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Show Scene '76 CLASSIFIEDS FEATURES PAUL HARVEY WEEKS TV GUIDE -- -- THURSDAY, JAN. 29, 1976 -- -- SJPPLEMENT TO THE NEWS EXAMINER, PRESTON CITIZEN. CACHE CITIZEN. GRACE CITIZEN AND THE LEADER GARLAND TIMES A i PARTIALLY FINISHED helmets, some waiting liners, others wilting straps and buckles, are nearing the end of the production line at the Abaddon fv some PrucU company which mobile helmets last year in Montpelier 71,000 motorcycle and snow-- RACKSOInnnlrted helmet shells line the wall in the helmet factory after they have been , BUT WHY IN MONTPELIER Meade Lest Ye or Were Helmets 70,000 helmet tool manufacturing operation and a distribution company. In Montpelier the ' firm employes some 40 people and has nine salesmen throughout the United States distributing the products. . Four years ago the company bought an old furniture store in Montpelier, right in the heart of the business district. A new front was started on the building, taking out the windows, and putting in solid doors. It would appear to be a lawyer's office. However, in the back, almost every space in the old building was used to install manufacturing equipment; An adjoining building was even used for part of the operation. Vi 5 JUDY WOOLSTENHULME poors the final coat of resin over the helmet shells before they are lined and finished. The final coat is typical to the helmets produced in Montpelier. . Why does an industry cate where it does? While many reasons may be given, sometimes it is just because someone sees a place, likes it, and puts the industry there. Such is the case with Abaddon Products Company of Montpelier which manufacturers snowmobile and lo- motorcycle helmets and manufactures a lot of them. This year the company will manufacture some 70,000 A CREW on the second floor of the old furniture store that houses the helmet factory laminate fiber glass in the holds to former the outer shell of the helmeL ACCORDING TO Gary Brooks, manager of the manufacturing end, a better arrangement would have been to have a long narrow building so that all of the work could be made in line, but the arrangement of the furniture store had to do. "When we started we were producing 40,000 helmets a year and the arrangement wasnt too bad, however, with 70.000 units coming out of the plant, it is hoped that some day a new building can be constructed, he added. The company at the present time manufactures all the parts of the helmet, except the raw materials, the expanded polystyrene liners that are used, and such items as the snaps and buckles. ' WITH THE helmet tool or mold operating, the local group makes even the molds helmets which will be shipthat are used to form the ped all over the United helmets. The tools or molds are States and overseas. The type company is turning out some made in a lean-t- o 300 helmets a week which building in the back of the are decorated strictly to an main building. The fibertaste probably glass material is cut in the individual the only company in the basement, the try Ion foam United States to do this. material for the lining is cut on the main floor and is IN ADDITION, associated sewed on what used to be the with Abaddon Products is a mezzanine. The helmets are formed on the second floor, and final resin coats are sprayed in the adjoining building, and the backroom warehouse area of the old furniture store is the shipping room. The helmets are now sold in two grades and spld under the company's own label or under private label by snowmobile or motorcycle companies. HELMET TESTING to the government specifications is now being done in Texas, Florida and California, but the company is installing its own testing room which, according to. one of the foremen, will insure the helmets exceed the government's specifications. meet The president of Abaddon Products company is Richard Lash, who used to live; in Phoenix, Ariz. He liked Montpelier and wanted to get out of the Phoenix area and encouraged to move here by the Jehovah's Witnesses, of which he is one, so he set up his firm in Montpelier. Besides, he likes the rural area. formed on the plastic, it is knocked out, and the inside is buffed to a high sheen. The inside is then electrostatically coated with chrome to give it hardness and the polish that is needed to form the fiberglass outer cover of the helmet. used for other products. Brooks said the University of Utah has inquired of the company to make special valves for the school hy the electroforming methods, but as yet they have not dont it. The fiberglass work could be adapted to other projects, such as bathtubs, but that is just something to talk about. The company is producing helmets, in quality and quantity, and it is all being done from an old furniture store in Montpelier, Idaho, a most unlikely spot for such a production facility. T1IE TOOU are then lined with a thin coat of resin and color, baked and then lined again with several layers of fiberglass and resin and then baked again. The shell of the helmet is knocked out of the mold, it is sanded, and then taken to the paint room for final color and special design. Here the custom work is also done as far as special designs according to the customer's wishes. There are artists on the staff who will .also paint scenes, like a Courier and Ives scene or a cartoon on the helmets before the final coat of resin is applied. was AT THE present time, Abaddon is the only helmet manufacturing plant in the United States that has its own source for tools or molds for the helmet. And the tool manufacturing unit is the only one in the United States that is reworking the tools or molds when they are damaged. It took the company three years and a great deal of money and patience to perfect this process. This saves about half the cost of a new tool, according to Lloyd Shaner, who is in charge of the tool making operation. The molds, or tools, are made by electroforming nickel to a plactis or fiberglass form. After the mold is AFTER THE fiberglass shells have been sanded, painted, decorated, and given their final coat of resin, then the expanded polystyrene liner with its trylon covering is placed inside the shell. The ear pieces of foam and trylon are added, a vinyl bead is placed around the edge of the helmet and then the straps and snaps are installed and the helmet is ready to be shipped to a snowmobile user of a motorcycle rider. According to Gary Brooks, there are two definite seasons for the plant, the snowmobile season and the motorcycle season. There is about a months lag between each. THE COMPANY has limited its production to helmets, though the processes they have developed and the methods they use could be RICARDO OROSEO buffs the inside of one of the helmet tools. 1 i v-- j ' ri III i '4 xprrial designs on two helmets in the paint room are Alan Perkins and Mary Lnu Chadwell. MASKING OUT it RAMON Kl'NZ places the visor on the it Is wrapped and packed for shipping. helmet just before Lloyd Shaner, who has charge of the tool or mold cleaning solvent after It has been chromed. manufacturing plant lifts a tool out of |