>Drake used copper pipe two or three inches in diameter and in sections 12 to 14 feet long. https://ethw.org/Beginnings_of_the_Oil_and_Gas_Industry

I'm not saying he didn't use copper pipe for the first well, but one could imagine he used cast iron pipe in the first well. If he did, my layman understanding is that copper pipe must be much more less likely to break, than cast iron pipe. (Cast iron is pretty brittle.)