I still have my old TI 58 and the 47 steps to program it for friction loss through a piece of pipe. Gallons (enter 2nd A) Pipe I.D. (enter A) = friction loss. Just wish it still worked. Anybody still use a Addfeet Junior? Going to be doing an add and relocate job and will be drawing it by hand (Architect refuses to provide CAD backgrounds), it'll be the first one I've done by hand since 1999/2000. I started with Grinnell - Dallas the day that crazy SOB shot President Reagan, 3-30-81. My first job was on-site design at the Galleria Mall. I was at that jobsite for 2 1/2 years, talk about an education. I saw every mistake I made up close and personal.
"Thanks for the memories" David Autry Meininger Fire Protection Inc. 2521 W L St. Suite No.4 Lincoln, Ne 68522 Voice (402) 466-2616 Fax (402) 466-2617 [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gregory Lindholm Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 12:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Forty Years Bring back a lot if memories for me also. It was 41 years last month for me. Our first calculating program was a Texas Instruments TI 52 programmable calculator that had the program on magnetic strips that you ran thought the calculator a different points as you entered info. There were several times that I finished putting info in in the afternoon and it was still working on it in the morning. Greg Lindholm Sent from my iPhone 5 On Jul 20, 2013, at 12:03 PM, "Sprinkler Design Services" <[email protected]> wrote: > Let me add my kudos to you, as well John. Those of us who can > recognize stagger systems, know how to do calculations by hand, still > look at drawings and relate sprinkler locations mentally by running > dimensions are becoming less and less prevalent. > > I started in this business in 1982, but I am second-generation and my > dad had a drawing board set up in our kitchen so that he could work from home. > Heck, I knew what as scale was before a ruler. When he got his first > electric eraser, he was in heaven. > > I remember when our company got its first computer based hydraulic > calculation program. We spent our time inputting the data and ran the > calculations overnight because it took hours for the results to come out. > Lord help you if there was an input error and you had to start over. > > John, you forgot one sprinkler type too. The conventional sprinkler > that served both as an upright and pendent. > > I agree with Mark that people are born to this industry. I have > trained dozens of designers, and most washed out. For whatever reason, > they couldn't hack it or comprehend it. I've always told my trainees > that to succeed at this, you have to be a little off-center. > > Anyway, thanks for the ride down memory lane, and again > congratulations. One other thing though. Do you remember the days when > nobody ever called NFPA 13 by its title, it was simply "the red book"? > > Marc Walter > Sprinkler Design Services > Seaside, Oregon > > > > Congratulations on 40 years! We've never met. But those of us that > have been doing this for 30-40 years are going away and are hard to come by. > > I have been in the industry 33 years and I have no regrets. I started > with Advance Fire Protection in La Habra, California in the days when > they could still say that they didn't want a woman working in the design department. > There were four owners- two said yes, two said no-so the design > manager broke the tie and gave me the opportunity. It has been an interesting ride. > > > Sharon Alves > LP Consulting Engineers > Roseville, California. > > Sent from my iPhone > > On Jul 20, 2013, at 7:39 AM, "Ron Greenman" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Very nice, especially to see someone forty years later content with >> that choice made that working lifetime before. >> >> >> On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 7:10 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Very well said John. I don't know you, I'm pretty sure we've never >>> met, but on October 1st of 1976, just three years behind you, I >>> started my first day in the business with Brendle Fire Equipment in >>> Montgomery. I worked for Kit and Bill and was trained by Mr. Robert >>> Morris. I have followed your path in life and have the same list of >>> memories. I believe to this day that sprinkler people are sprinkler >>> people the day they are born, and represent some of the finest human >>> beings to have graced this earth. I live and work in Phoenix Arizona >>> and would value the opportunity to meet you. If you ever travel out >>> my > way, please look me up. >>> Mark at Aero >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: 321 [mailto:[email protected]] >>> Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 01:04 PM >>> To: [email protected] < >>> [email protected]>; John Farabee < >>> [email protected]> >>> Subject: Forty Years >>> >>> This past Tuesday, July 16th, marks the 40th anniversary of my >>> employment in the Fire Sprinkler Business. >>> >>> On that first day, July 16th, 1973, I walked into "Automatic" >>> Sprinkler's Birmingham, Al office and sat on the stool in front of a >>> drawing board with a parallel bar. My new boss, Melvin Smith, came >>> over and shook my hand and said "Welcome to the Fire Sprinkler >>> business...let's get you started." I looked around at the other >>> drawing boards in the office and the plans that they were working on >>> and thought to my self "Look at all the detail on those >>> plans...wonder what all of that is?". It wasn't long before I found out. >>> >>> I look back on the changes that we have seen in the last 40 years in >>> this business. Welded Cross Mains and Grooved Fittings, Thin Wall >>> Pipe, Mechanical Tees, Grid Systems, Computer Hydraulics, (remember >>> Alan Johnson's first Wang set up in the '70's), Horizontal Sidewall >>> Heads, CPVC Pipe, Residential Heads and Systems, CAD, ESFR and High >>> Challenge Heads, and on and on...I tell the younger guys that work >>> for me that when I first started we had 3: different sprinklers: >>> Upright, Pendent and Sidewall. Now I think there are in excess of >>> 250 different heads listed on Reliable and Tyco's head charts. >>> >>> Some times I get told that I am an "Antique" and my methods aren't >>> applicable to today's world...but it all still works. I tell my >>> salesmen...give me a preliminary, you have to know what you sold >>> because if you don't it only gets worse from your desk to the field. >>> I tell my designers...Put tie down dimensions on EVERYTHING...they >>> argue that "but boss...it's CAD...it doesn't matter. I send them out >>> to work a week in the field laying out the garbage they drew and >>> that usually cures the dimension issue. I tell every one in the >>> building..."It's all about the POJ (Pipe on >>> Job) date...that's the schedule nucleus...be the first trade in" The >>> same principals apply today that applied 40 years ago. >>> >>> I learned from At Bateman to write the proposal before preparing the >>> estimate. I thought he was crazy but it makes perfect sense. I >>> learned from Chuck Hura that if you have backlog you can manage it >>> to become profitable...but with no backlog...you can't even cover >>> your fixed > cost. >>> >>> Today...we face new challenges that we never dreamed of 40 years ago. >>> Microbial Induced Corrosion and spontaneous failure of CPVC Pipe and >>> Fittings. An economy that has been on it's back struggling for the >>> past 6~7 years with business failures that would have seemed >>> impossible a generation ago. >>> >>> Yet with all of the challenges, the Fire Sprinkler Industry has >>> become a serious force in the world. Forty years ago we were only >>> involved in a job if an insurance company mandated it...now we are >>> in every building code that there is. >>> >>> Looking back on this I reflect and ponder my future and how much >>> longer I will stay with this. My wife asked me "Well you've put 40 >>> years into it...what know?" I replied well...I've had a good run for >>> the past 40 years...I guess I'll stick with this "Sprinkler >>> Gig"..it's been good to me so far!! >>> >>> John W. Farabee >>> Vice President >>> Bass United Fire and Security >>> Pompano Beach, Fl >>> >>> >>> 561-707-5150 >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Sprinklerforum mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> >>> http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprin >>> k >>> ler.org >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Sprinklerforum mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> >>> http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprin >>> k >>> ler.org >> >> >> >> -- >> Ron Greenman >> Instructor >> Fire Protection Engineering Technology Bates Technical College >> 1101 So. Yakima Ave. >> Tacoma, WA 98405 >> >> [email protected] >> >> http://www.bates.ctc.edu/fireprotection/ >> >> 253.680.7346 >> 253.576.9700 (cell) >> >> Member: >> ASEE, SFPE, ASCET, NFPA, AFSA, NFSA, AFAA, NIBS, WSAFM, WFC, WFSC >> >> They are happy men whose natures sort with their vocations. -Francis >> Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626) >> _______________________________________________ >> Sprinklerforum mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprink >> l >> er.org > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkl > er.org > > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkl > er.org _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.o rg _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org
