Background

Hughes was born on September 9, 1869, in Lancaster, Missouri, the son of Jean Amelia and Judge Felix Turner Hughes. He was descended on both sides of his family from English land-grant colonists in Virginia, the first Hughes having settled in Kent County in 1645, and the first Summerlin in Isle of Wight County in 1717. His father was a lawyer widely known for his conduct of the Scotland County Bond Cases, which extended over a period of twenty-six years (1872 - 98), and was a railroad president and judge. During his youth Hughes lived in Lancaster, Mo. , and Keokuk, Iowa.

Education

He attended schools in Lancaster, Mo. , and Keokuk, Iowa. He prepared for college at the military academies at Morgan Park, Ill. , and St. Charles, Mo. , and entered Harvard College with the class of 1897, taking a special course, 1893-95. He then studied law at the State University of Iowa, 1895-96.

Career

Without graduating he began practice law with his father in Keokuk. He had meanwhile become intensely interested in mining, and he shortly left home to engage in lead and zinc mining in southwestern Missouri. He was happily at work here until, in 1901, the news reached him of the discovery of oil at Spindletop, near Beaumont, Tex. Rushing immediately to Beaumont, he quickly learned the practical end of the oil game. He then established a drilling contracting business and for seven years, most of the time in partnership with Walter Sharp, he engaged in contracting and in drilling wells for himself, following the oil industry from one field to another both in Texas and in Louisiana, and experiencing all of the fortunes and misfortunes which that industry affords.

The common method of drilling an oil well at that time was the rotary system, using a chisel-faced cutting tool shaped like a fish tail. With such an outfit Hughes, about 1907, started a well at Pierce Junction, Tex. , which he had to abandon because the drill could not penetrate the hard rock. After a similar experience at Goose Creek, Tex. , on the suggestion of his partner, Sharp, he went to his parents' home in Keokuk for a vacation, determined to devise a drill to bore through hard rock formation. Succeeding after two weeks' work, he filed patent applications on November 20, 1908, and on August 10, 1909, was granted two United States patents (numbers 930, 758 and 930, 759) for rock drills. These are the basic patents of the cone-type drill now used throughout the world in rotary drilling systems.

Hughes first tested his newly invented bit at Goose Creek, drilled through fourteen feet of the hard rock in eleven hours, brought in a well, and thus discovered the Goose Creek field, which became one of the greatest oil fields in the Gulf Coast region. In like manner he discovered Pierce Junction field, and then in 1909 organized with his partner the Sharp-Hughes Tool Company in Houston, Tex. , to manufacture his drill. Overcoming innumerable difficulties in introducing the new implement, the partners eventually established a most successful business.

After Sharp's death in 1917 Hughes became sole owner of the Hughes Tool Company, and not only directed the activities of his constantly growing enterprise, which now had branch plants in Oklahoma City and Los Angeles, but also carried on his inventive work. Following his initial invention he patented twenty-five improvements of his cone-type drill and other drilling equipment, and had instituted experimental research leading to the manufacture of a steel wedge-type gate valve for high pressure service in the oil industry. Unfortunately he did not live to see this device perfected. During the World War he adapted his cone bit for horizontal boring between trenches and offered it to the federal government, but the war ended before any definite action was taken in the matter.

Achievements

• Hughes is remembered as the founder of Hughes Tool Company. He invented the "Sharp-Hughes" rotary tri-cone rock drill bit during the Texas Oil Boom. He is best known as the father of Howard Hughes, the famous American business tycoon.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Howard Hughes Patent Prints - Set of Four Vintage Spruce Goose H-4 Hercules Oil Drill Rig Wall Art Decor Photos

    (Howard Hughes Patent Prints Howard Hughes Sr and Jr w...)

Interests

• Hughes's philanthropies were many – he was particularly interested in universities and deserving students – and all were anonymous. He was an ardent sportsman and traveled extensively both at home and abroad.

Connections

In 1904 he married Allene Gano of Dallas, Tex. , and at the time of his sudden death in Houston was survived by a son.

Father:

Felix Turner Hughes

1837–1926

Mother:

Jean Amelia Summerlin Hughes

1842–1928

sibling:

Greta Hughes Witherspoon

1866–1916

sibling:

Felix Hughes

1874–1961

sibling:

Rupert Raleigh Hughes

1872–1956