4th of July and a Birthday Celebration

Norm Hall
 / 
July 3, 2017
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Tomorrow we celebrate and remember the birth of our Nation. R.L. Deppmann Company is also celebrating a birthday. R.L. Deppmann Company is 90 years old! Founded in 1927 by Raymond L. Deppmann, the company has changed a lot over the years. I thought I would share a few photographs from years past.

Ray Deppmann


Ray Deppmann started the Company in 1927, and in 1971 turned control of the company over to 10 employees led by Zaven “Ziggy” Margossian.

Burke and Shoemaker

Today a company’s employees may complain about not being able to wear shorts in the summer, but in 1961 at RLD, the parts counter people wore suits to work. Here is Dick Burke and Clarence Shoemaker in the parts department at Deppmann on Milwaukee street in Detroit.

Engineers at Hydronic Conference Hosted at MSU


“To Teach” is a core value of R.L. Deppmann. Here is a photo of consulting engineering attendees at one of the many “Hydronic Conferences” held in Lansing at MSU. Do you see anyone you know?

B&G Pullum, Gossett, Moore

In the late 1950s the Bell and Gossett bus brought visitors to the plant. Standing left to right is Clarence Pullium, Chief Engineer at B&G, E.J. Gossett, Founder, and Ed Moore, President of B&G.

Gil Carlson

No historical blog about R.L. Deppmann would be complete without mentioning Gil Carlson, who wrote the engineering design manuals. I remember Gil when I started going to the Little Red Schoolhouse in 1975. At every class I attended there was one evening when he kept us from going down to Rush street. Instead, he would take a group of us to his room with a case of beer and a flipchart. He then began challenging us with various hydronic problems and scenarios, asking questions over and over like Socrates while he chain smoked.

Margossian, Olson, W, Sturgeon 1964

Here is the Detroit office in the mid 1960s. Here is the sales management team at Deppmann. From front to back: Zig Margossian, engineering sales, Bill Olson, customer service sales, Mac Wallace, wholesaler & service sales, Andy Sturgeon, estimator and contractor sales.

Have a safe 4th and next week we return to our pump series and discuss mechanical seals.

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