The inventor of the Flushometer and founder of Sloan Valve Company was born in Liberty, Missouri. After serving as an apprentice pipe fitter, he traveled to Chicago and became a foreman, a superintendent, and finally, an independent contractor. Through intense self-education, Mr. Sloan developed a superior knowledge of electrical circuitry and hydraulics, which led to a total of 64 inventions during his long, productive life. Among these were a relay booster for telegraph lines and a fire-safety curtain for theaters. The later invention was inspired by the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago, which claimed hundreds of lives. The fire started backstage and spread rapidly into the auditorium. Mr. Sloan''s conception was a fireproof curtain with heat fusible linkage, which would drop instantly and automatically in the event of a fire; it was simple, practical and, like most good inventions, immediately obvious-once somebody thinks of it. Mr. Sloan then developed the idea for t... [Detail]