b'THEMEASUREOF AN INDUSTRY when JimMccawleyenteredThese brave pioneers were: Sellersmodernisticcurves and shapes in the roofing business, the con & Marquis Roofing Co., J.L. Gray,vogue today. tractors lifewascomparativelyMgr.; Missouri-Kansas Rfg. Co., A.Modernization didnot get a real simple. The country hadbegunW.Lewis, Mfg.;Western Rfg.Co.,start untilthemiddle \'40\'s when just to overcome the depressing as M.Savage,Pres.; Central Roofingpitchpumpsand felt layers were pects of World War I and businessCompany,SidK.Van Trump; D.putonthemarket.Theearly trendswereontheuprise.TheW.MarquisRoofingCo.,A.L.kettles were heated with coal and principaltypesof roofing wereLeonardandJ .J.ShirkRoofingwood until George Kittel invented wood shingles, slate, tile and built Co., F.W. Freeman, President.the Kittel Kettle, which was kerouproofing.Theuse of slate, tile,Early Inventions In Industrysene fired.This immediately took andwoodwasdecreasingandthe fancy of roofingand contractors asphaltshinglesrising rapidly.ITWASIN1915thatasphaltayearafter it was introduced, Built-up roofing was standard thenshinglesfirstbecame accepted in1800werebeingused.Aeroil asnow,butareasofeachrooftheirownrightratherthan as abought out George Kittel\'s interest were smaller.substituteforwoodshingles,atin this invention and changed the Atthattime,evidentlybetterthat time the most popular roofingnametothe"AeroilKerosene workmanship was in order than itmaterial.Of the asphalt shingles,Fired Kettle". istoday,asanoldAmericanthe Reynolds shingle, produced by Rooferarticletestifies,"A cutGeorgeReynolds,whopioneeredAssociation History through the roof at any point andwith the first shingle in 1903, wasMEMBERSHIPINAssociations youwillfindsixlayersof pitchthe most in demand.inearly days was small, but all and five of felt. It was not possibleManycontractorsthinkthatthe to find any spot on the roof whichsteelsidingisamoderninnova memberswerequiteactive.The did not have its full quota of pitchtion, but it was advertised as earlyMaster GravelandSlate Roofers and felt.as1915,andwasinstalledwithof America, was founded in 1882, Itwasatthistime,thatthean imitation rock or brick pattern and latermergedwiththe AssoHency C.Smither Roofing & SheetedThe advantages ofTerneciated Roofers of America to form facing.the United RoofingContractors MetalCo.,Indianapolis,Ind.re Plates andsheetmetalwaswellAssociation which later became ceivedaletter fromacustomerknown asamaterial forroofing.NRCA. thattheirpredecessors,Sims&It wasin1915that F.C.Over NERSICA,thenknownasthe Smither,hadserviced42yearsbury,vice-presidentoftheFlint NortheasternRe-roofingandRebefore.The roof,according to thekoteCompany,inventedandsiding Contractors Association, customer,hadneverleaked,norpatentedthefirststripshingle.wasformedin1935withJames was patched, painted,repaired.Thisconsistedof4or 5shingles norMccawleyasthefirstexecutive "Wewantanotherroof installedin one continuous sheet, which hasSecretary. NERSICA believed that justthis one", they said.been cut into varying shapes and likethere was need for amagazine to patterns.The larger size had thereflect, in particular, the re-roofing Early Industry Problemsadvantage of saving time and nailsandre-sidingcrafts.The associaONEOFTHEmajorproblemsas well as labor,as only 90 stripstion advertised for an independent confronting theindustry in thewere required to the square ratherpublisher who would investown than the 424 single shingles.his early 20\'sandjustpriorto thatcapital in starting an official publitime,werethenew ordinancesMechanization & New Materialscation. beingpassedbycityaftercity,Sylvan Hoffman,President of requiringtheinstallationoffireCONTRACTORSIN the \'20\'sHoffmanPublications,NewYork retardantroofs.Agreatdealofhadneverheard of felt layers,City,wasselectedandthenew researchwasbeingdonetofindpitch pumps,conveyors,roofmagazine, MODERN ROOFING fireretardantstouse on woodscrapers,expansionjoints,spraywas born with James McCawley as shingles.It wasdiscovered then,coatings,vapor barriers, rollerthe firsteditorin1935.Unfortuthat the casein in skim milk did anmops nor any ofcurrent plasticnately,atthistimeaproblem the excellent though shortjob.roof systems now in use using neo came up, as the publication known termed Guaranteesthen,toowereaprene, hypalon, vinyls, polyesters,asAmericanRoofer,theofficial problem.Architects and ownersetc.Theyhadneverheard of in magazineofUnitedRoofing Conwere asking forroofing guaranteesulationssuchasstyrofoamnortractorsAssociation (now NRCA) but periods that were unreasonableUrethane,instead used regularlost itseditor,Eugene Pope, who and unwarranted.Seven compan roofing felts for this purpose.was also secretary ofAssociathe iesdecidedtofightandsentaBuilt-uproofsweresmallwithtion.Theobviousanswerwas to lettertotheCompositionandnone of the expansion and contrac combine the two publications Waterproofers Employers Asso tion problemsencountered now inthrough asale of American Roofer ciation advising that they "willthe acre-sizedroofs.Roof shapestoHoffmanPublicationsandthe give a three year guarantee only".werestandardizedwithoutthe(continued on page 18) 16APRIL,1969'