Records of the Blackhawk Foundry and Machine Company; The

Collection Guide

This document describes a Manuscript Collection held by the

Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
e-mail: lib-spec@uiowa.edu

Guide Contents

Administrative Information

Agency Note

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Related Materials

Acquisition and Processing Information

Box Contents List

Administrative Information

Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research.

Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department.Copyright: Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials"

Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement.

Agency Note

The Blackhawk Foundry and Machine Company was founded in 1920 as a division of Voss Manufacturing Company that produced and sold appliances. During WWII the foundry was a supplier for the United States Navy and Air Force. These records are from the years when the Blackhawk Foundry was owned by Walter K. Voss. Ben Butterworth became the owner and President in 1954 and, after his death in 1968, the foundry was purchased by Jim R. Grafton Sr. In 1990 Jim Grafton Jr. became president and in 1998, the owner.

A. Neville, September 2005

Scope and Contents

Photographs: Folder 5

Related Materials

Black Hawk Foundry web page

Acquisition and Processing Information

These papers were collected for the University of Iowa Libraries by George Sheets in the late 1950s.

Guide posted to Internet: October 2005

Box Contents List

Blueprints. Comparisons of quarterly average actual costs for 1947 with handwritten notes. Four items

Costs and overhead reports, January 1, 1945 -- December 31, 1951. Eight items

Letter to Life Magazine, June 17, 1952, from Walter Voss

Pamphlets and promotional materials. Five items

Photographs. Many of these were used in promotional materials

Exterior

Blackhawk Foundry and Machine Company, panoramic, undated

No description, undated

Interior

Pouring aluminum into molds, undated

Core room and four core blowers, undated

Four photos in a series, one core blower working, undated

Core maker working (Paul Templin), undated

Wide view, employees working, undated

Wide view, gray iron molds and pouring, undated

Wood and plate pattern facilities, with employees Clarence Rice, Loyd Reed, William Buese, Paul Johnson, Al Ericksen, and Al Lootens, undated

Large mold, with employees Roy Carpenter and Watkins, undated

Cutting machine, employee Joe Beuneur, undated

Cleaning castings, employee Claude Means, undated

Employee cleaning and finishing castings, January 1948

Laboratory, January 1948

Core baking ovens with employee, January 1948

Lowering castings into the Linberg heat treat furnace, with employee, undated

Tensile strength testing machine, January 1948

X-ray testing machine, undated

Employee sandblasting casts, undated

Overhead sand hoppers (?), with employee, undated

Dumping of waste off casts, with employee, undated

Wide view of machines, undated

Wide view of aluminum foundry, undated

Closeup of core ready for the ovens, undated

Large casting machine, with employees John McCartney, Jim Watkins, Ray Hemingsen, and Ray Bang, undated

Core maker, Paul Templin, undated

Final check, Al Ericksen, undated.

Casts and molds

Nineteen items, undated

Speech and miscellaneous