Who started Hughes Tool Company?
Sarah Martinez
Updated on January 08, 2026
Howard R. Hughes Sr.
The Hughes Tool Company was the foundation of the fortune of Howard R. Hughes Jr. It was founded by his father, Howard R. Hughes Sr., to manufacture and lease the rotary bit used for drilling oil wells through rock that the senior Hughes had invented and patented in 1909.
What did Howard Hughes Sr invent?
rotary tri-cone rock drill bit
Howard Robard Hughes Sr. (September 9, 1869 – January 14, 1924) was an American businessman and inventor. He was the founder of Hughes Tool Company. He invented the “Sharp–Hughes” rotary tri-cone rock drill bit during the Texas Oil Boom.
Who invented the tricone drill bit?
In 1933 two Hughes engineers, one of whom was Ralph Neuhaus, invented the tricone bit, which has three cones. The Hughes patent for the tricone bit lasted until 1951, after which other companies made similar bits. However, Hughes still held 40% of the world’s drill bit market in 2000.
What companies did Howard Hughes own?
| Howard Hughes | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | California Institute of Technology Rice University (dropped out in 1924) |
| Occupation | Chairman and CEO of Summa Corporation Founder of The Howard Hughes Corporation Founder of the Hughes Aircraft Company Founder and benefactor of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Owner of Hughes Airwest Airlines |
Is tool Co still in business?
Hughes Tool Company was an American manufacturer of drill bits….Hughes Tool Company.
| Industry | Drilling, Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1908 |
| Founder | Howard R. Hughes Sr. |
| Defunct | 1987 |
| Fate | Merged with Baker International |
Is Baker Hughes a GE company?
The company was originally known as Baker Hughes Incorporated until 2017 when it was merged with GE Oil and Gas to become Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE), then in 2019 the company divested from General Electric and became Baker Hughes Company.
Who ended up with Howard Hughes money?
Long story short, after hundreds of people came forward to claim inheritance—and after 40 wills purportedly written by the Howard Hughes Corporation heir were thrown out—Hughes’ money was split among his mother’s and father’s descendants, according to The New York Times.
Did anyone die when Howard Hughes crashed?
No one in the houses was hurt, but Hughes nearly died in the crash. Also, the subsequent investigation concluded that the crash was due to pilot error. Below you’ll find two movie clips. The top one is the original newsreel from that day which is full of footage and pictures of the damage caused by this crash.
What is it called when you can drill non vertically sideways for oil?
Horizontal drilling is the process of drilling a well from the surface to a subsurface location just above the target oil or gas reservoir called the “kickoff point”, then deviating the well bore from the vertical plane around a curve to intersect the reservoir at the “entry point” with a near-horizontal inclination.
Who was Howard Hughes’s girlfriend?
Hughes’ girlfriends in the early 1950s included Yvonne De Carlo, Rita Hayworth, Barbara Payton, Jean Peters and Terry Moore. When Hayworth became pregnant Hughes and Harry Cohn, her studio boss, forced her to have an abortion.
Who was the founder of Hughes Tool Company?
History. The company was established in December 1908 as Sharp-Hughes Tool Company when Howard R. Hughes Sr. patented a roller cutter bit that dramatically improved the rotary drilling process for oil drilling rigs. He partnered with longtime business associate Walter Benona Sharp to manufacture and market the bit.
When did Howard Hughes take his company public?
1915: Hughes renames his company Hughes Tool Company. 1924: Upon Hughes’s death, ownership of Hughes Tool passes to Howard Hughes, Jr., who over the next several decades uses the firm’s steady inflow of cash to fund his various avocations. 1961: Baker Oil Tools goes public. 1972: Hughes Tool is taken public.
When did Baker Hughes and Reed Tool merge?
1975: Hughes acquires drill-bit maker Reed Tool Company. 1976: Baker Oil Tools changes its name to Baker International Corporation. 1987: Hughes Tool and Baker International merge to form Baker Hughes Incorporated. 1990: Eastman Christensen Company, maker of directional and horizontal drilling equipment, is acquired.
Who are the founders of Baker Hughes Incorporated?
Baker Hughes Incorporated is the product of the 1987 merger of two oilfield-services companies with surprisingly similar histories, Baker Oil Tools and Hughes Tool Company. Both were founded shortly before World War I by aggressive entrepreneurs who won valuable patents and earned gushing royalties on early oil-extraction devices.
