Underground Construction - June 2020 - 28
Pioneers of HDD Inducted into Hall of Fame
out to the machine. If you got into clay, you'd squirt some dish
soap in your drill rod and put the water on," he said. "Years later,
we made a portable bentonite mixing machine. You'd end up with
half of a tank left of mud, and you'd just take it down to the corner
where the storm drain was."
As the city expanded, Melsheimer's crews stayed busy running
1-inch conduit for street lighting. While the basic approach stayed
the same, tractors with augers replaced hand-digging of potholes, and
a two-man crew made fast work of it. From there, equipment kept
getting more powerful, and HDD capabilities continued to improve.
"We were one of the first ones out there with Ditch Witch ... and we
had the first electric-over-hydraulic controls, where the guy didn't
actually hold onto the controls on the carriage, walking it up and down
the track," instead standing 20 feet away with joysticks," he said.
Melsheimer described an early river crossing in New Zealand
using an RD300 Radiodetection locating system as being "like the
Model T era" compared with the "Tesla era" of today.
"It would normally give out an interrupted signal, and then when
you stop at the 6 o'clock position, it would give you a solid tone. And
that's all it would give you - period," he said, adding that the system
Dick Melsheimer was honored at the
HDD Reunion at UCT.
used on the New Zealand project could locate down to 20 feet
"after you cross your fingers and pray for it.
As crude as sighting was in the old days, Melsheimer said, the systems were accurate enough to drill about a foot off of a live gas main.
"It was just amazing how accurately (operators) would hold that
thing," he said. "There was a lot of hope and pray with this method
because the rotation of it would normally cause it to climb and go to
the right. The good ones who'd do the sighting would know how to
aim it left and down."
"Again, it was the Model T era, but it worked, and we got millions
of feet of that polyethylene put in the ground in L.A.," he said.
"The beauty of it is that it only lasts 50 years. So, guess what has
to be replaced."
Martin Cherrington: Big, Bold Projects
Prove HDD's Value in New Markets
While Dick Melsheimer's work in L.A. focused primarily on compact
applications, Martin Cherrington was thinking big in Northern
California with the development of large rigs and visions of
environmentally friendly river crossings.
Dick Melsheimer conducting hydraulic drill track testing.
Martin Cherrington (left) in 1971 standing with his crew at the pilot bit exit point on the historic
Pajaro Crossing.
28
JUNE 2020 | UConOnline.com
Martin Cherrington was honored at the
HDD Reunion at UCT.
http://www.UConOnline.com
Underground Construction - June 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - June 2020
Contents
Underground Construction - June 2020 - FC
Underground Construction - June 2020 - IFC
Underground Construction - June 2020 - Contents
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 4
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 5
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 6
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 7
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 8
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 9
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 10
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 11
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 12
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 13
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 14
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 15
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 16
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 17
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 18
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 19
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 20
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 21
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 22
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 23
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 24
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 25
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 26
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 27
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 28
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 29
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 30
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 31
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 32
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 33
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 34
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 35
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 36
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 37
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 38
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 39
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 40
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 41
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 42
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 43
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 44
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 45
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 46
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 47
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Underground Construction - June 2020 - 53
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 54
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 55
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 56
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 57
Underground Construction - June 2020 - 58
Underground Construction - June 2020 - IBC
Underground Construction - June 2020 - BC
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