Austria) and the iron mines Eisenerz-Steiermark
(Austria).
In order to better understand and become acquainted to this
domain of activity, Ion Basgan visited the lignite mining site near Vienna,
the magnesium mines of Veitsch (Austria), the salt pit of Hallstadt-
Salzkammergut (Austria), as well as other mining sites in Austria,
Germany, Poland and Romania. In the summer of 1924, he performed
a practical training of several months at the oil fields of Pechelbron
(Alsacia), where he studied the oil exploitation through galleries.
In July, 1925, Ion Basgan was employed as a probationer
engineer at the ‘Steaua Română’ company. Up to 1932, Ion Basgan
travelled on foot around all the oil fields in Romania, such as: Moreni,
Mislea, Ceptura, Moineşti, Gura Ocniţei, Câmpina, Scăioşi, Podenii
Noi, Boldeşti, Migle Steaua Română’ company and the certificates,
that were issued by the Mining Inspectorates of Ploieşti and Moreni
for leadership in oil and natural gas exploitation are attesting the
professional evolution of the young man Ion Basgan. Namely, from
the 25th of July to the 15
th of September, 1925, Ion Basgan worked at
the oil fields No. 18 and 22, in the ‘Alianţa’ system at Pâscov-
Moreni and from the 15th
of September to the 15th of October, 1925,
as an oil field worker at the oil field No. 39 in the ‘Alianţa’ system, in
the Southern area of Moreni. From the 15th of October to the 1
st of
December, 1925, Ion Basgan carried out his activity as a deputy
engineer of the Section chief in the Southern area of Moreni, working
on the oil fields No.4, 6, 38, and 44 in the ‘Alianţa’ system. From the
1st of December, 1925 to January, 1926, Ion Basgan was an oil field
worker at the ‘Rotary’ oil well No. 208 in the Northern area No. 2 C
of Moreni. Between the 1st of January and the 1
st of April, 1926, he
was a deputy engineer of the Section chief in the Northern area of
Moreni, working on the oil fields No. 206, 208 and 210, all of them
working in the ‘Rotary’ system. From the 1st of April to the 15
th of
April, 1926, Ion Basgan carried out his activity as a manufacturer of
oil drilling plants in central workshops and from the 15th of April to
I
the 1st of July, 1926, he had the function of deputy engineer of the
Section chief in the Southern area of Moreni, on the oil fields No. 3, 4,
6, 38, 39 and 44, that were under drilling conditions and on the oil
fields No. 8, 41 and 46, that were going to be rigged up. From the 1st
of July to the 25th of July, 1926, Ion Basgan worked on the Ceptura oil
field (Prahova) as a chief engineer of the Şoimescu Section, working
on the oil field No. 1, 2, 3 and 5, of the ‘Indian’ system and the oil
field No. 10 in the ‘Rotary’ system and attending to the rigging up of
the oil fields No. 9 and 13, in the ‘Rotary’ system.
As a Chief Engineer of oil field exploitation, he passed an exam
in August, 1926, in order to continue his activity as a Section chief
engineer, specialising in the ‘Rotary’ oil drilling, on various Romanian
oil fields: Ceptura (Prahova), Ochiuri (Dâmboviţa) and Moreni. As a
Chief Engineer of the oil drilling team for oil exploration, Ion Basgan
was in charge of the leadership of the oil fields at Podenii Noi
(Prahova) and Scăioşi (Prahova), where he joined in the drilling of
several ‘Rotary’ oil wells (at Podeni), four ‘Calis’ exploitation oil
wells and several ‘Rotary’ oil wells, that were commissioned to start
oil production.
Ion Basgan was a Chief of exploitation in oil and natural gas
since the 7th of May, 1927 (Patent No. 39), as a result of the practical
work he had carried out in this domain and the exam, that he had
passed in August, 1926 at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
In 1930, he was appointed Director of the oil field exploitation
works of the ‘Steaua Română’ company in the Bacău District, at the
oil fields of Moineşti, Zemeş and Solon, where every field included
several dozens of production and a few drilling oil fields. In this sense,
the oil well No. 29 of Moineşti witnessed the first attempt of Ion
Basgan to implement the ‘Rotary’ drilling in the region of hard rocks
in Moldavia. The work experience and method that he applied were to
be used later in Galitia - Poland.
In 1931, Ion Basgan was transferred to Câmpina, as the deputy
of the drilling section Inspectorate. Therefore, all the drilling works on
the company’s field were under Ion Basgan’s leadership.
His high responsibility and professionalism had earned him the
confidence of the company managing staff who entrusted him several
high difficulty tasks: he was required to do the fishing job at the oil
well No. 11 of Boldeşti, that had been drilled with violent outburst
into the air and to work at the oil well No. 471 of Scorţeni – Mislea,
where there had been problems with the deep ‘Rotary’ drilling.
Ion Basgan carried out a wide range of specific activities at the
‘Steaua Română’ company, including: exploitation drilling, as well as
high-productivity oil wells drilling. This kind of practical activity was
a good opportunity for Ion Basgan to undertake research and gain
experience from the geological, technical and economic point of view,
resulting in the elaboration of several significant works in this domain.
Between 1932 and 1933, Ion Basgan joined in the leadership of
the Oil and Mining Section, as a referent of the Oil and Mining
Section and a founder member of the Association for the Study of the
Economic Situation in Romania and on this occasion he published a
series of economic syntheses studies, covering the entire oil industry
and the oil-extraction industry. He established the statistical framework
for the monitoring of various sectors and phenomena specific to these
industrial and economic activities. As we have mentioned before, as a
referent at the Oil and Mines Section, Ion Basgan brought an excellent
contribution to the outlining of the shortcomings of the oil policy in
Romania as compared to the world corporations. On this occasion, Ion
Basgan elaborated the general framework for an independent economic
policy through the nationalisation of the Romanian oil industry and
the industrialisation of the Romanian economy. At the same time he
established contacts with similar State-of-the-Market Institutes from
abroad, by visiting the Vienna, Paris and London institutes.
In 1933, he was appointed the official delegate of Romania at
the first World Oil Congress in London, by the Ministry of Industry
and Commerce. On this occasion, he represented Romania at the
opening session of the Congress and he participated in the debates
with a report on the results of his scientific research, that he had been
carrying out in order to supplement the Archimedes’ principle and to
study the transmission of sonic energy through the drill column. ‘The
Petroleum Times’ magazine of the 22nd
of July, 1933 contained a
report of the first World Oil Congress in London and a photo of the
official participants and delegates from all over the world, as well as a
summary of Ion Basgan’s report. When he was in London, he attended
the University summer courses
ical knowledge, Ion Basgan passed con brio his Doctor degree
examination on the 7th of July, 1933 at the Montanistische Hochschule,
in Leoben, Austria, with his work ‘Die Arbeitsweise und Form des RotaryMeissels in Erdölgesteine’. He was awarded the Doctor degree in
mining sciences – Doktor der Montanistischen Wissen-Schaffen(which was validated by the Superior Commission of Diplomas of the
Ministry of Education, with the equivalent title of ‘Doctor Engineer’,No. 1,279 on the 30
th of December, 1965).
Ion Basgan’s graduation paper was very appreciated by
specialists and it was retained by the examination commission for
publication in the school year book and by the Hans Urban Printing
House of Vienna. In this sense, Prof. Dr. Eng. Pirkl and Prof. Eng.
Fulglewicz mentioned the following in the report of the school Rector:
‘Engineer Basgan had the opportunity to analyse the operation
of the Rotary driller during several Rotary boring operations, that
were carried out on the oil fields of Romania and to draw the attention
on the rhythmical vibrations that occur in the drilling rods. After an
accurate appreciation of these important phenomena, he established
their laws, first in a practical manner, then by mathematical
calculation. As a result of his deductions and conclusions, Ion Basgan
presented rules and formulae to the drilling technician for the correct
dimensioning of the drilling equipment, for the drilling pressure, as
well as for avoiding the resonance effects of the vibrations on the
drilling rods’.
The paper represents a precious contribution to the technicaland scientific bases of the Rotary drilling system.
Both specialists made an extremely favourable conclusion onthe theoretical and practical value of Ion Basgan’s Doctor thesis andhe was awarded his Doctor Diploma in a solemn festivity, in thepresence of the Romanian minister in Vienna, Dr. Caius Brediceanu,who was a special guest of the school Rector. On this occasion theRomanian flag was raised and the lectures that were held werepublished in the Austrian and Romanian newspapers (‘Obsersteirische
Volkszeitung’, of the 8th of July, 1933 and the Universe, of the 16th ofJuly, 1933). When he had received the Doctor degree, Ion Basganworked as an honorific course assistant at the Department of oilstudy, being appointed by the Professors’ Council of the Academy ofHigh Commercial and Industrial Studies of Bucharest, on the 26th ofJanuary, 1934).
That is how Ion Basgan had made his way painstakingly, yetgloriously into the realm of the technical activity.
From 1933 to 1944, Ion Basgan would lecture a course on the
’Efficiency of Oil Enterprises’, as a course assistant of Prof. Dr. Eng.
V. Iscu from the Academy of High Commercial and Industrial studies
of Bucharest, at the Oil study Department.
In 1934 he undertook the technical leadership (between the 15th of
December, 1934 and the 13th of May, 1941) and later the administrative
leadership (between the 13th of May, 1941 and the 31
st of December,
1943) of an oil company, the ‘Romanian Oil Company’, that had been
set up with a small internal capital just a little before. In nine years,
that is before 1944, using low financial and technical resources,
working intensely while being deeply involved in the leadership of
both the site and the company, Ion Basgan succeeded to develop that
company into a prosperous oil enterprise, with a daily output of 10 to
14 wagons and a significant drilling and production stock.
Three production oil-fields were opened by the above
mentioned company, namely: the oil field of Moreni with the wells
No. 2A, 3, 4, 5 and 6 having 9,481 m in total and an output of 186,444
t and the oil field of Ghirdoveni, Prahova with the wells No. 471, 412
and 473 having 5,799 m in total and an output of 76,991 t ; the oil
field of Răzvad – Dâmboviţa with the well No. 1 having 1,794 m and
an output of 2,782 t.
In 1937, Ion Basgan attended the 2nd
World Oil Congress in
Paris, where he presented several applications of his Patents covering
the new modern drilling methods. The article ‘Progress in the DrillingTechnique through Dr. Basgan’s Method’ that was published in the
‘Annals of Mines’ No. 7 of 1938 contained a series of technical data
on the performances that he had attained, with the aim to disseminate
the experience he had gained in this domain.
The ‘Romanian Oil company’ was also responsible for the
execution of ten water exploration wells for the army, in the
unyielding Dobrudja rocks. In this domain, Ion Basgan pointed out a
series of aspects when speaking on the topic ‘The Water problem inDobrudja’ at the AGIR Congress of 1943 and on the topic ’Watersupply in Dobrudja’ at the Romanian ‘Academy of Sciences’. As the
unique delegate administrator of the ‘Igienco’ company, Ion Basgan
ensured the export of petroleum wax, thus covering the army demands
of this product between 1941 and 1943.
At the same time as he carried out the above mentioned
activities, in 1940 Ion Basgan was appointed by the Ministry of
National Economy (Decision No. 142,583/1940) the technical adviser
of the Oil Inspectorate that had been founded some time before, as a
specialist in drilling and oil field exploitation. The Propaganda
Ministry invited Ion Basgan (through the Address No. 1,454/1940 to
draw up the paper ‘Romanian Oil and Natural Gas’. In July, 1940, Ion
Basgan was invited by Prof. Dr. A. Benz of Berlin to collaborate in an
anniversary issue of the ‘Oil und Kohle’ magazine for oil industries in
the South - East of Europe. On this occasion, he published two articles
in the above mentioned magazine, that focused on the progress
achieved by the Romanian engineers in the domain of oil industry.
A characteristic feature of Ion Basgan’s activity is that it more
often than not encompassed new domains always yielding good
economic effects. Yet, the Romanian patriot could never work for
large famous oil enterprises, because of his technical, economic and
political works, that he had published between 1933 and 1949, in
which he fought against the policy of world oil corporations in
Romania, as well as because of the law suit that existed between Ion
Basgan and the corporations for his inventions.
Upon the elaboration of the Oil Law in 1942, he was invited as
a specialist by the National Union of Oil Enterprises to defend the
interests of the national economy against the monopolizing tendencies
of the German – fascist groups, by analyzing the projects and drawing
up the required amendments, that were introduced in the Law-Decree
that was issued on the 17th of July, 1942. Fighting for the defense of
the Romania’s patriotic interests, Ion Basgan became ‘the victim ofpolitical persecution from fascist governments’ (according to the
Certificate No. 053537/21.06.1957 that was issued by the Ministry of
Internal Affairs).
In 1943, he was appointed technical adviser at the ‘Mica’
Company, for the exploitation of oil structures and fields. Working for
this company, he carried out exploration drilling for coal, when he
also identified important water supplies in Dobrudja. Therefore,
between 1944 and 1949, Ion Basgan worked at several enterprises,
that were later affiliated to the Ministry of Metallurgy (technical
adviser at the ‘Mica’ Company; at the ‘Gold’ Company, where in
1948 he substantially contributed to the increase of mercury
production by 300%; department chief at the Gold and Silver works).
Between 1949 and 1951, Ion Basgan worked at Sovromcărbune,
where he collaborated in the exploitation of coal by boring in the Jiu
Valley. He significantly contributed here to the improvement of the
production process by the introduction of heavy pipes, in
exploration savings by implementing the above mentioned innovation
in the production process, representing over 30 million lei per year
and a new product to be manufactured at the ‘Republica’ Plant. Ion
Basgan received 5,000 lei in 1954 as a reward.
In 1951, Ion Basgan was a department chief at Industrialexport
enterprise for oil equipment, and in 1952 he was transferred to
Sovromutilajpetrolifer. When Sovromutilajpetrolifer was founded in
1952, Ion Basgan was employed there as a principal engineer at the
Technical Service of the General Direction and Oil Wells Exploitation.
On the 31st of October, 1953, Ion Basgan joined in as a delegate of
Sovromutilajpetrolier in the national Congress of the oil engineers,
technicians and stahanovists in Ploieşti through the Association of
Engineers and Technicians (ASIT). On this occasion, it was pointed
out that the Romanian wells generally presented a deflection of 11 to
33 degrees from the vertical. Moreover the Archimedes’ pressure was
not taken into account, vibrations in the drill column were not
removed and bottom operation accidents were abounding. As a result,
it was suggested to utilize and experiment the new Basgan methods of
well drilling as a remedy.
In November 1954, when Sovromutilajpetrolifer was dissolved,
Ion Basgan was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture. His object
of activity was to organize design and implementation in the domain
of hydrologic drilling and water supply of the economic units that
were subordinated to the Agriculture Ministry.
As a senior designer engineer at the Institute of Agriculture
Design and Construction (I.P.C.A., later called I.S.P.A.), the chief of
the Drilling Section of the Co-ordination Commission of Drilling at
the Agriculture Ministry and later as a specialist engineer at the State
Committee of Waters (C.S.A., later called I.P.A.C.H.), Ion Basgan
carried out a titanic pioneer’s work in breaking new ground for 12
years, in order to ensure water supply for agriculture and countryside
economic units, thus setting up 1,000 water plants.
He also elaborated the design and execution principles and
guidelines in the hydrological drilling for agriculture and countryside
economic units. As a president of the Co-ordinating Commission of
Drilling and a member of the Technical and Scientific Council of
I.S.C.H. of the State Council of Waters, he notified and adapted the
hydrological studies and projects to the local characteristics of the
field.
He was the leader and co-ordinator of the study and water supply
of the entire local area of Constanza, Bărăgan and the Northern Moldavia.
During 1965, as a chief of a complex Project, he drew up a
‘Study of the Efficiency of Underground Water Catching’ and co-
ordinated the activity of three institutes, namely: I.P.A.C.H., I.S.P.,
I.S.C.H., that had joined in as collaborators in drawing up this study.
As a result of the performances that Ion Basgan had obtained
through this kind of work, the President of the local Popular Council
of Constanza would acknowledge his skilled contribution as regards
the rising of the living standards of Dobrudja and the Seaside area, in
his Report No. 3,439 of the 15th of September, 1959 addressed to the
agriculture minister. He required further assistance from the specialist
Ion Basgan. Actually, in the ‘Hidromecanica’ magazine, No. 1 and
No. 8 of 1958, the following are mentioned: ‘Ion Basgan is the firstspecialist in drilling, who carried out a series of works, that aimed atthe identification of deep underground water in Dobrudja.
He is the referent who brought the preliminary study before the
Government, that had been drawn up by I.P.C.A. in 1956, regarding
the local water supply of Dobrudja. He is the President of the Co-
ordinating Commission of Drilling of the Ministry of Agriculture and
Forestry and he may be of great help to us in carrying out our works’.
Besides the technical and administrative activity which he had
been performing at an ardent pace, at the rhythm required by the
national economy requirements and by the interests of the companies
whose leader he was, Ion Basgan had the spiritual strength to
collaborate at several magazines, such as: Bulletin de la SectionScientifique – Académie Roumaine; Bulletin of the ‘Politehnica’Society; Nature; Öel und Kohle of Berlin; Bulletin of the RomanianInstitute of Energy; Bulletin of the National Situation Institute;Bulletin of AGIR; Internationale Zeitschrift für Bohrtechnik – Erdöl,Bergban und Geologie of Vienna; The Petroleum London - New York;
Libertatea, etc.
It may be concluded that Ion Basgan’s activity was characterized
by dynamism and strength in the direct approach of new domains.
Obviously, the results appeared immediately and the economic effects
contributed to the prosperity of enterprises for which he worked, in
national economy and defense. Moreover, Ion Basgan’s personality
was rounded up by the works he published, by the appraisals that were
made by high reputation cultural organizations and specialists from
Romania and from abroad, regarding the theories that had been
elaborated by the Romanian scientist.
His real value as a man and scientist was attested by the prizes
he was awarded, the reviews that were written by other specialists on
his works and by the reproduction of his articles in various foreign and
Romanian publications. It should be mentioned that his technical,
geological and economic works were quoted or introduced in university
courses, both in the country and abroad by renowned professors, such
as: Fuglewicz – Austria (Leoben); L. Mrazec, I. Simionescu, V.
Madgearu – Romania; Wiliam Harvey Emmons – USA.
It is worth while mentioning here several works of Romanian
and foreign authors that included reference elements from Ion
Basgan’s work:
• ‘Moniteur du pétrole roumain’ (No. 228 of 1930, Technical
Chronicle, page 279 contains reviews of Ion Basgan’s work: ‘Oilexplorations in the Teleajen Valley’);
• ‘Annales des mines de Roumanie’ (1932, ‘The Operation and
Form of Rotary Drill in the Oil Rocks of Romania’);
• ‘Moniteur du pétrole roumain’ (No. 3 of the 1st of February,
1932, ‘Technics in the Romanian Oil Industy’, page 99);
• Eng. St Predescu (‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’, vol.14, 1932, No. 12,
page 182);
• ‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’ (April, 1933, page. 228-229, Eng. C. Răuţ,
reviews ‘The Operation and Form of Rotary Drill in the Oil Rocks ofRomania’);
• ‘The Petroleum Times’ (Special Congress Issue, the 22nd
of
July 1933, page. 133, London writes on: ‘Scientific Considerations ofthe Technique of Modern Drilling’);
• Professor Engineer T. Ficşinescu (introduction to Ion Basgan’s
work: ’The Operation and Form of Rotary Drill in the Oil Rocks ofRomania’);
• ‘World Petroleum’ (New York – London, Supplementary
Issue, July 1933, page 43);
• ‘l’Independence roumaine’ (the 21st of September, 1933);
• Eng. George Constantinescu (Introduction to the work: ‘DieArbeitsweise und Form des Rotary Meissels in Erdoelgesteine’, Vienna,
1934;
• ‘The Petroleum Times’ (London, the 19th of January, 1935,
‘Developments in Oilfield Equipment During 1934’, William J.
Wigney, Director for Europe, The National Supply Corporation);;
• Prof. William Harvey Emmons (USA, ‘Geology of Petroleum’,
page 94, quotes from Ion Basgan’s work ‘Oil Region of Moreni –Gura Ocniţei’);
• Prof. Krejci Graf (Freiberg – Bergakademie, ‘Neues Jahrbuchfür Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie’, Jahrgang, 1934,
page 771);
• Prof. Eng. C. Buşilă (‘I.R.E. Bulletin’, 3rd
year, No. 4, presents
debates on the Conference ‘Oil Policy in Keeping with the Situation of
Exploration Works and the Fuel Matter’;
• Prof. Eng. T. Ficşinescu (‘I.R.E. Bulletin’, 3rd
year, No. 4,
presents aspects of the Conference ‘Oil Policy in Keeping with the
Situation of Exploration Works and the Fuel Matter’;
• Dr. Eng. Arcadian (‘Organisation of National Economy’,
‘General Reports’ of A.G.I.R., Congress 1934, Galaţi;
• Prof. Sp. Iacobescu (‘I.R.E. Bulletin’, 3rd
year, No. 4, aspects
of the Conference ‘Oil Policy in Keeping with the Situation of
Exploration Works and the Fuel Matter’;
• Eng. T. P. Ghiţulescu (‘I.R.E. Bulletin’, 3rd
year, No. 4,
aspects of the Conference ‘Oil Policy in Keeping with the Situation ofExploration Works and the Fuel Matter’);
• Prof. Eng. C. Buşilă (a speech delivered on the occasion of the
10-year anniversary of the Romanian Energy Institute, ‘I.R.E. Bulletin’);
• Eng. C. Cristea (‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’, No. 6 of 1934, page 271);
• ‘Curentul’ (the 25th of April, 1935);
• S. I. Siscenko (1935, Baku – Moscow, writes on Ion Basgan’s
‘Scientific Bases Of Modern Drilling Methods’);• ‘The Morning’ magazine (the 1
st of October, 1935);
• ‘Annales des mines de Roumanie’ (No. 3, March 1936,
page 143);
• Prof. I. Simionescu (‘Our Country’, pages 354 and 362);
• Prof. Dr. L. Mrazec (the Report that was submitted to the
Romanian Academy for the awarding of the prize for Ion Basgan’s
work ‘Oil Policy in Keeping with the Situation of Exploration Worksand the Fuel Matter’, session 1936;
• ‘The Universe’ (the 24th of November, 1937);
• ‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’ (May 1938, Technical Chronicle about:
‘Technical Aspects and the Scientific Interpretation of the RotaryDrilling System’);
• ‘Petroleum Technologist London’ (‘New Fields in Romania’,
1938);
• Prof. Dr. M. Hengelein – Karlsruhe (‘Neues Jarbuch fürMineralogie, Geologie und Paläntologie’, Jahrgang, 1938, pages from
254 to 255;
• Prof. Dr. V. Philipsborn Freiberg – Bergademie (‘NeuesJarbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläntologie’, Jahrgang,
1938, page 255;
• Eng. V. Petrescu – Livadea (‘Romanian Annals of Mines’,
No. 7, 1938, ‘Recent Progress in the Drilling Technique through Dr.
Basgan’s Method’);
• ‘Romania’ (2 May, 1939);
• ‘Argus’ (19 May, 1939);
• Prof. V. Madgearu (‘Evolution of the Romanian Economy’,
pages 104 and 105);
• Prof. Dr. L. Mrazec (foreword to ‘Oil and Natural Gas’);• Prof. Dr. L. Mrazec (‘General Course in Minerals and Rocks’,
Part 2, page. 411);
• A.G.I.R. Bulletin (the 9th of October, 1940, page 193, Eng. C.
Cristea, a report on ‘Oil industry and the spirit of new times’);
• Italo Zingarelli, ‘La stampa’, Rome (the 6th of November,
1940, ‘Cisterne Tricolori Sul Danubio’);• Prof. Gh. Leon (‘Economic and Statistic Annals’, Vol. 24,
1941, No. 1-3, page 112);
• ‘The Journal of the Petroleum Technologist’ (July 1943, page
279-280, No. 127);
• Prof. Dr. Eng. M. Stamatiu (A.G.I.R. Bulletin, October 1943, a
report on ‘Water Matter in Dobrudja’ and ‘Principles of Economic
Policy in the Romanian Oil Legislation’);
• Eng. P. J. Bernhardt (‘Bulletin de l’Association Francaise desTechniciens du Petrole’, Paris 1946, No. 60, a report on ‘The Role and
Weight of Heavy Rods in Drilling’;• Eng. P. J. Bernhardt (in ‘Bulletin de l’Association Francaise
des Techniciens du Petrole’, No. 60, 1946; ‘Elasticité et résistence des
longues colonnes creuses utilisées dans le forage des puits profonds’);
• I. L. Stoup (‘The Oil and Gas Journal’, USA, 22nd
January,
1948, pages 62-63, comments on ‘Drillcollars, Their Use and
Manufacturing’;
• Murray F. Hawkins and Norman Lamont (in ‘Drilling andProduction Practice’, USA, Vol. 10, No. 6, 1949, page 358-369; ‘The
Analysis of Axial Stresses in Drill Stems’;
• Report of Inventions and Innovations Direction of the Council
of Ministers, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the recovery
of the income, that resulted from the application of the USA Patent
No. 12,809 / the 28th of October, 1953;
• Ross Bassinger (‘The Oil and Gas Journal’, USA, the 12th of
October, 1956;
• D. M. Best (in ‘Selecting Drillcolar Length by PressureMethod’, USA, Huston, March, 1957 ;
• ‘Informative Bulletin’ of the Academy of the Popular
Republic of Romania, 3rd
trimester, 1958, page 36, about the lecture
on the promotion of sonicity in oil exploitation and water supply, that
Ion Basgan had held at the science and technique courses of the
Academy; the 50th ‘SONICS’ Conference of George Constantinescu,
which was held in London and New-York in 1959 about the
successful application of Basgan’s Patents in USSR, published at
London and translated by the Academy of The Popular Republic of
Romania in !961. ;
• Report and Notification No. 193 of the 16th of September,
1960 of the Technical and Scientific Council of the Ministry of
Industry and Oil, that was presided by the Minister Mihai Florescu,
with the participation of the delegates of the Council of Minister, the
Finance Minister, the Academy of the popular Republic of Romania,
the Office of Standards and Inventions;
• G. Wooss and A. Lubinschii (‘Gostoptehizdat’, 1960,
‘Deviation of oil wells in the process of drilling’;
• V. M. Kasimov (‘Nefteanae hazeaistvo’, USSR, No. 3, 1960,
‘Calculation aspects of rod strings for deep sucker plants’;
• Carl Gatling, ‘Petroleum Engineering Drilling and WellCompletion’ (USA, 1960);
• ‘Drilling International’ (a USA journal that required Ion
Basgan to publish a technical and autobiographical article, through the
Address of 27th of December, 1960, of which the original copy is kept
at the Romanian Trading Chamber;
• The Report of the Scientific Council of the ‘Politehnica’
University of Bucharest for the awarding of the degree ‘Doctor
Honoris Causa’ to the Engineer George Constantinescu of the 2nd
of
October, 1961, in which Basgan’s inventions and their success were
mentioned as a practical example of sonicity achievements.;
• Dinu Moroianu and I. M. Ştefan, ‘The Living Fire. A ShortHistory of Romanian Inventions and Discoveries’, Scientific Printing
House, 1963, pages 173-176, about the contribution of Ion Basgan to
the world technical and scientific achievements;
• ‘The Magazine’ periodical of the 1st of the August, 1964
contained a presentation of George Constantinescu, the forerunner of
sonicity and Ion Basgan, his follower;
• The Technical Director of the State Office for Inventions
published the article ‘The Forerunners’ in the ‘Economic Life’
magazine of the 10th of December, 1965, as a result of the conference
of the 18th of November, 1965; the article focused on the Basgan
drilling methods, that are the basis of international drilling: ’Today,
Ion Basgan’s inventions represent the corner stone of modern drilling,
and are well-known in all the industrialized countries’;
• Rollins H. M. (‘The Oil and Gas Journal’, the 18th of April,
1966, pages 98-106). In his article ‘Drill-Pipe Fatigue Failure’ the
author, who was a specialist at Drilco Oil Tools Inc. mentioned Ion
Basgan’s contribution to the fatigue breaking of drilling rods in the
drilling of deviated oil-wells, especially;
• J. R. Eickmeier (‘Diagnostic Analysis of Dynamometer Cards’
in ‘Journal of Petroleum Technology’, January, 1967, pages 97-106;
• ‘Machines et equipements roumaines’, a technical and
commercial publication of Romania for foreign countries, published in
its first issue of 1967 an official article entitled ‘Contributions
Roumaines au Développement de la Théorie et de la Practique du
Forage Moderne’, in the French, English, and German editions,
presenting Basgan’s Patents abroad, as well as their scientific and
technical significqnce;
• ‘La revista italiana del petrolio’ published in April, 1967 the
articles: ‘The Effect of Archimedes’ Pressure and Sonic Energy,
Essential Conditions for the Future of Drilling’, and ‘The Applications
of Basgan’s Drilling Methods in Italy’, in which there were mentioned
the drillings where these methods were applied, with the conclusion:
‘the drilling methods that are applied in Italy confirm the importanceof the drilling methods by utilizing ‘Basgan’ heavy proportional rodsand show that large deviation drillings are generated, when thismethod is not applied’;
• In ‘Le petrole lubri Europe’, No. 6, 1967 of Paris there was
published the review of the dissertation that Ion Basgan had presented
at the 7th World Oil congress, Mexico, 2-8 April, 1967;
• In the magazine ‘Petrole informations’, of the 20th of June,
1967, Paris there was published the article entitled ‘Les nouvelles
méthodes de forage scientifique’, containing the reviews of the
dissertations that Ion Basgan held at the World Oil Congresses, as
well as his latest works and his activity;
• Don E. Lembert (‘Western nations dominate exchange of
information’ in ‘World Oil’, Vol. No. 6, 1967, page 31-32). This work
included comments on the 7th World Oil Congress in Mexico City,
1967. The author presented short quotations of Dr. Ion Basgan’s ‘The
Rotary-percussion drilling’. The author also quotes an excerpt from
the ‘Viaţa Economică’ magazine, of the 10th of December, 1965: ‘Ion
Basgan’s inventions represent the basis of modern drilling and areunanimously acknowledged by all the industrialized countries’;
• ‘Le petrole lubri Europe’, No. 127, of the 20th of October,
1967 published an editorial and a few pages that were dedicated to the
scientific and technical contribution of Ion Basgan, including his
portrait and an interview;
• Prof. Renato Calapso from the University of Messina, the
organizer of the Archimedes’ Commemoration, wrote in the Preface to
‘The Archimedes’ Principle’: ‘Ion Basgan is indeed a truthful followerof Archimedes, as he is the follower of his fundamental idea of puttinga genius’ creation into the service of humanity and of the humanwelfare’;
• In ‘Viaţa economică’ (No. 51 of the 22nd
of December, 1967)
there were published several articles, namely: ‘The Basgan Effect’; ‘A
Romanian Invention Makes a Revolution in the Domain of the
Drilling Technique All over the World’; ‘High Depth Sonicity’;
’Near-Future Perspective: the 15,000 m - Drilling’; original written
comments quoted from the western magazines, as well as from the
conferences of the great world scientists on the fundamental matters
that Basgan had brought to the fore in world-oil exploitation;
• In ‘Viaţa studenţească’, No. 6 of the 7th of February, 1968, an
interview of Ion Basgan was published, entitled ‘Debates. Profession:
An Atheist of the Science’, that described the limitation of the effect
of Archimedes’ pressure and the sonic energy: an essential condition
for the future of deep drilling, and an essential contribution to the
solving of the matter of penetrating the lithosphere down to the so-
called Mohorovitz layer. Ion Basgan focused on the significance of
this solution;
• A. I. Tretieni in ‘La Roumanie d’aujourd’hui’, No. 4, April,
1968, published the article ‘The Basgan Effect’, in which he presented
the inventions of the Romanian oil specialist.
Trying to analyze the causes of drills deviation from the vertical
position, the Romanian inventor had to reconsider an already existing
physics postulate, namely the Archimedes’ principle.
The solution that Ion Basgan elaborated and patented both in
Romania and abroad, which referred to the replacement of the heavy
conventional drilling rods of 1 to 4 tons of weight and about 6 m of
length by heavy rods of 100 to 300 m and 20 to 30 t of weight, that
were calculated proportionally to the weight of the displaced liquid
and the necessary pressing load on the drill.
By the combination of the rotary and simultaneous percussion
process with another process that was invented by Ion Basgan,
utilizing the proportional heavy rods, it was achieved a quicker
advance of the drill, resulting in the increase of drilling speed.
The specialists of the USA and Federal Republic of Germany
estimated that a 30% efficiency as compared to classical methods was
obtained by applying Ion Basgan’s inventions.
The utilization of Basgan’s inventions in the USA for 22 years,
namely for the drilling of 1,001,130 oil wells that amounted to
1,182,770,440m had brought about a profit of 30 billion dollars.
However, the inventor was not granted the due payment for the
utilization of his methods, according to international norms. (Mention
should be made that in the article no information sources were
specified regarding the utilization of Basgan’s inventions in the USA).
Dan Bodnărescu (in ‘Oil and Gas’, No. 7, 1968, pages 409-413)
focuses on the importance of the fact that Ion Basgan noticed the
negative effect that would appear during drilling, namely the
Archimedes’ force applied onto the lower part of the drilling rig, that
was called the ‘Basgan effect’.In order to prevent this effect, the heavy rods should carry a
supplementary load besides that which was required for exerting a
pressure on the base, that should be equivalent to the Archimedes’
force, while the neutral zone should be maintained inside the heavy-
rods column.
The author mentioned that the existence of this effect was
experimentally confirmed by M. Hawkins and N. Lomont from the
University of California. In 1949, they measured the negative load and
the location of the neutral zone by means of special electrical
apparatus for a 2” pipe of lucita , that when dipped into water.
The article also alluded to the controversies from the part of
several foreign specialists and scientists regarding this theory.
The author presents some practical results, that were obtained in
the drilling of oil wells and salt exploitation, as a result of utilizing
Basgan’s invention, such as, for instance: 1) in Romania, on the Ocniţa
oil field, the deviation range was between 4o and 70
o at the 400 m-oil
wells and 12o at a 1000 m-oil well, somewhere else on another oil
field. By applying the Basgan method in sonic drilling the deviation
was reduced below a half of a degree; 2) in Italy, when drilling the
3500 m-oil well at Valle of Comoechio (Ravenna), using heavy
proportional rods of 16 t (108 m), a 5t-load on the drill, an 11t-load
was used to lower the neutral zone and to reduce the compressed zone.
A deviation of oil wells below 1o resulted, and the cost of one drilled
meter was about 80 dollars.
‘On the off-shore drilling rig of Ravenna at 3400 m oil welldepth, heavy proportional rods of 15 t were used to drill with a 9 tload on the drill. Under these conditions, the oil wells deviation was3o to 4o .’
Good results were obtained at drilling oil-wells in Sicily. For
instance, heavy rods of 30 t (about 300 m in length) were used to drill
at 20 t to 25 t load on the drill into the hard oil formations of Galiano,
Troina, Pizzo e Bellafontana. Under these conditions, oil wells deviation
was 12o
to 16o
and the cost of 1m of drilled surface was 160 dollars.
The author summed up: ‘The drilling methods that were applied inItaly confirm the importance of Basgan drilling by means of heavyproportional oil rods and demonstrates that extended deviations resultwhen this method is not applied’.
The author states the importance of applying the ‘Basgan effect’
in the domain of crude-oil extraction by pumping, for the calculation
of fatigue resistance of pumping rods.
As a conclusion the author states the following:
‘A short presentation of the matter, shows that the Basgan effectis a real fact, and that the inventor had the merit to have the intuitionof this phenomenon, starting from a study of the Archimedes’principle in the case of long and thin elastic bodies, that were
suspended and immersed into liquids, as it was the case of oil welldrilling and crude - oil wells pumping’.
In ‘La Roumanie d’aujourd-hui’ periodical (of the 4th of April,
1968) it was published an article on the ‘Basgan effect’ in which the
following comment was made: ‘World-famous scientists and manyspecialized publications all over the world have made praising commentsabout the achievements of Ion Basgan the inventor’. This periodical
quotes several such comments.
Dinu Moroianu and I. M. Ştefan, in ‘Passion of Science’ (The
Didactic and Pedagogical Publishing House, Bucharest, 1968, pages
419-427) concisely present Basgan's patents 2103137 in 1937 (USA)
and 22.789/1934 (Romania).
‘La revista italiana del petrolio’ (the 30th of April, 1970) focus
on the advantages that were obtained by applying the Basgan effect at
the oil wells of the ENEI-AGIP company. As a result, perfectly
vertical oil-well holes resulted, as compared to other oil-wells holes,
that were drilled by classical methods and presented a 15o to 20
o
deviation from the vertical.
PATENTS,
STUDIES AND PUBLICATIONS
he brilliant Romanian scientist Ion Basgan was the author
of a broad range of patents, studies and publications,
presented below in this chapter. Nowadays, some of their
applications are used worldwide in the oil industry.
Patents
• Method for the increasing of the efficiency and the
improvement of rotary drilling, by means of rotary percussion anddamping of hydro-mechanical pressure (Romanian Royal Patent,
No. 22,789 of 1934).
• A new process of drilling wells for oil and gas, using
rotary and percussion movements combined, whereby efficiency of
drilling operation is increased, by means of controlling hydro-mechanical pressures (USA Patent No. 739,632 of 1934).
Mr. William J. Wigney, the Director for Europe of the National
Supply Corporation mentioned the following concerning this Patent,
in his article entitled ‘Developments in Oilfield Equipment During1934’, that was published in The Petroleum Times London, of the 19
th
of January, 1935: ‘Engineer Basgan of Romania has just evolved adrilling system combining rotary and percussive movements by meansof pressure pulsations. This is being watched with great interest, but itis much too early, to draw any conclusions as to its successful use’.
Professor Dr. L. Mazarec, ex-president of the Romanian
Academy mentioned the following in ‘The General Course ofMinerals and Rocks’, the 2
nd Part, ‘The Constitutive Substances of the
Earth Layer’, page 411:
‘Usually, deep oil-wells drilling results in a deviation from thevertical by tens and even hundreds of meters. It is by applying theRomanian Ion Basgan’s principle when drilling for the ‘MiningCredit’ company, that the ‘Romanian Oil company’ attained 1915 min 30 days in Pliocene with the oil well No. 470 called ‘The MiningCredit’, at Girdoveni, Ţuicani, including all the operations, that is amedium advance of 64 m per day, at an average drilling of 125 m perday, with the oil well in perfect vertical direction’.
In the case of the heavy proportional rods drilling, the author
showed on the basis of his research, that the hydrostatic pressure of
T
the liquid at the drilled hole was not taken into account before 1934
and he discovered the compressed and the neutral zones of the drilling
rig. The removal of the compressed zone from the heavy rods
represent the invention made by the author in 1934-1937 through the
Romanian and American Patents for the implementation of the heavy
proportional drilling rods. These heavy proportional rods have a
weight equal to that of the liquid volume that is displaced by the
drilling rig, plus the load that is exerted on the drill (drilling pressure)
and consequently varies with the hole depth.
The intermediary weight value between that of the heavy rods
of 1934 and the value that is stipulated in the Patent is consistent with
the program of this method.
The rotary percussion drilling, also known as the sonic or
vibrating drilling, was patented by the author in Romania and the USA
between 1934 and 1937. This drilling method is achieved through the
utilization and adjustment of the existing vibrations in the drilling rig
of the Rotary system or by setting up a new vibration regime to the
drilling rig during rotation, either from the surface, or from the
underground, as far as possible to the drill only, by applying the
principle of the pneumatic or hydraulic hammer, that is based
especially on resonance and magnetostriction.
• Rotary Drilling Apparatus, USA Patent No. 2,103,137
of the 21st of December, 1937. The Patent is guaranteed by the
USA Government for originality.
These Patents contain modern drilling methods, namely the
heavy proportional rods drilling and the sonic drilling (and they were
improved through the Patent No. 37,743 of January, 1945, entitled
‘Drilling by means of Rotary Hammer’).The heavy proportional rods drilling was based on the
Archimede’s force and its effect: compression from the lower part of
the drilling rig and the neutral zone, that represent original discoveries
with unknown effects, that resulted in the deviation of oil-wells (the
‘Basgan effect’). In order to remove the compressed zone from the
drilling rods, there were introduced the heavy proportional rods whose
weight was equal to the weight of the liquid volume being displaced
plus the drilling pressure, in order to obtain vertical holes, with 30%
higher efficiency per every drilled meter.
The simultaneous Rotary percussion drilling, the sonic drilling,
was founded on the sonic energy transmission for the first time through
the drilling rig to the drill, by performing simultaneous percussion and
rotation, resulting in vertical holes with higher efficiency.
These Patents have been applied all over the world. The heavy
proportional rods drilling has been applied immediately after patenting.
Heavy drilling rods were immediately extended from a couple
of meters to 200 m in length, in the American industry, as well as in
all the countries with a developed oil industry. Rotary percussion
drilling was utilized at international scale.
Unfortunately, the USA Patent was put under distraint by the
American Government during the war until 1965, when the Distraint
Order was abrogated through the Order S.A. 838 that was com-
municated by the Ministry of Justice of the USA, No. 20,530 of the
30th of November, 1965.
In Romania, the heavy proportional rods drilling was success-
fully applied in the past by some Romanian oil companies (see
‘Annals of Mines’ No. 7/1938, cap. VI, 25). A 30% reduction of
drilling cost was obtained by the application of this invention.
The Ministry of Oil experimented this method on the oil-field
of Roşiori-R. Sărat in 1961, with a 30% higher efficiency. In 1964,
the Oil Ministry decided on the implementation of heavy rods, from
70 to 150 m in length, as they were described in the Basgan Patents
(See ‘Oil and Gas’, No. 8 of 1964, the article signed by the Deputy
Minister Ion Pacoste). The Minister of Mines applied the sonic drilling
at the Oil Field No. 3 of Ocna Mureş for the salt pit exploitation, when
perfectly vertical bore holes were obtained for the first time.
Efficient exploitation of salt pits required perfectly vertical
direction of pit holes. It had become almost a legend that salt pit holes
would develop a natural deviation upon salt exploitation. Deviations
varied between 4° and 7° at the 400 m salt pits of Ocniţa and up to
about 12° at the 1000 m salt pits of Ocna Mureş. In 1960, it was
planned to reduce the hole deviation below 1° for the salt pits No. 3 of
Ocna Mureş, from the very stage of design, through the application of
the Basgan method.
As a result, deviations lower than one half of a degree were
obtained at the above mentioned salt pits. Salt pit exploitation data are
presented in detail below (see Table 1) for the salt pits No. 3 of Ocna
Mureş.
Table 1
Salt
pit
Bottom
[m]
Heavy rods: 6 5/8”
pressure on
Length Weight
112 1100 80 m 16 t
113 1100 80 m 16 t
114 1100 80 m 16 t
115 1100 85 m 17 t
At the salt pit No. 3 of Ocna Mureş, there were drilled four
holes by applying the heavy proportional rods drilling and the
simultaneous rotary percussion drilling. The drilling was initiated at
the request of the Oil Ministry and it ended under the control of the
Mines Minister in 1962. In the drilling of these salt pits, heavy
proportional drilling rods were utilized (200 m to 400 m in length),
permitting to lower the centre of gravity of the drilling rig, according
to the axial load on the drill and the volume of the displaced liquid,
with simultaneous vertical oscillation of the drill during operation, by
means of reducing the pressure on the drill (axial load), to the effect
that the sonic energy that was generated at the end of the drilling rig at
the surface should be conveyed to the drill. It was for the first time
that perfectly vertical salt pit holes were drilled in Romania, by
applying the combined drilling method and the lower drilling pressure.
The results that were obtained were published by the Oil Ministry in
the ‘Oil and Gas’ magazine (No. 7, 1968).
In this respect, engineer Dan Bodnărescu, the former controller
of the Ministry of Mines, would focus in a conference held at the
Ministry of Mines, on the results that had been obtained at the salt
pit No. 3 of Ocna Mureş by applying the Basgan drilling method.
At these discussions, the specialists of the Ministry of Mines
(Eng. V. Dima), of the State Office for Invetions (Eng. Bedivan
Elena, Eng. Rusu Abrudeanu) confirmed these results. As a Technical
Director of the Ministry of Mines and a President of the Conference
Board, engineer Oprişor specified at the end of discussions that it was
absolutely necessary that the Romanian inventor Ion Basgan should
receive his financial and moral rights as they were due to him.
On the 9th of May, 1968, the General Direction of Standards and
Inventions issued the Patent No. 50912 for Ion Basgan, entitled
‘Exploitation of Salt in Vertically Drilled Pits through the Rotary andPercussion Drilling System with the Limitation of the Arhimedes’Pressure, the Installation and Method therefor’.
The scientific grounding of these patents gave rise to sustained
controversies at the top, in Romania, USSR, USA, Germany and other
countries. It was only after 10 or 15 years from patenting that the first
important application works appeared, gradually extending to cover
every country, and attesting the efficiency of the Basgan effect for the
completion and improvement of the Archimedes’ principle. Economic
results that Ion Basgan’s patents had brought at international scale
were acknowledged (‘Oil and Gas’, No. 3 and 4 / 1961).
M. A. Evescenko confirmed the principle of Ion Basgan in the
‘Manual for Oil Drilling Wells’ (Technical Printing House, 1953,
page 60) in the chapter ‘The effect of the liquid hydrostatic pressure’.In ‘The Mechanics of Drilling’ (Moscow 1949), B. I. Vozdvijenski
mentioned that the hydrostatic pressure of the liquid generates an
upward contraction of the drilling rig and therefore a contraction
(compression) of the lower part of the column takes place. In this
respect, the author specifies that: ‘in order to reduce the breakingstress, it is recommended that the lower part of the column should bemade of heavy drillcollars…’.
In France, engineer Bernard quoted Ion Basgan’s lecture held
on the occasion of the World Oil Congress (Paris, 1937), showing
its importance in one of his articles of ‘Bulletin de l’AssociationFrançaise des Techniciens du Pétrole’, Paris, 1946, No. 60. Under the
same circumstances, engineer Bernard noted the error that had been
made in hydro-mechanics, by ignoring the effect of the liquid pressure
on the drilling rods, the existence of a neutral zone and a compression
area in a freely suspended column in a liquid.
In the USA, Prof. Hawkins and Lamont of the Louisiana
University, Prof. Karl Gatlin of the Texas University, Prof. Moor
U.I. Okon of the Oklahoma University (in his Doctorate Thesis),Handelman, Holmquist, D.M. Best and other renowned researchers
theoretically and experimentally confirmed the value of the Romanian
research.
Prof. Ion Basgan would state that for 2000 years the Archimedes’
principle had represented a scientific interpretation flaw, a prejudice to
the mankind.
People had to wait until Ion Basgan, a creator of genius and a
fine observer of the scientific phenomena came to existence. On the
basis of practical experience, that he gathered on the oil fields, he
reached the conclusion that this principle as it had been stated could
not be applied to the drilling rigs. As he had noticed, the hydrostatic
pressure was not only on the center of gravity of the drilling column
and it was not equally distributed on its entire length, but on the
contrary, it acted on the lower end of the rig, on the drill. Therefore, a
compression zone is generated at the lower end, with a neutral zone
upward on the vertical and a column under tension following next, up
to the surface. This zone was established by Ion Basgan through
mathematical calculation and by his equation.
The negative stress, the compressed zone and the zero zone at
the lower part of the drilling rig were designated by the term the
‘Basgan effect’.Ion Basgan presented his discovery at the World Oil Congress
held In London, in 1933 and later, in 1937 the invention that resulted
from that discovery was covered also in the USA by Patent No.
2,103,137 c/255/24.
Another invention of Ion Basgan, breaking new grounds to
make a huge step forward in the progress of mankind, had as a
scientific background the theory of sonicity of our renowned fellow
countryman, George Constantinescu. The genius of Ion Basgan would
bring about a revolution in deep drilling, by the application of this
invention.
After extended and thorough observation, Ion Basgan noticed
the existence of the sonic waves in the metal column and in the liquid
that passed through the drilling rigs. Ion Basgan evolved therefore a
process for the practical utilization of this energy. That is how the
inquiring spirit of the Romanian Ion Basgan has created a new method
of going even deeper down into the earth: the simultaneous penetratingdrilling, also called the sonic drilling.
Ion Basgan’s idea was based on a simple process, namely to
create a permanent vibrating regime during drilling, that should be
conveyed to the drill bit by means of penetrating shocks. Thus, the
stress impact of the penetration movement loosens the rock which is
easily and quickly displaced by the rotary movement of the drill bit. It
can be stated unreservedly that the Basgan effect brought about ‘a
revolution of the drilling technique in the world’. The effect may be
understood as a combination of the drilling method proper (that is
based on the sonicity principle) and certain technical aspects regarding
the upgrading of the drilling equipment for the increase of the weight
and size of the heavy rods, in order to remove the negative effect of
the Archimedes’ pressure.
The Ion Basgan effect has long before been applied abroad in
the construction of many drills. It is worthwhile mentioning in
this respect the comments made by the Romanian scientist George
Constantinescu in ‘Revista italiana del petrolio’ (the 30th of April,
1959) regarding the application of the drilling method in the USA:
‘During a visit I had paid to America, I was informed that the drillingmethod that has been invented and experimented by our fellowcountryman Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan is applied in this countrysuccessfully in oil exploitation. One should be filled with awe at thefact that some of our countrymen have contributed and still contributeto the progress of world science and technique. The principles that IonBasgan has stated represent accurate landmarks for us and contributeto the progress in the domain of deep drilling. I am glad that thetheory of sonicity has found an application in the studies, researchand experimenting of one of our fellow country men’.
What is really fulminating about this invention to those who
have not yet realized its value is the economic effect, that may be
achieved through its application, the international cost of this
idea. In this respect, there were made calculations attesting the above
mentioned idea, by legal experts and highly qualified technicians from
the USA and Germany, who established on the basis of very accurate
calculation that Basgan’s patent when applied in oil drilling ensures a
30% reduction of the cost per one meter of drilled area. To mention
only the USA, billions of meters had been drilled by that time by
hundreds of oil companies that possessed thousands of oil wells.
Consequently, these companies obtained a profit of several thousands
billion dollars. If profits that had been obtained by the companies of
other countries where this method was applied were added to this
amount of money, then the total profit obtained by these countries
would amount to huge incomes.
Renowned international lawyers (Prof. Minoli, Dr. C. Drăgan,
and others) confirmed through their legal investigations carried out in
the USA that Ion Basgan’s rights in the USA that were deriving from
his USA Patent No. 2,103,137 and the Divesting Order S. A – 837
with the address of the Ministry of Justice of the USA, No. 20,530 of
the 30th of November, 1965 were not prescribed. They also guaranteed
that his case could be won 85%. The expert appraisals that were made
by German specialists and filed at the Romanian National Bank
showed that his Patents had brought an economy of about 30 billion
dollars to the USA industry, mentioning that his financial rights
amounted to several billion dollars.
That was why, Ion Basgan’s legal action abroad of 1967 was
financed with approximately 30,000 dollars by Italian, French, German
and Portuguese groups.
In 1959, the Romanian scientist G. Constantinescu held a radio
conference, in England focusing on the contribution that this Romanian
Invention has brought to the world.
In 1964, Prof. Wolf Erich from the University Department of
Ships Statics published in the Federal Republic of Germany in ‘Erdölund Kohle’ magazine a study in which he confirmed the new scientific
principles and the advantages of utilizing Dr. Basgan’s heavy drilling
rods.
The international scientific and technical effect of Ion Basgan’s
Patents was described also by the Technical Director of the State
Office for Inventions in his article of the ‘Viaţa Economică’ magazine
of the 10th of December, 1965, concluding that: ‘Ion Basgan’s
inventions represent today the corner stone of the modern drilling, andare attested in all the industrially developed countries’.
• Rotary and Rotary Percussion Drilling System with
Sonic Frequencies, the Limitation of the Effect of Archimedes’Pressure, the Installation and Apparata therefor.
This Patent that had been achieved in the West in 1967, was
issued in Italy and filed for France, USA, Portugal and the Arab
countries. It allowed that the critical depth that had been attained by
then of about 8,000 m could be surpassed, by conveying sonic energy
by 5,000 m/s to the drill and by reducing the compressed zone in the
drilling rig, even more specifically stated than in his former Patents.
Innovations
• The Utilization of the Heavy Pipes at the Crelius
KAM Prospecting Rig and any Prospecting Rigs and DrillingSystems of this Type (January, 1951).
The innovation was attested also by the Direction of Inventions
and Innovations through the Report No. 44 of the 22nd
of June, 1953
and disseminated in Romania to several ministries through the Report
No. 99 of 20th of November, 1955. Based on this innovation, the
Ministry of Metallurgy launched into manufacturing a prototype at the
‘Republica’ Works, for which Ion Basgan received a reward in 1954.
An increase of 30% of the work speed and 10 to 15% savings
for the exploitation cost resulted from the expert appraisals and an
annual economy was calculated for Romania of over 30 billion lei.
• Simultaneous Rotary Percussion Drilling (registered at
I.S.P.A. and M.I.P.C. in 1960/1961).
• Heavy Proportional Rods in Rotary Drilling(registered at I.S.P.A and M.I.P.C in 1960/1961).
• Water Supply at S.M.T. Topraisar (for which Ion
Basgan was rewarded from the Agriculture Ministry funds in 1956.
• Drilling by Means of the Drilling Rig Similar to theLead String (that was first committed to be design by the Water State
Committee through IPACH in 1964).
Studies and publications
• ‘The Oil Region Moreni-Gura Ocniţei’ (a study
published in collaboration with engineer I. Cardaş in Romanian and
French, in ‘Annales de Mines de Roumanie’, 1926, No. 8).
This work was published at a time when the works on the
Moreni oil field was in full swing. The Southern side of the 3rd
Meotic
layer was unknown and the Northern side was anomalous with
difficulties at water stopping at its launching into production. Since
the oil wells were blowing into the open air and the drilling technique
was not yet perfected, because the zone had not been thoroughly
explored by then, thousands of crude oil wagons and billions of cubic
meters of gas were lost.
Connections between various exploitation sites were made in
this work. It presents a map of the isobath of the Moreni Dacian layer
on the Southern site and of the Meotic layer isobath on the Northern
side, for the entire region, stating several conclusions, that would be
taken into account for its subsequent development. The salt limits were
defined by a transversal profile that was drawn to scale on the basis
of the drilled salt pits, some of which had even passed through the
salt. This standard profile of the region would be quoted any time when
the Moreni region was to be mentioned (see ‘Geology of Petroleum’,page 94, by William Harves Emmons, Professor and Head of the
Department of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Minnesota).
• ‘Waukesha Engines in Rotary Drilling’ (a study
published in Romanian and French, in the ‘Romanian Annals ofMines’, in the Review of the Association of Engineers and
Technicians of the Mining Industry (Bucharest, the 12th year, No. 11,
November, 1929, pages 537-539).
The study described the first experiment that had been made in
Romania by the author, utilizing the American Waukesha engines,
that would be largely used later in the Romanian oil industry; it also
presented the economy which may be obtained through the drilling by
thermal engines. Later, this process would be largely developed.
• ‘Oil Industry’ (1929).
• ‘Oil Exploitation on the Teleajen Valley’, published
in Romanian and French, in ‘Anales des Mines de Roumanie’,1930, No. 10. A review was made on this work in ‘Moniteur duPétrole Roumain’, Technical Chronicle, No. 22 of 1930, page 1,279,
containing the following appreciation:
‘In his study entitled ‘Oil Exploitation on the Teleajen Valley’,Mr. Ion Basgan focuses on the importance and the results of theexploitations in these regions, that are estimated to be a most valuablereserve for our oil industry. This note cannot present in detail theinteresting guidelines that he gives for each of these regions, namelyCopăceni, Scăioşi and Boldeşti, regarding their geological characte-ristics. We shall insist nevertheless on the connections in oil wellsdrilling and others. The study is characterized by the fact that theauthor’s comments are based on accurate data, the author’s ownremarks, which he had the opportunity to gather and systematizewhile he was in charge of the exploitation, drilling and extraction inthe respective regions’.
• ‘Operation and Form of the Rotary Drill in the
Romanian Oil Rocks’ (published by the Romanian Academy).
The utilization of the Rotary drilling, that had been introduced
from America, was generally applied after the year 1925 in Romania.
Nevertheless it was not supported by an adequate technical and
scientific literature, either in Romania or in the USA. It was the
outcome of practical work and drilling still belonged to the domain of
art more than to that of technique and science.
This work analyzed and established for the first time the
scientific principles and the laws that define drilling, such as: the
principle of the drilling feed, the diameter of the drill and of the holes,
the penetration and the factors affecting the feed, the drilling pressure,
the laws of mud circulation, the functions of the mud and its properties
in drilling, the rotary speed, as well as the form and the adaptation of
the drill to the variation in soil hardness.
This work, with a foreword by Eng. Teodor Ficşinescu, Professor
of drilling at the ‘Politehnica’ School of Bucharest, was presented to
the ‘Romanian Academy’ by Professor L. Mrazec, during the session
of the 11th of March, 1932 and it was published in ‘The Memorials of
the Scientific Section of the Romanian Academy’.In this respect, Prof. Eng. T. Ficşinescu spoke of this work in
the following terms:
‘The analysis of the action and form of the Rotary drill in the oilrocks, that is made by a technician as the engineer Ion Basgan, aperson with perfect scientific and technical training, who has gatheredand proved his observations in effectively working on the oil fields foralmost 8 years, represents a serious contribution to the developingscience of oil drilling’.
Reviews of this work are contained in various specialised
magazines, such as: ‘Annales des Mines de Roumanie’, ‘Moniteur dePétrole Roumain’, No. 3, of the 1st of February, 1933, ‘The Techniquein the Romanian Oil Industry’, page 99, ‘Bulletin of A.G.I.R.’, vol. 14,
1932, No. 12, page 692, ‘Bulletin of A.G.I.R.’, April 1933, page 228,
229, to name only a few.
A review published in a ‘Bulletin of A.G.I.R.’ mentioned that:
‘This work covers a gap in the technical literature of oil drilling,while setting the drilling practical work on scientific grounds’.
• ‘Schwingungsphaenomene und Deren Wirkung auf
die Arbeitsweise des Meissels im Rotary Bohrsystem’ (Vibrating Phe-
nomena and their Effect on the Action of the Drill in The Rotary
Drilling System).
This work was translated into Romanian and presented to the
Romanian Academy by Prof. Eng. N. Vasilescu – Karpen, a former
Rector of the ‘Politehnica’ School of Bucharest. It describes the
specific way in which various vibrations are generated in the liquid
circuit and in the drilling rods, with the afferent mathematical and
practical formulae of these phenomena.
• ‘Die Arbeitsweise und Form des Rotary Meissels im
Erdoelgesteine’ (Hans Urban Publishing House, Gersthoferstrasse
70, Vienna, 1934).
This work is the Doctor Thesis of Ion Basgan with a foreword
by Gogu Constantintscu, including three chapters covering 90 pages,
50 plane drawings and 3 pictures.
Chapter I presents the principles of the drill feed, the equation
of the drilling rig stability, comments on the particular cases that may
appear during drilling, while establishing the importance of the
drilling pressure and of the heavy drilling rod regarding the resistance
and the behavior of the drilling rods.
There are depicted the various categories of vibrations that are
generated both in the drilling rods and in the mud circuit, such as: the
vibrations specific to the drilling rods system, the vibrations that are
generated by the pressure changes in the liquid circuit affecting the
mud column and the walls of the drilling rods, as well as twisting
vibrations.
It is calculated the propagation speed of these vibrations, as
well as their effect on the drilling rods and the drill operation. The
action of these vibrations in drilling is calculated by means of the
formulae of the sonic theory and it is estimated the possibility of
utilizing them for another drilling system. It is established the role of
vibrations in obtaining vertical drilling holes, as well as the general
conditions of obtaining vertical grilling holes.
Chapters II and III describe the drilling speed, the form and
construction of various drills, their sharpening and maintenance
during operation.
The Doctorate Board including renowned professors in the
domain of German technique, such as Prof. Dr. Eng. Josef Pirkl, Prof.
Eng. Figlewicz, Prof. Eng. Peter and others made commendatory
remarks on Ion Basgan’s Doctorate Thesis. He received the Doctor ofScience degree under the same solemn festivity as the mining engineer
Hoover several months before when he was awarded the DoctorHonoris Causa title by the president of the USA.
This work was reviewed by Prof. Krejci-Graf of Freiberg-
Bergakademie and it was published in ‘Neues Jarbuch für Mineralogie,Geologie und Paläntologie’, Jahrgang 1934, page. 771.
Romanian and German magazines made the following comments
at that time: ‘The Romanian Minister of Vienna who attended thesolemn festivity was deeply impressed by the success that the Romanian
technique had marked, as a result of the favourable attitude regardingthe value of Ion Basgan’s work manifested by the German school andtechnique’.
• ‘The Division of Europe and the Contingency of
Import’ (‘The Movement’, the 15th of January, 1933).
On this occasion, Ion Basgan pointed out the following: ‘At agiven moment it seemed that the old Europe was united by a movementof brotherhood, as a justified action of continental solidarity in frontof the new world, which in its technical and economic ascent wasattempting to conquer all the branches of the economic developmentof the old world.
Right at a moment when the Pan-europeanism was gatheringmomentum, we are witnessing the introduction of the most protectivecustoms regime that ever existed in the Great Britain, as well as thedivision among the European States, that reminds one of the oldChinese walls.
Consistently with this protective regime, the Romanian governmenthas resorted to the control of the currency and then to the contingencysystem, aiming at a co-ordination of the import policy with the paymentpossibilities abroad for the imported goods; this was not by need oflowering import which in the latest years has dropped without theintervention of this economic protectionism, that brings high prejudicesto our commercial and industrial activity. Our import has droppedfrom 29 billion lei in 1929 and 23 billion in 1930 to 15 billion in 1931and about 11 billion lei in 1932.
The contingency system shall permit us to cover first the import,through our export and then the backward payment in the limit of themoney available, only in those countries in which we have exported.The state which shall not favor our export runs the risk of failing tocash in the amount we are due to pay. Moreover, the sums which wehave in a state hardly can be transformed in order to cover our debtsin another state.
Therefore, the policy of contingency aims at directing our importand export towards certain countries, thus allowing the intervention ofthe state in leading a customs and commercial policy.
In spite of all these facilities that were obtained throughsacrifices and limitations as regards the free trading, the efficiency ofthe contingency principle in itself is debatable and the problems hadalready become manifest, in point of both the economic achievements,and the way of applying this system.
Under the present conditions, the market quotation acts as anencouragement for the corporations and consortiums, including theopportunity of new initiatives, causing great problems to industrialenterprises and commercial houses, that have established trade relationsin a certain country, other than that which is imposed by the contingencypolicy, as well as the limitation of the quality selection, etc.
The contingency policy is a part of the political interventionmethods into the economic life, that result in a directed economy, whichis so much disputed today. This restraint of the economic freedomseems to be possible only in the framework of the Autarchy, which is acondition still far from us. This limitation of freedom presents temporaryadvantages, as against the disorders that it implies, with a directeffect first of all on the reduction of our export.
With this kind of policy, the economic solidarity of the Europeanstates can be hardly attained. The two Europes, that is the industrialand the agriculture Europe are grinning at each other in front of theirmutual adversary’.
• ‘The Technique and the Scientific Interpretation of the
Rotary Drilling System’ (its summary was published in the A.G.I.R.
Bulletin, 1933, pages 279-280, as well as in the ‘Annals of Mines’, No.
10, 1933).
• ‘Scientific Considerations of the Technique of
Modern Drilling’ (that was published both individually and in the
volume ‘World Oil Congress’ of July, 1933, pages 353-444, in
London, with a review made for it in ‘The Petroleum Times’, Special
Congress Issue, the 22nd
of July, 1933, page 133; ‘World Petroleum’ ,New York – London, Supplementary Issue, July, 1933, page 431 and
‘The Journal of The Petroleum Technologist’, Vol. 20, 1934, pages
279-280.
This work was translated and published in Baku and Moscow,
in 1934, under the title ‘The Scientific Grounds of Modern DrillingMethods’, with a foreword by S. I. Siscenko:
‘The Report presented by Ion Basgan at the InternationalCongress of the oil magnates, in London, 1933, is a rational approachof the dynamic phenomena that occur in the drilling rig duringdrilling. The extensive damages of drilling rods taking place withoutany apparent specific reason have caused both Romanian and foreignspecialists to pay the most serious attention to the drilling dynamics.
The theory shows that drilling may generate such conditions inwhich the rods are subject to significant oscillation, that may affecttheir resistance and result in immediate damage. The drill worker whounderstands the problems raised by the vibration of the drilling rigcan adjust the intensity of the vibrations, even to the extent of utilizingthem in order to increase the drilling feed, by changing the drillingregime, the number of pump strokes, the pressure on the base.
Therefore, in the case of the rotary drilling, the drill may becompelled to oscillate and thus by creating a dynamic alternative loadon the base, a significant increase of the drill feed may be obtained.Practical experience showed that the drill, which has ended its feeddrill in fact starts to operate again under the effect of the longitudinalvibrations. The American practical experience also proves that theworker can change the feed intensity by changing the number of pumpstrokes and the pressure’.
In his foreword, Siscenko confirmed the efficiency of the new
drilling methods that were introduced through the above mentioned
improvements.
• ‘The Policy of the Fuel in the Light of Progress’
(‘The Universe’, of the 24th
of July, 1933).
• ‘Die Erdoelproduction Rumaeniens’ (‘AllgmeineOesterreichische Chemicher - und technicher - Zeitung’, page 79,
Vienna, the 14th
of July, 1933).
• ‘Reports on the Occasion of the World Oil Congress’ (a
conference held at the radio station on the 7th of September, 1933 and
published in ‘The Movement’, on the 12th of September, 1933 and in
‘L’Indépendance Roumaine’ on the 21st of September, 1933).
The lecturer presented the participation of Romania to the first
World Oil Congress in London, in 1933. On this occasion, Ion Basgan
stated his point of view on the future development, structure and
organization of the world oil industry and the way the Romanian oil
industry could fit in this new form of evolution.
• ‘The Oil Market in England’, 1933.
• ‘The Economic Situation in the Domains of Oil, Coal,
Gas, Salt, Gold, Silver’, The National Printing House, 1934.
The author as a referent of the Mining Section published a
synthesis regarding the economic situation and a statistics in the
domain of oil, coal, gas, salt, gold, silver for the period 1929 – 1934 in
the ‘Bulletin of the Institute of Economic Situation’.
• ‘The Scientific Rotary Drilling’ (presented at the 8th
Congress of the Romanian Association for the Advance of Sciences, in
Bucharest, between the 29th of April and the 2
nd of May, 1934).
• ‘Norms for Materials Specific to the Oil Industry’ (a
work written in collaboration with engineer A. I. Vellan, in 1934).
This was a work that had been carried out for the ‘Reşiţa’ and
‘Malaxa’ companies for the manufacturing of the materials and pipes
in Romania as required in the oil industry.
• ‘The Oil Policy in Accordance with the Exploitation
Conjuncture and the Fuel Matter’ (published in January, 1936 in the
‘I.R.E. Bulletin’, the 3rd
year, No. 4. This work was awarded a prize by
the Romanian Academy on the basis of Mr. L. Mrazec report in the
session of 1936.
Professor I. Simionescu mentioned and quoted parts of this work
in ‘Our Country’ magazine, pages 354 and 362.
• ‘Important Factors in the Carrying Out of a National
Oil Policy’ (Wichtige Faktoren behufs Verwirklichung einer
Nationaler Petroleumpolitik, ‘Industry and Commerce’ magazine,
Industrie und Handelszeitschrift, March, 1936.
• ‘The Role of the State in Industrialisation’ (published
also in the ‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’, No. 10, 1936, pages 550 – 600).
• ‘The Report on the Industrialisation of the Country’
(this work was written by Ion Basgan as a speaker at the A.G.I.R.
Congress, Iaşi, 1936, in collaboration with engineer Rusu Abrudeanu,
‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’, No. 11, 1936).
• ‘La Pologne productive’ (‘Annales des Mines deRoumanie’, No. 11/1936 and ‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’, No. 11/1936, page
33).
The work is a short presentation of the mining production of
Poland and of the experience Ion Basgan had on the study trip of
A.G.I.R. in October, 1936.
• ‘The Role and Necessary Weight of the Heavy Rods
in Drilling’ (lecture held at the World Oil Congress, Paris, 1937
and published in the Congress works, quoted and developed by
engineer Bernard in one of his works of 1946).
• ‘Bohrungen im Vorlande des Oelgebietes von
Rumanien’ (published in: ‘Leobener Bergmannstag’, 1937, Julius
Springer Publishing House, Vienna and in ‘Bohrtechniker -Zeitung’, 55 (1937), pages 309 - 313 .
The work focuses on various types of Romanian oil anticlines
and describes the activity on the new oil fields of Bucşani and
Mărgineni, as well as the works in the plain area.
The work was reviewed by Prof. Dr. M. Hengelein in ‘NeuesJahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläntologie’, Jahrgang 1938,
pages 254, 255 and by Prof. Dr. V. Philipsborn, Freiberg Berg-
akademie, in ‘Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie undPaläntologie’, Jahrgang, 1938, page 255.
• ‘New Oil Fields in Romania’ (‘Nouveaux chantiers depétrole en Roumanie’, published in ‘Annales des Mines de Roumanie’,1937, a Romanian and French translation of the above mentioned
work).
• ‘The Economic Report of the Oil Section at the
A.I.T.I.M. Congress’ (presented in May, 1939 and published in the
‘Annals of Mines’, Argus, on the 19th of May, 1939, ‘The Evolution of
the Romanian Economy’, by Prof. Virgil Madgearu, pages 104 and
105).
• ‘The Campaign of Oil Production Increase Through
the Exploitation and Search of New Oil Fields’ (‘Oil - BearingRomania’, the 26
th of March, 1940).
• ‘Oil and Natural Gas in Romania’ (this work was
written at the official demand of the Ministry of National
Propaganda and published in the ‘Romanian Institute of Energy’, No.
224 and in the ‘I.R.E. Bulletin’, the 8th year, No. 3, September, 1940.
• ‘Erdoelgewinnung in Rumaenien Bohren und Foerden
des Erdoels und Dessen Verarbeitung’ (‘Oel und Kohle’, No. 40,
Berlin, the 22nd
of October, 1940).
• ‘Efficient Exploitation of Oil Fields’ (‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’,No. 7 of 1934; review published in the ‘Annales des Mines deRoumanie’, No. 11, November, 1940).
• ‘Charakteristic des Rumaenischen Erdoels’ (‘Oel undKohle’, No. 40, Berlin, the 22
nd of October, 1940)
• ‘Oil Exploitation in Romania – Oil Extractive and
Processing Industry’ (‘Romanian Annals of Mines’, No. 1 of the 20th
of January, 1941).
• ‘Sfruttamento del petrolio in Romania’ (‘La RevistaItaliana Del Petrolio’, Roma, Febbraio 1941 – XIX).
• ‘Caratteristiche degli olii greggii romeni’ (‘La RevistaItaliana Del Petrolio’, Roma, Gennaio 1941 – XIX)
• ‘The Question of Water in Dobrudgea’ (published in
the ‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’, No. 10 of October 1943 and in
miscellaneous excerpts).
• ‘Political and Economic Principles in the Oil
Legislation of Romania’ (‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’, No. 10 of October,
1943 and in miscellaneous excerpts).
• ‘Mines’ (quarterly chapter issued in the ‘Bulletin ofRomanian Institute of Economic Situation’).
• ‘Increase of Oil Production’ (published in the
‘Romania’ newspaper, of the 14th of October, 1940 and in ‘La
Stampa’, of the 6th of November, 1940).
• ‘Principles of National Oil Policy’ (‘The Universe’, the
7th of November, 1940).
• ‘Romanian Oil Industry and the Spirit of New Times’
(‘Oil – Bearing Romania’, the 13th of July, 1940 and the reviews of
the ‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’, No. 9/10, September, October, 1940, page
193).
• ‘Oil Situation and National Interests’ (‘Oil – BearingRomania’, the 22
nd of August, 1940).
• ‘Oil Exploitation in Romania, Oil Extraction and
Processing Industry’ (‘Romanian Annals of Mines’, No. 1 of the 20th
of January, 1941).
• ‘The New Law of Oil and the National Capital’ (see
‘Oil – Bearing Romania’, the 1st of August, 1942.
• ‘The Water Supply in Dobrudgea’ (lecture held at
the Academy of Sciences, in Bucharest, December, 1943).
• ‘Proportional Heavy Rods Drilling’. This work
represents the written text of Ion Basgan’s lecture which he held at the
headquarters of A.S.I.T. on the 11th
of April, 1951, containing a
technical and scientific description of his innovation which he had
introduced in January, 1951 in prospecting drilling exploitations.
There are also included quotations from foreign authors, who made a
confirmation of the scientific and technical principles underlying this
improvement of the drilling technique.
• ‘Drinking Water Supply in the Countryside’ (published
in the ‘Hydrotechnics’ magazine, No. 8/1959).
• ‘The Products’ Quality of Sovromutilajpetrolifer’
(Bucharest, January, 1954). The work includes the following
chapters: How the oil equipment industry came into being in Romania;
Technical and scientific measures for the improvement of the oil
equipment quality; Technical and organizational measures for the
improvement of oil equipment quality; Quality improvement by
means of new high technique equipment; Quality improvement in
oil equipment repair; Critical remarks on the utilization and
maintenance of the oil equipment on the oil fields; Suggestion for
the remedy of the shortcomings in the utilization and maintenance of
oil equipment.
This work had been required by the Ministry of Metallurgy.
• ‘A New Science and its Important Applications’
(‘The Economics’ Life’ magazine, the 4th year, No. 21, the 27
th of
May, 1966, page 11)
• ‘Ludovic Mrazec’ (‘The Economics’ Life’, the 4th year,
No. 34, the 26th of August, 1966, page 10)
Conferences
• ‘Oil Industry’ (held at the ‘Prof. N. Iorga’ University, in
Vălenii de Munte, July, 1929).
• ‘The Technique and Scientific Interpretation of the
Rotary Drilling System’ (‘Politehnica’ Society, the 3rd
May, 1933,
under the boarding of Prof. Buşilă).
The technical review of the ‘A.G.I.R. Bulletin’, of May 1933,
published a report on this conference, concluding that: ‘Mr. Ion Basganpresented original analytic calculations for certain phenomena, thatwere very little known and the awareness of which may soon bring achange in the deep drilling system’.
‘Remarks on the Occasion of the World Oil Congress’, (‘Radio
Bucharest’, the 7th of November, 1933).
‘Oil Policy in Keeping with the Situation of the Explorations
and the Fuel Matter' (conference held first on the 19th of April, 1935
in the cycle of conferences organized by I.R.E. at the ‘Politehnica’
Society and repeated at the request of his colleagues from the
Association of Mining Engineers in Moreni. The written text of the
lecture was published in ‘Curentul’ magazine, on the 24th of April,
1935 and in the ‘Movement’, on the 27th of April, 1935).
On this occasion, Prof. Eng. C. Buşilă made the following
comments: ‘Mr. Ion Basgan held a beautiful conference. We enjoyedhis lecture: first of all it showed his courage to state his own remarksand conclusions in the oil policy’.
Prof. T. Ficşinescu appreciated this lecture in the following
terms: ‘I cannot help praising the outstanding contribution of Mr.Basgan from the documentary point of view. He has gathered a seriesof facts that are extremely interesting, put them in an attractive formand held a beautiful and useful lecture to us’.
Prof. Sp. Iacobescu of the Academy of High Commercial and
Industrial Studies of Bucharest would state the following: ‘I heartilyjoin the spirit of Mr. Basgan’s lecture; he made a thorough descriptionof the oil policy to us’.
This work was rewarded by the Romanian Academy. The
debates that were held on this conference were published in the I.R.E.Bullletin, the 3
rd year, No. 4, of December, 1935, page 1,035. The
written text of the report that was presented by Prof. L. Mrazec to the
Romanian Academy was published in the I.R.E. Bulletin, the 4th year,
No. 4, December, 1936, page 1,035 and 1,036.
• Professional Course Held at the Industrial-ImportEnterprise (a cycle of four conferences on internal combustion
engines, their classification, technical characteristics, spare parts,
technical and commercial documentation, 1951).
• Professional Course on Oil Wells Drilling (training
course held at Sovromutilajpetrolifer and at the Ministry of
Agriculture for the upgrading of the General Direction staff, 1952,
1953).
• Drinking Water Supply in Dobrudja (Conference held at
the Ministry of Agriculture in May, 1957).
• ‘Sonicity in Oil Exploitation and Water Supply’ (Lecture
held at the science and technique courses of the Academy of the Popular
Republic of Romania, ‘Scânteia’ newspaper, the 15th of July, 1957 and
the ‘Informative Bulletin’ of the Popular Republic of Romania, the 1st
of March, 1950).
• ‘Sonicity in Oil Exploitation and Water Supply’
(Lecture held at the science and technique courses of the
Academy of the Popular Republic of Romania, on the 7th of
November, 1958, on the following topics: sonic drilling, ultrasonic
drilling, sonic pumping and sonic paraffin removal).
• ‘Drinking Water Supply in the Countryside’ (lecture
held at the Ministry of Agriculture, in October, 1958).
• ‘Debates in Sonicity’ (lecture held at the Academy of
the Popular Republic of Romania on the 5th of October, 1961, during
the work session of the Academy, that was presided by I. S.
Gheorghiu, the vice-president of the Academy and the Romanian
scientist George Constantinescu).
• ‘Applications of Sonicity in the Technique of Drilling
and Extraction’ (lecture held at the science and technique courses of
the Academy of the Popular Republic of Romania on the 22nd
of
December, 1961).
• ‘Romanian Contributions and the Priority of Discoveries
and Inventions in the Science and Technology of Drilling’ (lecture held
at the Romanian Library of New York, on the 11th of October, 1972).
Works rewarded by the Romanian Academy
• ‘Oil Policy in Keeping with the Situation of
Explorations and The Fuel Matter’.
Lectures held at the Romanian Academy
• ‘Operation and Form of Rotary Drill in the Oil Rocks
of Romania’.
• ‘Schwingungsphaenomene und Deren Wirkung auf
die Arbeitsweise des Meissels im Rotary Bohrsystem’ (Vibration
Phenomena and their Effect on the Operation of the Drill in the Rotary
Drilling System).
• ‘A New System of Drilling Wells for Oil and Gas Using
Rotary and Percussion Movements Combined’.
Lectures held at the Academy of Sciences
• ‘Drinking Water Supply in Dobrudgea’ (Ion Basgan’s
lecture was held by Prof. Ştefan Cantuniari, on the 18th of December,
1943).
International congress participation
• ‘Scientific Considerations of the Technique of
Modern Drilling’ (the World Oil Congress, Paris, June, 1937, with
international participation; this lecture was published in the Congress
works and translated in Russian).
• ‘The Role and the Required Weight of Heavy Rods
in Drilling’ (‘Role et poids necessaires du drillcollar pendant le
forage’); this lecture was held at the World Oil Congress of Paris, in
June, 1937).
• ‘New Oil Fields in Romania’ (‘Bohrungen im
Vorlande des Oelgebietes von Rumaenien’), (Leobenen
Bergmannstag, 1937, Austria).
• ‘The Limitation of the Effect of the Archimedes’
Pressure and the Sonic Energy – Essential Conditions for theFuture of Deep Drilling’ (lecture held at the 7
th World Oil Congress,
Mexico, between the 2nd
and the 8th
of April, 1967). A review of
this lecture was published in the ‘Le Pétrole’ magazine, in Paris, on
the 6th of April, 1967, including the following remarks: ‘The lecture
was enjoyed and appreciated both in the oil, and in the scientificcircles’. It was also reviewed by American magazines and the
Institute of Technical Documentation of Bucharest.
Lectures and reports held at national congresses
• ‘Efficient Exploitation of Oil Fields’ (A.G.I.R. Congress,
1934).
• ‘Scientific Rotary Drilling’ (the Congress of the
Association for the Advance of Science in Romania, Bucharest,
1934, the Technical Section presided by Prof. Dr. Eng. N.
Vasilescu – Karpen).
• ‘The Role of the State in Industrialisation’ (A.G.I.R.
Congress, Iaşi, 1936, with Prof. M. Manoilescu, engineer Ştefan
Mihăiescu, engineer D. Pastia and others joining in the debates.
• ‘Report On The Industrialisation Of Romania’ (held
in collaboration with engineer Rusu Abrudeanu at the A.G.I.R.
Congress of Iaşi, October, 1936).
• ‘Economic Situation in the Oil Industry’ (Ion Basgan
held this lecture that was an Economic Report of the Oil Section at
the Congress of the Engineers’ Association of the Mining Industry,
Bucharest, on the 19th of May, 1939. This report was published in
‘Argus’, No. 7,830, on the 19th of May, 1939 and partly quoted by
Prof. Virgil N. Madgearu in ‘The Evolution of the Romanian Economyafter the world war’ pages 104, 105)
Monographs
• ‘Life and Work of George Constantinescu’, Scientific
Printing House, Bucharest, 1967 (this work was written in collaboration
with other scientists).
• ‘Life and Work of Prof. D. Leonida’, Scientific
Printing House, Bucharest, 1968
Outstanding projects carried out at I.P.A.C.H.
• ‘Technical Guidelines in the Design,
Manufacturing, Exploitation and Maintenance of the Oil Wells
Network for Hydro-Geological Control in HydrologicalImprovement’ (this Project was carried out by Ion Basgan as the
Chief of a complex Project at I.P.A.C.H., in 1964).
• ‘Synthesis and Final Study on the Efficiency of
Underground Water Catching Designed at I.P.A.C.H.’ (Ion Basgan
carried out this work as the Chief of a complex Project, in
collaboration with the following institutes: I.P.A.C.H., I.S.P. and
I.S.C.H., that were members of the State Committee of Waters, 1966).
• ‘Sonicity and its Applications’ (this work was written by
Ion Basgan as a result of his studying the archive of George
Constantinescu at Coniston in England and it focuses on the
applications made by the author in the world, utilizing the sonic
drilling, including also the applications of the French, Soviet and
American scientists in the domain of ultrasonics, while he also
proved that all these applications were based on sonicity, which is a
Romanian achievement).
• ‘Archimedes’ Principle’ (a new enunciation and
interpretation, as well as applications of the Archimedes’ principle in
the modern technique; written in Romanian and English. The work
covers 370 pages and has a foreword by Prof. Renato Calapso, the
president and organizer of the international Congress held in homage
to Archimedes in the 20th century).
• ‘To the Centre of the Earth’ (a Conference that was held
in the industrial and scientific circles in Italy, France, Portugal,
Spain, Germany and in Romania, at the Popular University, as well
as in other circles)
The State Prize of the Popular Republic
of Romania
In 1962, Ion Basgan was awarded the State Prize of the PopularRepublic of Romania for his technical and scientific activity and the
results that he had obtained through the implementation of his
inventions in industry.
At that time, Ion Basgan was a specialist working at the
Institute of Agriculture Studies and Design, the president of the Co-
ordination Commission of Drilling for Water Supply and a member of
the Technical and Scientific Board of the State Committee of Waters.
Didactic activity
Between 1933 and 1934, Ion Basgan worked as a honorific
course assistant at the Department of ‘Oil Study’ at the Academy of
High Commercial and Industrial Studies (Certificate No. 04203 of the
24th of March, 1994).
He held a series of lectures at international and national
congresses, scientific organizations, as well as professional training
courses and upgrading of the personnel in various enterprises.
He held lectures at the science and technique courses of the
Romanian Academy (see the Informative Bulletin of the Academy of
the Popular Republic of Romania, 3rd
quarter, 1958, page 36 and the
curriculum of the courses for the first semester, 1961).
In 1946, he passed an examination at the ‘Politehnica’ University
of Bucharest, in order to occupy a lecturer position at the Department
of oil fields drilling and exploitation, when he held a lecture in front of
the examination commission and the students. In spite of the good
results that he received on this examination test, he would not occupy
this position.
Social activity
Ion Basgan’s social activity covered especially the political and
economic domains.
Between 1935 and 1940 he published a series of works, many
of which were rewarded with prizes by the Romanian Academy for
the truth and courage of his assertions, asking for the nationalisation
of the Romanian oil industry.
Thanks to his tough character and his outlook regarding the
nationalization of this important national economy sector, Ion Basgan
was appointed a member of the Commission for the inventory of the
nationalized mining goods of the Gold and Silver Works and the
president of the Commission for the inventory of the mining goods in
the Brad region, through the Decision of the Ministry of Mines and
Oil and by the Address No. 177 of the 20th of July, 1948.
Ion Basgan was called out of production through the Order
No. 146,575 of the 26th of October, 1952 to be appointed a member of
the staff of the Ministry of Metallurgy that was in charge of the
organization of the industrial exhibition ‘The Planned Economy of thePopular Republic of Romania in Full Progress’ (that opened up in
December, 1952), as a specialist in the equipment for oil drilling and
exploitation.
In June, 1953, through the Order No. 777/1953, he was
appointed a member of the staff of the Ministry of Metallurgy, that
organized the industrial exhibition between June and November, 1953.
Ion Basgan was appointed the president of the Commission for
the Approval of the Internal Norms of the Ministry at the Metallurgy
Department, through the Order No. 1,909 of the Ministry of
Metallurgy that was issued in the Address No. 146,794 of the 7th of
December, 1953.
In January, 1954 he joined together with Dr.Geller of I.C.C.S. –
Câmpina the Commission that had been appointed by the Central
Committee of the Romanian Working Party for the investigation of
the drillcollars matter and their supply to the oil industry, at the
S.R.U.P. Reşiţa and S.R.M. Reşiţa.
For twelve years he had been carrying his activity in the social
and economic domains, in order to raise the living standard of the
agriculture workers and of the countryside inhabitants, through the
execution of hydro-geological drilling for the water supply in the
countryside (see ‘Hidrotehnica’ magazine No. 1 of August, 1958).
He was a member of A.S.I.T., of the trade union and ARLUS.
He had joined in the trade union in 1947 and had been a member of
A.S.I.T. and ARLUS from their foundation, continuously working for
these social bodies, especially by organizing training courses for
professional upgrading of his colleagues from several enterprises. His
professional certificates and the characterization of his professional
and social activities, that were issued by the Sovromutilajpetrolifer
and the Corporation of Land Improvement are a confirmation of his
carrying out successfully this type of activity.
In 1959 he was the Chief of the hydro-geological and drilling
staff of the A.S.I.T. Group of the Corporation of Land Improvement,
developing the activity that he had been entrusted, in keeping with this
kind of social responsibility.
International activity
From the 20th of November, 1966 up to the 20
th of December,
1967, Ion Basgan carried out his professional activity in the West,
namely in Italy, France, England, Spain, Portugal, Germany and in
other countries, being involved in legal investigations and negotiations
that were required for obtaining his Patent rights as an inventor in the
USA. In the meantime, he would elaborate works, hold lectures and
establish scientific, technical and industrial contacts, always aiming
at the acknowledgement by foreign scientists of the Romanian
contribution to the international scientific and technical achievements.
In December, 1966, Ion Basgan visited and studied the native
place of Archimedes in Syracusa. He lived in the atmosphere in which
Archimedes had produced his work in the old times. He also analyzed
the works that had been prepared on the occasion of the 20th century
commemoration of Archimedes and he himself presented his own
work on the Archimedes’ principle to professor Renato Calapso, the
organizer of this world Congress. Later, Professor Renato Calapso
wrote the foreword to this work, in which Ion Basgan was bringing to
the fore the work of the renowned Greek scientist of old times, with a
focus on the effect of his discoveries on the modern drilling technique.
In January, 1967 he left on a pilgrimage tour to the tomb of
George Constantinescu, the Romanian forefather of sonicity, in the
region of lakes in England, where he studied and took photos of the
archive, that his good friend had left behind. He suggested to the
Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania that at least a funeral
stone should be donated for the memorial tomb of George Constanti-
nescu, also a member of honor of the Romanian Academy, and that
his archive should be brought to Romania.
During the activity he had carried out abroad for one year, he
contacted several representatives of science and industry from institutes,
universities, other institutions and companies.
In Italy, he was a guest of the European Dragan Foundation,
of Butangaz, ENI-AGIP, the Oil Union of Rome, Idrill and other
companies. He visited the local work sites and held lectures on his
own drilling methods, when he was aware that his drilling methods
were utilized in Rovenna, Sicily and in other locations.
In Germany and Spain he vas invited by the industrial
corporations representatives, that were supporting his legal actions of
Patent rights claiming in the USA. He had scientific and technical
contacts and joined in the Economic Conference of Bonn in January,
1967 and in the Congress of the Inter-parliamentary Union of Palma
de Mallorca in March, 1967.
In Portugal he was the guest of the Sacor corporation, where he
was received by the leader of the oil industry and of the state, as well
as by the Gulbenkian Foundation representatives, and he presented the
Romanian scientific, technical and industrial achievements, that had
brought about a favorable effect on the development of the relations
between Portugal and Romania..
In France, he was the guest of the Essence et Carburants Society
and of other enterprises and institutions, where he held extended
scientific and technical lectures and discussions.
The problems that were raised in France would become the
subject of complex articles in the specialized publications, in the
magazines ‘Le pétrole lubri Europe’ of the 6th of April and the 20
th of
October, 1967, ‘Pétrole informations’ of the 20th of June, 1967. The
Romanian Ambassador in Paris notified Ion Basgan that the French
government supported his actions regarding his legal claims in the
USA.
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
on Basgan’s scientific achievements had always been doubled
by his endeavours in economics. More often than not he was
in a position to take decisions. Therefore he had master the
economic mechanisms of the activity he monitored. In this sense, Ion
Basgan made several studies that represented an efficient work tool at
that time.
In his work ‘The Situation of oil, coal, gas, salt, gold, silver, the
author underlines the importance of the exploitation activities in oil,
coal, gas, salt, gold and silver under extremely complex economic,
social and political conditions both in Romania and abroad.
Ion Basgan’s estimation was that during 1929-1933, oil
exploitation in Romania was not economical, with exceeding export,
that resulted in some resources depletion. Moreover, extremely low
prices that were a common practice had enabled the great oil
enterprises to obtain profits through the increase of the amount that
was manipulated. By 1936 a menacing oil production decrease had
already become manifest in Romania, with no industrialisation and
development of production means being created in the meantime, that
could ensure an economic structure based on several production
factors. For the period between 1929 and 1933 that was studied, Ion
Basgan showed that the oil production of Romania tended to be
maintained at a maximum Standard that had been attained in respect to
the development requirements of the respective period, the resources
that were explored and the sales possibilities on the international
market. Between 1929 and 1933 the Romanian export of oil products
doublet, under the conditions in which the European consumption of
oil products had increased in 1933, although there existed a tendency
in import decrease, as a result the autarchic spirit that defined the policy
of the year 1933. The import of oil products for England, France and
Germany testified for the fact that at that time the European economy
was in a boom. These facts, well as the technical development, that
had become manifest by that time and an increase of the international
consumption, as a result of the end of the economic crisis in many
countries entitled Ion Basgan to forecast the favourable situation of
1934 for the oil industry. Although, in the Western Europe and in
Russia, consumption was getting up, a favourable situation for the oil
industry depended mainly on the fact that the USA maintained an
orderly production and sales of the oil products, with a shovelling
away of dumping from its export. In addition to it, USSR fulfilled its
oil production Plan by 40% as compared to the preceding year (1933)
I
those who were interested in the Irak oil had to consider its
introduction on the international market. Ion Basgan had done these
forecast studies in good earnest, at a time when the costs of oil
products were increasingly dropping down, both at home and for the
export. For natural gas, Ion Basgan estimated a consumption increase
for both 1932 and 1933, mainly as a result of gas consumption in the
oil region.
Ion Basgan also noticed that during that period, the pit gas
consumption in Ardeal was decreasing, under the conditions in which
the gas of the oil region were not consumed before gasolene extraction,
through topping. He estimated that important amounts of gas remained
unemployed at that time.
Between 1929 and 1933, Ion Basgan stated that the Romanian
coal industry covered only the internal consumption. Coal consumption
was lowering because of the market competition of naphtha.
The decrease of coal consumption resulted also in a lowering of
production. As a consequence, the index of the coal production was 78
in 1931, 54 in 1932 and 47 in 1933. The main consumer was the
Romanian Railways, that worked on 22% naphtha and 78% coal.
Moreover, the cost of coal in the Jiu Valley that he calculated
comparatively to 1929 with the yearly ups and downs, had brought
about a series of disturbances in the economic domain, and especially
in the sector of coal consumption. Extended investments, that were
made in this particular economic sector, had resulted in a remarkable
improvement of the coal quality of the Jiu Valley. This entailed a
significant lowering of cost of one ton of steam water and therefore a
reduction of the Romanian Railways budget, through rather high fuel
amount savings, under the conditions of a constant ratio between
naphtha and coal consumption. As compared to the previous year, Ion
Basgan found that there was a small increase for the year 1933. The
total value of extracted coals was however continuously diminishing
during the latest five years. Moreover, in this activity sector, there was
registered also a decrease of the personnel employed in coal extraction.
The analysis that Ion Basgan had made in the domain of salt
exploitation entitled him to state that the salt production had lowered
down between 1930 and 1931 and it slightly increased starting with
1932.
As for the gold and silver production, Ion Basgan estimated that
some progress had already been registered thanks to the special
attention paid to the exploitation works in the gold mines of the
Apuseni Mountains and Baia Mare. Under these conditions the gold
price was stationary, and that of the silver was dropping down.
The ‘Economic Report of the Oil Section’ That was drawn up
by Ion Basgan showed a series of aspects of the oil policy with
imperative economic effects. In this sense, Ion Basgan estimated that
the evaluation of oil supplies of Romania represented a starting point
for the setting up of the future economic plan of Romania. Romania
also had at that time (1938) several fields ‘That were known to be
good and sure for oil exploitation’ with a reserve of about 35 million
tons. In this sense, Ion Basgan suggested that long term investments
should be made for the exploration and exploitation of these resources
with pay off possibilities during a period of time longer than that
‘usually covered in the exploitation of rich deposits, now menaced bydepletion’. Ion Basgan maintained that ‘the future mining regime whichis to be elaborated should bring in clear norms, simplify useless formalprocedures, payment facilities, incentives, exploration possibilities forall those that are willing and can do it, incentives for those who carryout exploration works conscientiously, as well as severe penalties forthose who do not fulfil their duties’.
Concerning exploitation, Ion Basgan estimated that this activity
‘should be efficient, economic and carried out so that it can ensure a
long lasting indisputable reserve to the State’. In this respect, the state
was expected to lead a policy that should encourage the production
and stimulation of the national capital, while sustaining several
activities at national scale mainly through granting the best land of
the state into exploitation, under the specific contemporary economic
conditions. The industrialisation of Romania was thus estimated to
reach a favourable standard by creating new industries, producing
revenues and currency that were necessary to the economic revival
of Romania.
As for crude oil processing, Ion Basgan stipulated that this
activity should be efficiently carried out, with the simultaneous
sparing and saving oil deposits, as well as by upgrading the methods
of crude oil processing and by raising the gasolene ratio obtainable
from the raw material. Ion Basgan estimated that for the achievements
for this policy in the domain of crude oil processing it was necessary
that the state should be firmly involved in encouraging adequate
investments in this particular domain. As A result of this policy, Ion
Basgan had estimated that an increase of the domestic consumption
should take place, first as a result of creating a viable industry
that would depend on the structure of the county and ensure the
independence of the Romanian economy and increase the civilisation
standard. An efficient domestic consumption could not be envisaged
but as a result of the creation of the internal oil exchange.
Regarding the policy that the Romanian state should have
applied in the domain of crude oil export, Ion Basgan stated that the
export should be lowered in favour of the internal consumption and
only finite products export should be raised. As Ion Basgan was a
great patriot, his entire life and work were closely attached to the
interests of his country, to its national defence capacity. In this sense,
in dependence to the existing oil fields deposits, his economic policy
aimed at creating reserves of discovered deposits and the deposits of
finite products in all the strategic centres of Romania, as well as the
development of the production of munitions and warfare materials,
including extraction products that were obtained from oil and gas
derivates.
In his work, ‘The Principles of Economic Policy in the RomanianOil Legislation’, Ion Basgan showed that oil legislation had an
important part to play in the Romanian economy, and it had always
been under discussion both in the country and abroad.
As for the activities of oil exploitation, it was very important
that the temporary interests of the state should be put in line with the
progress of mankind. Moreover, Ion Basgan estimated that the
Romanian state should not perpetrate the mistake of the end of the
century, namely that the government should ignore the importance
of oil legislation, on the contrary, temporary objectives should be
overlooked in favour of the long term interests of the Romanian
nation, so that the oil industry may be differently structured, with the
aim of permitting the Romanian state to support Romanian political
trends in the context of wider European economic interest. Professor
Ion Basgan estimated that the oil legislation had not been clearly
stated before the end of the 19th century and moreover, it had been
assimilated with the mining legislation. In support of his statements,
Ion Basgan made a short survey of the legislation principles starting
from the past century, namely from the Calimachi code (published in
1817) in which it was stipulated in the Art. 183 that the underground
deposits were a possession of Romanian princes.
The Ministry of National Economy had studied a series of ante-
projects for the law of mines suggested by various interested parties.
No decision was taken until C. Marinescu was appointed the leader
of this Ministry, reconciling these sundry interests with those of the
national economy and the exceptional requirements of his epoch.
The minister C. Marinescu awarded special attention to the oil
matter, taking it out of the general framework of mining.
The Ministry of National Economy drew up a first ante-project
of the oil law, that was submitted to discussion to the interested
parties.
The National Union of the Oil Enterprises (U.N.I.P.) was
invited to state its opinion concerning the oil law. The principles that
were suggested by this Union in support of the national capital
interests were entirely approved by the State leadership.
The new law project would bring about principles of oil
legislation that showed a real economic progress.
It was estimated that the new oil law project included also a
series of measures that were determined by the exceptional war
conditions. The Romanian authorities stated in this sense that these
measures prevented Romania from having a law with a general
character, that may be applied also in the period following immediately
after the war.
Moreover, the oil law project presented the tendency to facilitate
the promotion of national capitals through the distribution of zones.
This tendency was inoperative, as a result of an inappropriate procedure
of oil land distribution.
In the above mentioned work and in the U.N.I.P. Memorial, the
specialists of the time, including Ion Basgan showed that the Romanian
oil companies that were founded before 1900, at the beginning of oil
activity in Romania, as well as those that had been founded on the
nationalist principles of the Law of mines of 1924 could not develop,
either lacking a provisional policy in the oil activity of the state, or
misapplying the national principles of former legislation.
Marshal Ion Antonescu, the State leader of the time accepted
the principles suggested by U.N.I.P.
The new Law of the oil was issued on the 17th of July, 1942, as
a result if the special understanding that the State leadership had
manifested in this particular domain. Any other interventions and
protocols failed, that had been concluded by the representatives if
various domestic and international groups of interests.
The new Law of the oil would encourage first the large oil
producing enterprises, irrespective of the nationality of their capitals,
by making available to then about 500,000 ha that were grouped in 12 oil
fields districts and several geological structures for the exploration
and exploitation of the oil underground.
The explorer was granted an entire structure, while the State
would retain for itself the rights of the second and third structures. The
law granted to the State the right to invite the national capital to these
explorations, by setting aside special shares of the oil surfaces of the
State and granting to it significant advantages, under the form of
financial facilities, reduction of royalties and taxes, credits.
The legislator of the Law of the 17th of July, 1942 envisaged the
possibility to promote the national capital in the oil industry, only by
grouping it into large industrial units, the only that were capable to
meet the exploration demands and to ensure the achievement of
standards required in the oil technique and economy.
As a consequence, in order to benefit from the advantages that
were granted by this law, a grouping of the national capital should
necessarily be envisaged into companies with a capital if at least
400,000,000 lei. A deadline was granted for this action until 31st of
December, 1942, that was later extended for another limited period
if time.
The experience that had been gathered until that time showed
that the oil companies with internal capital did not succeed to group
themselves, in spite of the initiative that had been taken by the
Ministry of National Economy to encourage these regrouping actions
through special credits and reserves of exploitation fields. The
Romanian oil worker had always proved to be pre-eminently an
individualist who would hardly accept unification into larger groups.
Time was too short for anybody to have the opportunity to
analyse the practical results ensuing from this law regarding the
promotion of the national capital in the oil industry.
Experience in the domain of oil industry also showed that the
financial threshold that had been set up for those who could not
benefit from the national advantages of the law should not be lowered
down, so that smaller Romanian companies should also be allowed to
benefit from the incentives of that Law, that made the proof of having
technical and economic capacity.
Moreover, the above-mentioned Law-decree subordinated the
legal principles to the technical principles, with the aim to obtain
practical results, that were urgently required under the exceptional
contemporary conditions.
Ion Basgan presented a series of aspects of the exploitation of
oil fields in Romania in his lecture ‘Efficient Exploitation of OilDeposits’, which he held at the 12
th Congress of A.G.I.R. (Galaţi,
October, 1934). On this occasion, the state policy is presented, that
should be applied in the exploitation of oil deposits, based on firm
stable long-time principles, depending on the situation of deposits, and
should permit to act in defence when facing conjuncture events. Ion
Basgan also pointed out the necessity to speed up the campaign of oil
deposits inventory, as well as the exploration of oil deposits in new
areas that were supposed to have oil deposits.
The increase of the internal consumption of oil and pit gas may
be obtained first by increasing the efficiency of the oil production
industrialisation. Therefore, this was an incentive also for the industries
that were based upon the consumption of this type of products. Ion
Basgan also suggests the foundation of an internal Oil Exchange and
the setting up if several regulations for export, in the basis of a policy
for efficient exploitation of oil deposits, in order to stop the export of
crude petroleum and to stimulate the export of industrialised products.
With this end in view, Ion Basgan estimated that there should be
urgently set up ‘a state body for investigations, research, study and
research, for the analysis of problems and establishing the measures
that had been adopted, both in the domain of oil deposits and in the
wider framework of fuel and mining’.
The explanation in favour of his suggestion was the lack of co-
ordination that was specific at that moment between the Ministry of
Mines, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Communications,
the Railway system, respectively.
Moreover, the foundation of this state body could have ensures
a certain stability, coherence and interdependence in decision taking,
that were most necessary to ensure a ‘policy in keeping with higherinterest, with the environment and the technical progress if mankind’.
In his work ‘New oil fields in Romania’(which be presented at
the Mining Congress in Leoben, on the 2nd
of September, 1937), Ion
Basgan estimated that in order to maintain the contemporary, oil
production of Romania and develop it in this future, it was absolutely
necessary that there should be continued the works for the discovery
of new oil fields through exploration by means of deep drilling wells,
between 2,000 and 3,500 m.
The statements that Ion Basgan had made were grounded on the
progress of the drilling and exploitation technique. He was confident
that Romania had many oil fields available. In this respect, he
estimated that oil deposits may exist at the bottom of the Transylvania
basin under the gas deposits. He considered that Maramureş region, in
the north of Romania, the Moldavia plateau in the continuation of the
Moineşti region and the Meridional Carpathians region at the west of
the Olt river must also be considered potential oil regions.
The most adequate oil deposits of Romania were expected to be
those of the Flysch region and the most proficient oil region, was
estimated to be that of the Neogen zone.
At the marginal region of the Flysch area, Ion Basgan estimated
that the Ecogen and Oligocen were the layers that carried oil deposits.
Mecţian and Dacian (located at the south of the Meridional Carpathians)
in the Neogen region were considered to contain the rich oil deposits
of Romania.
In the end of his lecture, Ion Basgan mentioned the technical
advantages of Rotary drilling system, that was endowed with the latest
types of American, German and Romanian chain hoists that permit oil
well drilling at 200 m in 2 to 3 months.
Ion Basgan’s studies and the works he carried out in his entire
lifetime also testified for his concern regarding the drilling for water
reserves in several regions that lacked adequate water supply, by the
analyses that they include.
At the time when Ion Basgan made these remarks on the
problems generated by the lack if water supply in Dobrudja, there had
already been carried out the first lot of ten wells for the search of
underground water. Thus, iu was a fact established on this occasion
that the possibility to drill water wells in the rocky land of Dobrudja
was an essential condition for the utilisation of the underground water
on Dobrudja. As a conclusion, water supply in Dobrudja was a
technical and economic problem, whose unique solution was that
mentioned above. Water extraction could be done by means of piston
pumps actuated by explosion engines.
Ion Basgan estimated that the problem of water supply could be
solved in the same way also fir the health resorts that were located on
the Black Sea shore, that were seriously lacking drinking water.
As regards Ion Basgan’s concern for the macroeconomy his
work ‘The Role of the State in industrialisation’ presented general
favourable ideas for an industrialisation that should meet the demands
of Romania so that it may become a powerful state organised on the
principle of complex economy, in the sense that Romania should have
sufficient means of communication, raw materials and financing
possibilities for a powerful and systematic industrialisation.
According to Ion Basgan, the industrialisation should have been
achieved at an accelerated pace. This could only be conceived to be
closely related to an economic urge by the State. With this aim in
view, the State should have had a special organisation of its technical
staff, so that a thorough change of its official worker’s mentality may
take place. The State should establish exactly what industries had to
be created, as well as their capacity on the framework of a national
program, approved by the constitutional bodies and accepted by the
public mentality.
At that time, under extremely difficult conditions for the county,
Ion Basgan stated that: ‘the governing potential of the parties shallbe measured by their financing possibilities and the carrying out ofthe national programme expressed in indexes calculated by neutralinstitutes and economic offices’.
In this sense, the state should mediate the development of the
heavy metallurgical industry, the manufacturing means, through its
control tools, namely: customs tariff, contingency, currency control,
industrial legislation, in order to create the mechanical industries,
the textile and agriculture machinery, as well as the national defence
industries.
Therefore, Ion Basgan maintained that ‘a new industrial legislationis necessarily required by the need to unify the legislation for all theregions of Romania, on the principle of setting up trade unions forevery production industrial branch and regulations for the tradeunions cartels, as well as by the need to control investment’.
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
God-fearing man, a Romanian, a patriot, and also a
renowned engineer, Ion Basgan served the interests of
the Romanian economy with priestly, in an extremely
difficult historical period.
He was involved in political activity only as a consequence of
his desire to be useful to his country. As a matter of fact, it was the
urge of his heart to act in response to the desperate ‘cry’ of the mind.
In whatever he did, Ion Basgan lived ardently, sincerely,
creating immensely for his people and his country.
No matter how week man may be, his belief in God can make
him strong and give him strength to came out as a winner out of all the
hardships of live. Ion Basgan’ life was a success the more so as he had
always believe in what he did.
Through all his writings and practical achievements, Ion Basgan
would prove that here on earth the love of God, the love of one’s
country and the act of human creation can make man to catch a
glimpse of eternity.
In this respect, mention should be made of his initiative in the
domain of the economic policy, which he had been carrying out as a
member of the National Liberal Party.
In 1945, Ion Basgan jointly with other renowned Romanian
engineers founded the Society of the Liberal engineers, called ‘Vintilă
Brătianu’. Through their enthusiasm and professionalism they testified
for their wish to get involved in the solving of economic problems of
Romania.
The Report of the 19th of January, 1945 is a speaking example
in support of the above mentioned in relation to the professional body
that had been set up.
REPORT
The undersigned, engineers, members of the National Liberal Party, have met
today, on the 19th January, 1945 and decided on the foundation of the Society of
Liberal Engineers, in accordance with the intention and demand expressed by Mr.
A
Dinu Brătianu, the President of the Party and with the tasks that we had received
from Mr. Gh. Brătianu, the President of the Circles of Studies.
The Society of Liberal Engineers operates in the traditional spirit of the
National Liberal Party that has been gloriously sustained by the collaboration of
remarkable engineers of the past, such as the Brătianu brothers, Duca, Anghel
Saligny, Mrazec and others. The society will try to study in a realistic and
objective light the general technical problems that Romania has been facing and
that shall be dealt with by the National Liberal party decissively.
It is through the Technical Circle of Studies, through lectures and conferences,
that the Society of Liberal Engineers shall try to bring its contribution in the
framework of the general activity of the Party.
With this end in view, there shall be set up a delegation represented by Prof.
Eng. Gr. Vasilescu, Eng. Basgan, Eng. Braniski Al. and Gh. Veniamin, in order to
gather up the General Assembly, to establish the activity programme, as well as
the trends that must be folowed.
Ion Basgan was appointed President of the Society of Liberal
Engineers ‘Vintilă Brătianu’ and Eng. A. Munteanu its Secretary. A
series of materials were elaborated in the framework of the Industrial
Policy section of the Society of Liberal Engineers, in order to offer
solution of economic revival, industrial revival, in particular, to the
National Liberal Party and to the country in general.
In the framework of the Circle of Studies of the National
Liberal Party, the Trade Section, a team of specialists, including also
Ion Basgan, drew up a report ‘regarding several pressing measures,practical measures, in order to ensure a better development of thecommercial activity in Romania’ for the Armistice Commission.’C. Dinu Popescu was the speaker in charge of this document.
The report that Ion Basgan presented in the framework of the
Circle of Studies of the National Liberal Party, in which he stipulated
the necessary conditions that were required to avoid the manifestation
of an autarchic policy, is but another opportunity for us to remember
his ability to understand and make a synthesis of the phenomena that
the Romanian economy was facing at that time.
A report containing the request made by Ion Basgan and
other renowned engineers for the foundation of the Society
of Liberal Engineers ‘Vintilă Brătianu’.
In this respect, he estimated that it was possible to renounce the
autarchic policy only provided an agreement could be made between
the majority of governments or among all the states, so that the
following conditions could be met:
‘...the state governments should beforehand agree on a methodof reducing the quantitative control of foreign trade and on a viablefinancial and economic system for resuming economic activity;
– to ensure political stability;– to renounce the quantitative control of the foreign trade through
the Preferential Union between states;– to avoid economic slumps and to ensure the integral and
continuous utilisation of labour by an agreement between states;– to achieve a programme in order to resume the co-ordinated
activity in the framework of an economic plan between states, that shouldthoroughly utilise labour and ensure a unitary economic security;
– to achieve international actions that should result in bothmaintaining the stability of economic exchanges, and ensuring thereinstatement of the production and trade credit in those countriesthat had been afflicted with unfavourable consequences of war;
– to achieve an economic system that should offer widerpossibilities of co-operation to his own generation, in order to createa better world with thriving economy perspective.’
Original sheet of Ion Basgan’s manuscript
containing suggestions
regarding the economic development of Romania.
Under the context of what has been mentioned above, mention
should be made of the conditions that Ion Basgan considered to be
necessary in order to avoid the return back to the quantitative control
of the outer trade. Ion Basgan also maintained that these conditions
should have been promoted in the framework of the economic policy
of the National Liberal Party:
– the instability of currency had caused the quantitative control
of foreign trade, in order to fight against dumping; an international
action, that should aim at simultaneously maintaining the stability of
exchanges and the reinstatement of production and trade credit in the
countries that have suffered the damaging effects of the war;
– the effect of inflation is unemployment and limitation of trade;
in this sense, in order to obtain the stability of currency, a special
mechanism must be created that should permit to supply credits, in
order to cope with the changes that had become manifest in the balance
of accounts, and to proceed to methodical changes in the parity of the
currency of various countries; to co-ordinate and align the financial
national policies and to facilitate trade and multilateral clearing (Ion
Basgan recommended that the conclusions regarding the future
international financial stability that had been expressed by Victor
Bădulescu at Bretton Woods should be re-examined).
Ion Basgan considered that the national currency remained the
payment means for both international relations, as well as for external
liabilities. The gold standard would remain the base of the monetary
system, with certain limitation. Therefore, the stability of the Romanian
currency had to be ensured through financial co-ordination and aligning.
In this sense, the signatory states should take the following
measures: to refrain from availing themselves of the monetary
depreciation as a competition means on international markets, as it
happened between 1930-1939, in the case of the pound and the dollar;
currency alignment should not be performed by fixing the currency
parity in gold or dollars. According to Ion Basgan the International
Monetary Fund and the Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Based on these ideas, Ion Basgan stated that: ’we will have tostart analysing the quantitative and evolution structures of the industrialand commercial sectors in order to establish the principles in generaland then the National Economic programme, that will have to bedisseminated to the parties and the public opinion.
The plan shall include: the necessary momentary measures forthe transition period and for the time of economic stability that hasbeen mentioned before. This plan will have to come out from theLiberal Party, that of all the Romanian parties was the animating andleading spirit of the national economy. We have to count on theconscious and well grounded opposition of the left-wing parties, thatare under the influence of the statistic precision and the customs of theUSSR. Unless we understand the present economic demands, we shallbe overcome by the events’.
Ion Basgan would strive to harness all his intelligence in the
domain of the technical and economic sciences, in order to offer a
series of suggestions to the National Liberal Party (which he considered
to be among the principal responsible agents in achieving a stable
and prosperous national economic policy), regarding the approach
of the development of the industrial policy and the reform of the
credit system.
All Ion Basgan’s theories, that were positively appreciated
by the members of the National Liberal Party, together with other
principles forwarded by other specialists of the party who most of
them are members of the Society of Liberal Engineers, shall be finally
included in a Programme Project of the National Liberal Party, under
the following structure:
PROJECTPROGRAMME OF NATIONAL LIBERAL PARTY
NATIONAL ECONOMY
• Economic Freedom
Economic freedom is the fundamental principle that has always defined and
shall underlay the economic policy of the National Liberal Party.
Economic freedom implies individual initiative, private property and economic
competition. The recognition and valuation of these three basic elements of the
economic freedom, our country has developed and shall continue to make economic
progress, resulting in the prosperity of private economies and the increase of the
state economic power and independence.
Private economic liberties, that have been promoted and always encouraged
by the National Liberal Party, were manifested and shall also develop in the future
in the political and economic framework of the liberal state founded upon order,
harmony and progress.
Order means the organisation of the national economy by the power of state,
according to simple and through principles, depending on the resources of the
country, the creative genius of the nation and the labour power of all its citizens,
with the state assuming no other role than that of guidance and supervision.
Harmony of the national economy implies the setting up of relations and an
equilibrium among all the productive economic categories, so that whole country
may derive the greatest benefits from their interplay.
By progress we mean to support and apply to the Romanian economy all the
technical achievements, in all the domains of industry, transport, agriculture.
Encouraging and developing such technical achievements will result in the
employment of the working elements of the nation and therefore higher standards
of social life may be attained for all the country inhabitants.
For the reinstatement of the economic liberties in their natural framework, the
National Liberal Party shall take care that many of the functions that had been under-
taken in charge by the state, regarding life and the organisation of the commerce and
industry should be shifted upon the competent professional organisation. The state will
be therefore relieved of tasks and an interference that are not only useless to it, but also
harmful to the order, harmony and progress that should characterise these domains.
• Industry
The progress standard of a country in the hierarchy of modern civilisation is
defined among other achievements by the level of industrialisation that has been
reached by that country as compared to the other development countries.
The National Liberal party has valued this principle from the very beginning
of its activity and contributed to the foundation and the development of all kinds
of industrial enterprises in Romania, for more than three quarters of a century. It
strove to create favourable economic conditions for the national economy and the
legal framework that was necessary for a free development of this domain of activity.
Faithful to this principle and taking into account the technical progress and the
organisation tendencies of the future, the National Liberal Party is aware of and
intends to support the latest achievements and that are the most adequate to the
economic elements and specific characters of our country, for its welfare and the
granting of all the material and spiritual demands of its citizens. In this respect,
the party will stimulate reorganisation and adaptation of existing industries to the
new economic and social conditions emerging after the war and it will strive to
support the foundation of the basic industries, as well as all the processing
industries, in order to cover both home consumption and export demands, so that
an active commercial balance could be obtained as soon as possible.
The development of processing industries of the raw materials and semi-
products into finite products will preclude the export of raw materials, thus filling
in the gaps in the national economy made by the raw materials, that were basically
exported before the present war by Romania and that could no longer be counted
on in the same way.
Regarding the mining reserves and oil deposits, in particular, the National
Liberal party will try to establish a unitary and continuous state policy, to support
the intensification of exploitations, an efficient exploitation of resources and a most
advanced industrial processing of the underground deposits, for their maximum
internal revolution.
The party shall try to encourage and develop the mining exploitation and
industrialisation of the mining products down to the last phase and the oil
products, in particular so that the Romanian capital should be more and more
involved in these exploitations and production enterprises, as a result of the
productivity increase by technical progress.
National underground resources, that should be efficiently turned to good
account in sincere collaboration with the foreign capital, could represent a basis
for providing the necessary financial means for a quick revival of the country.
The rights that have been gained regarding the underground resources shall be
respected.
The metallurgical industry that has been developed lately for the war condition,
shall be adapted to the production under peace conditions, to the production of
agriculture machinery, rolling stock and construction materials, in particular, for the
country revival. It was aimed that the protection intended for this industrial domain
should not make a heavy burden for the general economy of the Romania.
It will be developed the production of rare ore (manganese, chromium,
molybdenum, aluminium), that are available in our country, while on the contrary,
it shall be envisaged the import of iron ore that is lacking in Romania, for the
national metallurgical production.
Besides oil, Romania has other significant power sources, such as: coal, pit
gas, water falls (white coal), electrical power, etc. The National Liberal party shall
back up the revaluation of these sources, for their wide and rational utilisation in
various industrial activities and for the achievement of a higher and cheaper
standard of life, at hand for the entire population of Romania.
According to the National Liberal Party, it is required a strong industrialisation
of the agriculture, animal and wood production, so that it might be covered the
internal demands and also exported a lot of such manufactured products, that
should replace the export of grains, animals and wood as raw materials.
Regarding the textile industry, based on the products of the national soil:
wool, textile herbs, artificial textile fibres, it shall be envisaged the development
of the production of such raw material and semi-products in Romania, so that the
internal consumption should be covered by the Romanian industry and limit the
import of raw materials and other textile fabrics as much as possible.
The National Liberal Party shall also back up all the other industrial activities,
including the household and domestic industry, all kinds of professions, by ensuring
them special facilities for credits, tools and raw materials or semi-products. It should be
taken into account that the development of these productive activities will bring about
an economic and social progress in the life of towns and villages, besides the fact that
all the labour available could find employment and made efficient.
The development of the national industry along the above mentioned
trends implies favourable economic and legal conditions to such activities,
efficient production and industrial goods traffic, that are a necessary condition
ensure order, harmony and progress in this domain.
The National Liberal Party shall strive to ensure these conditions in the future also
and support the conclusion of industrial contracts and agreements, in order to lower the
cost as much as possible and to ensure the sales of industrial products at right prices,
fighting the monopoly in fact and sanctioning the unlawful speculation.
It would also underline the fact that the prosperity of the industrial enterprises
implied also the prosperity of the employees, the more so as their own material
and spiritual welfare would ensure the development of the former and therefore
the general progress of the entire nation.
• Commerce
The freedom of traffic facilitates and intensifies the circulation of goods from
the location of their production to the location of their consumption, from the
producer to the consumer. Taking into account this principle, the National Liberal
Party should strive as it also did in the past to ensure the development in the future
of the economic environment and adequate conditions, that are required for the
prosperity of the Romanian commerce, both at home and abroad. As regards the
inner trade, it should be promoted and supported the competent commercial
organisations, in order to make more efficient the supply of merchandise that are
necessary for the internal consumption in the towns and in the country, as well as
their sales without any intermediary. It was thus stimulated the creation and the
sufficient means for this purpose, such as: credits for the purchase of goods, store-
houses and general stores, enterprises for shipment and transport, representatives,
the development of co-operation in the local commerce, etc.
The freedom of transactions should reinstate the principle of stability of the
agreements and of the respect for the spoken word, and bring about a
simplification of the legal dispositions and the reinforcement of their execution
power. On the other hand, in order to establish favourable conditions for the
commerce, there should be envisaged financial procedures simplification and
facilities, in order to limit illicit activities and tax dodging.
The Liberal National Party would strive for free, yet fair commerce prices, so
that illicit gains should be precluded.
As for the outer trade, it is intended to attain a freedom of exchanges, re-
establishing the relations that existed with the foreign partners, through the
commercial representatives, based on skilled specialists, through the mediation
and with the credit of private enterprises. It should also aim to conclude international
commercial agreements, that may ensure import markets of raw materials and
merchandise, as well as sales markets of the Romanian goods at fair costs.
• Communication means and means of conveyance
The main factor of the economic and spiritual progress of every nation is
conditioned by the proper development of its domestic communication means and their
connection to the international communication facilities, as well as the proper
development of any means of conveyance for people and goods. The more they are
developed and well distributed in any part of the country, the more the traffic of goods
and spiritual values takes place more intensely and the entire nation may partake of
and contribute to the betterment of living standards and civilisation.
The National Liberal Party more conscious than ever of its importance and its
role it may have to play in the life and independence of the Romanian state, shall
continue to support the actions of the state and the private initiative for the
reconstruction, the extension and development of the railways network, of the river
and sea, as well as air traffic ways, of the roads, that should be made according to
the latest technical data. It shall also support the development of modern com-
munication means, such as the telegraphy, telephone and radio-communications.
In order to carry out this programme of extensive works and investments, the
party will strive to harness all the labor, capital and spiritual conception forces,
making also resort to international co-operation.
• Capital and credits
Private and public savings together with the natural resources of a country
represent the capital of the nation, that ensures its economic independence and its
means of development along the technical and spiritual path.
From its very beginning, the National Liberal Party has aimed to promote and
develop the capital saving spirit in the ranks of the Romanian people as much as
possible, to raise the accumulated capitals in all the domains of economic
activity of the country.
With this aim in view, the National Liberal Party has supported the foundation
and organisation of several national bank and credit enterprises. These organisations
have built themselves a solid reputation at national level and, at international
level, as a result of their reputation and seriousness, they succeeded to ensure a
wide development of trade and to promote our foreign economic relations.
The National and Liberal Party shall strive to stimulate, as it always did, the
national saving spirit and to make prosper the national credit institutions, so that
the population, to begin with the least depositor up to the greatest capital owners,
may entrust them any money amount and value in all safety, while industry,
commerce, agriculture and handicrafts may find in these institutions the main
prosperity resources through credit, for their own activities. Moreover, it is
through these institutions, whose legal safety must be reinstated, that an economic
constructive collaboration may be established with the foreign capital, whose
intense participation to the reconstruction of the country and the prosperity of the
national economy shall represent at the same time an agent of peace and progress.
In the framework of these activities, the National Liberal Party will strive to
improve the granting of credits, taking into account not only the real offered
guarantees, but also the professional value of those who will be requiring them. It
is also intended to set up and develop as extensively as possible the special
institutions of credit for the specialised economic activities (constructions,
investments, production, etc.), so that the economies that are concentrated in
banks and other such institutions may be directed towards the most useful and
efficient activities.
• Security and insurance
The dominant principle of the economic policy of the National Liberal Party
was to ensure first the security and stability in the internal and international
economic relations. Security brings about trusting relations in the conclusion of
economic agreements of any kind, while stability ensures the balance of the
services that result from these relations. Both of them create that legal security
climate that is essential to the economic progress.
Based on the same principle, the National Liberal Party shall try to reinstate
and further develop the security in the economic agreements. With this end in
view, it shall proceed to the simplification of certain special laws that are
applicable in the economic domain, that have lowered the creative power of the
contractual duties, trying that all the legal rules that are required by the modern
progress should be include in the fundamental legislation of Romania, a
legislation whose unification and revision in this spirit shall represent one of the
main concerns of the National Liberal Party.
The Party will also reinstate the principle of respecting the state contract
agreements with the private persons, a principle without which a normal develop-
ment of the national economy and order in the compulsory relations of the private
right cannot be conceived.
At the international level, the Party will try to restore the value of the
traditional norm of respecting the freely agreed conventions and to apply them
mutually in good earnest.
The present economy is developing in an atmosphere, that is characterised by
a wider and more complicated range of risks. That is why, the National Liberal
Party that has always been concerned with the necessity of establishing security in
this domain, will also tend to establish security in this domain, while promoting
and supporting all those institutions that are intended to secure the risks of any
kind, that may result from the carrying out of economic agreements.
• Economic revival
During and as a result of the war, Romania was confronted with extendeddamages of its economic institutions and great patrimony losses, that must berebuilt and turned to good account in keeping with the requirements of thetechnical progress and the demands and the role of the Romanian people in theSouth – East of Europe.
With this end in view, the national Liberal Party will support the reconstruction
and modernising of the country through the rebuilding of all the economic and
cultural institutions, of the means of communication and conveyance, food supply
and public health resorts, according to a general plan and by providing all the
necessary facilities.
The National Liberal Party will proceed to the modernising of villages and
towns and will stimulate the building up of healthy living places, cultural institutions
and health resorts, that the average employee and especially workers of all
categories could also afford.
In order to attain these objectives, the Party will harness the entire labour force
and all the technical and financial means of the country, while also asking support
from international institutions.
• Economic co-operation and international exchange
Technical progress, the ever more intense application of the labour divisionprinciple, as an element of national and international solidarity, the unequaldistribution of raw materials in the world, the limitation of space distances amongnations through the increase of the speed of various means of conveyance andcommunication imply and determines a permanent co-operation of all the peoplemaking up the international community in all the domains of activity, in order toensure the general progress and the development of spirit of peace and solidarity.
Being guided as it has always been by the economic and social reality and the
value of the development of the international co-operation spirit, the National
Liberal Party will try to support and also develop in the future the setting up and
intensification of economic relations with other countries based upon mutual trust
and their own achievements.
In order to attain this high target, our people, who is willing to establish relations
and co-operate in perfect harmony with every other nation and the National Liberal
Party will try to re-establish and develop the international relations with all the
neighbouring and far-off states, thus contributing to the conclusion of new commercial
and trading agreements, that should ensure the free exchange of goods and currency,
while creating the climate necessary for the mutual respect of these agreements in the
supreme interest of the peace and progress spirit, for their mutual welfare.
Original manuscript sheet of the Program Project of the
National Liberal Party, as conceived by Ion Basgan.
In the end of this chapter, mention should be made of the policy
in the domain of oil, under the conditions of German involvement in
the Romanian oil industry.
‘German interests during the first world war
At the beginning of the first world war, Germany owned asignificant parcel of shares of the Romanian oil industry, through theDeutshe Bank, to mention here only the large oil exploitation andprocessing companies: ‘Steaua Română’, ‘Concordia’, ‘Vega’.
When Germany lost the war, before the peace conference, itsuggested the sales of these action to Romania and the financialparties of Bucharest. The Romanian state officials refused to purchasethem, for loyalty reasons towards the allies. The distraintadministrators appointed by the Romanian State became themediators acting in order to place there important parcels of oilshares to the interested financial parties of the allies, mostly throughthe Swiss financial bodies.
Therefore, after the war, the majority of the ‘Steaua Română’company shares were taken over by the ‘Anglo-Persian’ and ‘Banquede Paris et Pays Bas’ while ‘Concordia’ and ‘Vega’ were taken overby the Belgian capitalists.
The Romanian state acknowledges this transfer of the sharesthe hands of the war losers to other stranger hands and consequentlyloses the most favourable occasion, the unique occasion maybe in thehistory of our nation to become owners of our own house.
That which other states were allowed to and succeeded toachieve, Romania was denied and we could not back up our interests.
USSR nationalised its entire oil industry by seizure although theshares belonged to Standard Oil, of the USA, Royal Dutch and Shell,to Holland and England, respectively.
The Geneva Conference of April 1922, which Russia also joinedin, where there was decided the fate of these distraint properties, didnot yield the expected results. Later on, Russia concluded withGermany the friendship treatise of Rappallo and it was in a position todeny all the allies’ claims regarding the USSR oil industry.
Even smaller states, such as Iran and Mexico succeeded to facelarge and powerful states such as England and the USA with positiveresults.
Although Romania in its oil policy had not taken any actionswith economic results during the first world war, it was neverthelessconfronted with difficulties at the peace conference, that weredescribed by Mr. Gheorghe Brătianu in his work ‘Romania’s politicaland military actions in 1919’.
Intending to win back this lost economic battle, the NationalLiberal party took the legislation initiative in 1924 and elaborated thefollowing laws: Power, Waters and Mines with the aim to nationalisethe oil industry.
Vintilă Brătianu, Mrazec and engineer Tănăsescu, togetherwith Mr. Tancred Constantinescu are the representatives of thisaction, that resulted in the elaboration of the Law of Mines of 1924and its application with positive results up to 1924. In 1924,Magdearu, under the pressure of foreign officials and as a result ofmutual promises with the foreign diplomacy, as a representative ofLondon oil corporations, changed the Law of Mines. Thus it wascompleted the positive action of the National Liberal Party tonationalise the oil industry.
Present German interests in RomaniaThe political pre-eminence that Germany exerted in Romania
during the second world war opened up the way to its economicoffensive in our country in order to win back the grounds that it hadlost here in the first world war.
Helped by the Romanian leaders of the oil enterprises, Germanysucceeded to purchase approximately 30% of the oil industry and toparticipate with about 4 billion lei paid-in capital.
Germany owns today the following companies in Romania:Concordia, together with Forachi Românească and Vega, amountingto 1,470,000,000; Columbia amounting to 380,000,000; Petrol-Blok470,000,000; I.R.D.P. 600,000,000; 25% of the Steaua Română, aswell as other smaller enterprises as: Moldonafta, Explora, MeoticaRomână, Sar Petrol and newly set up companies such as: SARDEP,Doiceşti, Continental Oil, etc.
The Oil Law that had been elaborated in 1924 had to allow thiscapital to secure the reserves and new oil fields that could have beendiscovered in Romania.
The Fischer-Credit Minier ProtocolThe famous Fischer-Credit Minier Protocol, that was concluded
in February 1942 between the German Government represented byMinister Fischer and Mr. C. Sticescu, the Administrator of theRomanian National Bank, as a President of the Council of theCreditul Minier, contains the principles that should underlie the newOil Law that was under way to be elaborated and it made it
impossible for the Romanian state and the national capital to obtainany reserve of oil fields in the areas that were to be explored.
As a Doctor at a German Polytechnics University and thereforenever to be accused of disliking the Germans at a Time when Germanywas dominating over Bucharest, I had the opportunity to oppose thisProtocol decidingly, both before Professor Mrazec, referee, and in frontof the National Council of the Oil Enterprises. The Memorandum thatwas drawn up on this occasion and handed in to the President of theCouncil of Ministers, represented the support of diplomatic discussionsthat followed regarding Protocol elimination and ignoring it in theelaboration of the Law of Oil that had been passed on the 17th ofJuly, 1942.
Romanian oil at the peace conferenceToday, we are faced with the same opportunity we had at the
end of the first world war with the difference that USSR will also joinin as the representative of the Russian ‘Aznef’ corporation togetherwith England and the USA as the representatives of the internationalcorporations ‘Royal Dutch’ and ’Standard Oil’.
Romania should and we estimate that it would act among
these three large international oil corporations, in order to bring
back a part of the war losers’ shares back to the national patrimony.The foundation of the House of Administration of the Enemy’s
Goods represent a good opportunity to entrust to competent bodieshonest and patriotic the administration of the enemy’s oil possessions,with the role to prepare the works of the peace conference and for thepreceding negotiations.
It should be taken into account that some of the enemy’spossessions, such as: I.R.D.P., Sar Petrol and other had a nationalcapital before the war, and the majority of these enemy’s companieshave a minority national capital structure.
We consider that the preparation and the success of thiseconomic problem that is of top importance today for Romania, maybe carried out efficiently taking into account our rights and especiallythe Romanian oil and blood that are consumed today on the battlefield on the allies side and for their victory. ’
THE BASGAN EFFECT
AND ITS APPLICATIONS
The Archimedes’ Principle and Oil Drilling. Between 1925
and 1933, Ion Basgan carried out an extensive research aiming to
improve the technological process of drilling and to identify the
causes of the drilling holes deviation. His work ended when he
discovered that the drilling rig when operating in the liquid is
subjected to the effect of the Archimedes’ hydrostatic pressure. Never
before had the Archimedes’ hydrostatic pressure been taken into
account in the process of drilling.
The act of creation. A specific attitude if Ion Basgan.
Its effect was not on the centre of gravity of the drilling rig,
but on the lower surface of the bit. Thus it was for the first time in
the history of the universal science and technique that Ion Basgan
supplemented the Archimedes’ principle as it was applied at high
depth liquid drilling.
According to the classic principles and interpretations, it was
believed that the hydrostatic Archimedes’ pressure applied at the
centre of gravity of the drilling rig was proportionally distributed
along the drilling rig, on its entire length before reaching the bit under
stress. According to the classic definition of the Archimedes’ principle,
any vertically suspended column in a lower density liquid than that of
the drilling column material was considered to act as having a new
specific density smaller and equal to the difference between the
specific weights of the material and the liquid, a fact that generated
the notion of apparent weight. This way of thinking and solving the
problem would ignore the phenomena taking place at the lower end of
the drilling rig.
As a result of his research, Ion Basgan admitted first that the
area of the floating force application was at the lower end of the drilling
rig. Thus he discovered and then calculated the compressing zone and
the position of the neutral zone, and made a new interpretation of
the Archimedes’ principle. This effect of the hydrostatic force, the
compressed zone and the neutral zone, that were discovered by Ion
Basgan were defined as the Basgan effect. According to the Basgan
effect, the distribution of the axial unitary efforts in the drilling rig
does no longer agree to the old conception that the drilling rig has
only a tension in the range from zero (at the drilling bit) to the
maximum value (at the upper hook of the drilling rig). According to
the Ion Basgan’s theory (published in the theses of his inventions of
1934-1938), a maximum compression takes place at the bit, in the
lower end of the drilling rig that stays in the liquid with the base free
of it. The compression value decreases down to the zero value in
the neutral zone, then it enters into the tension zone, that reaches
up to the hook.
The length of the compressed zone of the drilling rig increases
accordingly to the depth and it represents the main reason of drilling
holes deviation. As a result of drilling rig rotation that may reach up to
300 rot/min, elastic bending takes place that is higher in the compressed
zone, which explains the loss of steady balance of the drilling rig,
deviation and drilling rod and bit breakage. Essentially, the length of
the compressed zone of the drilling rid is equal to the length of the
drilling rig immersed into the liquid multiplied by the ratio of the
specific weight of the liquid and that of the steel.
The result of the Archimedes’ hydrostatic pressure is in direct
proportion to the depth and length of the drilling rig immersed into the
liquid, weight of the displaced volume, respectively. This represents
15-20% of the drilling rig weight, that may reach approx. 30 tons
under the conditions and the depth of modern drilling. Therefore, on
the basis of the research and result obtained, Ion Basgan gives the
following special interpretation to the Archimedes’ principle: ‘A bodyin a bar form, partially and vertically immersed in a liquid is pushedupward by a force equal to the weight of the displaced liquid, with theupwardly acting force being applied on lower surface of the body.’
Based on the scientific and technical provisions of his in-
terpretation, Ion Basgan issued a series of new laws specific to the
hydrostatics and the drilling technique, namely: ‘the lower part of
drilling rig vertically and partially suspended in a liquid is compressed
as a result of the displaced liquid by the entire drilling rig’… ‘The
lower part of the drilling rig that is vertically immersed into the liquid
and partially supported at the lower end is under compression and is
equal to the weight of the displaced liquid by the entire drilling rig
plus the reaction of the support’. ‘There is a neutral zone along the
vertically and partially immersed bar, separating the compressed
zone from the tension zone. This neutral zone ‘travels’ along the bar
depending on the depth to which the bar is immersed and on the
support load’.
Proportional heavy rods drilling. Ion Basgan’s discoveries
made it possible to deal with the compressed area of the drilling rig
by means of proportional heavy rods, thus lowering the neutral
zone in the mass of the heavy rods and practically acting in perfectly
vertical holes, permitting to reach ever deeper down into the land.
The weight of the new type of rods, called proportional rods is equal
to the weight of the displaced volume of liquid by the drilling rig, plus
the drilling pressure necessary for rock piercing. In this respect,
the following example is to be mentioned: with a drilling rig of
100 tons, the displaced volume is 15 tons, the force corresponding to
the drilling pressure is 7 tons and the weight of proportional
drilling rigs is 22 tons. Mention should be made that the principle is
correct also for aluminium and plastics drilling rigs.
To get the scientific, technical and economic importance of this
invention it should be noted that before 1934, drilling was made by
means of heavy long rod (bit), also called a ‘drill-collar’. Its length
was from 6 to 9m and its weight approx. 1 ton. It was only
experimentally that 2-3 tons rods had been used. After patenting and
applying this invention, the weight of the rods increased to 20-30 tons,
drilling vertical holes, down to 9000 m.
As we have mentioned before, the new procedure resulted in an
output increase of about 30% at the cost of one drilling metre.
Breakage of rods and hooking was eliminated.
In 1954, the ‘Republica’ Works started the production of the
first new product, ‘heavy rods’, based upon the technologic transfer of
Ion Basgan’s invention.
In the USSR the method of modern drilling as initiated by Ion
Basgan was introduced in the university courses in 1947.
In the USA, no sooner than the Patent of 1937 was obtained, the
proportional heavy rods drilling was implemented, with rods 200 m to
300 m in length and 10 to 30 tons in weight. The scientific Romanian
and international circles were involved in this special event, resulting
in a series of technical and scientific controversies, debates and analyses.
Things were going to quiet down only in 10 or 20 years, when
renowned American scientists, such as H. G. Texter, Ion L. Homquist,
H. G. Handelman, P. Moore, Prof. O. Gatlin, D. M. Best, U. T. Okan
had reached the same conclusions as Ion Basgan.
In Italy, the following comments were made in the ‘Italiano del
petrolio’ of the 30th of April, 1967: ‘The methods invented by the
Romanian Ion Basgan are applied in the oil exploitations of thecompany ‘Eri-Agip’. The drilling wells are perfectly vertical and theworks are performed under very advantageous economic conditions.Other wells that where these methods are not applied, there areregistered deviations from the vertical between 150 and 200. This is aremark pledging for extending the methods of the Romanian inventor.’
Sonic drilling. Starting from the ‘Theory of Sonicity’, as a
result of some extensive research taking place mainly on the oil fields
of Moineşti, containing very hard rocks, Ion Basgan established the
conditions that are specific to the transmission, by means of mud
pumps and by sonic waves of a supplementary energy from the surface
through the drilling rig to the bit. Taking as a starting basis the laws of
sonic energy transmission under the form of waves through solid
liquids and gas, as well as the remote sonic energy retrieval, Ion
Basgan calculated the mechanical work, that may be captured at the
bit, through sonic energy transmission from the surface, in order to
simultaneously convey rotation and percussion shocks to the bit.
He succeeded to produce a kind disturbing penetration force.
Under these conditions, direction amplitude, and frequency of bit
oscillations, the mechanical work of the bit, as well as the resonance
regime at the bottom of the hole have maximum values. He obtained
bit oscillation of several centimetres during his oil field experiences.
That was low Ion Basgan achieved a unique drilling system, that
would integrate the advantages of Rotary drilling and percussion
drilling, namely quickness and vertical penetration, respectively.
Therefore, the assertion is true that Ion Basgan is the inventor of the
‘rotary simultaneous drilling, the sonic drilling’.
This new drilling method that increases the drilling output,
resulting in vertical holes was patented in 1934 in Romania and 1937
in the USA.
Later, in the USA, a series of patented improvements were
made based on the Ion Basgan Patent. This ‘Vibrating’ drilling system
was tested on the oil fields, by means of percussion, utilising the
magneto-static method, underground turbines, and other bottom
engines. Very good results were attained during the experiments, up to
drilling indices three times higher than usual. Laboratory results also
attested the essential progress in deep drilling, that was achieved by
applying the complex method of percussion and rotation.
A short description of Ion Basgan’s inventions, as mentioned
above, is a unique opportunity to show an attentive reader the way
these ‘jewels’ of the Romanian creativity were produced.
I. Rotary drilling procedure and system with sonic vibra-
tions conveyed through the drilling fluid to the oil well bottom(Patent 3507341, 21 April, 1970, USA). The Patent refers to a rotary
hydraulic drilling system, by means of percussion vibrations and bring
about an improvement of the preceding methods.
This system includes drilling equipment with adequate fre-
quency, as well as the required endowment including the bit, the drill
collar, drilling rods and the lifting system, the crane, vibration energy
generator.
Ion Basgan’s invention was meant to deal successfully with the
disadvantages of the traditional methods, without utilising complex
tools and devices.
The oil drilling mud has a very high pressure at the base of the
oil well, reaching up to approximately 140 000 lb/in (980 kg/cm2)
at 5 mile in depth. This pressure acts on the drilling rig upwardly,
resulting in the compression of the lower part of the oil rig on a certain
length. Above the compressed section, the drilling rig is under stress,
as a result of suspension and under its own load with the neutral zone
in between these zones.
Essentially, the invention refers to the fact that the neutral zone
of the drilling rig is lowered by utilising a heavy drill collar, 10 to
15% heavier than the displaced drilling mud. This makes the drilling
rigs to be maintained under stress. The compressed zone is comprised
in the drill collar mass, thus drilling rods bending can be avoided.
Technical drawing of the oil well
for percussion sonic drilling. Patented invention in the USA, in 1970.
The drilling rig based on this procedure was endowed with a
drill collar up to 450 ft in length, when the depth of the oil well is up
to 6600 ft. As result of the absence of any lateral bending of the
drilling rig, the drilled hole is absolutely vertical.
Periodical extraction of the drilling rig every time the bit needs
replacing and the coupling of another drilling rod segment to the
drilling rig is a habitual operation in the process of a well drilling.
‘My invention, says the author of the Patent, requires that newsegments of drill collars should be added in order to maintain theirtotal weight in the structure of the respective drilling rig in the abovelimits’. Consequently, the length of a drill collar must be increased
from time to time, with the increase of the oil well depth.
Besides the above mentioned advantage, there is one more
advantage resulting from the long moment of inertia in the rotation of
the drill collar, counterbalancing the sudden variations in resistance of
the drilling bit.
The invention permits to obtain an efficient infrasonic regime of
drilling at a certain amplitude, the frequency and ratio between the
generating force of the flow of infrasonic frequency and the pressure
at the oil well base.
This process offers the possibility to drill vertical oil well holes
under economical conditions, down to 10 or 15 km.
His invention also permits to increase the commercial and mecha-
nical drilling speed. In the newly wrought system, the exciting force of Kvibrations, the pressure difference Pp of the pump and the internal cross
section of the drilling rig are higher than the ordinary values.
Claims1. In a drilling system, the drilling rig is made of the upper
section, including drilling rods and the lower section,
including the tubular drill collar, that is rigidly connected
to the upper section and the drilling bit fixed at the lower
section, equipment mounted at the surface, that are
required to fix the drilling rig to its upper end for
suspension and adjustment of the P weight action on the
bit during drilling, the system includes the means of
preparation and feed of the drilling mud towards the upper
end of the drilling rig, performing its immersion into the
mud filling up the oil well hole; the Gc weight of the
lower section is 10 to 50% higher than the sum of (1) the
G weight of the mud displaced from the oil well hole by
the drilling rig and (2) the P weight, where the Gc weight
neutralises the hydraulic pressure of the mud acting on
the bottom of the drilling bit, thus submitting to
compression the upper part of the drilling bit and rig
and its lower section.
2. The system described under Claim 1 includes hydraulic
means of pressure pumping of the drilling mud to the
drilling rig. The hydraulic system is endowed with means
for pressure variation between the minimum and the
maximum limit; the differential pressure is Pp; this
pressure multiplied by the internal cross section of the
drilling rig results in pressure K; the ratio of K and P (the
pressing weight on the bit) is expressed by the equation:
P·Y = K, where Y varies between 1.5 and 1.3 and the
pressure K raises and lowers the bit, as a result of
general longitudinal vibrations in the metal of the
drilling rig and conveyed from the vibrations
generating device downwards, in descending direction
through the upper section of the drilling rig towards the
upper part of the lower section, both of them being subject
to stress.
3. The system claimed under 2, with a pumping system of
the drilling mud towards the lower part of the rig is
endowed with a cylinder, being related to the circuit of
mud of the drilling rig in its upper part, a piston moving
inside this cylinder, means of power supply for piston
actuation at a frequency of n strokes and a means of
regulation and adjustment of n strokes.
4. The assembly described under claim 3 also contains
an apparatus attached to the above mentioned cylinder,
that measures and indicates the difference between the
maximum and the minimum pressure generated in the
cylinder, as a results of piston movement at n frequency,
as well as a measurement apparatus of ‘n’ frequency with
an indicator.
5. The manipulation and direction process of the drilling
system in geological structures involves the type the type
of drilling system, including: the string of rods for rotary
drilling, being made of the upper section, containing rods,
the lower section, containing the drill collar rigidly fixed
to the upper section and the drilling bit mounted at the
bottom of the lower section; surface located means and
attached to the upper part of the drilling rig, in order to
maintain it in suspension and adjust the P pressing load
on the bit during drilling, pumping means of the drilling
mud at the upper part of the drilling rig, with its
immersion into the mud filling up the oil well hole; the Gweight of the lower section is 10 to 500% higher than
the sum of: (1) the G weight of the displaced mud in the
hole of the drilling rig and (2) the P weight; the process
including the feed of drilling mud by means of a variable
pressure between a minimum and maximum, with a Pp
differential pressure, that may increase up to the value
whose K product with the interior cross section of the
upper part of the above mentioned drilling rig is related to
the P pressure, according to the equation P·Y = K, where
Y has a value between 1.1 and 1.3.
6. In a drilling system, the drilling rig is made of: the upper
section comprising the drilling rods and the lower section
comprising a tubular drill collar, that is rigidly fixed to the
upper part and the bit mounted at the bottom of the lower
section, surface mounted means, that are fixed at the
upper part of the drilling rig, in order to maintain it in
suspension and to adjust the P weight of pressing on the
drilling bit during the drilling process; means of drilling
mud feed, with the immersion of the drilling rig into the
mud that fills the oil well hole, at the upper end of the rig;
the hydraulic system is connected to the upper part of the
rig for the feed of the drilling mud into the rig under
pressure, the system including the generation device of
pressure variations between minimum and maximum
values; the differential pressure is Pp, that may be
multiplied by the internal cross section of the rig to obtain
pressure K; the ratio between K and P (pressing load on
the drilling bit) is expressed by equation P·Y = K, where Yhas a value between 1.5 and 1.3; the K pressure rise and
lowers the drilling bit, as a result of longitudinal
vibrations generated in the metal of the drilling rig and
conveyed from the vibration generation device
downwards upper section of the rig to the upper part of
the lower section, with both sectors under stress.
II. ‘Rotary well drilling apparatus’ or rotary installation for
well drilling (Patent 2103137, 21st of December, 1937, USA). This
invention contains the improvement of rotary drilling in the drilling of
oil wells. It changes the principle of the system, concerning, both the
operation method, as well as the assembly of the drilling rig and
equipment, with an increased efficiency.
In rotary drilling, the drilling bit advances under the action of
rotations and under the load applied to it.
If the drilling bit receives vibration impulses during rotation,
generating vertical oscillation in the bit, which results in a percussion
action, the efficiency of drilling operations increases substantially.
Oscillating percussion may be easily achieved, as a result of
utilising a drilling rig for which the ratio value between its length and
its cross section is very high. In such a body, longitudinal vibrations
are generated and easily transmitted on a specified frequency.
The practical applications of this process were a confirmation of
the exactness of the above mentioned description, with the result of
increasing drilling efficiency.
As a result of percussion, the drilling bit produces the
weakening of the drilled matter at the oil well base, while the rotation
of the drilling bit breaks up and removes it easily.
The effect of percussion increases if the drilling rig is equipped
with a larger weight at its lower end, which may be properly adjusted
through calculation.
In this case, the drilling bit easily maintains the vertical drilling
direction, resulting in straight oil well holes and a higher oil drilling
efficiency.
As a consequence, Ion Basgan’s invention Patent stipulates that
the drilling bit operates through simultaneous rotation and percussion.
In order to generate and transmit percussion to the drilling bit during
its rotation, either a liquid column inside the drilling rig, or an
adequate mechanical device is utilised, to generate percussion, that
may be transferred onto the surface drilling rig.
The drilling rig with the above mentioned structure displays a
certain eight per length unit.
According to this invention, an additional weigh is applied and
concentrated at the bottom of the drilling rig, apart from the bit weight
by means of the drill collar. This is achieved by means of heavy drill
collars, that contributes to obtain regular rotation and vertical and
vertical oil well holes, increasing the drilling efficiency.
As a result of utilising heavier drill collars, their weight being
higher than the weight of the displaced drilling mud, the drilling rods
are maintained under stress. The compressed zone is contained in the
mass of the drill collar.
Claims1. Referring to the rotary drilling by means of an equipment
representing an assembly containing: the rod string
including (coreless) drilling rods and a drilling bit with a
hole, in order to provide a communication means
between the bottom of the well and the interior of drilling
rods, with the drilling rods rigidly connected to the
drilling bits; support means of the drilling rig; one pumps
and pipes connected to the drilling rig for pumping the
cleaning liquid through the drilling rods and a second
pump connected to this hydraulic circuit, in order to
generate pressure variation in the liquid column of the
circuit described above and in the drilling rods, so that
longitudinal vibrations should be generated in this column
and the sting of rods.
2. Equipment for rotary drilling containing: string of drilling
rods, including pipe-shaped rods and the drilling bit with
an opening for communication between the oil well
bottom and the interior of drilling rods, with the rods
being rigidly connected to the drilling bit; support means
of the drilling rig and means for pumping the cleaning
liquid inside the drilling rigs; the weight should be
concentrated at the lower end of the drilling rig to
compensate (removal or fighting) for the hydro-
mechanical pressure acting upwards, that is contrary to
the drilling bit direction; the above mentioned weight is
up to 15% of the drilling rig weight plus 50 kg.
3. Rotary drilling equipment containing the drilling rig,
including drilling rods (pipe) and the drilling rig with an
opening for communication between the bottom of the
well and the interior of the drilling rods, with the
rigidly connected to the drilling bit; support means of
the drilling rig, pumping means of the cleaning liquid
through the drilling rods; the weigh concentrated at the
lower part of the drilling rig for neutralising the negative
hydro-mechanical pressure acting contrary to the drilling
bit direction; the above mentioned weight is 20% of the
weight of the drilling rod string plus 50 kg.
III Method for improving the output and process of rotary
drilling by percussion rotation and hydro-mechanical pressuredamping (except from the Romanian patent No. 22789, the 18
th of
May, 1934).
Claims1. Rotary percussion drilling combining rotation and
percussion, as well as the application of this process in
drilling apparata manufacturing.
This process is characterised by the generation of a vibration
region in the drilling rig, either by hydraulic action by means of
pressure variation of the liquid circuit, or by mechanical action on the
rods, resulting in percussion shocks of the drilling rotation.
2. Drilling process using a concentrated weight added in the
parts representing the lower part of the drilling rig to their
existing weight, until the weight calculated according to
the above mentioned principle is reached. The
characteristic of this process is to dampen the negative
resultant of hydro-mechanical pressure and to gradually
the weight of the drilling rig (which is under a definite
ratio with the rig weight) increase of the latter.
3. A process for the generation of the weight, that should be
concentrated at the lower part of the drilling rig,
commensurate with the increase of the total weight of the
drilling rig, that is characterised by the fact that it may be
obtained by, either replacing the parts (the bit, drill collar,
or any other parts) at its lower end by specially devised
heavier parts, or utilising the same parts from the drilling
rigs with higher nominal dimensions for drilling rigs
with lower minimal dimensions, or even extended, as the
weight of the drilling rig increases.
4. Machining and modifying the parts (bit, drill collar, any
other part) that make up the lower end of the drilling rig
and are sized in order to ensure a weight, that should
permit a shift from the present weight of the bit, drill
collar, or any part up to the concentrated weight, that will
ensure the required proportion (according to the above
mentioned principle) between the weight concentrated
at the lower part of the rig and the total weight of the
drilling rig.
Specialists in the domain expressed their opinion concerning these
achievements. In ‘The Oil and Gas Journal’ of the 21st of June, 1938, I. P.
Sanders mentioned the success obtained by the Shell Oil Co. in drilling
deep oil wells of the San Josquin Valley, in the article ‘San Josquing
Drilling Time Reduced by Improvements’. The last of these oil wells was
drilled and launched into production in 38 days as compared to the first
oil wells that had been drilled in about 70 days. That was an exceptional
achievement, if taking into account the fact that the oil well hole was
upright, and two pipe-columns were used at a depth of 8200 ft (2460 m).
The largest drilling installations in the world at that time were
used to drill the oil wells of Rio Bravo, namely the Derrick cranes of
176 ft and other oversized equipment. 9887 ft were drilled in 30 days
at one of these oil wells, including piping and cementing 1100 ft/day
deep drilling output and 6 min coupling and lowering were achieved.
Five oil wells were drilled by means of such equipment at
Rio Bravo. Drilling records were attained, higher than the traditional
drilling installations could yield.
The author claimed that shorter drilling time, that is higher
drilling bit advancing speed could be attained by increasing the pressing
weight on the drilling bit.
‘For many years the weight applied on the drilling bit has beencarefully maintained at a minimum level, in order to avoid theoccurrence of deviation drilling holes. Recently there has been adopted a
new method that permits to concentrate the weight directly above thedrilling bit. Therefore, the drilling rods that are placed above this heaviersection are maintained under stress. The drilling bit with the overweightis like a leader string (pendulum), thus the bending of rods being avoided,that produces the drilling bit deviation.’
Sometimes the drilling bits were made heavier by means of lead
segments attached to the ordinary drill collars, but often several heavy
drill collar were used.
120-140 ft heavy rods (drill collars) of the largest diameter
were used at the ‘Ten Section’ oil well, that should ensure a good
circulation of the drilling fluid. The drilling bit had a weight of about
1200 lb (6436 kg).
The ‘superior Oil Co’ utilised 365 ft (about 109m) drill collars
at the Rio Bravo oil wells, with a part of the drill collars weight of
about 16t being applied to the drilling bit.
Utilisation of heavy drill collars. The drill collars that were
utilised with the majority of oil wells on the Rio Bravo oil field had
147 lb/ft. About 1/3 of the total weight of the drill collars is held in
suspension, while 2/3 of the interior part are applied on the drilling bit.
There result several advantages. The additional suspended
weight generates stress in the drilling rig, which prevents excessive
bending to occur at relatively high speeds.
Moreover, it is in the neutral zone of the drilling rig, in which
the stress replaces compression, that the former is generated in the mass
of the drill collar, instead of the upper part of the drilling rods. This
method prevents damages as a result of stress generated by vibrations.
The author stated that: ‘The service life of ‘rock bits’ may beconsiderably extended even with soft rocks, when a heavier weight isapplied on the drilling bit’.
As it was mentioned in this chapter in a summary,
the actual drilling performed in 1938, that is 4 years after
the Basgan’s Patent registration in the USA, was
a confirmation of the fact that heavy drill collars were utilized
. As it may be seen, one third of their weight was not utilized
for pressing on the drilling bit. It had been admitted the
necessity to maintain the integrity of the drilling rods
under tension, which could only be achieved by taking into
account the effect of floating.
It was for the first time that the specialised literature
mentioned the principle of increasing the weight of the
drill collar by a weight that is meant to lower the neutral
zone from the rods to the drill collar mass.
CONCLUSIONS
any articles were written on the controversial
personality of Ion Basgan and his achievements. His
theories were slow to make their way into the
contemporary international world of science and technique. Scientists
and specialists still believed in the legendary and classical principle of
Archimedes. The new interpretations of the Archimedes’ force action
were viewed with scepticism. Ion Basgan would only be taken
seriously when his theories resulted in new deep drilling methods
under technical safety and economic profitability conditions.
The whole world would utilise them, replacing one of the
classical drilling processes, namely that with rotary plate. This process
had a disadvantage. More often than not the holes were not vertical,
resulting in significant drilling losses.
The rotary percussion drilling invented by Ion Basgan between
1930-1934, for the first time permitted to convey sonic energy
generated at the surface to the bit, through the drilling rig, by means of
up and down bit oscillation (without raising the drilling rig), so that
if may follow a vertical direction at a specified frequency, drilling
straight holes.
M
The sonic drilling and the utilisation of the heavy proportional
rods were Ion Basgan’s invention that played an essential part in the
progress of mankind. Spectacular results had been calculated: when
the kinetic and potential energies of the sonic flow in the drilling rig
walls are equal, then the maximum mechanical work is achieved. This
specific phenomenon takes place at the moment when the amplitude
of the current pressure and of the current itself are in one phase. The
essential condition for this state to be attained was that the drilling
rods should be under continuous stress, that is the neutral line dividing
between the compressed zone and the zone under stress should be in
the mass of the heavy drilling pressure should be properly adjusted, in
order to permit the up and down oscillation of the bit, so as to generate
a percussion travel. That was how the so-called break-up phenomenon
could be prevented from occurring with the drilling rigs.
The results that had been first obtained on the oil fields (sonic,
that is rotary and percussion drilling, with the advantages of both
the percussion and rotary systems, at Moineşti, Gura Ochiţei and
Moreni) were confirmed later by mathematical calculation Ion
Basgan utilised the mathematical formulas of his master, George
(Gogu) Constantinescu. Then, the results were also checked up by the
Allievi formulas and it was established that the speed of sonic waves
propagation in the drilling rig walls in 5,000 m/s and 1,330 m/sec in
the liquid circuit.
The patent is obtained in 1934 in Romania and later in the USA,
as well as various publications confirmed the importance of this
Romanian invention in the domain of sonic drilling.
The sonic drilling system was generalised in the USSR and
USA in 1950 and other industrial countries. This modern drilling
method has the advantage of reducing the drilling pressure. It increases
the working time of the drilling bit into the ground and results in
perfectly vertical holes, with higher drilling indices, as compared to
other classical processes. In Romania, this method has been applied
experimentally since 1936, by concern of Ion Basgan.
That was an episode of utmost significance in the creative life
of Ion Basgan, announcing the future struggle to recover his legal
author rights for the utilisation of these inventions in Romania and
abroad. The Basgan phenomenon was not a chance event. It was
created by Ion Basgan himself, by his passion for the continuous
renewal of the technique, on the basis of a deep scientific analysis.
Romania has been a part of the international oil family, as a
result of what the genius of its specialists have created in this domain.
As the facts of real life technical and scientific experience have
shown, the success of exploitation works has been favourably affected
by the technological level of the Romanian creativity. The cost of oil
products and energy was dictated by the creative potential of the
Romanian specialists. The emergence of a renowned scientist like Ion
Basgan in the history of Romanian science and technique was a real
privilege for the Romanian people, a scientist whom contemporaries
would not appreciate and reward according to his international status.
Unfortunately, even present, at the beginning of the third
millennium, the copyright and author rights policy proves to be still
rather subjective and discriminating when applied by various countries.
‘The truth has always been on the side of the most powerful’, as is said.
An authentic democracy has been always expected to harbour authentic
competition and progress.
That is why, from a moral point of view, any technological
application in the domain of deep drilling, that utilises the ‘Basgan
effect’ on the territory of Romania should be conditioned by the way
in which the dispute regarding the payment of the author rights to Ion
Basgan by the users was solved. This is an international rule of the
law and of commercial fair play in the domain of the international
technological transfer. It has been a remarkable fact about the life
and work of Ion Basgan his continuous struggle under unfavorable
conditions, in the hope of ever getting back what was his own.
Industrially developed countries are setting forth their models
of democracy, as a unique way towards the highest standards of
human civilisation and progress. Under these circumstances it has
been often mentioned that the respect of the intellectual property
rights is an essential condition of building up this type of civilisation.
As a result of annual revisions, the drawing up supervision lists is so
accurately performed especially when Romania is concerned.
Nevertheless, no remarks are ever mentioned regarding the way in
which those who are responsible for drawing up such ‘black’ lists of
respecting property rights, have they themselves paid their own debts
to those countries which they are under litigation with.
It is the very case of the Romanian scientist and inventor Ion
Basgan: there have always been neglected the official measures that
should have put an end to the illegal practices of Ion Basgan’s Patents
utilisation. These remarkable Patents of Ion Basgan, as a Romanian
citizen have been exploited, while Romania and Ion Basgan himself
could never benefit from their own rights.
Ion Basgan , the Romanian scientist, has always been a friendly
person and he knew how to establish and maintain a network, that had
been beneficent to whatever he would undertake to achieve.
Unfortunately, that was not enough. The life story of this man and his
life struggle are an authentic testimony to the fact that sometimes
history and international interests overpower the intention to be useful
to a nation and earn an honest living through the mere creative power
of a man’s mind.
What was achieved especially after 1989, regarding the promotion
and the support of the Basgan case, it was mostly through the efforts
of those who appreciated the genius of Ion Basgan, namely Prof. Ion
Ştefănescu, the Director of the National Oil Museum of Ploieşti,
Dr. Eng. Nicolae Diaconescu, the Director of the Technical Museum
‘Engineer Dimitrie Leonida’, the journalist Haralambie Lerea and
others.
They succeeded to organise and hold a series of conferences,
that were intended to highlight the life and work of Ion Basgan, as
well as to set up a memorial stand of Ion Basgan at the Notional Oil
Museum of Ploieşti and the Technical Museum ‘Engineer Dimitrie
Leonida’ of Bucharest.
In Focşani, the School No 2 and the street where the inventor
was born were named by his own name.
But the most significant action, that was ever taken to the memory
of Ion Basgan, was the setting up of the Foundation ‘Ion Basgan’ and
the awarding of the ‘Ion Basgan’ Prize by the Technical Museum
‘Eng. Dimitrie Leonida’.
In guise of a conclusion, it may be stated that all these actions,
that have been carried out to the memory of the renowned Romanian
creator of the deep drilling are a proof, that there have always been
Romanians who will not forget forerunners and will sometimes do
even impossible things in order to render them homage, who will
always cherish their memory in their hearts.
Bucharest 9 November, 1995 – 9 November, 1997