Historic Louisiana

diesel hammer business. In the old method,
casing crews had drilled out the hole, installed
casing pipe and then cemented the casing into
the hole—often mixing concrete on the site and
hauling ninety pound sacks of concrete for each
job. With the diesel hammer, the casing crew
just pounded the pipe into the hole—no
drilling, no cementing, and a lot less mess. Plus,
it took half the time. The diesel hammer
transformed the casing industry and Frank’s,
which today is the largest hammer operator
in the world with an inventory of over one
hundred diesel and hydraulic hammers,
profited. The company began a period of
rapid growth, both in terms of services
and employees.
Frank’s sons became involved in the business.
Billy joined the company after completing
his term in the Air Force and concentrated
on sales. He learned to fly and soon was
making sales calls to outlying island barges in
the Gulf in the company’s amphibious plane.
Larry serves as secretary-treasurer, and
believes that the two companies have
achieved a good balance of domestic and
international income. Donald, a mechanical
engineer, was the first to insist on acquiring
rental tools and then improving them. He was
instrumental in setting up Frank’s engineering
department with impressive results.
After perfecting the power tongs, the first
hydraulic thread-cleaning machine was
designed and manufactured by Frank’s. Frank’s
also has used computer technology to create its
computer Connection Analyzed Makeup
(CAM) department. Over the years the
company has become a major research and
development center. It holds over 19 U.S.
patents and scores of international patents.
Frank’s currently carries more than 150
different products, many designed and
manufactured in Lafayette. In addition to rental
tools, Frank’s also stocks pipe and is today the
largest independently owned pipe distributor
and pipe service company in the world.
Frank’s opened its first branch office in
Houma in 1968. The success of that office saw
Frank’s domestic operations expand
dramatically with offices established in Alvin,
Corpus Christi, Kilgore and Bryan, Texas, and in
Laurel, Mississippi and Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. When the oil bubble burst in the late
1970’s, Frank’s was in better shape than most
companies (thanks to Frank Mosing’s natural
conservatism) and was able to purchase
equipment and occasionally entire companies
for cents on the dollar. The equipment was
brought to the Lafayette yard for reconditioning
and was used to fuel Frank’s overseas expansion.
✧
Top: Aerial photo of the Frank’s Casing
Crew & Rental Tools, Inc., facility in
Lafayette which includes the corporate office
building, casing, hammer, fill-uptool, and
CAM shops, pipe yard and the
manufacturing facility.
Below: Jessie Mosing and sons (clockwise
from bottom left) Donald, Larry, and
Billy Mosing.
SHARING THE HERITAGE
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