|
|
|
|
|
 |
The Industrial Hobarts Peter C. Hobart Secure Transaction
|
The Industrial Hobarts is the story of how three generations engineered the growth and success of their family business during the prime of America’s industrial age. Though trained as a lawyer, C. C. Hobart became fascinated with electricity, met Thomas Edison, and started a company that leased electric light plants at a monthly rate of a dollar per bulb. One company he started became America's largest manufacturer of commercial food processing equipment. He and his sons then founded Hobart Brothers and applied electrical power to battery chargers for automobiles and electrical welders.
They built all-steel homes during the Depression and thousands of welders and mobile power units for U.S. armed forces during World War II. Within a century of the company's founding, C. C. Hobart¹s grandsons were supplying welding systems to build the World Trade Center, nuclear submarines, oil and gas pipelines, and the Space Shuttle's external fuel tanks. The family created a corporate culture that encouraged teamwork and creativity. Company engineers earned scores of patents. Their ground power units serviced world airlines, the military, and aerospace industry. Hobart battery charged vehicles, automation, and robotics revolutionized the factories of the future.
The story told by Peter C. Hobart, Hobart Brothers’ former vice president for international business, and historian Michael W. Williams is a clear and engaging narrative of how one family found purpose and success in the golden age of American industry. The book provides snapshots of people using imagination and ingenuity to compete within the electrical power, food processing, office furniture, transportation, construction, defense, and aerospace industries. The Hobart story is a microcosm of the history of the industrial Midwest, spanning the era from the infancy of electrical lighting to robotic laser welding, cutting and coating systems. Enriched by a wealth of photographs, dozens of interviews and a variety of other primary sources, readers will enjoy a fascinating story whether their interest is history, technology, business or people.
Peter C. Hobart is the youngest member of the third generation of "industrial" Hobarts. He graduated with honors from Yale in 1957, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts with minors in Business and Engineering. He spent over thirty-five years with Hobart Brothers Company as a board member, shareholder, and in various management positions. During most of those years he served as Vice President of the international division and President of Hobart Brothers International A.G. Today he is a consultant for ITW, which bought the company in 1996. P.C. Hobart has written and lectured extensively on technology, international business. and contemporary art. Many of his articles have appeared in the Welding Journal as well as other international and American trade publications. He was an active member of the International Institute of Welding, a fellow of the British Welding Institute, and an American delegate to the International Standards Organization. From 1990 to 1996 Hobart chaired the International Sculpture Center (Washington, D.C.,and Princeton) and continues to represent the center as chairman emeritus. From 1998 to 2002 he produced some seventy documentary films on modern art and sculpture, which are now in the major art centers of the world. The author has a daughter, Michelle; a son, Peter John; and three grandchildren. He lives in Rome, Italy.
Michael W. Williams is a writer of local history who teaches Social Studies and English at the Miami Valley Career Technology Center in Clayton, Ohio. Williams earned bachelors and masters degrees in History from the University of Dayton. Since 1987, he has devoted his summers to writing projects or teaching history courses at the University of Dayton or Sinclair Community College. He has published several articles on the business and social history of early twentieth century Ohio. Williams has taught high school students for over twenty years, secured a teacher initiative grant, created a simulation of the U.S. Congress, and has chaired internal review committees for the North Central Association and for developing school-wide tools to teach and assess problem solving and critical thinking skills. He lives in Vandalia, Ohio, with his wife Mary and his daughters, Shannon and Emily.
Search Categories | Featured Publishers | New Titles | Author Spotlight | Reading Room | Publishers | Retailers | BookMasters | Home | Contact AtlasBooks® is a Division of BookMasters®, Inc.
© Copyright 1997- 2008, All rights reserved. |
