Old-fashioned home inventions still going strong
(This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Read Part 1.)
Last time,we saw how many well-known brands in the American building industry got theirstart through innovation and invention. It’s a credential that many of today’sreverse-engineered, flash-in-the-pan competitors can’t lay claim to –something to bear in mind next time you’re tempted by a slickly advertisedbrand you’ve never heard of.
Ironically,many old American companies tend to downplay their long experience, perhaps forfear of seeming fuddy-duddy in today’s high-tech world. As I have no suchcompunctions, however, I’ll single out a few more of our most venerable brands,some of them now well past the century mark.
Way backin 1901, for example, Chicagoan Albert C. Brown opened a small shop that madeplumbing fixtures and other hardware. In 1913, Brown invented a replaceable andvirtually drip-free faucet cartridge, which he called the Quaturn, because amere quarter-turn of the handle could turn the water on or off. Brown’sinvention soon became the mainstay of his Chicago Faucet Co. His cartridge hasbeen refined over the years, but amazingly, it’s still interchangeable with anyQuaturn faucet manufactured since 1913.
SomeAmerican firms not only go back a long way, but also practically created theirown industries. Willis Haviland Carrier, for instance, invented the basics ofmodern air conditioning in 1902, which helps explain why the Carrier name hasbeen keeping people cool ever since.
Perhapsless of a household name — unless you’re in the habit of reading your doorlatches — is that of German immigrant Walter Reinhold Schlage. A mastermechanic and inventor, Schlage’s first patent, granted in 1909, was for a doorlock with a built-in button that turned the room lights on and off. The ideadidn’t catch on, but around 1920, Schlage came up with the now-familiar locksetwith a push-button lock centered in the doorknob. What’s more, he designed thenew lock to fit in a simple round hole bored in the door, eliminating the needfor expensive mortising. This so-called “cylinder lock” created aminor revolution in the building industry, since it could be installed inminutes using ordinary hand tools. These two innovations remain the basis ofall interior locksets today.
A morefamiliar household brand traces its lineage back to 1911, when two brothers inSt. Joseph, Mich., founded the Upton Machine Co. to produce electricmotor-driven wringer washers. Eventually, retail giant Sears, Roebuck and Co.began marketing Upton-manufactured washers under their house brand of Kenmore.Today, the little company founded by the Uptons is Whirlpool Corp., the world’slargest appliance manufacturer.
Morerecent domestic products are just as likely to have sprung from innovation byAmerican firms. A classic example: Around 1946, Dr. Percy Spencer, an engineerwith Raytheon Corp., was surprised to find that the candy bar in his pocket hadmelted while he was working on a device that generated microwaves. Thefollowing year, Raytheon demonstrated the world’s first microwave oven, callingit the Radarange. In 1967, having acquired Amana Refrigeration, Raytheonintroduced the first countertop Amana Radarange oven. By 1975, microwave ovenswere outselling gas ranges.
Today, ofcourse, you’d be hard pressed to find any microwave ovens — including Amana’s– that are actually made in the U.S.A. Still, it’s worth giving credit whereit’s due.
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Copyright 2006 Arrol Gellner
