The Cyber Hall of Fame
How many companies can brag that they can stand up to the
physical and verbal abuse they receive day in and day out?
Let's face it, most of us think we're good sports when
we're bowling, but we all mumble under our breath at those little pins
standing 60 feet away when things aren't going so well. We talk to the
pins like they're the enemy and severe punishment will be coming in retaliation
for their unwillingness to give in to our so called " bowling expertise"
Then there's the physical abuse which Garland pins get from
EVERYONE! We 've all punched out a few
pins in our day! Heck we kick them off the walls, chop
through
the middle of them, drive them in the pit, and also
split em over. If that ain't enough, we even throw
hammers
every
now and then and those pins just keep coming back for more punishment!
We had the pleasure of talking to Mr.Charles Garland, the current owner of Garland Manufacturing in Saco, Maine.
Mr.Garland, could you tell us a little about the history of your company?
Garland Manufacturing Co.was founded in 1866. My brother
Stephen and I are currently the 5th generation in the Garland Family to
operate the business. At it's inception the company made parts for
textile looms from water buffalo hides. Back in the 1800’s, the textile
industry held a very prominent position in the economy of the norteastern
United States and Garland supplied parts to all the mills, not only in
North America, but also throughout the world .
In the year 1900 Garland started making rawhide mallets
and rawhide- faced hammers. It was the water buffalo hides that were
the common denominator.
In the mid 1900’s, somewhere around 1953, the rawhide
items Garland made for the textile industry started showing up imported
from Europe made of a new plastic that would last 10 to 12 times
longer than the rawhide items. It was a question of either sink or
swim, so the company obtained some of these plastic items and contacted
the major chemical companies in the US to see if they could supply
the resin to us. They didn’t even know what it was, but through some
diligence Garland learned the resin was made over in Germany. We
flew the first 500 pounds of this resin in powder form that was ever brought
into the US.
From that beginning, Garland began making parts for the
textile industry out of this material which we trade named Gar-Dur plastic.
In the mid 1950's 100 % of the company's plastic production was for
the textile industry.
In the summer of 1960 we began testing some candlepins
in our standard yellow color. The problem at that time was that they were
very expensive in comparison to the old wooden pins. In those days the
plastic coated wooden pins had an average life expectancy of about
6 months. Bowling houses had to buy two sets of pins every year.
When we put out the new pins they were selling approximately three to four
times higher in price than the old plastic coated wooded pins. There
was a reluctance from may proprietors to make any commitments back then.
The first sale is believed to have been to Chris Anton
of Big 20 Lanes in Scarborough, ME. Another gentleman, "Sandy" of Sandy’s
Bowladrome in Windham, NH bought some pins at about the same time.
Well, after that, a year went by and these two proprietors didn’t
have to buy any new pins, and the second year went by and they didn’t have
to buy any pins, the third year they still didn’t have to replace them.
By that time other people started asking, “Hey, what’s the new plastic
that’s lasting so much longer.”
That turned out to be very cost effective then didn't it ?
Oh, it became very cost effective! Word spread through the various bowling associations as they had their meetings about these pins. Now we sell pins to almost everybody in the industry.
Did you think these pins would turn out to be the industry standard ?
Well, we knew about the impact strength of the material. The company has some customers who, with their excellent maintenance programs, have been using the same pins for 15 – 16 years! The pins can be sent back to us if a customer desires and we can refinish the pins taking 020” or .030” of an inch off the diameter, square the ends off and put new tape on after they have been in use for 7 or 8 years . They look almost new after that is done . The pins are good for many more years. Many proprietors who have bought pins from Garland for the past forty years have only had to replace them two or three times.
Mr Garland, thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to talk with us and welcome to the Candlepin Corner Cyber Hall of Fame
Candlepin
Corner
So, how well do these pins stand
up in the candlepin industry ? Well, we counted a total of 1960 lanes listed
on the ICBA web site. Assuming there are 25 pins to each lane, that would
add up to a total of 49,000 pins. Stand those on end and they would stand
12.18 miles high! Most commercial planes travel only 6 miles up in the
air!