During the last 18 months of the period, WG began making real progress toward controlling the yield and size of the clay hot top. The laboratory was an invaluable tool in testing the clay before using it. Crowe developed methods to drill and test the deposits foot by foot before mining the clay. We started …
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John Whitacre Jr’s Story Continues
John’s story continues: I worked on the maintenance crew as an hourly worker at WG summers in high school and college. Before I was 18 years old, my time was carried on the farm payroll to conform to child labor laws. One summer Paul Brown, football coach at Massillon High School, was touring the plant …
The Korean Conflict Years
John B. Jr. spent his high school years at Western Reserve Academy, graduating in 1944. On July 1, 1944, I entered the Navy and was assigned to Notre Dame as part of the V-12 officers training program. After V-J day, August 1945, I resigned from the program and was sent out on a destroyer, the …
JB, DD and Art Estep
JB worked tirelessly during this period, supervising plant and mine operations, as well as labor relations and union contract negotiations. With so many men in the armed services, quality supervisors were in short supply during the war years and the demands on JB’s time were enormous. In 1943, he married Mary Landman and the quality …
People of the Post War Years
During this period, Ed Stedman joined the company to sell the steel plant products. Ed had been melt shop superintendent at Timken before losing his job when the president of Timken was fired. Most successful alloy steel producers kept their knowledge proprietary, so Ed had a unique knowledge of the specialty steel business. He spent …
The Post War Years
In 1999, John Whitacre Jr fell from his horse breaking his wrist and fracturing his lumbar vertebra. While recovering he recorded the history of Whitacre Greer. This continues his story: By the late 1950s, DD’s pre-stressed beam patent had expired. The licensees had obtained a new patent to keep the licensing arrangement in effect (that …
The War Years
On September 1, 1939 Germany, under Hitler, invaded Poland. England and France had agreements to support Poland and joined the war. By 1940, Hitler had conquered Europe and the battle of Britain was on. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the U. S. declared war on Japan and Germany. America’s industrial machine …
Whitacre Greer’s History Continues – Founder JJ Whitacre Passes
JJ remained mentally active, learning the French language after age 70. He subscribed to a Paris newspaper and read many books written in French. His personal library was extensive. Among his books, I found an early volume extolling the virtues of various vitamins in one’s diet. In 1938, JJ had a stroke and died in …
Polo and Ponies – The History of WG Continues
John’s story continues: DD’s wife, Eddy, died tragically of a tubular pregnancy in 1933. DD remarried to his second wife, Joan. Bette and Dan commuted to Worley grade school in Canton. DD was a good and active polo player. There was a polo field as well as a nine-hole golf course between Waynesburg and Magnolia. …
WG Patents Pre-Stressed Hollow Tile Beam
During the effort to create new business, DD invented a pre-stressed hollow tile beam known ad “Kalex,” resulting in US patent number 2,101,447. DD assigned the patent jointly to WG, Whitacre Engineering and Balast Rock, a California company. During this period, DD worked for Whitacre Engineering Company for some years. By pre-stressing the bottom of …
