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Engineer always had an invention in mind
By SCOTT TAYLOR HARTZELL ST. PETERSBURG -- After Irving E. Aske moved here in 1953, restlessness shook him from retirement. "Nothing to do," said the inventor. "I started thinking about the need of small manufacturers for inexpensive testing equipment. I made my first portable tester. After that the business -- almost a hobby at first -- snowballed." For five decades, Aske created better widgets. He designed a 2-quart water purifier, and the Lincoln Motor Co. used his cylinder heads. General Mills marketed his iron. Once here, the reclusive engineer invented a truck scale, compression testing tools and pollution control devices. He held more than 50 patents. "He had that spark of optimism," said Ron Yogman, a former Evening Independent business editor who twice profiled Aske. "He was born ahead of his time." Aske (pronounced Askg) was born in Duluth, Minn., about 1894. At the Armour Institute of Technology in 1913, he studied electrical engineering. The draftsman then designed a Model T Ford regulator that earned him $10,000. With the money, Aske completed his automotive and electrical engineering studies in 1920 at the University of Minnesota. From 1921 to 1929, the inventor's Aske Feumer Co. created carburetor heaters to enhance cold-weather starting for companies such as Hupp, Buick, Chrysler and Willis-Knight. From 1934 to 1943, Aske developed automotive cylinder heads with the Campbell, Wyant, & Cannon Foundry Co. in Muskegon, Mich. "(Aske) was best known as an authority on cylinder heads," the St. Petersburg Times wrote. During World War II, Aske designed cylinder heads for government trucks and for Lincoln cars. Continental Motors in Muskegon employed Aske as a consulting engineer in the later war years. Aske forsook retirement after coming here about age 60. "You can say my wife (Rachel) is my reason for setting up my business in St. Petersburg," said Aske, who resided on 46th Avenue in St. Pete Beach. "Weather wasn't doing her arthritis any good. We decided we might as well live where we could get the most out of life." At 1415 Third St. S, Aske established Truck Scale and Research Corp. He devised an aluminum 350-pound truck scale, which recorded up to a 30,000-pound axle weight. "(It's) a frictionless, hydraulic scale, hermetically sealed, and semiportable," Aske said. Aske called his scale the Quick-Way, and it sold for less than $2,000 -- one-third the price of the huge conventional scales. "He could have been enjoying the beach, but he was that committed," said Yogman, 59. In the 1960s, Aske invented a 2-quart water still that converted seawater into drinking water. He also devised numerous compression-testing products, including a pocket-sized device that assessed a golf ball's hardness. Strong swingers need a hard ball, weak hitters a soft one, Aske said. Aske credited his wife, his helpmate and bookkeeper, with his success. "Quite a gal," said Aske, who had five assistants in the 1960s and whose customers included RCA, Ford, Westinghouse, Dow Chemical and General Electric. "If not for my wife, I wouldn't be in business. She knows about as much about these machines as I do." In the 1970s, Aske realized the need for clean automotive transportation. "This involves the health of everyone," he said. "It's a national problem. Now is the time to do something about it." Hence the Aske Xhaust Scrubber. The unit weighed about 15 pounds, cost less than $150 to make and worked on any internal combustion midsize car. He also devised a 22-pound scrubber with a production cost of more than $200 for trucks and buses. The smaller device he attached to his 1965 Ford Falcon. "I've tried it throughout town with various brands and grades of gasoline, and the result is the same -- it works," Aske told Yogman in 1971. One year later, Aske invented an improved scrubber, the Exhaust Purifier, to present to the major carmakers. He was so proud, Yogman said, of the pure odorless air emanating from his car's exhaust. "Automotive manufacturers, however, are not known to be ahead of the curve," Yogman said. "He may have fallen short of his goal. It was near the end of his life, and he was looking to make a lasting contribution." Aske died April 27, 1978. He was 84. -- Scott Taylor Hartzell can be reached at hartzel@msn.com.
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