Show Nathaniel Bal Baldwin w n Inc Found to toBe toa Be Big Business ess With a Soul A big business with a a. soul An institution motivated by humanitarian rian nan motives rather than than than-by by selfish commercial aggrandizement nt One cannot spend a a lay day Inspecting Inspect Inspect- ing lag its plant or associating with its managing executives without lt gleaning these striking in impressions of ot Nathaniel l Baldwin Inc mc pioneer radio products manufacturers of ot the west est whoso factory a long row row of white brick buildings is situated near where Mill creek waters gush ush from lom the mountain ravine ra into Salt Lake Lalo valley l Probably roba ly Mr Baldwin himself and his kindly nature more than anything anything any any- thing else incites these conclusions in the writer For being the father of ot the industry in the tho west he Isa is isa isa a more moie modest re individual than one would expect to find There is is no bustle of ot sales talk no paintIng painting paint- paint Ing lag of glorious pictures of success by stacks of figures or dollars about him As a a. matter of fact he is ever over insistent in imploring for fur ex exactitude exactitude exactitude ex- ex and accuracy accuracy-a a characterIstic characteristic character character- Istle of his scientific training and experience DEEPLY SCIENTIFIC We Ve found this quiet unassuming Individual late one day last week just as he came from his research laboratory He Ie is a short frail man nian with ith bush bushy hair The first impression impression sion aba of him reminds one of an artist with a keen leen sense of beauty and delicate delicato hands but unlike persons of ot artistic temperament he is deeply deep deep- deeply ly factual and scientific You know I dont don't know what to tell toll you about the business he commented but I will do my best And it was only under frequent in interrogation interrogation in- in that he would talk of his own career and the achievements achievements achieve achieve- ments in the radio products world It must have hae been back about 1906 he related slowly when I first conceived the idea that a process process process proc proc- ess could be worked out whereby by means of a telephone and the sound one could speak or play music and be heard by large audiences in distant cities There were plenty of articles about inventions inventions inventions of this kind in the papers at this time but no one had perfected a successful apparatus At that time Mr Baldwin had forsaken the academic career as professor at the Brigham Young university and had sought employment employment employ employ- ment meat at the Mountain Lake mine maine in Snake Creek reek a beautiful can canyon on which extends from the Brighton divide to the Hot Pots and which In late summer Is a riot of color With such beauty for surroundings it Is a wonder Mr 11 Baldwin did not turn artist instead of Inventor But he continued I l kept ept experimenting experimenting experimenting ex ex- ex- ex in my spare time when I was not tending the air compressor compres compres- sor in the mine First I attempted a engine and then abandoned abandoned abandoned aban aban- it Then I tried to demonstrate demon demon- strate strato the possibilities of ot the acoustic acoustic tic tie valve valve About two years were spent on this compressed air all sound amplifier and two patents on it were taken out It reproduced speech and phonograph music with such Intensity that It could b be heard all ll over the canyon canon but It was i never put on the market and likely never wilt will beIt beIt beIt be It was then that I tried the or ordinary or- or canary linary telephone receiver but it would not operate successfully and other forms of or telephonic tele devices were tried I It was only when the balanced armature with four points of the magnetic action was tried that the amplifier would work This This' was va the be beginning Inning of the industry It was about this time the wireless headphones were coming into use and the watch case form of receiver receiver er erVas was Vas required so I abandoned the amplifier and concentrated upon the receiver It was about this time that the Knight mine closed down and Mr Baldwin obtained employment in inthe inthe n the Upper Mill 1 creek plant He continued his investigations with the r receiver er perfecting it so 80 that wireless wi-eless messages could be taken by long and short voice cycles over the the- earphones instead of by dots and dashes on telegraph keys PersIstence Persistence Persistence Per Per- in writing finally won the Inventor the award and in 1913 after after after af af- af- af ter a pair of the wooden shell earphones ear earphones earphones ear ear- phones had ha been sent to the Smithsonian Smithsonian Smithsonian Smith Smith- Institute the United States navy pavy ordered four sets at 15 a pair The army and navy were tryIng trying trying try try- ing several of ot the new inventions but so successful were the Baldwin sets that soon afterwards orders came for first two sets of four then six sets and then 20 He lIe Ie hired an assistant at 50 cents an hour and worked at the orders rs all aU summer After that it was a question of filling the orders and by fall there verc that couldn't be filled Mr Baldwin said Then the war vai department I an check for fOl headset You YOtt can imagine my amazement A little shack was built just a 12 b by 20 Year by year yeal more order orders came than I could fill until 1921 when 7 75 men were employed Th Then n came the loud speaker craze The Tho radio has become becom established I I could have sold a million headsets headsets head head- sets at at 15 Ui a a. pair pall In 1922 Mr Baldwin said but at that I could only turn out at the factory to sets a n. day In 1923 1123 the long row lOW o of ot brick buildings were erected the horn adapted to the loud speaker speak speak- I er and the magnet increased We Ve still sUIl continued to make headsets at the beginning and did not stop until the summer of 1921 1924 Then Then came came the Lyric the type II H this an and H that until now nov we ve are concentrating on the cone shaped magnet speaker Front From this latest improvement in radio loud speakers the Baldwin company has th tho highest hopes for as great a success as it did in the sale of headsets Lorenzo Stohl who became manager manager man man- ager agea of the Institution July l I 1928 said that the tho tone range and volume volume vol vol- ume urne of the new speaker is unexCelled unexcelled unexcelled celled on the tho market He even ex explaIned explained ex- ex further that a new full line of ot cabinets will be placed on the market this Corning coming year An Inspection in inspection In- In of the plant revealed that since Mr 11 Stohl took c charge alge several Improvements had been ma made o in the coordination of the manufacturing processes which will undoubtedly lead to a more profitable year jear in 1928 than in the past ast few seasons And then Mr Mn Stohl tapped the subject which really showed how humanitarian Mr Baldwin is when he said most of the labor for the factory even the skilled men is ia obtained in Salt Lake Yes Mr Baldwin replied to hi his Interrogators Interrogator's s 's question I am more concerned over l keeping an au in industry In- In for the welfare of the community community com corn and and the happiness of its people than I am in making maJd a apr pr profit of it In that conclusion Mr 11 Baldwin struck a vital note for one Ono of ot the big factors factor s in Utah today is to open more industries enlarge the payrolls pay pay- payrolls rolls and keep the Utah men at home it is js up to o to make Utah by patronizing their own in In- In Two hundred men are arenow arenow arenow now employed but at a peak season season season sea sea- son men will be needed |