Welcome to The American Blower Guestbook!

I was employed an a personnel clerk for Bob Sutherin and a Purchasing Agent for John Rich at American Blower (American Standard Industrial Div.) I just out of the army in early 1956 and I was employed there until early 1962. It was a great place, I met lots of fine people and had many great times.

My father, Reed D. Andrew, was hired during the depression by Mr. James Inglis on the recommendation of the president of Detroit Steel Products. Dad was the last person to be released from the credit office by the Credit Manager at Detroit Steel Products during the worst of the depression, leaving only the credit manager himself. (Dad had worked there as assistant credit manager while he worked his way through what is now Wayne University Law School.)

The position at ABC offered Dad the chance to use his skills in both credit management and corporate law. He enjoyed his friendship with engineers and other executives and would often tell us the ""question of the day"" from ""Table Number One,"" where the ABC principal officers and engineers ate together. Every day one individual had the assignment of asking a question he thought would be difficult for all the men at the table and would receive a token prize if no one could answer it correctly. On one occasion an engineer inquired, ""What is the name of the process in which a substance passes directly from a solid to a gas without going through a liquid state, then condensing it back to a solid state, thereby removing impurities?"" Everyone seemed stumped until it came Dad's turn to give his answer: "That would be sublimation, as with iodine" he said, whereupon the astonished gentleman who had asked the question became a bit vexed and inquired, ""How do you, an attorney, happen to know the answer when all the engineers were unable to come up with it?"" Dad, always a quiet person, responded, ""I took chemistry in high school.""

My brothers and I went with our mother for the ceremony in which the Navy "E (for Excellence) Award" was presented to the company. I still have pictures of us there at the ceremony and can very clearly recall being there. I worked at American Blower myself as timekeeper on the night shift when I was saving money for college & medical school.

My mother worked at American Blower from the late 30s into the mid-40s. She started as a clerical worker and moved into the factory portion during WWII. I remember her saying that she worked on aircraft during the war.

My father, Robert Cooper was Chief Engineer and Designer under Harold Sinclair at the Hydraulic Coupling Company in Isleworth, Mddx., England and visited ABC in 1933. His contact there was a Mr. Alison who I met in 1957.