Just driving home the other day and this was parked in a yard with a “For Sale” sign on it. I told my wife that my first job was working in the engineering department at RUPP Industries, and had worked on developing this tricycle. She said “Don’t you want to go back and check it out?”
Yep!
I started at RUPP as a mechanical drafter, part time, in a sort of work study program that the vocational school had set up with the local companies. I had been trained at the Pioneer Joint Vocational School in Shelby, in the Design and Drafting 2 year program, junior and senior year of high school. When I graduated they hired me full time.
It was so cool. I was working on the development of snowmobiles, four wheeler’s, and then I was assigned to work on the tricycle development. They let us “borrow” these toys to take home for the weekend. I was assigned to work with one of the main design engineers. He was creating this from scratch. It was really fun participating in the design and drafting function, with all the required documentation. These were all hand drawn, multiple sheet layouts. They trained me in lofting in order to properly document the shroud. That is the same technique used on boat hulls. I had the opportunity to work along side and learn from a great group of engineers and designers. And, at the same time demonstrate that I could contribute to the overall design effort. It was a great place to start out. I am sincerely grateful.
And, here is a link my wife found about the RUPP Tricycle…
http://www.hemmings.com/hmn/stories/2012/10/01/hmn_feature22.html
Yep, my first real job. And, here it is 42 years later…