10 | The Fisher Story
1930s
1925 Employees receive life insurance benefits.
50th anniversary.
1928 Fisher Governor
Company acquires the Apex
Regulator Company of
Decatur, Illinois.
Wizard ® I controller is
introduced.
Service regulators and LP-gas
regulators are introduced.
1930 Lyle W. Browne succeeds Jasper Fisher as
president for a short time; Jasper returns in 1932.
Product line includes pump
governors, pressure regulators,
relief valves, traps, drainers,
strainers, float valves, lever
valves, liquid level controllers,
vacuum regulators, power plant
specialties, oil industry
specialties, auxiliary actuated
pressure controllers, and gas
industry specialties!
Sales representatives are established in
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Birmingham, Alabama;
Atlanta, Georgia; and Detroit, Michigan.
Raymond A. Engel (who later has a Fisher building
named after him) joins the research group.
Drawing of the Fisher
Type 36 vacuum fluid
extractor, 1928
$160,000 is
spent to set
up and
conduct
valve body
capacity
tests in the
research
department.
Alignment
capacity
charts
produced.
Sports Enthusiasts
I
n 1924, Fisher-Marshalltown
organized and sponsored its
own bowling and softball
leagues. The Fisher softball team
(pictured on page 9), led by
pitcher Ray Wildman, won three
consecutive championships and
a winner’s cup. (Fisher didn’t win
the softball tournament again
until 1945.)
Employees’ interest in
athletic pursuits and friendly
competition grew to include
ping pong (1938), basketball
(1940), volleyball, golf (1941),
cribbage (1943), archery (1944)
and a gun club (1960).
1941 was a busy year for
Fisher athletes. The bowlers
won some money in the
Iowa State Bowling Tournament.
The Red Raiders basketball
team won a tournament
sponsored by the local YMCA,
defeating Lennox in the finals.
And 75 employees signed up
to play in the first table
tennis tournament.
League participation
dwindled through the war years,
but during football season,
various Fisher groups held
forecasting contests and offered
tickets to college games as
prizes for the winners.
Fisher women also got
involved, organizing the first
Women’s Bowling League
(1943) and teams to compete in
the Industrial Girls baseball and
basketball (1944) leagues.