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By Hugh Sk innerDanville, 111., is beginning a new era in which it claims the title of “boatmaking capitol of the world following the opening of the new Traveler Boat Division of Stanray Corporation plant. Ground for the new plant was broken July 21, 1964 and it was under roof by Nov. 30 of that year. Saturday, July 24, with production in full swing an open house of conducted tours was held. Erected and equipped at a cost of $6,000,000, the huge sprawling plant has 370,000 square feet spreading over 8.5 acres under one roof.The plant employs about 500 persons and under a normal production schedule can turn out a boat nearly every two minutes. Traveler boats, both fiber glass and aluminum ranging in size from 12 feet up to 25 feet are produced.By comparison size with the ^ new loat plant, McCormick■ Place, Chicago, has 310,000■ square feet; San Francisco's■ Cow Palace 315,000 square feet; ^ and New York's Coliseum,301,000 square feet. For heating ” equipment the total gas input l» is 126,000,000 BTU’s per hour, il which would heat 2,500 average t- sized homes.,t Traveler Boat Division was# purchased in 1957 when it was known as Southwest Manufac-£ turing Company. This divisiongoes back to asmall firmstart-• ed in 1939 which pioneered many k improvements in the aluminumboat field.Traveler originally made striking tool handles and then baseball bats before it got into the small boat business in 1946. Its first boats, using the trademark “Arkansas Traveler was a small fishing boat. The parent company, Stanray, is successor to a company which started business in 1889 as a pioneer in the railway equipment business. Present name was adopted in i960. t Specially designed rail rack 6 s cars carry all sizes of Traveler boats to warehouses, dealers ree and customers all over the country. Among the everyday ace working tools of the Travelerse* research division is the ord “ weathermeter which simulates the daily variations in r^* temperature and humidity, the fc1 effect of sun, rr in, and cold to °P* which a boat can be subjected. } °* Carbon arcs take the place of iew the sun, water spray of rainfall. Three months of testing under ttiese test conditions is equivalent to three years of actual l»oat usage.There are 12 manufacturing lines in operation at Danville. Three of them produce runabout and cruiser hulls. One produces canoes, other miscellaneous smaller craft andfittings such as engine covers. Two produce decks. The remaining six are assembly lines.it if itA reminder to all prospective Princeton high school athletes (sophomores, juniors, and seniors,--incoming freshmen excluded) from PUS athletic director Lyle King: physical examinations will be held Tuesday, Aug. 17, at the high school at 7 p.m. Such examination is required for participating in anyinterscholastic sport.★ ★ ★Did you know department:Loons have exceptional divingability. Their legs are placed so far back on their bodies that they can't walk erect on land but move by sliding on their breast.★ ★ ★The Illinois - Mississippi (Hennepin canal) is back in the news again. Congressman Robert H. Michel (Peoria) has introduced legislation to provide an additional $8 million to rehabilitate the waterway. This is in addition to the $2.8 million that has already t)een appropriated to bring the canal to the state of repair where it would be acceptable to the state.Illinois wants the waterway to develop it into a state park,(Continued on page 11)
Newspaper Details
Princeton Bureau County Record
Princeton, Illinois, US
Tue, Aug 10, 1965
Page 10
Full Page
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MN, USA 15 Mar 2019
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