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In loving memory of my father, Horace C. Knerr
devoted husband and parent. His many major achievements have contributed greatly to the world. He was born November 16, 1888 and died March 3, 1974 at age 85. He is revered and missed by his family and many others who benefitted from his unique talents and brilliant creative efforts.
The son of Calvin B. Knerr, a homeopathic physician and Melitta Hering, daughter of Constantine Hering, the founder of Homeopathy in America and of Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia, he grew up in Primos, in Delaware County, PA. He received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. At that time there was no course in Metallurgical Engineering and he would later be a pioneer in this new science.
After graduation he worked at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in League Island. In 1923 he was married to Jean Harmer Reid, a beautiful schoolteacher who was later the mother of their four children - Conrad, born 1925, Rosanne, 1928, myself, 1931 and Barry, 1932.
In 1928 he founded the Metlab Company (Metallurgical Laboratories, Inc.) to manufacture aircraft components. He created an in-house heat treating capability for these parts and this soon became the main purpose of the company. The following year the stock market crashed and the great Depression began, but Metlab survived due to the perseverance, energy and intelligence of my father.
In the ensuing years he invented and patented the first "drop-bottom" furnace to allow long, slender tubes and weldments to be hung vertically in the furnace to minimize distortion. After thermal processing, the design allowed parts to be lowered directly into a quench tank under the furnace in a matter of seconds, preventing the tubes and light sections from cooling off during transfer from the furnace to the quench tank.
This furnace design revolutionized the heat treating of aluminum parts as well as aircraft landing gear and helicopter rotor parts - providing minimum distortion and rapid cooling. Previously long thin parts were heated horizontally on fire bricks and rolled into horizontal quench tanks resulting in much distortion and irregular quenching. In later years this ‘vertical furnace’ was also used to heat treat titanium struts for America’s Cup contenders.
In 1964 he was the recipient of the ASM William Hunt Eisenman Award. Established in 1960 it recognizes unusual achievements in industry in the practical application of materials science and engineering through production or engineering use. ASM International is the society for materials engineers and scientists, a worldwide network dedicated to advancing industry, technology, and applications of metals and materials.
He served as President of MTI, the Metal Treating Institute for two consecutive terms, 1943-45, during WWII. His son Conrad H. Knerr, then President of Metlab, was President of MTI in 1970-71.
In _______, my father founded the Temple University Night School Program in Metallurgy, Philadelphia, PA and taught there for many years.
My father also had a lighter, fun-loving side. He was an excellent story teller, punster and writer of humorous verse. His brother Harold H. Knerr's comic strip, The Katzenjammer Kids, shows the humor endemic to their family. Here are just a few examples of my father's occasional poems:
A very nice girl is H. Ella
She really is quite a good fella
She pretends she's a lamb
But she ain't by a damn
And at tart repartee she's a hella!
circa 1920, Vinal Haven, Maine
The Bride and Groom
Not yet but soon
Are full of tender glances
But they resemble Mutt and Jeff
When both have on their pantses
1922, Vinal Haven - when his fiancee wore knickers
Our number one grandaughter Andrea
At numerous talents grows handier
Now a charming fifteen
It is easily seen
No relation could ever be dandier!
January 31, 1968 - Andrea Knerr's birthday
My father loved swimming and created a free-form concrete pool and bathhouse in a corner of Metlab's recreation field when an additional fire reservoir was needed. This was a great favorite with employees, friends and family. Many happy memories were created there.
He had thirteen grandchildren and serendipitously, they were all beautiful women. At last count there were fourteen great-grandchildren - 5 girls and 9 boys.
Here's a poem I wrote for my father on November 16, 1988, the centennial of his birth.
Owed to Horace
I see a man on guard
Barricaded in a far station
Desiring but fearing discovery
Revelation.What is your secret
The desperate gleam
That felled your wrought
Heart and stilled your spleen.I can never hold
Your sadness and the bright heat
That floods the plain
Burns in my childhood
And lifts a loving painThough you live a hundred years
In nineteen eighty eight
Do you yet rest
In your old torn stateHas peace come
To ease your brilliant mind
Have you found repose
To breach the old confinesThe ego trammeled sphere
Of mirrored, layered walls
Stepping on air
He fallsFree
Into a world above
And I can only speed him
With my love
© ted knerr 1988
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