Posted by Clint Dixon on Thursday, November 04, 2004 at 12:26PM :
In Reply to: Re: www.bandag.com posted by OTM Mike Stone in Idaho USA on Thursday, November 04, 2004 at 8:37AM :
Found the information below by doing a search on Roy Carver, of Bandag fame. He was born and raised only a few miles from me. We have friends of the family who went to grade school with him. The machine shop I used to work for has always built a lot of equipment for bandag. An interesting story that I was told, (and I can not verify any of this), is that Mr. Nowak was a German soldier captured during WWII and brought to the states as a prisoner of war. Resulting curcumstances lead Roy Carver to learn about, and later acquire, the Bandag process from Mr. Nowak. Bandag retreads have always been a really big deal around here. Also, there is a nice little old fashined drive-in restaurant in Muscatine, called the Cherry Top, that Roy Carver had an interest in. Yes, I have eaten many a tenderloin sandwich and onion ring there with a car-hop tray clipped to the driver's side window of a POWER-WAGON.
Clint
<<<Roy Carver, — Muscatine, IA
In Iowa, the name Roy Carver is so closely linked to The University of Iowa, many people naturally think he was a Hawkeye. Not so.
Roy Carver was born in 1910 and raised in Illinois. As one of four children, he had a paper route and worked at Ford Motor Company after school.
A straight-A student, Carver went to the University of Illinois on a full scholarship, graduating with a degree in engineering.
After college, Carver worked for the State of Illinois, where he had the opportunity to evaluate a type of self-priming pump. He believed he had a better idea for engineering this product and eventually quit his job and invested all his savings into his own business.
The Carver Pump Company was first located in Illinois, but later moved across the Mississippi to Muscatine, Iowa. When World War II began, the company’s first large order came in from England. After the United States entered the war, the U.S. bought Carver’s pumps as well.
In 1957, Carver began another company, Bandag, Inc., after gaining the North American rights to a system of tire retreading from Bernard Anton Nowak in Darmstadt, Germany.
Through the years, Carver cultivated his passions for aviation and world travel. He spoke five languages fluently.
In 1982, Carver died suddenly in Spain, and through his will, established the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust that has contributed generously to many areas of The University of Iowa, including UI Health Care.
Savoring his humble beginnings, Carver once said, "Mindful of all that I have received from society, it has been my long cherished aim to devote a significant portion of my estate to charitable, educational and scientific purposes.">>>