The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 21, 1984
Filed:
Mar. 28, 1983
Thomas E Ricketts, Grand Junction, CO (US);
Occidental Oil Shale, Inc., Grand Junction,, CO (US);
Abstract
A method for forming an in situ oil shale retort in a retort site in a subterranean formation containing oil shale and having at least one set of naturally occurring cleavage planes is provided. The in situ oil shale retort contains a fragmented permeable mass of formation particles formed within top, bottom, and side boundaries of unfragmented formation. A void is excavated in the subterranean formation within the boundaries of the retort site, while a zone of unfragmented formation is left within the retort boundaries adjacent the void. A plurality of rows of horizontally spaced apart explosive charges is formed in the zone of unfragmented formation where each such row is in a line about perpendicular to the strike of the major cleavage plane set in the formation. The rows of explosive charges are detonated in a selected sequence with the charges in each such row detonated about simultaneously for explosively expanding the zone of unfragmented formation toward the void for forming the fragmented permeable mass of formation particles in the retort.