The Chile Drilling Master, Jeff Hart

Much, if not most of the credit for the Chilean rescue rightfully goes to the Chilean president and Minister of Mines.  They should both go to Washington and teach seminars to the administration about Disaster Management. They had told us it may be Christmas before we see the miners, got them out 2 months early!  As Americans, we should consider the following:

� 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 ultimately rescue them.

� 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 will wear 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're brought back to the surface.

� 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. 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.