John Calvin Jureit

John Calvin Jureit (1918 - September 9, 2005) was an engineer and the inventor of the Gang-Nail connector plate, used in building construction. This invention has been widely credited for the boom in affordable housing, productivity increases and improved building durability.

Early life

J. Calvin Jureit (pronounced JOOR-ee-ut) was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Lillian and William Jureit. His father was a baker who emigrated to the United States from Germany before J. Calvin was born. In 1922, the family moved to Miami, Florida, where his father's bakery flourished.

Military service

After graduating from Miami Senior High School 1935, Jureit studied art before enrolling at the University of Miami to study accounting and chemistry. In 1942, Jureit enlisted in the Navy Seabees and was stationed at Camp Perry in Williamsburg, Virginia. Here he met his future wife, Mildred Hildebrand, who was working as a secretary at the local USO.

Jureit was trained as a cartographer and sent to Australia, where he was employed making relief maps from plywood and clay for use as pilot briefing tools. Following his six-month stint in Australia, he was sent to New Guinea for an additional six months. Jureit never saw combat but the experience sharpened his desire to become an engineer.

Gang-Nails, Inc.

Upon his discharge at the end of World War II, Jureit enrolled at Georgia Tech on the G.I. Bill and studied engineering. In 1955, Jureit patented the most famous version of his Gang-Nail plate, the first that required no nails, screws or glue. Starting with this patent, Jureit founded Gang-Nails, Inc, later renamed Automated Building Components, Inc.

Prior to his invention, making roof trusses was a difficult and time-consuming job, requiring highly-skilled carpenters to make precise cuts and toe-nail two adjoining pieces of wood together. Small mistakes would cause serious time delays as well as weaken the truss. The improved strength of the Gang-Nail plate was evidenced in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew destroyed many homes in Florida. Homes built with the Gang-Nail plate were far more likely to survive than those whose trusses had been toe-nailed.

The Gang-Nail plate is a sheet of galvanized steel, with triangular prongs are cut and bent perpendicular to the plate face, allowing it to be hammered into a number of surfaces simultaneously.

In an interview with the Georgia Tech alumni newsletter, John A. White, former dean of engineering at the Georgia Institude of Technology commented that "The whole notion about affordable housing and productivity increases came about because of [Jureit's] invention." In the same article, Jureit states that the idea for the connector plate came to him during a church service.Fact|date=February 2007

Automated Building Components, Inc went public in 1961 as MiTek and is currently owned by Warren Buffett. Fact|date=February 2007

Later life

Mildred, his first wife died in 1995. Jureit later married Dr. Marie Garritson. In 2005, J. Calvin Jureit died 87 from head injuries sustained after a fall.

References

* [http://gtalumni.org/Publications/techtopics/fall97/keyboard.html] Georgia Tech Alumni Newsletter