Masonry Magazine June 2004 Page. 38
MASON INVENTORS
"It took 10 years to create the Grout Hog," he says. "The reason it took so long was because I wasn't intending to invent anything. All I knew was that there had to be a better way to grout masonry walls. So I kept experimenting by building different types of buckets and trying them when we were grouting. I must have made at least 100 changes over the 10-year period before finishing the machine."
For all of the inventors we spoke to, necessity was definitely the mother of invention.
Tony Goudreau and Elio Stocchetti, masons for Local #2 N.Y. and inventors for E-Z Rod Enterprises of Scotia, N.Y., have introduced a new device that lines up control joints more accurately.
"We were doing a $16 million New York State Department of Transportation building in Schenectady, N.Y.," Goudreau says. "Maintaining our control joints was critical because of the way the windows were laid out. So we just wanted to come up with a fast and simple way where we didn't have to worry about masons hitting their marks. We could just set up these simple brackets that had the E-Z Rod incorporated with them. Then you just had to butt your brick to the steel rod. And it really worked out rather well.
"We decided to look into producing it when we heard from a few other masons on the job that they really enjoyed working with the E-Z Rod Control Joint System," he continues. "It just makes the job that much easier."
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One hurdle to overcome with new
inventions for the industry is that
masons are used to doing things the "old
fashioned" way.
The Safety Factor
MAKING THE JOB FASTER, easier and better aren't the only reasons for creating an invention.
Mark Stutler, Owner of R&S Wall Systems in Hurricane, W.Va., recently introduced his masonry invention, the Wal-Kap, to the market. This product makes the old way of putting plastic over the walls to keep the water out during construction a thing of the past.
"What happens is when you put that block on top of the wall to hold that plastic and you have that plastic draped over, the wind blows and it starts tugging," says Stutler. "It creates an umbrella effect and, before you know it, that block is being pulled off of the wall. We've had block fall off of the wall and almost hit people in the head."
Not with the Wal-Kap, though.
"One person can assemble the Wal-Kap and follow behind the block layers and protect the walls as work is still in progress," Stutler says.
Since most of these inventors are also masons and mason contractors, you have the added bonus of knowing that they wouldn't build a wall with anything less than the best.
"When we started selling our scaffolding to other contractors, we didn't change the specs one bit," Breithaupt states. "You see, when I made it for myself, I made it a lot tougher than my engineer said was necessary. That gives it great bang-around resistance. That's why we can give a lifetime warranty.
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36 Masonry
June 2004
www.masoncontractors.org
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