The Early Days
Walter Lee Kauffman 2nd was born in 1895 in Tacoma Washington to Percival Coover Kauffman and Katharine Barton Kauffman. He was the second child, his brother Percival Barton Kauffman was born in 1891 in Vancouver WA. They lived at 402 N I Street.
The boys were close, playing and enjoying a loving family.
His father, Percy, had migrated to Washington State in the late 1870s along with his cousin, Ralph Kauffman. After establishing himself in the banking industry, he had returned to marry his wife, Katharine, whom he had met many years ago in Hazelton, PA. Percy had been raised in Mechanicsburg, the son of Levi Kauffman and had two siblings, Walter Lee Kauffman and Edith Belle Kauffman.
Ralph Kauffman was the son of Isaac Backman Kauffman, a son of Isaac Baer Kauffman along with Andrew Isaac Kauffman, who was the father of Levi Kauffman and grandfather of Percy. Ralph married Lydia Stehman and they had two daughters, Charlotte and Dorothy. The girls were about the same age as the boys and they became great companions.
The Pig Book
Family from the East came to Washington to visit and often to set up their homes. Sybil Kauffman, Ralph’s widowed mother came to live here. Similarly, Anne Elizabeth, Percy’s mother and Edith Bell, Percy’s sister came to visit. It was popular in the family to have guests draw pigs into the Pig Book. However, they had to be blindfolded first.
You should read the blog on the Pig Book.
In 1909 thru 1912, he went to DeKoven Hall, a military school in Lakewood, outside of Tacoma. He was a good student, an athlete and captain of his tennis team.
He loved to show off his straight As.
He later went to Tacoma High School where he graduated in 1913.
He loves to play tennis. He was the captain of his tennis team.
State Champions 1913
In a letter to his future wife in 1934, he sums up his “Principal Claim to distinction. my father unusual combination of a national authority on banking and bring old school scholar and gentlemen in that. Principal claim to anything else, my mother, who had the human touch and breadth of understanding I would like to emulate.”
There is more to this story than we know. Bart, five years older than Walter, goes off to college at the University of Pennsylvania and get’s his BS in 1911 and is working as an investment banker in Tacoma.
Walter graduates from Tacoma High School.
Shortly after he leaves, his father sends him this letter.
PCK starts with a verse from The Proverbs and goes on to say WLK is leaving the protection of the nest and taking on the responsibility of real life.
He says that WLK is strong, resourceful, and resolute and a future leader among men but sometimes you allow yourself to be influenced or led by others, not be means of weakness of your own character but rather the reason of its strength. You feel so strongly confident of yourself that it seems weakness to refuse; this Walter is where time or ability and force of character asserts itself. It is infinitely more manly to be able to say “no”: and stick to it rather to yield on account of fear of jeering remarks. Remember Walter you are now laying the foundation of your character as well as the foundation of an education that is to give you a place high or low in the business world.
He says Character is just as important as Education. He says he and his wife will make every sacrifice for WLK and only hope WLK will use his time and opportunity wisely to be a credit to himself and the world.
He says that they have confidence in him and hope that confidence will not be misplaced. His mother loves him deeply and would be deeply grieved if he goes astray. and if he ever has any doubt about a decision, just ask himself would his Mother approve.
He apologies for not being able to attend the smoker but that Bart, (his older brother) will represent the family. He says even though they are only 30 miles from one another, they will not be able to talk over decisions easily. He has every confidence in WLK and he will pray with ceasing that you will be guided alright. He says they and WLK are best friends and if any trouble comes up, please confide in us. Keep this letter and read it occasionally and know it comes from the heart.
His father dies five months later.
Walter starts at the University of Washington in September 1913. His college records are not straight As. He dropped out multiple times as he struggled with the loss of his father and (to quote him) stick-to-it-inness, (a shortcoming that he mentioned as one of my “flaws” more than once).
He has a great time in college playing tennis, partying and sometimes studying.
In and out of college, Walter works various jobs related to engineering.
The US declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. His draft registration is dated June 5, 1917. He lists his occupation as a mechanical engineer.
Judd Fulkner was his closest friend at U of W. They are both listed in the WA Coast Artillery. Uncle Bart is listed in the Quartermasters. Then his reserve unit was mobilized. He is shown as joining on Oct 22, 1917. They nationalized the Guard. Four days later, he is assigned to 3rd Company of the 69th Coast Artillery at Fort Harrison, MT.
On December 11, 1917, he is arrested for being AWOL. He spends 30 days in the pooky. Fortunately, the army records were all burned in the 1930s so we will never know the details however he said he learned his lesson.
He finishes his basic training. He later is offered an opportunity to be commissioned as a Lieutenant presumably thru OCS.
He is shown as a 1st Lt in the Official List of Officers in the Reserve Corp dated 1919.
WLK Ariel Surveyor
On September 19, 1918, at Fort Howard, MD he passes his physical to go overseas. He was sent to France on the SS Rochambeau October 21, 1918. The Coast Artillery did not see major action. He says “some action, much discomfort, no real danger”. Fortunately, the war was over on 11 Nov 1918 He returned in early 1919 to Tacoma. He was discharged from the Army on January 30, 1919. He exits thru Fort Monroe.
(Read the blog on The Oozlefinch, “borrowed” from the Officers Club)
WW1 is over. WLK2 has returned to Tacoma. Bart and his mother are in Minneapolis where Bart was stationed during the war. He says that up to this time, the family was always well financed. “If you wanted to do something you did it.” However, with the death of PCK and the war, the result was that the family money was gone.
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His uncle and namesake, Walter Lee Kauffman, has resided in Youngstown since 1891. See Walter Lee Kauffman blog. He worked for Youngstown Sheet & Tube heading up their finance department for 47 years. retiring in 1938 at the age of 76. His sister Edith Barton Kauffman joined him there in 1895. His father, Levi Kauffman died in 1882 at the age of 49. In 1911, his mother Anne Elizabeth Coover Kauffman moves to Youngstown. Anne Elizabeth Kauffman died in 1919. Edith died in 1933.
When Edith died, the Mill Creek Commissioners renamed the quarry garden the Edith Kauffman Quarry Garden. There was a tablet placed there in her honor. (I sent an inquiry to the commissioners to find out the status of the tablet.) Quarry Gardens
WLKs finances are interesting. Looking at papers from WLK, he sold his house to Edith in 1926. When Edith died she gave it to Katharine Kauffman. When they moved to Erie in 1930, she remained the owner of the house. Upon her death in 1937, she gave it to PBK and WLK. They then gave it back to WLK.
Additionally, in 1946, WLK says in a note to WLK2, that he appreciates the loan. He gives WLK2 his patent on the Combined Handle and Strap holder from 1932 hoping that WLK2 can glean some value from it. He also notes in his will that WLK2 loans are to be paid before other proceeds handed out. It is apparent that WLK2 and PBK help him in his final years.
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Walter, Bart and Kate move to Youngstown. They live there for 10 years. WLK first worked for Youngstown Sheet and Tube. WLK2s first invention was an Automobile Brake Control patented in 1922. Inventions may have been spurred on by the gift of the patent by his uncle. At any rate, he will go on to create over 100 patentable ideas over his career. See the blog on Walter Lee Kauffman Patents.
In the 1920 Ford, the emergency brake and clutch petal worked together, disengaging the drive when braking. Among other functions, the device insures that the clutch petal which is part of the gear box can only be reengaged into the lowest gear, preventing release into a higher gear which might impact the ability to stop safely.
Walter tries a variety of jobs over the next ten years. 1925 finds him as the first radio announcer for WKBN, a start up station in Youngstown. See the blog on this adventure.
He tells a story of traveling around the greater Youngstown area meeting and consulting with customers. His mother, Kate, would often travel with him to see the area. She would sit patiently in the car, knitting, until he was done. He speaks of himself, Bart and Kate as a clan, supporting one another thru this time.
Walter then engages in the manufacture of cast iron sinks. To improve their quality, he experimented with paints and used an enamel based paint successfully. Bonding enamel paint effectively to cast iron required cleaning, application, and baking to harden the finish. This led to an idea when he then painted his Franklin automobile. Dupont became interested in this process. He gave the rights to Dupont for a fee but turned down a job to head the southern Ohio region of Dupont saying he wanted to make a success of his sink business.
He later joined the Standard Sanitary Company in Pittsburgh. Standard Sanitary later merged with a radiator company and moved out of Pittsburgh.
He did a bit of consulting. The letter below from Stark Pump commends Walter on his abilities. They want him to join their organization.
Cars were always his first love. But selling sinks and working with pumps exposed him to clothes washing and drying. Somewhere along the line, he got into washing machines. At this time, the process of cleaning clothes was to wash them in a sink, ie the Cast Iron Sink, then to scrub them against a wash board, then squeeze the water from the clothes and dry them, usually by hanging them outdoors on a clothes line until they dried.
The earlier wringer was clamped onto a dual cast iron sink. Clothes were washed on one side of the sink and then lifted from the soapy water of the sink and run between the rollers which squeezed water from the clothes back into the sink as the clothes dropped into clean water in the second sink. The process was repeated, this time the clothes dropped into a clothes basket. These clothes then were hung on the clothes line to dry.
Lovell Manufacturing in Erie, PA had a device called the Pressure Cleanser. It provided an electric motor to power the rollers reducing much of the labor.
His first patent on the clothes washing process led to a job opportunity at Lovell Manufacturing Company in Erie, PA. He creates a Dryer which allows the water to escape from the clothes by spinning them and capturing and exhausting the water. He goes on to create an improved roller by bonding rubber to steel replacing wooden rollers.
His most profitable invention is the Instinctive Wringer. A problem with automation was that people could catch their body parts, fingers etc between the rollers. Turning off the power quickly and reversing the rollers was almost impossible. He created a safety bar across the face of the rollers. Hitting the bar would release the pressure on the rollers opening the wringer up so that the operator could extract the body part.
He goes on to get over 100 patents. (see the story on WLK Patents)
Walter is offered a job working for Lovell and moved to Erie in 1930, along with his brother, Uncle Bart and their mother, Kate. He takes a job with Lovell as Chief Engineer. They move to Erie and get a home on West 7th Street. Bart works for Erie County in the Welfare and Child Protection program a job he would continue in until his death in 1957. Kate keeps house but suffers from a fall and broken hip. She dies in 1937, shortly after Walter marries Elizabeth “Betty” Wright Somers. See the blog on her early life and their love letters leading to their marriage.
Next: Walter and Betty Kauffman – The Later Years (1930- 1981)