Page 10 - Sample pages "Raymond Henri Dietrich" by Necah S. Furman

53 BRIGHT BEGINNINGS WITH BREWSTER & COMPANY (1913)
working shops. “Well-aimed mallets sometimes ushered me out of the department,” Ray recalled, “but my persistence paid off. One of these masters, John Wasserman, occasionally talked with me. His nationality and my German name were compatible, and he was amused and flattered by my interest.”14
During one of his visits with Wasserman, Dietrich brashly predicted that one day there would be no need for secrets – design engineers would simply hand the craftsman a full-size and detailed draft to use and the whole process would be simplified. To Wasserman, a man
whohadtrainedwiththemostwell-knowncoachbuilders in Europe, this was practically heresy. “He cuffed me on the ears,” Ray said, “and told me to leave the important jobs to the masters.”
The reluctance to share trade secrets was not exclusive to Wasserman’s department. After the frame structure was finished, the project went to the blacksmith shop where the blacksmith, also a talented artisan, used his own secret methods of reinforcing and hand-forging parts to create arcs and contours. Changes were made by drawing the alterations on the cement floor with a piece
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