24 | The Fisher Story
1951 First mobile exhibit used in the U.S.
Addition to southwest corner of the Marshalltown
factory (building 13) and new boiler plant
(building 14) are completed.
Trained nurses are assigned to the Marshalltown first
aid room on all three shifts.
New equipment added to the Marshalltown research
lab includes an oscillator for vibration testing,
a recording oscillograph for measurement of stress
and a leak detector.
Left to right Bob Kothenbeutel,
LaVern Eckhart, Gilbert Brown,
John Westlund and Roy Petermeier
Research lab, 1951
Mobile Exhibits
O
ver 40 years and one million
miles, mobile exhibits
carried Fisher products across
the U.S. and Canada and gave
new meaning to the concepts of
traveling salesman and road
show. John Rundall managed the
program from 1968 to 1995,
and representatives booked the
vans for weeks at a time.
The first unit was a converted
milk truck (1950s). The weight
of its load limited speed to 35
miles per hour. The cut-away
products inside, however, could
be removed and carried into
offices, hotel suites or
tradeshows—wherever a
salesman might make his pitch.
The second-generation truck
(early 1960s) featured hydraulic
side panels that could be raised
to reveal the display units inside.
Mobile exhibit #3 (1972) was
a 28-foot, custom-built trailer
that visitors could walk through.
Besides valves and regulators, it
included a large rack of ac 2
instrumentation and a cabinet
full of product literature to
distribute. The Fisher logo was
painted on the roof so that
visitors in tall office buildings
could identify the vehicle.