R. G. LeTourneau
| Robert Gilmour LeTourneau | |
|---|---|
Statue of R.G. LeTourneau at his LeTourneau University
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| Born |
November 30, 1888 Richford, Franklin County Vermont, USA |
| Died | June 1, 1969 (aged 80) Longview, Gregg County, Texas |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Residence | Longview, Texas |
| Alma mater | Self-educated (Independent study from International Correspondance Schools in Scranton, PA) |
| Occupation |
Business magnate in earthmoving equipment Inventor Philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) | Evelyn Peterson LeTourneau |
| Children |
Richard LeTourneau |
Richard LeTourneau
Roy, Ted, and Ben LeTourneau
Robert Gilmour LeTourneau (November 30, 1888 – June 1, 1969), was born in Richford, Vermont, and was a prolific inventor of earthmoving machinery. His factories supplied LeTourneau machines which represented nearly 70 percent of the earthmoving equipment and engineering vehicles used by the Allied forces during World War II, and more than half of the 1,500 mile Alcan Highway in Canada was built with LeTourneau equipment. Over the course of his life he secured nearly 300 patents relating to earthmoving equipment, manufacturing processes and machine tools.
The LeTourneau name became synonymous with earthmoving worldwide. LeTourneau was largely responsible for the invention and development of many types of earthmoving machines now widely used. He designed and built machines using technology that was years, sometimes decades, ahead of its time and became recognized worldwide as a leader in the development and manufacture of heavy equipment. The use of rubber tires in earthmoving; numerous improvements relating to scrapers; the development of low-pressure, heavy-duty rubber tires; the two-wheeled tractor unit ("Tournapull"); electric wheel drive, and mobile offshore drilling platforms, are all attributed to LeTourneau’s ingenuity.
With the help of his wife, the late Evelyn Peterson (1900-1987), he founded LeTourneau University, a private, Christian institution, in Longview, Texas. LeTourneau was widely known as a devoted Christian and generous philanthropist to Christian causes, including the "LeTourneau Christian Center" camp and conference grounds in Rushville, New York and Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa, Georgia. LeTourneau was often referred to by his contemporaries as "God's businessman."
Robert LeTourneau was so full of energy in 1902, at the age of fourteen, he left school, with the blessing, but concern, of his Christian parents. He moved from Vermont to Duluth, Minnesota, then to Portland, Oregon, where he began to work as an apprentice ironmonger at the East Portland Iron Works. While learning the foundry and machinist trades, he studied mechanics from an International Correspondence Schools course that had been given to him, though he never completed any course assignments. He later moved to San Francisco, where he worked at the Moore and Scott Iron Works at the personal invitation of the owner. After the San Francisco earthquake and fire, work was hard to come by. He worked at the Yerba Buena Power Plant and learned welding, and became familiar with the application of electricity. During this time, LeTourneau worked at a number of jobs including wood cutter, brick layer, farm hand, miner and carpenter’s laborer, acquiring knowledge of the manual trades that proved valuable in later life.
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Wikipedia