I was introduced to Frederick William Wink at his home, overlooking the Beach Grove Golf Course in Tsawwassen, B.C. Like most of us in the resource industry, I had heard of the famous Winkie portable diamond drill. Now 87 years old, Wink is still a jovial and gregarious conversationalist.
Between scotches, the charming Mr. Wink mentioned a few of his adventures in some 80 countries around the world. In addition to inventing three kinds of drills, he built several successful companies, met four prime ministers, four presidents and two sultans, acted as a diplomat for the Canadian government, and was commissioned by the late U.S. president John Kennedy to oversee development programs in West Africa.
Wink was born in Winnipeg, Man., in 1914. Shortly thereafter, his family moved to a farm south of the city, where he remained until the age of 16, whereupon he dropped out of elementary school and returned to Winnipeg. He found a menial job that paid all of 18 cents an hour, which enabled him to save enough money eventually to travel to Red Lake to work in the mines. This was 1934, and since the wages at the Howie Red Lake gold mine paid 50 cents per hour, Wink thought he had made the big time. Although he started as a bull cook, it was not long before he was transferred underground to work as a diamond drill helper. He loved diamond drilling and, after six months, was promoted to operator — a job that paid $350 per month plus room and board. He also became a skillful diamond bit setter.
By 1943, Wink had had enough of working 6,000 ft. underground and headed instead for the Turner Valley oil fields of Alberta. He landed a job drilling for oil at the Duke of Windsor’s EP Ranch in the High River area and participated in the drilling of a 9,000-ft. well. However, he did not stay long in Alberta, and it wasn’t long before he was drilling in Yellowknife, N.W.T. Ever restless and pining for adventure, he next found himself in Brazil, where he learned how to read and write Portuguese. Here he set up a highly successful exploration diamond drilling company, which serviced virtually every state in the country. Among his accomplishments was drilling off the largest manganese deposit in the world.
In 1950, he received a call from President Getulio Vargas to report to his palace in Rio de Janeiro, as a result of which, Wink was appointed as a consultant to the Brazilian mining industry. In addition, he was also appointed technical superintendent of the Rio waterworks and was even given an office in the presidential palace. While in Brazil, he also set up a mining school for students wishing to learn the diamond drilling business. Since he paid his students to attend, the school was popular, with some graduates going on to achieve important positions in the Brazilian government.
By 1954, Wink’s family felt it was time to return to Winnipeg. Not having much to do, Wink dreamed of Brazil and how it took some 30 backpackers slogging through jungles and rain forest to mobilize a conventional diamond drill to a site. There had to be a better way. Holing up in his basement, he devised a small portable diamond drill he called the Winkie. By 1956, the machine was able to drill to a depth of 150 ft. and eventually 450 ft. He set up manufacturing plants in Milwaukee, Wis., and then San Francisco, Calif. Sales took off, and in late 1956, J.K. Smit & Sons International acquired the patent, manufacturing and sales rights to the Winkie drill. Atlas Copco has since bought the rights to the drill, which is now sold in more than 100 countries around the world.
While in San Francisco, Wink wrote a letter to then-president Kennedy, offering his services overseas. Three months later, he was invited to the White House, where he was offered a chance to travel throughout West Africa assessing what kind of direct aid was needed. Jumping at the opportunity, Wink travelled to every West African country, where he was welcomed by the heads of state. While advising the U.S. government on aid suggestions, he naturally promoted his Winkie drill. During the next seven years, he circled the globe three times on various trade missions for Canada. Visiting such places as Malaysia, Borneo, Thailand, India, Africa and South America. Between 1961 and 1969, Wink traveled to 54 different countries.
Thinking he had better slow down, Wink moved to British Columbia and bought a boat, but he found he couldn’t stand the sedentary life. In 1973, Wink conceived and built the Hydro-Wink diamond drill, a machine capable of drilling to a depth of 1,000 ft. Powered by a Volkswagen engine, the drill extracts NQ size core (47.6 mm in diameter) and can also be used as an auger. Wink sold the manufacturing and sales rights to E.J. Longyear, which marketed it as the Longyear 28 model. While consulting in French Polynesia in the late 1970s, blocking out a phosphate deposit, Wink had a vision for a new kind of vibrating drill that would cut through unconsolidated sands and gravels like butter. It was to be the Vibra-Core drill. Powered by a small lawn-mower engine, the 25-lb. drill features a off-balance “sonic head” that spins at 12,000 r.p.m., resulting in a fast vibration that drives the core barrel into the earth to retrieve all the uncontaminated core. Junior company Freegold Recovery utilized the Vibra-Core in the late 1980s to test the old gold tailings at the Campbell Red Lake mine in northwestern Ontario. The Geological Survey of Canada tested the Vibra-Core in the Beaufort Sea, working from an ice platform. Wink still holds the rights to the Vibra-Core drill.
Eventually, Wink retired to South Delta, B.C., where he enjoys his scrapbook of memories, gardening and the love of his wife Kari and children Debbie, Wendy, Rick and Randy. As the song goes — Wink did it his way.
— The author is a writer based in Vancouver, B.C.
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