Did You Know this about the trapped Miners in Chili?
 

Seems as though we never beat our own drum when we probably should:

Far be it for an American President to publicly congratulate (let alone even mention) AMERICAN ingenuity and AMERICAN PRIVATE ENTERPRISE for the miracle
rescue of the Chilean Miners.

Schramm Inc. of West Chester, Pennsylvania built the drills and equipment used to reach the trapped miners.


Center Rock Company, also from Pennsylvania, built the drill bits used to reach the miners.


UPS, the US shipping company, delivered the 13-ton drilling equipment from Pennsylvania to Chile in less than 48 hours.


Crews from Layne Christensen Company of Wichita Kansas and its subsidiary Geotec Boyles Bros. worked the drills and machinery to locate and reach the miners and then enlarge the holes to rescue them.


Jeff Hart of Denver Colorado was called off his job drilling water wells for the U.S. Army's forward operating bases in Afghanistan to lead the drilling crew that reached the miners.


Atlas Copco Construction Mining Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin provided consulting on how to make drilling equipment from different sources work together under differing pressure specifications.


Aries Central California Video of Fresno California designed the special cameras that were lowered nearly a mile into the ground sending back video of the miners.


Zephyr Technologies of Annapolis Maryland, made the remote monitors of vital signs that miners wore during their ascent.


NASA Engineers designed the "Phoenix" capsule that miners would be brought to the surface in, and provided medical consulting, special diets and spandex suits to maintain miners' blood pressure as they were brought back to the surface.


Oh, and Canadian-based Precision Drilling Corp. and South-African company Murray & Roberts, drilled backup rescue shafts in case the American rig failed. Which it didn't.

And in the same mailing, this from another friend:

Below a few points of general interest regarding the recent rescue in Chile.

While the White House may not believe in American exceptionalism, I'm thinking there's a whole bunch of people in Chile that would agree.

Regarding the mine rescue, did you know:

The guy that designed the rescue module was a NASA Engineer?

The Drill was made by Schramm Inc. from Pennsylvania .

The Drill Bits were made by Center Rock, Inc. located in Berlin , Pennsylvania .

The lead driller Jeff Hart and his team are from Denver , Colorado . They are on loan from the US Military in Afghanistan where they are drilling water wells for our Forward Operating Bases.

He spent the next 33 days on his feet, operating the drill that finally provided a way out Saturday for 33 trapped miners. "You have to feel through your feet what the drill is doing; it's a vibration you get so that you know what's happening," explained Hart.

Hart was called in from Afghanistan, "simply because he's the best" at drilling larger holes with the T130's wide-diameter drill bits, Stefanic said.

Standing before the levers, pressure meters and gauges on the T130's control panel, Hart and the rest of the team faced many challenges in drilling the shaft. At one point, the drill struck a metal support beam in the poorly mapped mine, shattering its hammers. Fresh equipment had to be flown in from the United States and progress was delayed for days as powerful magnets were lowered to pull out the pieces.

The mine's veins of gold and copper ran through quartzite with a high level of abrasive silica, rock so tough that it took all their expertise to keep the drill's hammers from curving off in unwanted directions. "It was horrible," said Center Rock President Brandon Fisher, exhausted after hardly sleeping during the effort.

Fisher, Stefanic and Hart called it the most difficult hole they had ever drilled, because of the lives at stake.

"If you're drilling for oil and you lose the hole, it's different. This time there's people down below," Stefanic said.

"We ruined some bits, worked through the problems as a team, and broke through," Hart said. "I'm very happy now."

Miners' relatives crowded around Hart on Saturday, hugging and posing for pictures with him as he walked down from the rescue operation into the tent camp where families had anxiously followed his work.

"He's become the hero of the day," said Dayana Olivares, whose friend Carlos Bugueno is one of the miners stuck below.

In a different day and age, Jeff Hart would be the most famous American in our country right now. He would be honored at the White House. Schoolchildren would learn of his skill and heroism. But because Jeff Hart works in an industry currently being demonized by (insert name for the clowns currently running our country) more people in Chile will celebrate this symbol of American greatness than in America itself.



Where were the Chinese, Russians, French, Iranians, or any of the big mouths I hear sounding off nearly every day ??

I was surprised to hear early on about the NASA involvement. See, is was rocket science.

I was listening to the radio on the way to work a week or so before the shaft broke through and they were talking about the capsule. The sound bite was supplied by NASA and the voice was none other than Homer Hickam, Jr. He wrote the book Rocket Boys that became the move October Sky.

Great post !

"Seems as though we never beat our own drum when we probably should:"

No we don't beat our own drum enough.

I think that most people that don't believe in what a great country we have,have spent little or no time traveling or living overseas.
We are unique in a very positive way.

Fox talked about some of the Americans that were down there and involved in the rescue, but they should have received more press.

NPR did some stories on it.

I am not an American, and therefore do not consider it proper to comment on your country's condition.
But I am constantly arguing with my American naysayer friends in SUPPORT of the USA's accomplishments in the world.
Bob Marley is said to have used the majority of his music earnings to charter flights to carry poor Jamacians to other countries to broaden their outlook.
It maybe time to fit the super carriers with deck chairs, and do the same for some of your folk.
Hope I haven't offended anyone.

Excellent point Maurice. Everyone should have the opportunity to travel. It is the most effective method of broadening people's view and breaking down barriers and prejudices.

What always impresses me when I travel internationally, is how knowledgeable the rest of the world is about the entire world, how ignorant Americans are about the world, and how self-absorbed we are.

I don't think America needs anymore reasons to be proud of itself. If you lack confidence in who we are and what America is, then do some international travel, and you will come back kissing the ground and be prouder than ever.

I find this post a desperate plea for confirmation of some sort. 'America is great. We sent stuff to Chile.' Are we really that insecure that we have to make commentary about how wonderful America is because some can-do was sent to some miners? Really?

This just smacks of somebody who is grasping at straws to criticize the president about anything and everything. And yes those who did the same with Bush were wrong too.

No political commentary means just that. The thread was on the edge, but it involved information affecting all Americans.

...and then we have someone drop a wheel.

Cool it or it's going to close.

I hope you don't mean me. Anything I said pales in comparison to that what the OP posted:

Excuse me, but I believe I'm quite clear when I type...

I said the thread was already on the edge (obviously in reference to the commentary you speak of and a few other references) but that it contained information suitable for America as a whole (meaning that it might draw folks together to be proud and therefore outweighed the initial political commentary).

Everyone else seemed to get and read the memo and stayed away from the politcal commentary while addressing the American efforts.

...but you couldn't quite leave it alone.

OK, let me rephrase it in a way so that it's objective information suitable for America as a whole:

Any American who criticizes a given politician's actions (or lack thereof) should ask themselves if they'd do the same thing if their preferred politician were in power instead.

37 posts since 1999...a few days off shouldn't hamper your post count quest too much.

:cool:

Indeed the whole world came together for the good of mankind. It was a great moment in our history.

We should all be proud to have been able to help others in a time of need.

Isn't it great we could all come together without fighting or patting our own backs at the accomplishments it took to save so many lives.