Gabriel I.

Nstase ION BASGAN A Romanian Inventor

Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan (1902-1981)

Gabriel I. Nstase

ION BASGAN
A Romanian Inventor

Personalities of Science and Technics Series

AGIR Publishing House Bucharest - 2000

RAPANA Publishing House

THE 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 agir@starnets.ro RAPANA PUBLISHING HOUSE, 2000 Address: 13 Almaul Mic Sector 4, 75443 Bucharest, bl. B11, sc. 2, ap. 12, Tel. 629 82 93

The original edition: Gabriel I. Nstase, Ion Basgan : Un inventator de geniu English Translation by Daniela Stoicescu

EDITION CD-ROM, 2002 Publishing Adviser: Gabriel I. Nstase, 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 t. Basgan and his work, but only now there was written a biography, in the true sense of the word. To the credit of Mr. Gabriel I. Nstase and his family, we can now 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 t. Basgan (b. on 24 June 1902, in Focani d. on 15 December 1980, in Bucharest) comes from a family of priests, whose spiritual exercise had been present throughout generations. However, he dedicated his life to science and technology and succeded to write an unbelievable legend of his own self. The pages to come speak in detail about his evolution. We would have to point aut that on 18 May 1934 he gets the Romanian patent no. 22.789, and on 21 December 1937 the American patent no. 2.103.137, covering the heavy proportional pipes drilling and the sonic drilling, thats is rotor-percution drilling. The inventions of the Romanian engineer Ion t. Basgan concern the progress of all types of drilling and they effectively put them into practice. On 27 December 1941, the USA gouvernment blocked the patent of the Romanian citizen. It is very curious that, within American oil industry, Ion Basgan ideas are applied, bringing fabulous sums of money to the oil industry companies. He would have had the right to cash 8,6 billion US dollars, as copyright, according to an expertise dating from 1965. In 1961, Ion Basgan starts a recuperation trial for his inventor rights (he had paid the taxes for the protection of his American patent for 17 years), charging 118 American oil companies. Nowadays, we begin to understand the American democracy, favouring the theft of his rights. He was told that the patent no. 2.103.137 had been and was still blocked; the poor man fights with the US Administration and on 13 October 1965, the State Department of Justice unbocked the patent, which had a symbol effect. World War II ended twenty years

ago, but the blockage of the patent was still valid, for the benefit of American companies. This late gesture had its legal reason, since in 1961, the oil companies had shown a death certificate in front of the American justice, of the medical doctor Ion Basgan (the inventors cousin) asserting that the inventor had died and that the trial should have bean declared closed. A justice system which does not check the papers does not deserve our respect. Ma. E. Ion t. Basgan spent a long time abroad, during 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1974, a.s.o., in order to set up his defence, and wasted much energy and hope. Everything was futile. The is a fact that the Romanian inventor understood, step by step. In 1967, an anonymous engineer from Dallas told him in London: We shall be in court with you for years, and afterwards with your sons, but we shall never pay back!. While in Rome, in 1966, he was proposed by the Jewish Organization Saint to become an Israeli citizen, for the sum of 10 million US dollars, so that he might get the help to recuperate those 8.6 billion US dollars and bring them to Israel (Bild am Sonntag, 2526 May 1969). On 2 January 1973, Ion t. Basgan was making a TV declaration for the editor Cornel Rusu: I found in the USA a special target enterprise dealing with acquiring inventions made in the Eastern Europe. There I was told that it is common knowledge that the great majority and the most interesting inventions came from Romania. Nevertheless, Ion t. Basgan is pursuing his way: on 11 June 1974, he sends the USA government a request, including 21 documents and claiming for his inventor right. The answer was negative. At his proposal to set up in USA a foundation including 34 sections (hydrotechnics, sonics, oil-industry, water duction, a.s.o.) with the money he could get from his copyright, the USA, government did not bother to answer. Lets see together that the editor Balcar from Mnchen, after obtaining a few of the Romanian inventors papers, claims exagerated financial rights in order to give them back to the owner! Moreover,

Ion Basgan understands that those papers werw used in technical and scientific espionage, in favour of an American oil company. Ion t. Basgan had no chance. Any of his attempts to defend his 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 specific institutions. Therefore, a great world power is stealing in fine style and afterwards it proves that it was right to do it. This method had been applied to other Romanian citizens as well. I remember the famous case of Nicola Tesla (Nicolae Teslea), an extraordinary Romanian engineer, whose inventions brought the USA huge incomes, as well as the status of an advanced technology country. Poor Tesla! He was declared to be insane; his laboratory was put on fire and he died in a hotel room; he had not even succeeded to build himself a house. Now, the Tesla technologies are up to date again. But the USA are not obliged to pay for benefiting from the 900 patents of Nicola Tesla. The great powers are stealing, everything and the tragedy of Ion t. Basgan draws us the attention, once more, on the good intentions with which hell is paved and wich are put forward in front of the curtain pompously called democracy. The name of Basgan raises the problem of its ethimology and we fiind the answer in this book: his name comes from the village and the river in the county of Bacu Bazga, code 5.531. I have been several times in the village of Stroieti, in the region of Rbni a, in Transnistria. Its citizens know that, at the end of the 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 monograpy of their village, but they do not have documents any more, because the Russian invaders stole them and destroyed them, with a special purpose. I am not aware that in our country, especially in Ardeal, there could be a village or a river called Mazga, but the words: mzg (slime), mzglitur (scribbling), a mzgli, mzgleal (scribble) a.s.o. could be an answer to our question. Moreover, in the Bucharest telephone directory there are names like: Mazga (2), Mzgneanu (8), and Mzgreanu (3), as well as: Bazga (2), Bazgan (7), Nazg (2), Bazgu (1), Bzg (1), Bzgan (3) and Bzg (3). We can conclude that these names have the same

ethimology and come from the Romanian territory. This must be known by the citizens of Stroieti from Transnistria! They should also know that the great empires are stealing in fine style, if they did not fiind this aut till now! Moreover, after stealing, they proceed to forgery, through cosmetical operations, and work aut false histories, force-imposed, as sacred truths! the Romanian thesaurus is still in Moscow from 1917 after an agreement between two allied governments and we are sill waiting for it to be returned. In front of the great powers, which are stealing us, those little peoples, we have the moral duty to defend ourselves and to memoriye everything nothing should be forgotten. There will come a time when history will be re-written under real coordinates and history does not forgive. Thus, one can find aut who was the inventor and who stole the invention who worked hard and who robbed; who was the bad guy at a given moment, in a given space. Profesor Ma. E. Nicolae P. Leonchescu President 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, not with-out hesitations (and only after much insistence) and when he agreed to speak with me, with a new-born hope (and a sheer trust) in those 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 of moral recuperation, due to a certain period of time refractory to the Basgan modality and all those periods of time, at plural too many and full of people, and too tight-handed to personality appraisal, that the long postponed day had arrived, secretly, to his house and was determined to ring the bell. It was by the end of June 1975. then, he lived in the block of flats Leonida and he was 73 years old and a big lawyears house from the USA, with many famous names on the front of its legal fame (among them there was Nixons father-in-law) was ready to start a trial for a legal recuperation of those 8 billions US dollars, to which Basgan was entitled for his patents, largely used until 1945 and which the American Administration had blocked in banks, when the USA entered the World War II. (And there were so many people around Basgan, who were interested to help him!). Today he would have been 95 years old and he would have been 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, confessed to 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 full power of creation Onicescu, Macovschi, Moisil and Ion Basgan could not have he been forgotten from the memories to come which I was 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 my attempt 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 great depths of our Terra, about our need (and thriving) to be able to exploit sometime the huge oil deposits, beyond the temporary boundary of 2,000 metres, to which science and technology stopped in the 30 30 before a young engineer, absolutely courageous, who hardly was, in 1935, older than the great foreseers (he was 33 years old) could stagger the inertia of his time, bringing about an essential revolution in drilling I wasnt a foreseer, he protested. I have calculated absolutely everything, very rigorously

All the foreseer check rigorously their great provisions, in strange kind of mathematics, unknown to us. We had talked much and several times, before publishing on 12 July 1975 my first essay on Basgan and his dreams I called it Towards the Depths of Earth an essay which, when I reread it now, after more than two decades, I still find it appropriate and real and maybe less coded that could have been forced to do it, against my own will, by the sonic drilling and the explanation of the Basgan effect. I wrote that there was a time when geological maps still paid a tribute to improvisation and estimation, and the pure drilling, the penetration to areas hopefully extractive did not exceed at least until the 4th 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 of satisfaction of those who worked in drilling was not only the unsatisfactory level of 2,000 meters, but also the special difficulties encountered: the penetration of drilling equipment, even to this depth, 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 thesaurus attacks to the depth fortune of its deposits? Modern equipment which allows today to geo-physicists and geo-chemists to unveil the secret of Earth, from measurements of various charact6eristics of the gravity field, from constant recordings of same radiations and vibration reflexion, from detecting of important particles did not exist then. And even if we admitted it existed, the modern world eas increasingly requesting the exploitation of newer and newer deposits Mankind reached as 1 told him then one of those limit situation which puts the, 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 didnt exist, being obsessed by the question (and the song): What girls would do / If love didnt exist? / Theyd die like leaves / In autumn, like white-frost. Otherwise: What we, people, could do, without our great passions?

We2d die suffocated by inertia, by obtusities, stricken by our own indecisions Basgan continued my thought. I remembered well his last words, which I used in the end of that essay, about a creator who could confirm his call, exactly by decidedly refusing to fall into conformism, into the already-known, into the we cannot do it otherwise. The only way in science, as in life due to an original scientific interpretation towards a truly new solution and referring to Basgan towards the one the most important aquirements of this century. I quote again from this first essay: Reconsidering the whole process and phenomenon, interpreting the principle of Archimedes from the applicative angle of great depths at which drilling is performed, declaring very simply what the specialty literature calls today: the Basgan effect and thus setting up the heavy metallic proportional pipes drilling, modern science succeds in penetrating down to 9,000 meters depth! Transmitted in its general lines, since the first world oil congress (in 1933), patented in Romania in 1934, and in the USA in 1937, this paper is world-wide known. But Ion Basgan wouldnt stop here, at this bundary of 9,000 meters. Starting from the principle of remote transmission and capture of sonic energy (founded by George Constantinescu), Basgan succeeds in adding to the old Rotary drilling system the advantages of vertical penetration of 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 is going to happen next? And when? Beyond and above any economic advantage, this penetration towards big depths had the role to certainly complete, through an appropiate information, the understanding suggested today by geomagnetic and gravimetric researchers, the study of emissions of radioactive origin, the modern seismology and why not? the volcanology. Lets think therefore we invite our readers to this permanent progress of human knowledge and to this fascinating penetration towards when speaking of Basgans merit with a feeling of pride. Lets go back now to my wonderful companion in the summer of 1975, to what Ion Basgan was I remember that he told me about his school years and about that spiritual toughness he was to acquire during his entire life, about the innocence and special education acquirements, about the happy life spent in the Internal High-School in Iai, a school of will, of

perseverance and of devotion for an ideal Since nobody graduated this school without having an ideal. About his departure to the Superior Mining and Metallurgy School in Loeben (Austria), in 1920, where he made himself known through his native potential, then about his doctor degree which foreshadowed the revolution of the ancient Rotary drilling system, about the prize Ma. E. Cornel Nicoar of the Romanian Academy, in 1936, about which I found something, and about which Basgan felt obliged to admit that he was awarded. During our conversation I made up in my mind those seven difficult years 1925-1932 during which he acquired a productive experience, absolutely determining, at the famous, at that time, Steaua Romn, a school-enterprise of new extractive technologies. I think you care much about those seven years, very difficult years, which foresaw those seven years which were to bring a revolution in the drilling. Which renwed the other years, he corrected me. Which changed them, which directed them on other coordinates. As for the rest. The seven difficult years parable, in science, at least, is not necessarily accompanied by the seven happy years In science al the 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 had bright ideas at that time however unaccepted about which he used to speak shyly, as about a common fact, which could not be avoided to happen, despite his deep conviction that those ideas, essentially reforming, would be the necessary capital for important changes in the economic life of our country. When he was only 30 or 31 years old, he already founded, together with Gogu Constantinescu, The Economic Association for the Study of Conjuncture At the same time Academy of High Commercial and Economic Studies in Bucharest And there are still many things to be mentioned here about the new tools and equipments, many of them extremely original, which he was to present and manufacture, during 50-70, discovering thus new oil deposits, experimenting various extractive installations into the hard rocks of Dobrogea. However, we put a full stop to our long remember Today, there is, finally, in the town of Focani, the town where Basgan was born, on 24 June 1902, a street bearing his name Maybe, there will be a memorial plate in Iai, sometime Maybe another 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 and will speak too little about the unique character of Basgan, about the courage of his ideas and about that injustice of the world which deprives 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. Nstase to the great scientist, the engineer Ion Basgan, is doomed to wake up my most remote memories. I had the honour to be introduced to the oil-industry engineer Ion Basgan, in January 1945, during the foundation of the Studies Circle of the National Liberal Party, in the house of Sabina

Cantacuzino, in 37, C.A. Rosetti Street, the headquarters of the club of the above mentioned party since 27 August 1944. Amourg hundreds of the National Liberal Party and of the Frcanu, there were present the three great members of the Brtianu family: Dinu, the President of the party; Constantin (Bebe), the Secretary-General; and the great historian I.I.C. Brtianu, the vice-president of the party, who delivered the opening speech. Welcomed enthusiastically almost at every and of the exposed problem, Professor Gheorghe Brtianu formulated the new prospects of the liberal doctrine within economic problems. After widely referring to the world economic situation, after the devastating World War II, Professor Brtianu stated: Within the new world economic policy situation, my opinion is that, in a dried and exhausted Romania, the traditional and historical formula of our party, concerning the economic problems: Through ourselves when stating this formula, the audience started to strongly applaude. But, following the idea of his argumentation, I knew what he was going to say and I could hardly stop from laughing. When the enthusiastic applause stopped, Professor Brtianu continued his thought, mostly embarrassed must be forgotten. In my capacity as president of the Studies Circle of the National Liberal Youth, I used to often take part in the serious speciality studies as well. Almost at the same time the Leberal Engineers Circle Vintil Brtianu was also founded. This circle was named in the memory of the energetic and uncorruptible leader of the economic policy of the party, Vintil Brtianu. Then, the engineer Basgan told me that he had several opportunities to put his technical knowledge to the benefit of the Liberal Party and that he was very much appreciated by Vintil Brtianu. This declaration was confirmed by my father-inlaw, the lawyer Gheorghe Lazr, who was also a member of the economists circle, lead by the President of the National Liberal Party. Strictly referring to the present paper, I remember that out of the mission mentioned by the author, on the page 237, I met Professor Grigore Vasilescu (with whom I used to play bridge), engineer Basgan, and I was a close friend with the civil engineer Georgel Veniamin, today living in Paris. I also met the lawyer C. Dinu Popescu-Gala i, who was a member of the Brussells Bar Association and who died several, years ago. At the page 246 of the biography,

where the matter came about Dinu, the author makes an extraordinary synthesis of the engineer Ion Basgan, concerning the economic programme of the National Liberal Party, which was centered on a trade supported by a healthy agriculture, with the target to stimulate production, importations, exportations and industry, in case there were material and intellectual conditions. The reversing of the priorities by the communists (a natural reversing, as matter of fact, because the heavy industry was absolutely necessary for Rusia in order to fill up the catastrophic technological gap after World War II) was destroying Romania, as did the reversing of staff election, starting from a healthy origin and not from a value. Another problem is to be noticed in the well-documented biographical paper of Ma. E. Gabriel I. Nstase, that is the turning into account of the creative intelligence of Romanians of the European states. Starting from the beginning of 18th century the Illumination Century for the orthodoxe, vegetative and corrupt Europe all foreign observers of Romanian realities, starting with Antonio Maria de Chiaro, were amazed, one by one, by the cleverness of the Romanian people, especially by its intellectual smartness which allows it to easily grasp, in a very quick period of time, any know-how taken from foreigners, irrespective of its sophistication and domain. This special gift does not stop to be compromised those days in Romania by the obscure medium: ideological, bureaucratic, orthodoxe and corrupt. However, abroad, in amedium good for creativity, the Romanians can make miracles, even today. The lesson is finite: we have the duty to put at the disposal of the Romanians, situated intellectually above the average, all opportunities available, from special schools to universities and to the necessary material incentives. Otherwise, they will emigrate, the way those 700.000 Romanians emigrated, between 1990-2000, out of which at least half of them were above the average. In the well-documented paper of Professors Alexander Hellemans and Bryan Bunch (recently translated into Romanian by Diana Constantinescu and published by Orizonturi Publishing House) we fiind only two Romanian world scientists: Henri Coand and Gogu Constantinescu. The huge economies obtained through the exceptional technological innovation, experimented on a huge scale and due to the engineer Ion Basgan did not bring profit either him or the Romanian

people, but to the world economic system, whether capitalist or communist. The two antinomic systems have two elements in common: a permanent one, that is the corrupt bureaucracy (exploiting during communism, sometimes limited during capitalism) and another element experienced between 1940-1980, that is the concept of Lord Keyness, synthesized in the profundly non-liberal formula: Fullemployment. The great wealth obtained in the USA between 1983-2000 is very much due to the initiative of the great president, Ronald Reagan, under the double influence of the conservatory experience in Great Britain of Lady Margaret Thatcher and that of the Chile President, Augusto Pinochet, that is the replacement of the Keynessian system with the managerial monetarism of James Burnham and Milton Friedman. A society, either capitalist or communist, which does not respect its commitments and which does not rightly encourage the creative and the innovation activity of individuals who are born in that society, is a descalifying and obscurantist society and, to better express the idea, is an underdeveloped society. In other words, the society is blocked, regressive, bankrupting and backwarded. This is the way Romania has been for half a century and we hardly could see that is has an intention to get off the darkness and moors in which it arrived with communism. Yet, an American society which does not understand to fulfill its commitments, the most elementary ones, towards creative peoples and towards creative individuals, who work for this society, has the same odd shadow.

Senator D.A. Lzrescu

Bucharest, 21 July 2000

I dedicate this book to those who guided my steps through the wilderness of life, who gave me a peaceful home and a happy childhood, with all the tenderness of their heart. Their behaviour and councils taught me to appreciate and promote authentic values that are to be found in our fellow men, sometimes offer us generously: the happiness of creation. I dedicate this book therefore to my mother, Maria Nstase and to the memory of my first teachers: my father Ion Nstase,my grandfather tefan Nstase and my uncle, Nicolae Nstase. I hereby bring my acknowledgements to all those who were near me to confort and to counsel me, with all their heart, in the hard times of my life.

G. I. Nstase

INTRODUCTION

redestinated to offer Romanian science and technology a series of far reaching achievements in the domain of oildrilling improvement, Ion Basgan was, still is and shall remain one of the most brilliant Romanian inventors. Inspired by the new ideas of sonicity, Prof. Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan produced over 50 technical and scientific works that were printed in several specialized technical publications of various countries. As a disciple and collaborator of the father of sonicity, Gogu Constantinescu, Ion Basgan, the oil industry engineer, distinguished himself in the realm of technical and scientific creation by manifold exceptional achievements, in the domain of oil industry, that later became world-wide priorities. His special achievements pertaining to the oil-drilling technique were appreciated by George (Gogu) Constantinescu, the father of sonicity, as well as by other Romanian and foreign specialists: Method for improving the output and perfecting rotary oil-drilling, by percussion-rotation and hydro-mechanical pressures absorption (Romanian Patent No. 22.789/1934) and A new oil-drilling system taking into account hydrostatic pressure and long-distance sonic energy transmission by means of proportional heavy oil drilling rods and 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 of Moldavia, in an over three hundred year - old family. His mother was known to be the offspring of an old Transylvanian shepherds family. The peaceful life of this honorable family and its offsprings is in itself a living example of the general truth that native intelligence has always been a state of the spirit of the Romanian nation and a symbol of its perenial existence. Endowed with an authentic intellectual capacity that was sustained by an unusual spiritual strength and a strong determination

to study, Ion Basgan had graduated the Primary School No. 2 of Focsani and then attended the Secondary Boarding School of Iai. As a pupil, he would always receive scholarship grants and prizes: his propensity for study allowed him to receive outstanding school performances. On the 5th of June 1920, he graduated the secondary school and was awarded a Steaua Romn (Romanian Star) scholarship for the courses of the Superior School of Mines and Metallurgy (Montanistische Hochschule 5, Leoben, Austria) between 1920 and 1925. In 1933, he was awarded the doctor degree in technical sciences. Ion Basgan became famous thanks to the applications of his Rotary drilling method that became the most extensively utilized method in all the oil producing countries. Based upon the principle of sonicity, the new drilling system brought about a technical revolution for the American oil industry. That was how the American economy would substantially increase its profit, through yearly savings of 1.8 billion dollars. Unfortunately, Ion Basgan, who died at 15th December, 1980 and his descendants did not benefit from the Patent ownership rights, to say nothing of the fact that the Romanian Academy (that awarded Ion Basgan the Dr. Cornel Nicoar prize in 1935), the Institute of Oil and Gas, as well as the Politehnica University of Bucharest have failed on many occasions to render the due homage to Ion Basgan, the Romanian scholar who had dedicated his life and work for the Romanian science and not only. His entire existence was a living proof that native intelligence is a dominant 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 and treaties, while they were also sources of inspiration for other specialists in their attempt to improve the oil drilling technique. The Foreword to one of Ion Basgans works that had been published in the former USSR, in 1935, mentioned the following assertion of Prof. K. Tiscenko regarding the outstanding practical results that were obtained in oil production by former USSR and USA when applying Basgans invention: compelling the oil boring system to vibrate during rotary drilling and thus setting an alternative dynamic load on the base, a significant increase of the driller travel can be achieved. A.Z.N.I.I. tested this principle and proved that the driller starts to operate again under the action of longitudinal vibration, at the end of its travel. In 1938, this principle was practically tested in Romania at the oil well no. 471 of the Ghirdoveni oil field. Positive results were obtained

when testing the implementation of the Basgan method, that confirmed the high drilling speed, its costs reduction and higher quality, through perfectly vertical boring. Essentially, the Basgan method is based on two principles, namely: the sonic oil drilling and the technique of heavy proportional oil rods. Therefore, the percussion rotary drilling, that is the sonic drilling permits the driller to perform percussion on the oil driller bottom, while the driller still rotates. The percussion shocks are a result of the sonic effect, inducing a certain level of the driller vibrations. The method of the sonic drilling as applied in other countries also is based on the vibrations produced by mud pumps into the oil rig and the long distance transmission of energy through the drilling rigs, without bottom vibration apparatus. Ion Basgan emphasized the importance of utilizing heavy proportional rods at drilling rigs, whose load is equal to the load applied on the driller in order to avoid deviation of drilling bores and rods brake. The above mentioned process enables the oil producer to perform vertical drilling with a 30 to 50 % economic output, as compared to that of previously applied oil drilling methods. Scientific works of American scientists, Murray Hawkings and 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 the originality of the Romanian conception, namely Ion Basgans idea, as well as on its contribution to the development of the Romanian science. After thorough research, studies and calculation, Ion Basgan proved that with the field method, the application point of the Archimede force lies at the lower end of the drilling installation and not at the gravity center of the drilling rig that is introduced into the drilling mud. Thanks to his inventions (patented in Romania and USA), that are of great importance as a result of their practical economic effects, namely: drilling by means of heavy proportional rods and the sonic drilling, Ion Basgans name is written on the panoply of renowned Romanian inventors. This is how through Prof. Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan, Romania has contributed one of its most valuable inventions to the technical and scientific international patrimony. The outline of the professional carrier of the Romanian scientist may be rounded up by adding to it a further dimension, that of a subtle observer of the political events, although he never got involved

in the deeper political interplay, in spite of the frequent demands of contemporary politicians. His existence was mainly marked by his propensity for technical and scientific creativity less than for political incertitude. Nevertheless, his fine political contribution proved his love of his people and the national interests of his country. Ion Basgan was and still remains, through his work and creativity, an inventor of genius for the Romanian people, whose undying creation already belongs to the entire world. I am indebted for the completion of this monographic description to Dipl. Eng. Ion (Ginel) I. Basgan, the son of the inventor Dr. Eng. Ion St. Basgan, for his kindly permitting me to study the documents of the family archive, which I found to be a valuable support for a documented description. I express my gratitude to Dipl. Eng. Ion Basgan for his beautiful words that came as a conclusion of Ion Basgans moral image as a remarkable Romanian scientist and technician. At last the time has come to bring forth and pay for the debts of our nation towards my father. It is to be regretted the fact that the Romanian Academy, the Politehnica University of Bucharest, the Technical University of Constructions of Bucharest, the Technical Museum Dimitrie Leonida, the Institute of Oil and Gas and others have failed to remember my father for a commemoration or an anniversary to the memory of he who was brilliant inventor, a specialist who has brought about a revolution in the deep drilling technique. The only people to remember that Dr. Ion Basgan has been the son of this country were the citizens of Focsani, his native town. Since the reader shall find a lot of information regarding my fathers life and work, I would rather share with those who take interest in the personality of this man, a few ideas that might round up the picture of the personality of the inventor. No matter how beautiful and full of fruit may be the crown of a tree, one can fully appreciate it provided one also knows how deep its roots are in the soil which sustains and ensures its life. I shall always cherish in my heart the moral testament that has been handed in by one generation to the other of the Basgan family. This moral dowry has been committed to us also through the permanent concern of our father for the education of his children by continuous instruction and respect for work and honest earning. He was apparently a tough man, to the extant that to him the very presence at the table at the right time when dinner was served was 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 for instance my early practical natural dispositions for technique. Now, not only do I take interest in such activities, but they represent a real relaxation and refuge from everyday life. When I was a school boy, he started sharing with me some of his preoccupations and the problems he had to face in the achievement of his inventions. Unfortunately, life brought to our family also unpleasant difficult moments, such as the repression of the communist regime, that were generated by the aberration of this political system. The contemporary situation and the events of Hungary had been hanging over and threatening the peaceful life of our family. My father would have to search for new jobs, to get rid of the persecution from the part of the Romanian repressive organizations. The family felt his anxiety and revolt. Generally, when a man is harassed, he cannot either work or create as he would under normal living conditions. Nevertheless, my father succeeded through tremendous efforts to prove that he was and remained a man involved in science and technique, who takes no special interest in politics, yet takes part in political events when he is required to pass a specialists judgement, because he was persuaded that when deprived of a competent scientific, technical and economic support, political decisions can become an extremely dangerous weapon against the people and his country. That is why the function of adviser which he had to perform on various occasions implied a lot of responsibility and it had a significant professional effect in contemporary political decisions. Although he had had the chance to live in other countries for the rest of his life, where special material and spiritual advantages were offered to him, my father denied every such of opportunity, because he had never imagined that he could live far away from his native land and work for the prosperity of other nation. With this conception in view and an unusual moral strength, for almost half a century he had suffered humiliation and degrading by citizens of his own and by strangers. That which most made him strong and fit for facing life was: family, real friends, work and the thought that his achievements were one more proof that Romanians are endowed with an exceptional creative force who has often opened new ways for the progress and civilization of mankind during its entire history. Unfortunately, my father could not fully enjoy the fruit of his creative work. After he had died, there were some signs of the recognition of his creative activity and original achievements in drilling, to say

nothing more of the financial benefits that have been and are still obtained as a result of applying his inventions, that entered into banks other than the Romanian banks, with unknown destinations. I can say, honestly, that the universal dimension of my fathers personality had a positive effect on my life, as did the love that we shared in our family and the trust we put in God almighty. The spirit that characterized my familiy existence was a real blessing to me and made me understand that honest work and love towards mankind are the way to real success in life, that man alone is capable to create and gain a place for himself in the everlasting memory of mankind. That is why, this work represents a special event to me, and a successful tentative editorial event to Dr. Gabriel I. Nastase, a young man 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 been confiscated 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. Nstase

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 Basgan1 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

The first Bazgans spelled their name with a z instead of s. The change was initiated by the three priests, the sons of Ion Basgans grand father, priest Ion Bazgan the 3rd.

the Genealogy of the Bazgan2 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 priests 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

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 tefan Basgan graduated the Primary School No. 2 of Focani and would be awarded school prizes during all these years. Between 1909 and 1913, he attended the courses of the Boarding High School in Iai, with a scholarship and obtained the graduation diploma no. 1.295. He had been learning mathematics from Gheorghe Lascr and Ion Roianu, and natural science from Teodor Bdrau, 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 Mines and 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 Romna 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 Romn Society, together with other outstanding contemporary engineers, such as: Victor Dumitrescu, Cardas I. And Marinescu C. In

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 Basgans 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 Dr. Ion Basgan when attending the High School, which he graduated when he was only 16 years old (in 1924), by passing two- years exams in one year. Then courses of the Military Sc hool of Artilery Officers in Reserve he joined his brother Costica Stefan Basgan in Lion and (Craiova, 1925). 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 and Maria 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 sons 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 Romn 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 Romna fields of Moinesti. Taking advantage on the position he had earned, he kept working even more intensely in the field of hydrotechnics 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 Romna 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 brothers death, on the 31st December, Basgan decided to withdraw from the Steaua Romna Society, in order to dedicate himself to the publication of the results of his technical and scientific research and to sustain his doctors 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 lecture at 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, LIndependance Roumaine would publish his speech. In April, 1934 his Doctor degree work entitled Die Arbeitsweise und Form des Rotary Meissels3 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 the sonic 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.

Ion Basgan, Operation and Form of Rotary Drills, Hans Urban Printing House, Vienna, 1934.

In May, 1934 Ion Basgans 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 formers 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 Basgans 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 Basgan at 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 solution as described in Patent No. 2.103.137 of 1937.

Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan with his wife Anisoara Basgan and their son Ginel.

Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan at the baptism of his son Ion (Ginel) Basgan and the latters 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 implementation of his invention Drilling by means of heavy proportional rods at several Romanian oil companies: Petroliera Romna (Agreement No. 17.833 of February 1938; Redeventa (Agreement No. 29.545.26 of February, 1938), Comitetul Geologic, Sovromcarbune, 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 Basgans USA Patent As a result of a misunderstanding regarding the payment of Basgans Patent application, he entered an action against the Steaua Romn 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 Basgans 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 Mreti, then at the Engineer Troops Direction for the management of exploration wells of Dobrudja in search of drinking water.

On the 12 th of October, 1940 the l Und Kohle magazine, no. 40 of Berlin published his article Charakteristic Des Rumnischen Erdl 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 Slnic 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 Rsvad, 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 Basgan and 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 20 th 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 10 th of September, 1945, Prof. P. Moore of USA published Ion Basgans article The Effect of Archimede Pressure on the 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 Basgans 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 30 th January, 1947 Ion Basgans 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 Romn 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 Basgans 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 Sovromutilajpetrolifer Products in the Metallurgy magazine of the Ministry.

Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan with his wife Anisoara Basgan and 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 Nicol Basgan (Ion Basgans 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. Basgans 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 inventors 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 Basgans property was still under distraint by the American Government since the second world war and consequently its author had no right to claim the due royalties. This was the end of an epoch in Basgans 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 claim 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 bee 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 tha law suit expenses should be paid for us. STANDARD OIL COMPANY (NEW JERSEY) THE TEXAS CO. GULF OIL CORPORATION STANDARD OIL COMPANY (INDIANA) SHELL OIL COMPANY SOCONY MOBIL OIL COMPANY STANDARD OIL COMPANY OF CALIFORNIA CONTINENTAL OIL COMPANY twenty million dollars ten million dollars five million dollars five million dollars five million dollars five million dollars five million dollars four million dollars

SINCLAIR OIL CORPORATION SUN OIL COMPANY UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION XOUNGSTOWN SHEET & TUBE COMPANY HUGHES TOOL COMPANY FOSTER WHEELER CORPORATION REED ROLLER BIT COMPANY SUPERIOR OIL COMPANY LAWYER OF THE CLAIMANT,

two million dollars two million dollars one million dollars one million dollars one million dollars one million dollars one million dollars one million dollars

In the same year, his works Simultaneous Rotary Percussion Drilling - Sonic Drilling was published in the Petrol and Gas magazine, No. 3 and the Drilling by Means of Heavy Proportional Drilling 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 Roiori - Rmnicu Srat, 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 Roiori. The

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 Archimedes pressure on the drilling rig and the importance of drillcolars, would confirm Basgans 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 Farca, 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. Farca of Western Germany. On the 16th of June, the Council of Ministers ratifies the authentication of the agreement with engineer D. Farca. 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 Vintil; 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. Farca 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 Mru , Engineer Dumitru Cristea and master Tudor Ardeleanu.

Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan attending to the explanations of Dr. Eng. Alexandru Mru 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 Drgan 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 Drgan required a short presentation of this situation that had caused so much controversy. Luckily for Ion Basgan, for his state of his spirit, Constantin Drgan 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 scientists 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 Conditions for 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 the Development 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 Drgan, Eng. Ion Iliescu and Constantin Sttescu. On the 5th of April, Ion Basgan would join Dr. Iosif C. Drgan 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. Ric 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 Ric 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 Lzrescu 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. Drgan 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. Drgan 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., Franois 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 Basgans 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 Drgan.

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 the Earth in front of an extended audience. On the 30th of November, the academician Remus Rdule 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 Informa ia 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 Vintil 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 Bodnrescu 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 Basgans 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 Basgans 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 Basgans case. On the 29th of February, 1968 the State Office for Inventions The General Direction of Standards and Inventions that was represented by engineer Boab, engineer Bujor Almjan 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 Basgans 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. tefan. This book included a presentation of the main steps in the achievement of Ion Basgans 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 Balar, 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 vicemayor 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 latters 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 Basgans case attained higher proportions. The range of those who were fighting for the recovery of his rights extended from Nicolae Ceauescu, 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. WesternGermany 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 Basgans 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
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.
4

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 26th of May, 1969 in order to state Ion Basgans 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 1A 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. 2In 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. 3On 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. 4As 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. 5The 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. 6The 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. 7The 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 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 8This 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

9-

10-

11-

12-

13-

14-

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 Ceauescu, 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 26th 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 then we shall proceed with your sons, but we wont 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 Mnchen on the 25th and 26th of May, 1969: After some time, a banker offered me a cheque representing over 5 thousand dollars (20 billion Deutsche marks) from the part of a group of interested persons. In exchange, I was supposed to resign my claims to this group. They engaged themselves to uphold my interests by suing at law the oil companies. I was supposed to receive in exchange 50% of the profit. It was absolutely evident to me that this group of interested persons had unfair intentions. They meant to draw me in. Therefore, I was compelled to reject their socalled 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 Balar of Mnnich, 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 Ceauescu 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. Oprian, 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 Ceauescu 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 Basgans 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 Coand, Ion Basgan took the opportunity to tell H. Coand that the Coand 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. Coand agreed to organize a collaboration, within the institute he had founded, in support of Ion Basgans 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 1st 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 Milic 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 Brndu at the Voice of America and the Free Europe, 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 19th 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.

to

On the 3rd of March, the Romanian inventor sent a memorial the joint Romanian

and American Economic Council in the matter of his USA claims, on the address of Manea Mnescu. On the 15 th 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 Basgans 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 institute 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 14 th 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 Almanu , 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 12 th of June, as a result of his receiving a work from I. Mocanu with the title Aspects of the Technical and Economic Espionage, 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 authors 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 nave inventor as he had once said about himself. As compared to the case of Gh. Constantinescu and to that of Henri Coand, with Ion Basgan there had been even more situations in which the intelligence theft on behalf of Romanian inventors has become manifest in a typical form of their intellectual property infringement. In this respect, the Romanian inventor Ion Basgan is a telling example: he was en enthusiastic advocate of sonicity principles and a disciple of Gh. Constantinescu. The main Patents of engineer Basgan are: the Romanian Patent No. 22,789/1934 Method for Increasing the Output and Improving Rotary Drilling by Rotary Percussion and by Damping Hydromechanical Pressure, and the USA Patent No. 2,103,137/1937 A New Drilling System That Takes into Account Hydrostatic Pressure and Long Distance Sonic Energy Transmission by Means of Heavy Proportional Rods and Sonic Drilling. The proclamation of the state of war between Romania and the USA at the end of 1941 had among other effects also the sequestration of the assets that were on the territory of Northern America and belonged to Romanian citizens: these included also the Patent of engineer Basgan, for which the American oil corporations should have paid the royalties, that were stipulated by international legislation, to the Romanian inventor for using his above mentioned Patents. The uninterrupted continuation of the exploitation of these assets required that the capital and patents of the citizens belonging to the states that were at war with the USA should be intrusted to a custodian, who was responsible for the administration and accounting of the income the respective assets would bring at the end of the war. Unfortunately, they forgot about Ion Basgan. Therefore the large American oil companies were allowed to assume freely the results of the Romanian inventors work and discoveries, years on end, thus depriving both him and Romania of high currency amounts. Up to the present moment, there have not yet been identified practical or legal ways to recover the damages that resulted from the

omission that had been probably organized by the directly interested 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,

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 Basgans 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 HallstadtSalzkammergut (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 Romn company. Up to 1932, Ion Basgan travelled on foot around all the oil fields in Romania, such as: Moreni, Mislea, Ceptura, Moineti, Gura Ocni ei, Cmpina, Scioi, Podenii Noi, Boldeti, Migle Steaua Romn company and the certificates, that were issued by the Mining Inspectorates of Ploieti 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 15th of September, 1925, Ion Basgan worked at the oil fields No. 18 and 22, in the Alian a system at PscovMoreni and from the 15 th of September to the 15th of October, 1925, as an oil field worker at the oil field No. 39 in the Alian a system, in the Southern area of Moreni. From the 15th of October to the 1st 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 Alian a 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 1st 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 15th 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

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 oimescu 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 (Dmbovi a) 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 Scioi (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 Romn company in the Bacu District, at the oil fields of Moineti, Zeme 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 Moineti 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 Cmpina, as the deputy of the drilling section Inspectorate. Therefore, all the drilling works on the companys field were under Ion Basgans 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 Boldeti, that had been drilled with violent outburst into the air and to work at the oil well No. 471 of Scor eni Mislea, where there had been problems with the deep Rotary drilling.

Ion Basgan carried out a wide range of specific activities at the Steaua Romn 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 Basgans 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 Rotary Meissels in Erdlgesteine. 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 30th of December, 1965). Ion Basgans 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 technical and scientific bases of the Rotary drilling system. Both specialists made an extremely favourable conclusion on the theoretical and practical value of Ion Basgans Doctor thesis and he was awarded his Doctor Diploma in a solemn festivity, in the presence of the Romanian minister in Vienna, Dr. Caius Brediceanu, who was a special guest of the school Rector. On this occasion the Romanian flag was raised and the lectures that were held were published in the Austrian and Romanian newspapers (Obsersteirische Volkszeitung, of the 8th of July, 1933 and the Universe, of the 16th of July, 1933). When he had received the Doctor degree, Ion Basgan worked as an honorific course assistant at the Department of oil study, being appointed by the Professors Council of the Academy of High Commercial and Industrial Studies of Bucharest, on the 26th of January, 1934). That is how Ion Basgan had made his way painstakingly, yet gloriously 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 31st 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 Rzvad Dmbovi a 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 Drilling Technique through Dr. Basgans 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 in Dobrudja at the AGIR Congress of 1943 and on the topic Water supply 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 Basgans 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 Romanias patriotic interests, Ion Basgan became the victim of political 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 Sovromcrbune, 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 Ploieti 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 pioneers 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, Brgan 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 first specialist in drilling, who carried out a series of works, that aimed at the 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 Coordinating 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 Section Scientifique Acadmie Roumaine; Bulletin of the Politehnica Society; Nature; el und Kohle of Berlin; Bulletin of the Romanian Institute of Energy; Bulletin of the National Situation Institute; Bulletin of AGIR; Internationale Zeitschrift fr Bohrtechnik Erdl, Bergban und Geologie of Vienna; The Petroleum London - New York; Libertatea, etc. It may be concluded that Ion Basgans 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 Basgans 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 Basgans work: Moniteur du ptrole roumain (No. 228 of 1930, Technical Chronicle, page 279 contains reviews of Ion Basgans work: Oil explorations 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 ptrole 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. Ru , reviews The Operation and Form of Rotary Drill in the Oil Rocks of Romania); The Petroleum Times (Special Congress Issue, the 22nd of July 1933, page. 133, London writes on: Scientific Considerations of the Technique of Modern Drilling); Professor Engineer T. Ficinescu (introduction to Ion Basgans work: The Operation and Form of Rotary Drill in the Oil Rocks of Romania); World Petroleum (New York London, Supplementary Issue, July 1933, page 43); lIndependence roumaine (the 21st of September, 1933); Eng. George Constantinescu (Introduction to the work: Die Arbeitsweise 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 Basgans work Oil Region of Moreni Gura Ocni ei);

 Prof. Krejci Graf (Freiberg Bergakademie, Neues Jahrbuch fr Mineralogie, Geologie und Palontologie, Jahrgang, 1934, page 771); Prof. Eng. C. Buil (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. Ficinescu (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, Gala i; 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. Ghi ulescu (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); Prof. Eng. C. Buil (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 Basgans Scientific Bases Of Modern Drilling Methods); The Morning magazine (the 1st 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 Basgans work Oil Policy in Keeping with the Situation of Exploration Works and 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 Rotary Drilling System); Petroleum Technologist London (New Fields in Romania, 1938);

 Prof. Dr. M. Hengelein Karlsruhe (Neues Jarbuch fr Mineralogie, Geologie und Palntologie, Jahrgang, 1938, pages from 254 to 255; Prof. Dr. V. Philipsborn Freiberg Bergademie (Neues Jarbuch fr Mineralogie, Geologie und Palntologie, Jahrgang, 1938, page 255; Eng. V. Petrescu Livadea (Romanian Annals of Mines, No. 7, 1938, Recent Progress in the Drilling Technique through Dr. Basgans 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 lAssociation Francaise des Techniciens 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 lAssociation Francaise des Techniciens du Petrole, No. 60, 1946; Elasticit et rsistence des longues colonnes creuses utilises 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 and Production 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 Pressure Method, 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 Basgans 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 Well Completion (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 Basgans inventions and their success were mentioned as a practical example of sonicity achievements.;

 Dinu Moroianu and I. M. tefan, The Living Fire. A Short History 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 Basgans 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 Basgans 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 Dveloppement de la Thorie et de la Practique du Forage Moderne, in the French, English, and German editions, presenting Basgans 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 Basgans 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 importance of the drilling methods by utilizing Basgan heavy proportional rods and show that large deviation drillings are generated, when this method 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 mthodes 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 Basgans The Rotary-percussion drilling. The author also quotes an excerpt from the Via a Economic magazine, of the 10th of December, 1965: Ion Basgans inventions represent the basis of modern drilling and are unanimously 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 follower of Archimedes, as he is the follower of his fundamental idea of putting a genius creation into the service of humanity and of the human welfare; In Via a economic (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 Via a studen easc, 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 socalled Mohorovitz layer. Ion Basgan focused on the significance of this solution; A. I. Tretieni in La Roumanie daujourdhui, 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 Basgans inventions. The utilization of Basgans 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 Basgans inventions in the USA). Dan Bodnrescu (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 heavyrods 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 Basgans invention, such as, for instance: 1) in Romania, on the Ocni a oil field, the deviation range was between 4o and 70o 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 well depth, heavy proportional rods of 15 t were used to drill with a 9 t load on the drill. Under these conditions, the oil wells deviation was 3o 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 in Italy confirm the importance of Basgan drilling by means of heavy proportional oil rods and demonstrates that extended deviations result when 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 effect is a real fact, and that the inventor had the merit to have the intuition of 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 well drilling and crude - oil wells pumping. In La Roumanie daujourd-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 many specialized publications all over the world have made praising comments about the achievements of Ion Basgan the inventor. This periodical quotes several such comments. Dinu Moroianu and I. M. tefan, 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 20o 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 and damping 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 hydromechanical 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 During 1934, that was published in The Petroleum Times London, of the 19th of January, 1935: Engineer Basgan of Romania has just evolved a drilling system combining rotary and percussive movements by means of pressure pulsations. This is being watched with great interest, but it is 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 of Minerals and Rocks, the 2nd Part, The Constitutive Substances of the Earth Layer, page 411: Usually, deep oil-wells drilling results in a deviation from the vertical by tens and even hundreds of meters. It is by applying the Romanian Ion Basgans principle when drilling for the Mining Credit company, that the Romanian Oil company attained 1915 m in 30 days in Pliocene with the oil well No. 470 called The Mining Credit, at Girdoveni, uicani, including all the operations, that is a medium advance of 64 m per day, at an average drilling of 125 m per day, 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

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 Archimedes 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 communicated 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 successfully 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 Roiori-R. Srat 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 Mure 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 Ocni a and up to about 12 at the 1000 m salt pits of Ocna Mure. In 1960, it was planned to reduce the hole deviation below 1 for the salt pits No. 3 of Ocna Mure, 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 Mure.
Table 1
Salt pit Bottom [m] Heavy rods: 6 5/8

pres

Length 112 113 114 115 1100 1100 1100 1100 80 m 80 m 80 m 85 m

Weight 16 t 16 t 16 t 17 t

At the salt pit No. 3 of Ocna Mure, 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 Bodnrescu, 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 Mure 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 Oprior 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 and Percussion 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 Basgans 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 breaking stress, it is recommended that the lower part of the column should be made of heavy drillcollars. In France, engineer Bernard quoted Ion Basgans lecture held on the occasion of the World Oil Congress (Paris, 1937), showing its importance in one of his articles of Bulletin de lAssociation Franaise des Techniciens du Ptrole, 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 penetrating drilling, also called the sonic drilling. Ion Basgans 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 drilling method that has been invented and experimented by our fellow countryman Dr. Eng. Ion Basgan is applied in this country successfully in oil exploitation. One should be filled with awe at the fact that some of our countrymen have contributed and still contribute to the progress of world science and technique. The principles that Ion Basgan has stated represent accurate landmarks for us and contribute to the progress in the domain of deep drilling. I am glad that the theory of sonicity has found an application in the studies, research and 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 Basgans 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. Drgan, and others) confirmed through their legal investigations carried out in the USA that Ion Basgans 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 Basgans 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 Erdl und Kohle magazine a study in which he confirmed the new scientific principles and the advantages of utilizing Dr. Basgans heavy drilling rods. The international scientific and technical effect of Ion Basgans Patents was described also by the Technical Director of the State Office for Inventions in his article of the Via a Economic magazine of the 10th of December, 1965, concluding that: Ion Basgans inventions represent today the corner stone of the modern drilling, and are 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 Drilling Systems 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 the Lead 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 Ocni ei (a study published in collaboration with engineer I. Carda 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 of Mines, 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 du Ptrole 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 the exploitations in these regions, that are estimated to be a most valuable reserve for our oil industry. This note cannot present in detail the interesting guidelines that he gives for each of these regions, namely Copceni, Scioi and Boldeti, regarding their geological characteristics. We shall insist nevertheless on the connections in oil wells drilling and others. The study is characterized by the fact that the authors comments are based on accurate data, the authors own remarks, which he had the opportunity to gather and systematize while he was in charge of the exploitation, drilling and extraction in the 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 Ficinescu, 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. Ficinescu spoke of this work in the following terms: The analysis of the action and form of the Rotary drill in the oil rocks, that is made by a technician as the engineer Ion Basgan, a person with perfect scientific and technical training, who has gathered and proved his observations in effectively working on the oil fields for almost 8 years, represents a serious contribution to the developing science of oil drilling. Reviews of this work are contained in various specialised magazines, such as: Annales des Mines de Roumanie, Moniteur de Ptrole Roumain, No. 3, of the 1st of February, 1933, The Technique in 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 Phenomena 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 Basgans Doctorate Thesis. He received the Doctor of Science degree under the same solemn festivity as the mining engineer Hoover several months before when he was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa title by the president of the USA. This work was reviewed by Prof. Krejci-Graf of FreibergBergakademie and it was published in Neues Jarbuch fr Mineralogie, Geologie und Palntologie, Jahrgang 1934, page. 771. Romanian and German magazines made the following comments at that time: The Romanian Minister of Vienna who attended the solemn festivity was deeply impressed by the success that the Romanian

technique had marked, as a result of the favourable attitude regarding the value of Ion Basgans work manifested by the German school and technique. 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 a given moment it seemed that the old Europe was united by a movement of brotherhood, as a justified action of continental solidarity in front of the new world, which in its technical and economic ascent was attempting to conquer all the branches of the economic development of the old world. Right at a moment when the Pan-europeanism was gathering momentum, we are witnessing the introduction of the most protective customs regime that ever existed in the Great Britain, as well as the division among the European States, that reminds one of the old Chinese walls. Consistently with this protective regime, the Romanian government has resorted to the control of the currency and then to the contingency system, aiming at a co-ordination of the import policy with the payment possibilities abroad for the imported goods; this was not by need of lowering import which in the latest years has dropped without the intervention of this economic protectionism, that brings high prejudices to our commercial and industrial activity. Our import has dropped from 29 billion lei in 1929 and 23 billion in 1930 to 15 billion in 1931 and 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 the money available, only in those countries in which we have exported. The state which shall not favor our export runs the risk of failing to cash in the amount we are due to pay. Moreover, the sums which we have in a state hardly can be transformed in order to cover our debts in another state. Therefore, the policy of contingency aims at directing our import and export towards certain countries, thus allowing the intervention of the state in leading a customs and commercial policy. In spite of all these facilities that were obtained through sacrifices and limitations as regards the free trading, the efficiency of the contingency principle in itself is debatable and the problems had already 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 an encouragement for the corporations and consortiums, including the opportunity of new initiatives, causing great problems to industrial enterprises and commercial houses, that have established trade relations in a certain country, other than that which is imposed by the contingency policy, as well as the limitation of the quality selection, etc. The contingency policy is a part of the political intervention methods into the economic life, that result in a directed economy, which is so much disputed today. This restraint of the economic freedom seems to be possible only in the framework of the Autarchy, which is a condition still far from us. This limitation of freedom presents temporary advantages, as against the disorders that it implies, with a direct effect first of all on the reduction of our export. With this kind of policy, the economic solidarity of the European states can be hardly attained. The two Europes, that is the industrial and the agriculture Europe are grinning at each other in front of their mutual 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 Drilling Methods, with a foreword by S. I. Siscenko: The Report presented by Ion Basgan at the International Congress of the oil magnates, in London, 1933, is a rational approach of the dynamic phenomena that occur in the drilling rig during drilling. The extensive damages of drilling rods taking place without any apparent specific reason have caused both Romanian and foreign specialists to pay the most serious attention to the drilling dynamics.

The theory shows that drilling may generate such conditions in which the rods are subject to significant oscillation, that may affect their resistance and result in immediate damage. The drill worker who understands the problems raised by the vibration of the drilling rig can adjust the intensity of the vibrations, even to the extent of utilizing them in order to increase the drilling feed, by changing the drilling regime, the number of pump strokes, the pressure on the base. Therefore, in the case of the rotary drilling, the drill may be compelled to oscillate and thus by creating a dynamic alternative load on the base, a significant increase of the drill feed may be obtained. Practical experience showed that the drill, which has ended its feed drill in fact starts to operate again under the effect of the longitudinal vibrations. The American practical experience also proves that the worker can change the feed intensity by changing the number of pump strokes 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 24 th of July, 1933). Die Erdoelproduction Rumaeniens (Allgmeine Oesterreichische Chemicher - und technicher - Zeitung, page 79, Vienna, the 14 th 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 LIndpendance 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 2nd 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 Rei a 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, Iai, 1936, in collaboration with engineer Rusu Abrudeanu, A.G.I.R. Bulletin, No. 11, 1936). La Pologne productive (Annales des Mines de Roumanie, 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 Bucani and Mrgineni, as well as the works in the plain area. The work was reviewed by Prof. Dr. M. Hengelein in Neues Jahrbuch fr Mineralogie, Geologie und Palntologie, Jahrgang 1938, pages 254, 255 and by Prof. Dr. V. Philipsborn, Freiberg Bergakademie, in Neues Jahrbuch fr Mineralogie, Geologie und Palntologie, Jahrgang, 1938, page 255. New Oil Fields in Romania (Nouveaux chantiers de ptrole 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 - Bearing Romania, the 26th 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 de Roumanie, No. 11, November, 1940). Charakteristic des Rumaenischen Erdoels (Oel und Kohle, No. 40, Berlin, the 22nd 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 Revista Italiana Del Petrolio, Roma, Febbraio 1941 XIX). Caratteristiche degli olii greggii romeni (La Revista Italiana 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 of Romanian 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 Bearing Romania, the 22nd 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 Basgans 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 27th 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 Vlenii 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. Buil). The technical review of the A.G.I.R. Bulletin, of May 1933, published a report on this conference, concluding that: Mr. Ion Basgan presented original analytic calculations for certain phenomena, that were very little known and the awareness of which may soon bring a change 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. Buil made the following comments: Mr. Ion Basgan held a beautiful conference. We enjoyed his lecture: first of all it showed his courage to state his own remarks and conclusions in the oil policy. Prof. T. Ficinescu 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 series of facts that are extremely interesting, put them in an attractive form and 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 heartily join the spirit of Mr. Basgans lecture; he made a thorough description of 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 3rd 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-Import Enterprise (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, Scnteia 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 22 nd 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 Explorations and The Fuel Matter. with the Situation of

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 Basgans lecture was held by Prof. tefan 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 the Future of Deep Drilling (lecture held at the 7th World Oil Congress, Mexico, between the 2 nd and the 8 th of April, 1967). A review of this lecture was published in the Le Ptrole 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 scientific circles. It was also reviewed by American magazines and the Institute of Technical Documentation of Bucharest.

Lectures and reports held at national congresses

 1934).

Efficient Exploitation of Oil Fields (A.G.I.R. Congress,

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, Iai, 1936, with Prof. M. Manoilescu, engineer tefan Mihiescu, 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 Iai, 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 Economy after 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 Hydrological Improvement (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 Popular Republic 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 Coordination 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 Basgans 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 the Popular 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. Cmpina 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. Rei a and S.R.M. Rei a. 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 20th 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 Constantinescu, 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 ptrole lubri Europe of the 6th of April and the 20th of October, 1967, Ptrole 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 Basgans 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 Basgans 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)

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 by depletion. Ion Basgan maintained that the future mining regime which is to be elaborated should bring in clear norms, simplify useless formal procedures, payment facilities, incentives, exploration possibilities for all those that are willing and can do it, incentives for those who carry out exploration works conscientiously, as well as severe penalties for those 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 Romanian Oil 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 anteprojects 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 Oil Deposits, which he held at the 12th Congress of A.G.I.R. (Gala i, 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 coordination 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 higher interest, 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 Maramure region, in the north of Romania, the Moldavia plateau in the continuation of the Moineti 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. Mec ian 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 Basgans 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 Basgans 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 workers 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 shall be measured by their financing possibilities and the carrying out of the national programme expressed in indexes calculated by neutral institutes 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 legislation is necessarily required by the need to unify the legislation for all the regions of Romania, on the principle of setting up trade unions for every production industrial branch and regulations for the trade unions 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 ones 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 Vintil Brtianu. 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.

Dinu Brtianu, the President of the Party and with the tasks that we had received from Mr. Gh. Brtianu, 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 Brtianu 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 Vintil Brtianu 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 the commercial 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 Vintil Brtianu.

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 method of reducing the quantitative control of foreign trade and on a viable financial 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 should thoroughly utilise labour and ensure a unitary economic security; to achieve international actions that should result in both maintaining the stability of economic exchanges, and ensuring the reinstatement of the production and trade credit in those countries that had been afflicted with unfavourable consequences of war; to achieve an economic system that should offer wider possibilities of co-operation to his own generation, in order to create a better world with thriving economy perspective.

Original sheet of Ion Basgans 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 Bdulescu 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 to start analysing the quantitative and evolution structures of the industrial and commercial sectors in order to establish the principles in general and then the National Economic programme, that will have to be disseminated to the parties and the public opinion. The plan shall include: the necessary momentary measures for the transition period and for the time of economic stability that has been mentioned before. This plan will have to come out from the Liberal Party, that of all the Romanian parties was the animating and leading spirit of the national economy. We have to count on the conscious and well grounded opposition of the left-wing parties, that are under the influence of the statistic precision and the customs of the USSR. Unless we understand the present economic demands, we shall be 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 Basgans 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:
PROJECT PROGRAMME 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 undertaken 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 semiproducts 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, storehouses 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, reestablishing 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 communication 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 development 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 extended damages of its economic institutions and great patrimony losses, that must be rebuilt and turned to good account in keeping with the requirements of the technical progress and the demands and the role of the Romanian people in the South 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 division principle, as an element of national and international solidarity, the unequal distribution of raw materials in the world, the limitation of space distances among nations through the increase of the speed of various means of conveyance and communication imply and determines a permanent co-operation of all the people making up the international community in all the domains of activity, in order to ensure 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 a significant parcel of shares of the Romanian oil industry, through the Deutshe Bank, to mention here only the large oil exploitation and processing companies: Steaua Romn, Concordia, Vega. When Germany lost the war, before the peace conference, it suggested the sales of these action to Romania and the financial parties of Bucharest. The Romanian state officials refused to purchase them, for loyalty reasons towards the allies. The distraint administrators appointed by the Romanian State became the mediators acting in order to place there important parcels of oil shares to the interested financial parties of the allies, mostly through the Swiss financial bodies. Therefore, after the war, the majority of the Steaua Romn company shares were taken over by the Anglo-Persian and Banque de Paris et Pays Bas while Concordia and Vega were taken over by the Belgian capitalists. The Romanian state acknowledges this transfer of the shares the hands of the war losers to other stranger hands and consequently loses the most favourable occasion, the unique occasion maybe in the history of our nation to become owners of our own house. That which other states were allowed to and succeeded to achieve, Romania was denied and we could not back up our interests. USSR nationalised its entire oil industry by seizure although the shares 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 joined in, where there was decided the fate of these distraint properties, did not yield the expected results. Later on, Russia concluded with Germany the friendship treatise of Rappallo and it was in a position to deny all the allies claims regarding the USSR oil industry. Even smaller states, such as Iran and Mexico succeeded to face large and powerful states such as England and the USA with positive results. Although Romania in its oil policy had not taken any actions with economic results during the first world war, it was nevertheless confronted with difficulties at the peace conference, that were described by Mr. Gheorghe Brtianu in his work Romanias political and military actions in 1919.

Intending to win back this lost economic battle, the National Liberal party took the legislation initiative in 1924 and elaborated the following laws: Power, Waters and Mines with the aim to nationalise the oil industry. Vintil Brtianu, Mrazec and engineer Tnsescu, together with Mr. Tancred Constantinescu are the representatives of this action, that resulted in the elaboration of the Law of Mines of 1924 and its application with positive results up to 1924. In 1924, Magdearu, under the pressure of foreign officials and as a result of mutual promises with the foreign diplomacy, as a representative of London oil corporations, changed the Law of Mines. Thus it was completed the positive action of the National Liberal Party to nationalise the oil industry. Present German interests in Romania The political pre-eminence that Germany exerted in Romania during the second world war opened up the way to its economic offensive in our country in order to win back the grounds that it had lost here in the first world war. Helped by the Romanian leaders of the oil enterprises, Germany succeeded to purchase approximately 30% of the oil industry and to participate with about 4 billion lei paid-in capital. Germany owns today the following companies in Romania: Concordia, together with Forachi Romneasc and Vega, amounting to 1,470,000,000; Columbia amounting to 380,000,000; Petrol-Blok 470,000,000; I.R.D.P. 600,000,000; 25% of the Steaua Romn, as well as other smaller enterprises as: Moldonafta, Explora, Meotica Romn, Sar Petrol and newly set up companies such as: SARDEP, Doiceti, Continental Oil, etc. The Oil Law that had been elaborated in 1924 had to allow this capital to secure the reserves and new oil fields that could have been discovered in Romania. The Fischer-Credit Minier Protocol The famous Fischer-Credit Minier Protocol, that was concluded in February 1942 between the German Government represented by Minister Fischer and Mr. C. Sticescu, the Administrator of the Romanian National Bank, as a President of the Council of the Creditul Minier, contains the principles that should underlie the new Oil Law that was under way to be elaborated and it made it

impossible for the Romanian state and the national capital to obtain any reserve of oil fields in the areas that were to be explored. As a Doctor at a German Polytechnics University and therefore never to be accused of disliking the Germans at a Time when Germany was dominating over Bucharest, I had the opportunity to oppose this Protocol decidingly, both before Professor Mrazec, referee, and in front of the National Council of the Oil Enterprises. The Memorandum that was drawn up on this occasion and handed in to the President of the Council of Ministers, represented the support of diplomatic discussions that followed regarding Protocol elimination and ignoring it in the elaboration of the Law of Oil that had been passed on the 17th of July, 1942. Romanian oil at the peace conference Today, we are faced with the same opportunity we had at the end of the first world war with the difference that USSR will also join in as the representative of the Russian Aznef corporation together with England and the USA as the representatives of the international corporations 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 Enemys Goods represent a good opportunity to entrust to competent bodies honest and patriotic the administration of the enemys oil possessions, with the role to prepare the works of the peace conference and for the preceding negotiations. It should be taken into account that some of the enemys possessions, such as: I.R.D.P., Sar Petrol and other had a national capital before the war, and the majority of these enemys companies have a minority national capital structure. We consider that the preparation and the success of this economic problem that is of top importance today for Romania, may be carried out efficiently taking into account our rights and especially the Romanian oil and blood that are consumed today on the battle field 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 Basgans 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 body in a bar form, partially and vertically immersed in a liquid is pushed upward by a force equal to the weight of the displaced liquid, with the upwardly acting force being applied on lower surface of the body. Based on the scientific and technical provisions of his interpretation, 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 Basgans 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 Basgans 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 the company Eri-Agip. The drilling wells are perfectly vertical and the works are performed under very advantageous economic conditions. Other wells that where these methods are not applied, there are registered deviations from the vertical between 150 and 200. This is a remark 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 Moineti, 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 Basgans 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 vibrations 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 frequency, as well as the required endowment including the bit, the drill collar, drilling rods and the lifting system, the crane, vibration energy generator.

Ion Basgans 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 new segments of drill collars should be added in order to maintain their total weight in the structure of the respective drilling rig in the above limits. 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 mechanical drilling speed. In the newly wrought system, the exciting force of K vibrations, the pressure difference Pp of the pump and the internal cross section of the drilling rig are higher than the ordinary values. Claims 1. 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: PY = 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 G weight 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 PY = 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 PY = K, where Y has 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 Basgans 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. Claims 1. 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 pressure damping (except from the Romanian patent No. 22789, the 18th of May, 1934). Claims 1. 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 been carefully maintained at a minimum level, in order to avoid the occurrence of deviation drilling holes. Recently there has been adopted a

new method that permits to concentrate the weight directly above the drilling bit. Therefore, the drilling rods that are placed above this heavier section are maintained under stress. The drilling bit with the overweight is 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 be considerably extended even with soft rocks, when a heavier weight is applied 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 Basgans 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.

The sonic drilling and the utilisation of the heavy proportional rods were Ion Basgans 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 Moineti, Gura Ochi ei 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 Basgans 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 mans 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 tefnescu, the Director of the National Oil Museum of Ploieti, 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 Ploieti and the Technical Museum Engineer Dimitrie Leonida of Bucharest. In Focani, 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