B+W photos, 2, of wind test of spinning sign, at Teterboro Airport by United States Testing Co., Hoboken, N.d., ca. 1960s-1970s.
Entry/Object ID
2013.042.0020
Description
Black-and-white photos, two, of wind test of spinning sign, at Teterboro Airport by United States Testing Co., 1415 Park Ave., Hoboken. No date, circa 1960-1980.
8" x 10" wide prints; documentation photographs taken by staff of the Photographic Department; company logo and department name at lower right corner. Ink on lower margin with description and image number. Reverse has block inkstamp with negative number noted in pencil.
Donor Bill Willard (a long-time employee of the company) provided primary description of scene including location.
All photos include two young men cutting wood at an outside location believed to be grounds behind the main building.
Photo 1: captioned in ink lower margin: Setting Up Sign For Wind Test 4050. Back has negative number: 4050.
A truck and four men are seen at the airport in a grassy field near a runway. The printed vertical sign is about 6 feet high x 2 feet wide and mounted with brackets at the top and bottom to a pole. The pole has four guy wires. Sign text: Shell Premium with... TCP. Handwritten on the "P" is R.R. Ripley.
Photo 2: captioned in ink lower margin: Sign Spinning Test 4053. Back has negative number: 4053.
A view of the same area with a single-engine airplane tethered about 40 feet away with engine running. It provided the wind flow for the test which is apparently in progress with two men seen between the plane and sign. One is holding a measuring device (anemometer?) with a cord running to a box where a crouching staff person is monitoring.
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Engineering
Business & Commerce
Sciences
Signs
Aircraft
Trucks
Airports
Exteriors
Acquisition
Accession
2013.042
Source or Donor
Willard, Bill
Acquisition Method
Gift
Credit Line
Gift of Bill Willard in tribute to United States Testing Co., Hoboken.
Made/Created
Artist
n/a
Date made
1960 - 1980
Place
Location
Hoboken/Teterboro, NJ/
Notes
Date: 1960-1980
Dimensions
Height
8 in
Width
10 in
Condition
Overall Condition
Good
General Notes
Note
Notes: United States Testing Co., Inc., 1415 Park Avenue, Hoboken. No longer in Hoboken.
Building was erected in 1918. (Initially occupied by B.F. Goodrich Co.) U.S. Testing signed lease Feb. 1, 1926 for building and grounds; company left Hoboken ca. 2000, for Fairfield, N.J., and building was converted to a parking garage; demolished winter 2013.
U.S. Testing was founded 1880 and located in New York City until it moved to Hoboken which became its new headquarters with several branches in other American cities. It became a subsidiary of SGS (Société Générale de Surveillance, a Geneva based company founded in 1878) in 1963 (SGS U.S. Testing Company Inc. filed as a Foreign for Profit Corporation on Wednesday, October 16, 1963 in the state of New Jersey.) In May 1996, the name was changed to SGS U.S. Testing Company, Inc.
Subsidiaries of U.S. Testing that were located at the Hoboken address:
Nationwide Consumer Testing Institute (established circa 1963.)
Research and Testing Co., Inc.
Qualitest Inc.
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Original or Copy: Original
Status: OK
Status By: dw
Status Date: 2013-06-27
