B.R. Watson, Watson Packer Inc.
Packers used in oil wells date back to the earliest oil fields. The first packers were homemade and were generally a wooden plug-rag packer made by wrapping rags around a pipe, or steel wool or lead packed in the bottom of the hole with tools. Most of this early work was in open hole. Modern completions where casing is set through, cemented, perforated and acidized increased packer usage, giving rise to packer service firms that furnish tools and service to perform a treating job on a rental basis. These service tools are patented and are not sold. Approximately 5% of workover and completion money is spent on rental packers. This increased use of service packers started just after -World War II and resulted in the development of the modern service packer and retrievable bridge plug.