Keystone Driller Company and Star Drilling Machine Company Excavators

摘要

In 1875, a 22-year old Robert M. Downie of Butler County, Pennsylvania, observed the very slow and hard work of sinking small test holes for coal by hand. Five feet of three-inch hole was considered a fair day's work for two strong men. Downie believed it must be possible to construct a machine to do this job and, he thought, holes so drilled could be used for a variety of purposes including water wells for the farms scattered across western Pennsylvania. He set to work to perfect his machine, and a few years later in 1882, he established the Keystone Portable Steam Driller Company Ltd. at Beaver Falls, PA. In later years, the company claimed that Robert M. Downie was the originator and developer of the modern, self-propelled drill for farm and residential water supply, blast holes, and mineral prospecting.