I came across this photo of my Grandpa Starr today.
The photo depicts Grandpa (on the left hand side) standing in front of a machine two stories high in 1971. Dad told me it was a powdered metal press for stamping parts for the various machines they built at Caterpillar Tractor Company. Grandpa (Ken E Starr) helped design this machine and many others. Previously they had poured molten metal from a foundry into molds to make parts. With this machine they could stamp directly into the metal and then once a chemical was sprayed on it became strong as steel. Every piece on every machine they made was made in the Peoria area. Dad said this picture was taken at the old foundry building. They turned it into a space to design machines. Grandpa worked in the Forging and Forming Design section of the Caterpillar East Peoria Factory as what would now be called a mechanical design engineer. He didn’t attend university; he learned on the job, starting at Caterpillar as an apprentice machinist just like my Dad. He retired after working for Caterpillar for 45 years from 1936 to 1981. The photos below are from his retirement party. The last photo is a collection of things the machines he designed over the years created.
