Inventor Name
Cattell, Roscoe Arnold
Repository
University of Wyoming
American Heritage Center
Dept. 3924
1000 E. University Avenue
Laramie, WY 82071
307-766-4114
http://ahc.uwyo.edu/default.htm
Physical Description
.7 cubic feet
Summary
Roscoe Arnold Cattell was born January 6, 1892 in Idaho. He attended the University of California, graduating in 1916 with a degree in Civil Engineering. His career in petroleum engineering began in 1916 with Kern Trading and Oil Company in California. Shortly thereafter, he accepted a position with the U.S. Bureau of Mines, and became chief engineer of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Division in 1933. Cattell died in March 1981. The collection contains biographical information, correspondence, printed materials, and a small number of photographs. There is information on inventor Eggleston Smith's 1923 invention, "New Method and Apparatus for Drilling Wells and Taking Samples for Use with the Percussion System." Printed materials are reports, papers, and bulletins written by Cattell or co-authored with others, including a technical paper produced by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior entitled, "Natural-Gas Manual for the Home." There is a history of the Bureau of Mines Oil-Shale Demonstration Branch at Rifle, Colorado with photographs, maps, and plans of the facility. There is also a legal brief involving a suit filed by the Navajo Tribe against the United States over a natural gas well drilled in the Rattlesnake Field on the Navajo Reservation, New Mexico.