BJ Energy Solutions history

Independent Torpedo was formed in 1905, with a primary aim of "shooting" wells with explosives to induce fracturing in oil reservoirs.

Dunn, in 1911, began marketing a new type of casing wrench, an early version of tongs, a major oil-field device.

Expansion followed, particularly in the case of Independent Torpedo, which began servicing oil fields of the southwest from its plant in DeLeon, Texas, which opened in 1917.

In 1929, at the start of the Great Depression, the company established the Byron Jackson Oil Tool Division after acquiring the Dunn Manufacturing Company and some other, smaller companies engaged in manufacturing oil-field tools.

Then, in 1938, with new oil-field strikes in the Mid-Continent and Permian Basin regions, BJ built a new manufacturing plant in Houston, its future home base.

In 1945, BJ developed the first practical air-powered drilling device, the BJ Power Slip, and in the following year jointly developed a prototype jet-shaped charge, making it the first to jet perforate concrete casings for oil wells.

Then, in 1956, it became a subsidiary of Borg-Warner, one of the largest and most innovative industrial complexes in the country.

That breakup allowed the company to evolve into an independent corporation, BJ Services, formed on May 13, 1990.

In July of that same year, the company went public. It became totally independent of Hughes by 1991, when Baker Hughes Inc. sold all its remaining interest in the company.

In April 1995, after some other minor acquisitions, BJ purchased the Western Company of North America, a Texas company that had developed hydraulic fracturing for oil well stimulation.

One additional acquisition was the Top Tool Company, Inc., purchased in July 1997.