drillers’ inability to penetrate solid rock, Hughes and Sharp developed a drill that could. Patented in 1908, the Hughes rock bit became an industry standard, and by the time the Hughes family returned to Houston in 1909, Hughes Sr. was fast becoming a wealthy man. In time the company he founded, Hughes Tool, would make his son, the legendary Howard Hughes Jr., the wealthiest Texas oilman of all, though in name only. When he reached adulthood in the 1920s, Howard Hughes fled Texas for Hollywood and never returned.
