Stories
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They first graded an area behind the building and put in a new parking lot. In the front where the parking lot had been, they extended the building to the cross street, making one large single room, almost doubling the size of the plant, and adjoined to the old building by a great wide door-way just opposite where my ball grinding machines were. They left the rest of the wall in with its enormous windows. This new section was to be used primarily to make ski poles. But they put the ball grinding machines in there as well.
The new addition had a high ceiling, block walls, a vast expanse with iron red posts and no interior walls, like a football fields and very well lighted. They brought in two brand new stamping machines, which used two milled blocks of steel about a foot and half long, and five inches wide. Each one was milled out in the shape of half a ski pole, so when the blocks were together they formed a ski pole shaped hole. These blocks were spun, in the center of a machine about the size almost of an old Volkswagen bug, so that they slammed back and forth against each other. Through a hole in the center the pole was slowly pushed so that the slamming blocks compressed the circumference and shaped the pole into its conical shape. But these machines were so noisy that it would be hard keep people employed in such decibel-hostile environment. So when I left they were trying to house them in sound proof kennels, but not having a lot of success.
Hard to say who was the brains behind this operation, whether Mr. Miller, his brother Fritz or both. Varying speculations were sometimes offered.
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