The Kennith O. Sisson Letter

[Unimatic1140]

While looking through my library for more things to scan for the Ephemera Library I ran across a copy of a 3 page letter from Kennith O. Sisson. Jetcone Jon found him and wrote to him in Dayton, OH about 15 years ago.

I'm sharing it (with permission from Jon) as it tells some important early Bendix and Frigidaire automatic washer history and will be great to have in the AW archives.

 

[Unimatic1140]

[No message]

 

[Unimatic1140]

[No message]

 

[jetcone]

Thank You Robert

for posting this! I don't know where my copy is right now!

I had the names reversed in my memory, it was Kendall Clark that developed both transmissions for Bendix and Frigidaire. It was Kenneth O Sisson that worked on production and timers. In a phone conversation he had told me K Clark was not happy that he didn't get a division head for developing the Bendix transmission, so he moved over to Frigidaire before the War. There if you look at the patent literature you will see he developed the Unimatic transmission. A brilliant mechanical engineer.

I corresponded with Kendall Clark's son after this. I think I can find that letter.

Kendall Clark was not long in Boston and wound up at IBM in New York where he retired from there.

I remember writing Mr. Brucken ( who developed the rollermatic transmission) and never receiving a reply, now we know why.

 

[joelippard]

Thank You!

Now this is really cool!  Loved reading it!

 

[sel8207]

magical

To know the engineering history, human dynamic, and thoughts from somebody who was actually there is incredible and magical. This should be preserved, especially for the young people so they know something of the development of industrial design in the United States Very interesting read. Les

 

[vacbear58]

Wonderful

And I am not even American! Thanks for sharing this Robert

Al

 

[hydralique]

Wow!

Thanks for posting, this is such a fascinating bit of history!

 

[roto204]

Amazing

"Letters of Note"-worthy. What a treasure!

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Wow. That is very cool history to have.  I love this kind of stuff... Jon - I can only wonder what your letter to Mr. Sisson consisted of!

 

Now that kids aren't being taught cursive, this should be typed out for future generations to read and enjoy! 

 

[roto204]

Ask, and you shall receive

Here you go--a chance to flex my cursive-interpretive muscle.

 

[roto204]

Second half

Continued...

 

[pdub]

Amazing History

Thanks to Jon Charles for supplying amd initiating this great piece of correspondence.

Thanks to our own webmaster Robert for publishing it.

And thanks to Nate for transcribing it into an easy to read document.

Patrick

 

[gansky1]

That is really cool to have digitized (in both languages .

What an interesting bit of history, thanks for posting it.

 

[peteski50]

Letter!

Thanks so much for sharing this letter, very interesting information.
Peter

 

[hippiedoll]

roto204....

thanks for typing out the letter & making sooo much easier to read. there were a couple of words that i didn't even get, when i read the handwritten letter. but thanks to you typing it out, i could read exactly what the letter said.

very cool!!!

)

 

[a440]

Thank Robert and Jon for sharing this! Thanks Nate for your transcribe.
Just curious. Since this was the "first automatic washers", what was the Mallory company building during this period that Bendix felt them capable of coming up with a timer for their washer design? Clocks? I can't find anything on the internet about their early company during this period.

 

[in2itdood]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing ...

And thanks for the typed translation!

 

[golittlesport]

Thanks!

Great Saturday morning reading material. I love reading letters. Handwriting can be difficult to read sometimes, but it is so much more personal and authentic. Thanks Robert and Jon!