The deaths of Ferdinand W. and Charles G. Roebling came at a time when the John A. Roebling's Sons Company was beginning to experience a period of the greatest activity it had known up to that time. Already the Allies had gone to war with Germany and were calling upon the United States for supplies. A tremendous load was placed upon the wire industry. Wire Rope, Electrical Wires and Cables, and all types of wires were needed for rigging ships, for communication, electrical power, and all the countless uses to which wire is put. When the United States entered the war, Roebling was called upon for the third time to assist in the defense of the country.

Roebling Control Cord Was Used In Aircraft in World War I
(above) And in World War II (below)

The first call was in the Civil War, when, as mentioned previously, Washington A. Roebling was commissioned a colonel in the engineering forces of the Union Army. Aside from citations for gallant action, he achieved distinction by erecting several strategic suspension bridges, notably one across the Rappahanock River and another across the Shenandoah River at Harper's Ferry. In these and other undertakings he used considerable wire rope from his father's factory at Trenton.

Again in the Spanish-American War the facilities of the Roebling Company were called upon to supply the many varieties of wire rope and wire needed by the country's armed forces, both Army and Navy.

But it was when the United States entered the World War in 1917 that the facilities of the entire wire industry were taxed beyond any previous limit. Submarine nets; Torpedo nets; Field Signal Wire; Aircraft Control, Power and Lighting Cables; all sorts of Electrical Power and Control Cables; Spring Wires; Wire Ropes; Balloon Communication Cables; etc. ad infinitum, were needed in the shortest possible time. A committee of control for the industry was set up by the American Iron and Steel Institute at the request of the Government and Mr. Karl G. Roebling was appointed chairman. General offices for the committee were established in the Roebling plant at Trenton. It is to the great credit of the industry as a whole and to K. G. Roebling as chairman of the committee that the requirements of the Government were met in such a remarkably short time. No tabulation ever has been made of the total volume of wire and wire products manufactured to meet this crisis; but it can safely be said that millions upon millions of feet and pounds were produced in record time.

Today, for the fourth time, not only Roebling but the entire wire industry is being called upon to produce in tremendous volume to meet the demands of another National Defense Program. In the Roebling plants at Roebling and Trenton, production has been stepped up far beyond normal to supply a great diversity of products, among them: Harbor Defense Nets; Aircraft Control, Power and Lighting Cables; Field Signal Wire; Telephone and Telegraph Wires and Cables; material for tanks; Wire Rope Slings for lifting guns, tanks, shells, etc.; Bomb Demolition Wires; Precision Rolled Strip for instruments; Degaussing Cable for repelling magnet mines; many sorts of Wire Rope and Electrical Cables for use on battleships; Anchor Cables for captive balloons; Building and Power and Lighting Cables for vital new defense plants and for Army cantonments; Screen Cloth for Army camps; and myriad other wires and wire products.

It must also be noted that in a time of such great industrial activity, demands from normal outlets increase correspondingly. A brief recitation of the scope of these normal outlets will serve not only to demonstrate the extent to which our modern civilization has become dependent upon wire and wire products, but also to tell how fully the dream of Friederike Dorothea Roebling-that one of her children should do something the world would remember-has been realized.

Wire rope, for instance, is used in the marine markets for rigging, as tiller control, for mooring and towing purposes, and as a hoisting medium for loading cargo. In the vital mining industries it is used on shaft hoists and inclined planes; on stripping and excavating equipment; and for many towing and lifting purposes. It is an essential tool in the drilling of oil wells, and in the lumbering fields it again is a most necessary piece of equipment. The elevators of thousands of buildings are dependent upon wire rope for their operation, while in almost every industrial p]ant wire rope is used on cranes and hoists. Highway safety demands its use as guard rails, while excavating machinery consumes great quantities. Railroads are large users both for lifting, etc., and also for rail bonds; the automotive industry uses wire rope in brake assemblages. Even in the realm of sports, wire rope is now being used extensively in the form of aerial tramways for ski tows. And of course, as mentioned above, the aircraft industry--civilian as well as military--is a large consumer of control cables.

This 35 Cubic Yard Coal Stripper Is Equipped Throughout With Roebling
Wire Rope. Its 4 Inch diameter Boom Suspension Cable, The largest Ever
Used On An Excavating Machine, Is In Marked Contrast To The .001 inch
Wire Shown in Actual Size Below

Woven wire fabrics too have a great many diverse applications: as filters in vital chemical industries, in refineries, in food processing plants, fine mesh woven wire is used. In mines and quarries and wood pulp plants heavy cloth is used. On chicken and game and produce farms netting is used; in the home, in offices, Army camps, restaurants and factories, insect screen has become a safeguard to health. Woven wire fabrics are found in automobile and airplane carburetors; in air conditioning machinery; in industrial plants as guards on machines; in buildings as backing for lathing-and so on.

And as far as bare round and shaped vvires and flat wire (coldrolled strip) are concerned, there the number of uses staggers the imagination. For instance they are used in typewriters, brooms, mattresses, textile machines, electrical motors, hardware, tools, jewelry, hairpins, meters, precision instruments, corsets, springs, umbrellas, pistons, flexible shafts, flexible shaft casings, mechanical pencils, locks, staples, ornaments. They are used in tires, in armatures, in looseleaf binders, and in the manufacture of shoes and valves and nails. In short, as we said before, the number of uses staggers the imagination.

George Washington Bridge, New York
"Roebling Bridges a Continent"
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

To conduct so far reaching a business, the Roebling organization has grown to proportions John A. Roebling might scarcely have imagined. For instance, 417 acres of plant space accommodate 258 buildings with over 4,500,000 square feet of floor space. Steadily growing payrolls carry over 6,200 names; a nationwide sales organization of branch offices and warehouses and many distributors reaches every section of this country, while a considerable foreign trade is conducted through the Export Division.

In closing, it is remarkable to note how faithfully the tradition inspired by Friederike Dorothea Roebling and fostered by John A. Roebling and his sons, Washington, Ferdinand, and Charles, is being carried on today. "Roebling" still means the greatest in suspension bridges, with all previous records eclipsed by the mighty Golden Gate; "Roebling" still means pioneering in wire and wire products, as sales and production departments, backed by the most extensive research facilities in the industry, continue to explore new markets and new products.

Finally, the Roebling tradition of active management of the John A. Roebling's Sons Company is perpetuated by three of John A. Roebling's great-grandsons. Joseph Metcalf Roebling, son of Ferdinand William Jr. and grandson of Ferdinand William 1st, is First Vice-President, while his brother, Ferdinand William 3rd is Second Vice-President and Assistant Director of Engineering. Reminiscent of the illustrious Colonel, F. W. 3rd is now, at the age of thirty, a Major in the Field Artillery on active duty at Fort Dix, N. J. Charles Roebling Tyson, son of Helen Roebling and Carrol S. Tyson and grandson of Charles G. Roebling, for whom he is named, is Secretary and Treasurer of the company.