Fred Elder, Work and Jobs

Fred Elder

In January of 1965 my time at the engineering school at the University of Kansas came to an end.  I had done some interviewing re employment while still in school and had accepted a job with Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. – an AT&T subsidiary at that time.  So, it was a move to Topeka, Kansas and the work-a-day learning and doing at Southwestern Bell.  There was a rather lengthy new hire process which was helpful to learn about all of the pieces of Southwestern Bell.  One of my first jobs outside of the office was to accompany a more senior engineer as we traveled the state to do battery testing at various offices.  (Most do not realize it, but the reason the telephone system works during power outages is because all offices have battery back-up.) 

We entered buildings without announcing ourselves, turned off commercial power and tested batteries, as well as back-up generating equipment.  One could always tell the ‘good’ offices: their batteries were charged and about 15 minutes after we arrived and shut down commercial power (without announcing our intent to shut it down), a veteran plant person would appear and begin the process of starting the emergency back-up generators.  He would always ask us to leave the generating room while he did that (in good offices) and we would soon hear large diesels begin to fire.  But, no load was picked up.  The good operators always let the engines warm up for about 15 minutes and then they would call us into the generating room and begin to transfer power to the actual telephone equipment.  One could hear the diesels grunt and slow a bit as each transfer switch was thrown, but they kept on operating and were soon back at their governed speed.  After we had done this a couple of weeks, we would be met by some plant person coming to start the generator and his greeting was not always so congenial.  But, the engines were started and the load was transferred. 

An aside, during this time, I visited the central office in Scott City, Kansas as it was being converted to dial operation.  It was the last major central office in Kansas to be converted to dial operation.

During my time at Southwestern Bell, I started taking two graduate engineering courses per semester at KU in the evening.  The only such program was offered at KU Medical Center in Kansas City, so two nights a week I did a round trip between Topeka and Kansas City.  During my last few months at Southwestern Bell, I decided to take twelve hours of business at Washburn University, mostly at night.

I wanted to do more with my graduate engineering work, but did not have the financial resources to stop working to do it.  So, I applied for a job at Boeing Wichita and was accepted into a design group working on the 737 aircraft, a very new aircraft at that time.  While at Boeing, I started taking graduate engineering courses at night at Wichita State University.

After a year or a bit more a Boeing, I was invited to be an instructor in the Engineering Department at Wichita State University, though I had not finished my Master’s Degree.  I worked at Wichita State University for a total of four years, teaching several different courses and finishing my Master’s work.  I had a group of students whom I worked with to build an electric car which actually worked reasonably well.  Another group of students built a device to sweep fog from the air.  I also applied for an NSF Science Faculty Fellowship during this time and was awarded a year’s study at the University of Wisconsin.  Much of my success in being chosen must be credited to Professor Edward F. Obert of the University of Wisconsin who was most helpful in completing the NSF application.

So, in the fall of 1971, I showed up at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and took four graduate courses.  I took another four in the spring semester and two in summer school.  (My first time in college when all I had to do was study.  No outside job.)  This completed my necessary course work and it was my plan (due to lack of continuing funds) to head back to Wichita and do my research work long distance to complete my PhD.  However, not long before I was ready to start moving back to Wichita I had an opportunity to sell a 10 acre lot which was near Santa Fe Lake, just east of Wichita, which I had purchased at an auction prior to moving from Wichita.  I was also told I could start teaching a thermal science lab course at Wisconsin in the spring semester.  So, I sold the lot and that was almost enough to pay for the fall semester, but midway through the fall semester I had a call from a family friend in Wichita and he had consulting work on a failed construction project at Great Lakes Naval Training Center.  So, from late in that fall semester until 1974 I was traveling between Madison, Wisconsin and Waukegan, Illinois to work two or three days per week plus my teaching to pay for finishing my PhD.

At that point I was hoping to find an assistant professor position somewhere, but it was a time of very slow employment for technical people and I ended up continuing teaching at Wisconsin, mixed with consulting and interestingly enough, that became a pattern for the balance of my professional life.  Some teaching, some consulting and along the way owing my own consulting practice.

The drawing below was mounted on a plaque and presented to me by my WSU students who built the electric car.  The batteries for the car came from a battery string being retired by Southwestern Bell.