Pit & Quarry, April 2014

PIT QUARRY HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES Howard Hall Iowa born man revolutionized road building with portable equipment inety years have passed since the Iowa Manufacturing Co got its start and more than 40 have gone by since its founders death But Howard Halls legacy is still felt on every jobsite where portable equipment crushes rock today After serving his country in France during World War I Hall an Iowa born man and longtime friend John Jay purchased the assets of a bankrupt company Bertschey Engineering Co in 1923 They shaped that company into the Iowa Manufacturing Co which rose like a rocket after Hall and Jay Cedarapids equipment still in production today through Terex Minerals Processing Systems originally emerged through the Iowa Manufacturing Co discovered a young engineer Guy Frazee who had designed a rock crusher unlike any before it It was a fledgling company that was for sale says Ernie Buresh 87 who served on Iowa Manufacturings board in Halls later years I think he put together the funds and maybe his wifes family helped him to borrow the money to buy the company The crusher Iowa Manufacturing developed combined crushing conveying and screening into one machine and its portability allowed it to play a vital role in the nations developing road campaign throughout the first half of the 20th century The timing of the companys inception was impeccable as the automobile was taking off and demand for better roads was quickly growing Road building itself demanded better equipment though Multiple pieces of equipment were necessary to build roads prior to Iowa Manufacturings rise And more equipment meant more capital costs and high labor costs were necessary to move equipment from jobsite to jobsite But Hall revolutionized road building constructing a chassis mounted machine that could handle raw material at one end and produce sized finished material at the other His original concept later morphed into a unit that added a second crusher as demand for even more roads and even better ones increased A horizontal vibrating screen replaced a barrel like revolving screen in this unit creating a faster more compact and more accurate machine Iowa Manufacturings original crusher design was also the impetus for other crushing screening and washing equipment it developed in future years The growing highway construction industry requires on everyones part considerable work and planning Hall wrote in 1961 The future holds a great challenge both for the contractor who must undertake and complete these tremendous projects and also for the equipment dealer who must have the necessary qualified service available to his customers and finally the manufacturers like Cedarapids who must work and plan ahead develop better equipment newer operating techniques and to make available efficient and lower cost producing items for handling the big jobs as well as the small jobs Historically Halls rock crusher also proved critical to 40 PIT QUARRY April 2014 www pitandquarry com