"Item taken for granted is Ball family business" from the February 4, 1975 Door County Advocate
By HENRY SHEA
'Chick' Ball measures up. —Henry Shea
Item taken for granted is Ball family business
By HENRY SHEA
There is little historical information available to show just when the first wooden ruler came into existence but according to legend the first use of what we term "a foot" came during the reign of Charlemagne, Emperor of the Franks, 768-814 A.D.
That relatively enlightened monarch promulgated measures to establish a standard unit of length. Since his kingdom extended over what we now know as Germany, France, middle Europe and the fringe of Italy, his edicts had widespread force.
It is supposed that the actual unit chosen as a foot was the actual length of the Emperor's foot, unadorned by battle dress. This proves only that Charlemagne was a very large man. Why the foot was divided into 12 divisions or inches probably stems, say historians, from the idea behind the Gregorian calendar which divided the year into 12 periods.
Whatever the truth of this thought, the fact remains that the ruler is indispensable to industry, education and the home. It is a device which survived the change from hand production of standardized mass production which began in England about 1850 and eventually found its most notable success in the United States.
At the heart of that change were designers and draftsmen and for each separate industry some form of ruler or scale had to be created to maintain accuracy of design and production. To put the importance of the ruler in perspective, try to imagine the result if overnight every ruler now used in every drafting and architectural office disappeared. One result, besides the chaos that would ensue, would be the doubling and tripling of work schedules at Woodrow Engineering, Ellison Bay.
Woodrow Engineering is a family concern owned by the Charles Balls of Ephraim. It is the only remaining manufacturer of advertising rulers of a professional type. This means that the scales found on the ruler, whether used in home or marine design, printing, or an art studio will be as accurate as the equivalent ruler purchased from a manufacturer or supplier of drafting equipment.
And it is the reason that every step of manufacture must be controlled, from the original blank cut from a six foot billet of birch or maple to the final careful de-burring or removal of any annoying wood splinters. Twenty-four steps make up the process from raw wood to finished product and the result is a smoothly finished and attractive ruler available in a variety of sizes and styles. Sold through a network of advertising specialty distributors, most become gifts from banks, construction companies and other manufacturers to selected personnel in engineering, design and purchasing departments.
Rulers aren't just rulers. The Woodrow catalog classifies them as architectural, engineering, graphic arts, office, metric and write-in plus the director's ruler. The write-in type has special interest since it provides a blank scale on which the user may set up his own system, it is adaptable to bookkeeping, use on maps and charts where the scales may vary from one locality to another. The director's ruler is a prestige item of deep toned cherry wood with polished brass scales.
Architectural rulers are the largest volume product and come in a choice of white, aluminum and stainless steel scales. An increasing number of orders are for rulers which have a metric scale. A part of this demand comes from the growing interchange of design ideas between America and foreign manufacturers in which specifications are expressed in the metric system. Typical might be the blueprints of a new yacht design from a Swedish designer to be built by a Sturgeon Bay yard.
The sparkplug of Woodrow Engineering is obviously Charles Ball who, with his wife Ardeth as bookkeeper, son Michael and one employee not of the family, make up the work force. Charles, better known around Ephraim as "Chick," moved the business to Ellison Bay in August, 1972, after 11 years of operation at several locations in Chicago. The company itself was founded in 1946 and the Balls are the first to make it into an enterprise which has made a unique position for itself and has been profitable in its field. "Chick" Ball has been trained as both aeronautical and mechanical engineer but it is his practical and enthusiastic application of the training that enables the company to produce at moderate cost. Most of the equipotent in use is of his design, adapted from standard wood working machinery.
Efficiency, in operation, even of a small plant, requires that equipment be put to as many uses as possible. So, rulers are not the only product. The majority of foot measuring devices used by shoe stores are also a Woodrow product, the Ritz Shoe Stick. These are assembled swiftly at Ellison Bay and combine quality finish and medium cost to buyers. An adaptation of this device is a recent new product termed a "Body Caliper". It was found that patients recovering from serious body burns had the healing areas severely irritated by the wearing of normal clothing. To alleviate this, clothing supports are designed to keep the fabric from rubbing. The "Body Caliper" solved the problem of deciding on the correctly sized and shaped support.
Much of the raw material going into rulers and other devices must be shipped to Ellison Bay, hardwoods from Ohio, pre-printed or etched scales from East coast sources. But wherever possible local services are used such as reproduction proofs from the Door Reminder. Sources of good quality birch or maple within the county are being investigated and a sideline of planter boxes and decorative garden accessories from local white cedar has been developed.
One of the satisfactions for the Balls is the occupation of a factory building which has long been associated with the storage of apples, so much so that at times the odor of long gone Cortlands seeps from the walls to override even the tang of fresh shavings and the sharp bite of the clear enamels used to impart the soft glow on Woodrow professional rulers — for advertisers only.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
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