Editing Carl Strandlund

{{Short description|Swedish-born American inventor and entrepreneur (1899–1974)}}
[[File:Carl Gunnar Strandlund (1899-1974) circa 1920.jpg|thumb|Carl Gunnar Strandlund (1899-1974) circa 1920.jpg]]
'''Carl Strandlund''' (5 March 1899 &ndash; 26 December 1974) was a Swedish-born American inventor and entrepreneur.<ref>[http://www.lustronpreservation.org/meet-the-lustrons/lustron-history/meet-carl-strandlund ''Meet Carl Strandlund'' (Lustron Initiative)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911141113/http://www.lustronpreservation.org/meet-the-lustrons/lustron-history/meet-carl-strandlund |date=September 11, 2010 }}</ref>

==Background==
Carl Gunnar Strandlund  was born in [[Sundsvall]] in [[Västernorrland County]], [[Sweden]]. Strandlund came to the United States at the age of four and grew up in [[Moline, Illinois]]. As a young man, he took correspondence school classes in engineering. His grandfather had been an engineer in Sweden. His father worked in the United States for [[John Deere]].

==Career==
Strandlund held over 150 [[farm]] implement patents through his work as a production engineer at the [[Minneapolis-Moline]] tractor company, including the creation of [[rubber]] [[tire]]s for [[tractor]]s. He later served as president of the [[Oliver Farm Equipment Company]].

He was hired by the Chicago Vitreous Enamel Product Company  to transform the factory for defense production. Strandlund invented manufacturing techniques to build non-warping metal plates for tanks during [[World War II]], created [[air conditioning]] systems for movie theaters, and invented a wallpaper-removing machine. The company rewarded him with a promotion to vice president and general manager in September 1943.<ref>[http://www.wosu.org/archive/lustron/strandlund.php  ''Carl Strandlund'' (WOSU Public Media)]</ref>

Strandlund was most noted for inventing and promoting the [[Lustron house]] (built of [[Vitreous enamel|porcelain-enameled]] [[steel]] panels - {{US Patent|2416240}}) to help address the housing shortage after [[World War II]]. 2498 homes were built 1948&ndash;1950 at a large assembly plant in [[Columbus, Ohio]], through financing from the [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]]. The Lustron plant assembly line was some 9 miles long and the plant consumed more power than the rest of the entire city of Columbus. Mismanagement, politics, and corruption were blamed for the downfall of Lustron, which shut down amid [[foreclosure]] and bankruptcy in 1953. As of 2004, the majority of the 2,498 Lustron homes built were still standing. Fifty Lustrons have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref>[https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2001/12/01/315100/index.htm ''The House That Carl Built The 1940s home of the future outlasted its manufacturer'' (Paul Lukas. December 1, 2001. Fortune Magazine)]</ref><ref>[http://strandlund.tripod.com/index-26.html  ''The factory-built house is here, but not the answer to the $33 million question:How to get it to market? ''(Architectural Forum Magazine of Building. May 1949) ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100914005139/http://strandlund.tripod.com/index-26.html |date=September 14, 2010 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.lustronconnection.org/whatislustron.html ''The Story of Lustron Homes'' ( Judy Reickert.  Lustron Connection.Org)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004152851/http://www.lustronconnection.org/whatislustron.html |date=October 4, 2009 }}</ref>

In a September 12, 1982, ''[[Minneapolis Tribune]]'' article, Strandlund's widow Clara related how Strandlund reacted to the closure of Lustron: "He was physically and mentally destroyed," she said. "Everything we had<!-- OK here: don't correct it--> went. They took everything but our home."  He died in Edina, a suburb of Minneapolis, at the age of 75. Strandlund is interred next to his wife Clara at Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.lustronpreservation.org Lustron Preservation]
*{{Find a Grave|27824692}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strandlund, Carl}}
[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:1974 deaths]]
[[Category:Swedish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:People from Sundsvall]]