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A family
affair
Fathers
and sons in a repeat performance
History is repeating itself on the Kangcamagus Highway
in the USA. Forty years ago, two contractors joined forces to
tackle a tough contract there. Now their sons are partners in
a similar project on the same stretch of road.
The Kangcamagus
Highway is a beautiful stretch of road through the Mount Washington
Valley, near the New Hampshire-Maine state border.
A project to remove
20,000 yards of tough granite from a slippery slope along the
highway within three weeks is being undertaken by the two family
companies Maine Drilling & Blasting and Alvin J. Coleman &
Sons.
And the three-week
operation is an echo from the past for members of the two families
concerned...
Joining
forces
It was some 40
years ago that the founders of the companies - MD&B's Ted
Purington Snr. and Alvin Coleman - joined forces to carry out
the same kind of operation on the Kangcamagus Highway.
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| Service
with a smile: Atlas Copco Field Service Technicians Dave Bijolle
(left) and Mike Ashman. |
Alvin's son Buzz Coleman,
who was on the original project and is involved in the current
one, says: "It's an amazing coincidence. I had no idea, all
those years ago, that I would be working again with the same partners
on the same sort of project at almost the same location."
The demanding
project involves holes which must be pre-split drilled 20 - 60
feet deep on 70°, 74° and 79° angles.
The location is
in a popular tourist area and Jim Purington - one of Ted Purington
Snr's four sons who work in the business - says: "We work
with the National Forest Service to ensure that no hikers are
in the immediate area before blasting."
Two Atlas Copco
ROC 642HC rigs and two ROC 642HP units handle the pre-split and
production drilling at the site and a ROC 410 deals with smaller
jobs.
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Time
for adjustments: Drill operators Richard Bouley and Jamie
McKinnis of Maine Drilling & Blasting at work. |
Stable rigs
Terry Bower, MD&B's Equipment
Manager, says: "The ROC 642 units are the best pre-split
rigs we have. They are very operator-friendly, and the hydraulic
pressure and boom settings are easy to adjust on the go to meet
the varying ground conditions. They are also extremely stable
machines."
Rig operators
Richard Bouley and Jamie McKinnis say they feel very comfortable
handling the 642 rigs over difficult terrain and their colleague
Nate Ayers says: "The beauty of the ROC 642 is its versatility.
I can take the rig almost anywhere and feel confident that I can
get the job done safely and quickly."
Buzz Coleman,
whose son Noah is working with him at the site, says: "When
you look back to the wagon drills we used here 40 years ago, it
is absolutely inconceivable that we could have moved this amount
of rock in such a short time."
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