Kapeliushnikov, Matvei

Born Sept. 1 (13), 1886, in Abastumani, in present-day Adigeni Raion, Georgian SSR; died July 5, 1959, in Moscow. Soviet petroleum scientist; corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1939).

Kapeliushnikov graduated from the Tomsk Technological Insitute in 1914. In 1922 he invented (in collaboration with S. M. Volokh and N. A. Kornev) the well-hole motor, a turbodrill for drilling wells. This invention marked the beginning of turbine drilling. The first Soviet cracking plant, which played an important role in the study and development of the cracking and reforming processes, was designed by Kapeliushnikov and V. G. Shukhov and built in Baku in 1931. Kapeliushnikov developed a number of devices and mechanisms for facilitating and mechanizing well-drilling operations. High-pressure gas injection in order to increase oil-production capacity was proposed by Kapeliushnikov and V. M. Fokeev in 1949. Kapeliushnikov was awarded two Orders of Lenin, four other orders, and medals.