Imaging a Phonograph Recording

Developed image capture and motion control hardware to playback analog stylus recordings for downhole instruments.  these instruments, operating at a pressure and temperature range beyond electronics, record mechanically, on a cylinder like an Edison phonograph.  I developed the first instrument to optically digitize this data.

The Kinley Caliper is an oil well logging tool, for measuring the integrity of tubing in an oil well.

The method is a set of ‘fingers’ extended from the tool, to measure the inside of the well pipe.

It has a famous history, originally developed by Myron Kinley in the 1920s, in response to better methods of detecting problems inside a well before they occur.

Several oil well explosions occurred due to well pipe corrosion, most famously shown in the Hollywood movie “The Hell Fighters” starring John Wayne. Myron was the creator of the dynamite method to extinguish these well fires, taught to Red Adair that is depicted in the movie.

Motivated by this problem in the industry, Myron developed a tool, to drop in the well, open up inside like an umbrella, and measure the pipe wall for corrosion. As it is pulled up in the well, the excursion of the logging tool fingers is recorded on a rotating cylinder, much like the Edison phonograph.

The tool succeeds to this day, with its high-fidelity mechanical recording method, (1/32 inches in radial and vertical, over 15K feet in well depth) that surpasses all electronic means, with its ability to withstand extreme temperatures in the oil well environment. 

Kinley contacted Dawson and Associates, to digitize these mechanical recordings.  An opto/mechanical system was developed to rotate the recording, and optically convert it in to a standard well log digital form for analysis.

Challenges to Overcome

The recording is small! The cylinder is approximately ½ inch diameter and 6 inches long. On it are 15 to 30 recording lines. Each are offset beginning at 1/15 or 1/30 radial origin on the cylinder and start of the recordings. The recording trace size is half of a standard LP phonograph record (.006”).

The design

The system is a microscope and video frame capture, with a mechanical stage holding the recording, and micro stepping motors to rotate and follow the recording lines.

The software developed, and provided to the customer allowed for correction of both the tracking path of the recording line as the machine rotated, and optical adjustment of contrast, curvature illumination gradient for the different recording logs encountered in practice.

On recommendation from us, both the stylus and recording media were replaced and re-designed. Contacting the recognized manufacturer of Hi-Fi phono cartridges - Shure, they agreed to fabricate and mount new Diamond styli in the existing logging tool fingers. The recording media was also redesigned, moving from the original anodized aluminum to Gold plating.

All of these innovations are still in use today.

Oil and gas well video well logging tool based on HP image sensor chipset and analog devices DSP for wireline QAM modulation.