Chattanooga Engineers Club

New Location, Free Parking, Great Food, Great Programs

NEXT MEETING___________________________

Monday, May 4, 2009 - Noon – DOUBLETREE HOTEL, Second Floor (407 Chestnut St., Chattanooga, TN 37402)

“Solar Energy: Solution to conservation” – Allan Gentry

Imagine pre-paying for 40 years of power usage for your home. Sound costly? Installing a solar power system is equivalent to this usage at a fraction of the cost you currently pay. With a renewed emphasis on conservation and using renewable energy, more and more people are looking to solar energy as a strategy to free themselves from the price instability of global energy markets.

Allan Gentry, Instructor, Interim Dean and Chair of the Technology Department at Cleveland State Community College will give an overview of how the solar technology is developed, including the current state of the technology, and new products and enhancements in the market. Mr. Gentry will discuss the benefits of solar energy, as well as what is needed to support this growing industry.

FUTURE MEETINGS________________________

Monday, May 11 - Noon - “A visionary transportation system that could change the world” - Personal Transportation remains a key infrastructure in the economic framework of any nation. With public concerns today about economical energy requirements, forward momentum in consumption, and responsible environmental stewardship, Steven Rasor, Founder, Vertical Axis Integration Company (VXICOM) will present a new approach to transportation and energy storage.

Speakers: Steven Rasor, principal architect and founder of Chattanooga based VXICOM, and Stephen Smith, Chemical Engineer, Coalsmith Consultants

Meeting Place: DOUBLETREE HOTEL

Monday, May 18 - Noon - PLANT TOUR & PRESENTATION: Ken Garner Manufacturing - Ken Garner Mfg. is a supplier of counterweights for cranes and other construction equipment. Counterweights are filled with high density concrete in which sand and gravel aggregate are replaced by heavier materials to obtain the required densities. To date, the heaviest counterweight manufactured by Ken Garner Mfg. weighs 35,000 pounds. This company has formulations to produce densities in excess of 66% of the density of solid iron.

Speaker: John Garner

Meeting Place: Ken Garner Mfg., 1201 E. 28^th Street, Chattanooga, TN 37404

Monday, May 25 - NO MEETING - MEMORIAL DAY

Monday, June 1 - Noon - "Impact of 3D high definition scanning to our global market"

Speaker: Shane Loyd, Owner/Founder, The RLS Group, LLC

PREVIOUS MEETING_______________________

Jim Frierson, great-grandson of Swiss immigrant John Kruesi, reviewed Kruesi's indispensable role in Thomas Edison's inventions. Kruesi worked as an apprentice and journeyman in Europe before coming to America in 1970. Within two years he was hired as Edison's head machinist. With the other original associates (the "muckers") at the Menlo Park, New Jersey, laboratory, John Kruesi worked days and nights to build the first phonograph in 1877, followed by countless other prototypes of the incandescent light bulb and underground tubing based on sketches by Edison. Kruesi utilized simple locally available materials to fabricate his prototypes -- wood, tin foil, and wax. The young Kruesi family shared the first house in America to be illuminated by electricity.

Mr. Frierson described the personal and business ties between Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. In the 1930's Henry Ford personally financed the relocation of Edison's historic laboratory to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford's great-grandson spoke here in 2005 at Frierson's invitation.

John Kruesi died in 1899 while serving as general manager of General Electric in charge of 4000 employees in Schenectady, New York. Thomas Edison was named as executor of his estate and legal guardian of his younger children, including Paul Kruesi who came to Chattanooga in 1902 to found American Lava.

Mr. Frierson mentioned Chattanooga's Kruesi Spirit of Innovation Award, now in its 9th year as the nation's first community award for innovation.

Appropriately, the winner of the 2009 Kruesi Award (DJO Chattanooga) will receive a sponsored trip to Switzerland to meet with peer companies and to share innovation lessons.

ITEMS OF INTEREST_______________________

The Chattanooga Engineer's Club has relocated its meeting place to the DOUBLETREE HOTEL, CHATTANOOGA (407 Chestnut St., Chattanooga, TN 37402). Free parking is available in the gated parking lot on the south side of the Hotel. The gate will be open from 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. There is additional free parking east of the Hotel on Chestnut Street in the paved parking pit.

Looking for details on a local society meeting? Links to local engineering societies are available to you at: http://www.chattanoogaengineersclub.org/engineer.

QUESTIONS and SUGGESTIONS______________

If you have any questions, items of interest to the Chattanooga Engineers Club, or suggestions for 2009 programs, please contact Joe Robbins by e-mail at jrobbins@robbinsbohr.com or by phone at 423-756-4430. You can find membership application forms, references to future programs, historical data, and other info at: http://www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org. To receive future meeting announcements by email, join the Chattanooga Technology Organization mailing list at: http://www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org/email