The Hughes Tool Company's hard formation rock bit type R-1 was the engineering marvel on which the Hughes fortune was founded. The bit was invented by Howard Hughes' father.
Howard Hughes (second from left) standing in front of the experimental helicopter XH-17, Flying Crane, with others (from left to right): Rea Hopper, Director of the Aeronautical Division, Hughes Aircraft Company; Hughes; Clyde Jones, Director of Engineering, Hughes Tool Company Aeronautical Division; Warren Reed, Assistant; Colonel Carl E. Jackson from Air Research and Development Headquarters, Baltimore; Gale J. Moore, Pilot; possibly Chal Bowen, Flight Engineer/Co-pilot; and an unidentified man, October 23, 1952.