Carol Sanford came of age during the 1920s, inspired by his inventive father, during one of the most inventive periods in American history. He grew up in Canton, OH, then a center of steel and stamping industries. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati and an architectural school in France, he went into business prefabricating homes on Lake Erie, just outside of Cleveland. As he was unable to overcome building officials’ objections to his apparently modular type of construction, he loaded up a railcar with 5 of his units and shipped them to South Florida to ply his trade, perhaps unaware that concrete block construction was the rule there. When he realized that, he went to work in Dade County selling new homes for one of the largest builders, Julius Gaines, who was attacking the dire shortage of housing on a massive scale. To expedite construction, Gaines’ crews became adept at fabricating glued, plywood-gusseted trusses on site. However, when Sanford attempted to sell houses in the City of Miami, he was required to have trusses tested, which put him in contact with Cal Jureit’s testing lab.
It is unlikely that the trusses Gaines used in largely unregulated Dade County would pass the much heavier loading that Jureit had helped Miami code officials proscribe. On Miami’s typical 2.5/12 pitched roofs carrying concrete tiles, forces at critical joints could reach 5000 lbs. It is also unlikely that Sanford’s glued gusset connections would have successfully carried that kind of load without the aid of Jureit’s engineering guidance. Yet even though Sanford’s trusses passed muster and had the benefit of Jureit’s sway with city authorities, Miami’s building department would not allow glued connections. Apparently, representatives of the Timber Engineering Company (TECO), whose split-ring connector had cornered the Miami market, cast doubt on the longevity of glued connections in the hot and humid Miami climate.
The enterprising Sanford then sought the advice of another wood connector supplier, the H-Brace Company, who had also tested connectors in Jureit’s lab. At H-Brace, he saw drawings depicting light-gauge steel plates with both nail holes and triangular-shaped teeth. Seeing the potential of this approach, Sanford had samples made, built trusses using them, and successfully passed Miami’s test requirements. When he demonstrated the utility of his new Grip-Plate to Mr. Gaines, he received a commitment to supply Grip-Plates for 400 houses per month. With that order in hand, Sanford filed for a patent, and created Sanford Truss, Inc. in 1954. [For all images, See PDF or View in Full Issue.]
Purchasing an entry-level stamping press and opening a small shop on 7th street in Miami, Sanford quickly gained all of the Gaines’ business in what is now the Miami Gardens section of Dade County along with new housing he was building in the City of Miami. He then proceeded to convert the users of split-ring trusses in Miami. With that volume of local business, his small shop was overwhelmed with orders, enabling Sanford to sell his plates for an exorbitant price and also charge a royalty on each truss that was built with them, making money, in his words “hand-over-fist.” Gaines alone provided Sanford with $500,000 of plate business in 1954. The buzz in the building community over Sanford’s invention reached Cal Jureit, who had left the testing lab and joined a local wood truss manufacturer.
When Sanford’s invention was first recognized in the new products section of House & Home magazine in 1954, he received a flood of inquiries from across the nation. This prompted him to break ground on a large stamping plant and office north of Miami in Pompano Beach, and to move quickly to establish representation in the hottest housing markets in the country. He hired a salesman and dispatched him to Southern California to set up an office to answer the inquires he had received. He also established a presence in the Midwest, where he had previously tried to sell modular homes, since he was aware of the high concentration of prefab suppliers there who were large users of trusses.
By the time he exhibited at the 1957 NAHB Show in Chicago, Sanford was well on his way to becoming an international player, having established distributors in Australia and Europe. However, also exhibiting at the NAHB Show was Cal Jureit, selling his connector that required no nails. And back in South Florida, Ronel Corporation had begun selling its Barb-Grip plate, which also worked without nails. Both began their businesses with a superior product, and both brought strong engineering leadership to their plate businesses: Gang-Nail with Jureit himself and Ronel with Jerry Akdoruk, who would write the first formal training course for truss designers.
Through these early years, Sanford certainly had a head start on his two new competitors, but they would quickly gain footholds in his backyard. As Sanford ramped up his plate production and distribution, he also had to expand his engineering support, especially on the West Coast. And, as Sanford began moving into the colder and more unionized markets, he heard their call for specialized machinery to improve productivity. So, only four years into the life of a brand new industry, all three players would need to step up their expertise in stamping, engineering, and machinery development to succeed. And very soon, many more new entrants would test their mettle.
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