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Building a
Vehicle and a Company
On a fishing trip to
Alaska
in 1950, Mr William Albee of
California
observed a group of Eskimos preparing to remove a heavy wooden boat from
the arctic waters. Albee
wondered how the small, heavily clad men would manage the boat up the
muddy bank. The Eskimos
produced and inflated several air tight seal skins on which they rolled
the boat out of the water and up the bank. Thus
was born the concept of the Rolligon low pressure “Air Bag”.
With this idea in mind, Mr. Albee returned to
California
and began developing the first low pressure, off road tire.
Mr. Albee formed the Albee Rolligon Company to produce vehicles equipped
with the low pressure tires. The
first tires were smooth and driven by a top roller, another Albee Rolligon innovation.
The first tires were 30” in diameter and 40” wide (30x40).
Albee Rolligon obtained patents on both the wide, low-pressure tire
and the top roller drive.
Unable to develop the concept into a successful business, Mr. Albee sold
the assets of his Monterey, California Corporation to Mr. John G. Holland
Sr. in 1960. Mr. Holland moved
the assets to
Houston
,
Texas
and incorporated under the name of Rolligon Corporation.
Mr. Holland owned and operated a highway-heavy construction
company, and his two companies shared an office, warehouse, and yard
together.
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Growth of Rolligon
Rolligon Corporation built several top roller
vehicles; however, it was apparent that while the top roller vehicles
operated well on sand and level, vegetated terrain, they did not perform
well on muddy or wet, inclined surfaces.
Therefore, Rolligon vulcanized lugs on a 40x50 smooth tire, and a design
was made for a 4x4 vehicle with axles directly driving the tire from the
center. The vehicle was fitted
with a pivot and steering was accomplished by articulating the frame.
This 4x4 became the model 4450
Marsh Skeeter. It was
light weight, amphibious, highly mobile and exhibited a ground bearing
pressure of less than 2 psi. With
the success of the 4450 came requests for greater payload capacity
vehicles. Thus the 6x6 (Rolligon
Model 6650), along with a larger tire (54”x68”), was developed.
In the early 1970’s, a joint venture was made with the Bechtel
Corporation of
San Francisco
. A number of 12x12 vehicles
were manufactured to start a transportation company in
Alaska
. These vehicles were designed
with the 54x68 smooth tires, top roller drives and consisted of an 8x8
tractor with a four wheel powered trailer.
Rolligon’s interest was later purchased and the Transportation
Company on the North Slope of Alaska is in operation today.
The original vehicles are still operational and use tires
manufactured by Rolligon Corporation.
In 1978, Rolligon Corporation received its largest vehicle order from
China
, supplying 75 vehicles of different models over the next few years.
The vehicles were used in several oil fields.
Among the most important was the Shengli Field, where
representatives stated that Rolligon vehicles did more for the development
of that field than any other equipment.
Later, the 72x68 tire was developed for the
China
market and a number of vehicles with these tires were manufactured and
shipped to that location.
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Rolligon Today
In 1999, Rolligon began designing and manufacturing
oilwell service equipment in addition to its vehicle product line. Fracturing
units, blenders, oilfield electronics, twin pumpers, acidizing units, and
capillary tubing units designed and built by Rolligon are operating over a
rapidly expanding area. Rolligon
has continued its tradition of innovation, constantly improving its
products. In addition,
Rolligon Corporation has patents in process or issued on Vehicle
components, Capillary equipment, and blender hardware.
Increased business created a demand for larger facilities and in 2002
Rolligon moved to
Carlos
,
Texas
, 13 miles east of
College Station
. The facility is impressive
with oversized fabrication/assembly bays and crane capacities to 25 tons.
The test line is complete with a 7000 bbl test tank, high rate
blender manifolds and high pressure choke line for fracturing unit testing
to 15,000 psi |
Company History