Ajax Iron Works, Corry, Pennsylvania 16407
The appointment of Philip J. Sample as a Vice President of Ajax
Iron Works was announced here today by Al Pilz, President.
Sample has been serving as Director of Manufacturing at the Ajax
headquarters plant in Corry, Pennsylvania. As Vice President, he
will have full direction of all manufacturing activities and
heavy duty two-cycle engines, reciprocating plunger pumps, and a
broad line of gas and air compressors. The company is an autonomous
operating division of its parent corporation, Cooper
Industries.
A native of Corry, Pennsylvania, Sample joined Ajax in 1948. He
was promoted to Chief Industrial Engineer in 1950, Assistant Works
Manager in 1959, and in 1966 he was appointed to the position of
Manager of Manufacturing at the Corry plant. He became Director of
Manufacturing in 1968. Prior to his affiliation with Ajax. Sample
held a number of industrial engineering assignments and, in World
War II, he served in the United States Army with the Amphibious
Engineer Corps.
L. M. Leinen, Ajax Director of Industrial Marketing, announced
today that Ajax is increasing the prices of its steam engines. The
amount of the increase is about 15% on all models.
Commenting on the action, Mr. Leinen said that the matter had
been under study for some time and that the need for the increase
was a direct consequence of economic forces beyond Ajax control and
the inflationary price increase made by many suppliers. He also
said that such action would be the first general increase for Ajax
steam engines in over fifty years.
Ajax makes a line of industrial steam engines up to 600
horsepower. The applications are many and varied and range from
exotic chemical manufacture to prime mover power for sawmills and
fine veneer manufacture as well as fish processing plants.
Leinen commented that he believed Ajax has a major share of the
steam engine market. He declined to estimate the size of the Ajax
share but he said that he expected competitors, if any, would
probably follow the Ajax lead in the price increase.
Asked about today’s steam engine market, Leinen declined to
estimate an overall size of the market. He said, however, that
steam engine power has obviously lost favor in many quarters where
it is the most efficient and economical type of power available,
and that this seems an unfortunate consequence of inadequate
training or understanding of steam economics and advantages. He
said that ‘the practical potential for steam engines is almost
unlimited but that the product is less popular or totally unknown
with many of today’s space-age engineers. It may be necessary
to install a steam engine on the moon before people once again
appreciate steam’s overwhelming advantages in many modern prime
mover power applications’, Leinen added.
Ajax Iron Works, located in Corry Pennsylvania, is a diversified
manufacturer of engines, pumps, compressors, and oilfield equipment
specifically designed for endurance and continuous production with
its steam engines for over ninety years, since 1877.