Erle P. Halliburton

Erle Palmer Halliburton was born on September 22, 1892, on a farm near Henning, Tennessee. After his father died when Erle was 14, he left home to work various jobs and eventually joined the U.S. Navy in 1910. Honorably discharged in 1915, he found work with the Perkins Oil Well Cementing Company in California, where his constant suggestions for improving the cementing process led to his being fired. Halliburton later said that 'the two best things that ever happened to me were being hired, and fired, by the Perkins Oil Well Cementing Company.' In 1919, he and his wife Vida moved to Burkburnett, Texas, where he introduced oil-well cementing with his new and improved method. The couple worked with borrowed equipment and little cash, at one point pawning Vida's wedding rings to pay hired help. Vida hand-washed cement sacks so they could be resold.

Erle P. Halliburton founded the New Method Oil Well Cementing Company in 1919 in Duncan, Oklahoma, with approximately $1,000 raised from four friends who each contributed $250 for a half interest. He began with a wooden mixing box he built himself, a borrowed wagon pulled by mules, and a downhole pump. By late summer 1922, the company had cemented its 500th well. On May 7, 1920, the company reorganized as the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company. In 1921, headquarters were established in Duncan, Oklahoma. In 1922, Halliburton patented the 'jet-cement' mixer. By 1924, the company was incorporated in Delaware with investments from seven major oil companies. Halliburton secured 38 patents for oilfield services, tools, and processes over his career. He died on October 13, 1957, leaving a legacy as one of the most influential innovators in the history of the petroleum industry.