The history of Geostuff
Around 1990, there was a double evolution in seismic surveys. Petroleum exploration crews had started using what are called "distributed systems" as the number of channels used became too great for the use of conventional geophone cables. At about the same time, the instruments used for shallow seismic surveys had developed capability sufficient for conducting reflection surveys, though on a much smaller scale.
Besides the instrument, shallow reflection surveys needed the ability to "rollalong", which required a "rollalong switch". The used ones previously available from the oil and gas surveys were generally quite large and worn out.
To fill this small, but important application, Doug Crice started building rollalong swtiches in his garage to support the industry's need for rollalong switches. Geostuff seemed a reasonable name for this small company serving a modest market segment.
Later in the company's history, Doug developed mechanical wall-lock borehole geophones to provide a better alternative to air-bladder hand-made units for downhole and cross hole shear wave studies.
When geophysicists started assembling various forms of land streamers, Geostuff developed a reliable commercial unit to meet that need.
Geostuff has always built essential seismic accessories where the market was too small to be served by larger companies. Now, with the introduction of the AnySeis™, the shallow seismic market has available the equivalent of the distributed system, eliminating those troublesome geophone spread cables, and conincidently, eliminating the need for the rollalong switch that the company was founded on.
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