T
he name LeBus has been around the oil field industry since it was just
a blacksmith shop in 1900. LeBus started out by manufacturing
specialty tools for the booming west Texas oil fields.
Tool pushers and/or owners would see a specific need for a new tool and
LeBus would forge the new tools on demand. Soon LeBus was into
the manufacturing and selling of fishing tools, drill collars, tool
joints and rotary bits. LeBus manufactured the "Eureka Pipe
Wrench" and the "Slip Socket Overshot". The common element in
each case was the hoisting machinery, specifically the drum and wire
rope, which was the main "workhorse" of the drilling rig. LeBus
noticed that the wire rope would not lay in a consistent pattern on the
drum. This caused undue wear and scrubbing of the wire
rope. Something better was on the horizon.
The LeBus Company originated the LeBus Wire
Groove Bar principle in the Year 1937 for application on the oil field
drilling rigs. This was supplied in running lengths of bar form
and in the early days of grooving drums, the LeBus groove bar was
wrapped onto the drums in the same manner as wire rope, but of course
at a much slower rate of speed. It was the helical form just as
the rope was wound around the drum.
Shortly after World War II, Mr. Frank L. LeBus,
Sr. was certain that by using some new innovations that the grooving
material could become an important product to the consumer world.
He then set about methods of using the groove bar to perfect the
spooling of wire rope on hoisting drums, whether it be in the
oilfields, logging fields, construction fields, marine area or wherever
wire rope was spooled. Mr. LeBus came up with many different
patterns and systems of spooling cable in an effort to obtain something
that could be adapted to any industry.
Today, this is known as the
LeBus Counterbalanced™ Spooling System. It is the most
advanced method of controlling the coiling of wire rope on a hoist
drum. There is no practical limit to the number of layers of wire
rope that can be spooled with complete safety regardless of the speed
of the drum, or the size of the wire rope.
LeBus wire line spooling systems were originally
developed to overcome the severe spooling problems encountered by the
oil field drilling industry. However, in the past number of
years, the LeBus System is now becoming well known and accepted in all
phases of the marine industry, mining, logging, and with the general
industry hoisting trade. Anywhere wire rope is multi-wrapped onto
a drum, there is a need for the LeBus Wire Line Spooling System.
LeBus International, in its continuing efforts
to improve its spooling products, have followed the LeBus grooving
pattern with a device that can compensate for the excessive fleet
angles found on most drums. This device is called the
Fleet Angle Compensator. It is a floating sheave on an
eccentric shaft that redirects the line as it spools onto the
drum. LeBus can also engineer diamond screw to match the
customer’s drum. This can be integrated into a levelwind to form
a positive levelwinding process on the drum.
Today LeBus is well known in many different
industries, not only in spooling cable, but also in
drum manufacturing,winches,
levelwinds,sheaves,
diamond screws, heavy fabricating and
machining, earth moving equipment, and many other areas. As
our history indicates, we are always striving to improve our products
and always on the look out for new ones. Our roots are deep and our
future is bright.
