yon Leveron blog

John's musings on the Interknot cowpath

Archive for August 18th, 2009

Danuser Machine Company – Quality built right

Posted by John on 18th August 2009

Danuser Machine Company – Local business – I can vouch for the quality of these folks and their products.  They will take care of you after the sale to make sure it’s right.

They’ve got a lot more on their site, but this is a small sampling from their catalog.


Danuser Machine Company, Inc. is a diversified manufacturer of products ranging from Ball JointsRod EndsBar EndsCylinder Heads,Adjustment LinksPitch Control LinksKlik Pins to custom machined and fabricated parts.  Our products are produced primarily for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) in a variety of industries including agriculture, turf care, construction, hydraulic, military, marine, and transportation.  Let Danuser be your single source supplier.

Since 1910, we have coupled experience with the latest technology and equipment in CNC machining, fabricating, and robotic welding along with a solid engineering presence to produce high-quality, reliable, and durable parts for our customers.

AGRICULTURAL ATTACHMENTS
PTO Diggers
Danuser History

To give you a short history of Danuser Machine Company, I must start with my grandfather, Kasper Berry Danuser, who was a Swiss emigrant. One of ten children, he came to this country in 1880. He produced the first piece of farm equipment that carried the name “DANUSER” – a farm wagon built in the town of Readsville, Missouri, around 1905. In 1906, he moved his family to Auxvasse where my father, Henry, was born in 1908. The Danuser family moved to Fulton in 1910, and the original shop was located on our present plant site. In addition to the general repair work so common to shops of that time, he thrashed grain with steam power in the summertime and saw-milled in the off-season.

During his college years, my father rebuilt a Ford automobile that had only four original parts left when he got through with it. He then drove this creature to Salt Lake, up to Yellowstone Park, and back home – a pretty rugged trip even by today’s standards. He later went to Wichita and became associated with Stearman Aircraft Company. The company wasn’t any larger than we are now, and the President, Mr. Lloyd Stearman, was chief test pilot. With the winter season in Wichita and nearly 20 aircraft companies with no government business to carry them, they simply shut down. Dad then worked his way to Europe in 1930 by feeding a cargo of mules. He was gone about five months when he ran out of money. He convinced the captain of a tramp freighter that he could assist him in running his boat with no pay, only passage home. However, to make him an employee of the South Atlantic Steamship Company, they did pay him . . . one penny!

When he returned home, he worked with his father and acquired a unique automotive piston ring for distribution over the state of Missouri. This Cord Piston Ring would stop the excessive use of oil, and nearly every piston ring company uses such a design today.

Dad married Lillian Hill Hamilton on December 4, 1932, after installing a set of piston rings until 2:00 that morning so he could afford to pay for the wedding ceremony.

My father purchased the company after his father’s death in 1937. At that time, we were still a carryover of Granddad’s blacksmith shop doing maintenance and repair work. Dad’s first product was a portable air compressor. Dad then designed and built a tree-moving machine. In 1941, Danuser Machine Company built the first rear-mounted Blade in the United States for a tractor. We have followed these early products with a number of introductions over the years:

1943: Post Hole Digger (After all these years, serial numbers 2 and 3 are still in operation. We’ve lost track of serial number 1.)
1947: Our own Blade, designed and patented.
1951: Post Driver
1958: Scarifier and Rake Attachments for the Blade
1964: 8200 Hydraulic Boring Head
1966: CD1 Compact Tractor Digger
1967: 8700 Hydraulic Digger
1970: Hole Digger Head Attachment
1975: 8400 and 8500 Hydraulic Diggers
1976: MS-1 (28″ Log Splitter)
1977: MS-2 (48″ Log Splitter)
1978: TP-16 (self contained power unit to operate the MS-1 or MS-2)
1980: ES-1 (20″ Electric Splitter)
1983: G20/40 Post Hole Digger
1984: Counter Coil Hydraulic Recoil Reduction Device
1986: HS-54 and HS-72 Hydraulic Scrapers
1990: 8300 and 8800 Hydraulic Diggers
1997: 8900 Hydraulic Digger
1997: Comp Coil Spring Recoil Reduction Device
2002: 1025, 1530, and 2035 Hydraulic Earth Auger Models were introduced for the construction, rental, and landscaping markets. These units are sold worldwide through Danuser Industrial Group (DIG)
2004: Expanded DIG line to include smaller and larger drive units for different machines. Revamped auger line to include Fab, Tree, Cast, and Bullet Rock Augers.
2006: J20/80 Post Hole Digger
2007: Postmaster/Slab Blaster, Auger Bucket, Pallet Forks

The list is getting long, and I would like to back up a bit. From 1947 to 1957, we built Diggers for Ford Motor Company. We built Blades for J. I. Case Company from 1956 to 1969. This was all big business to a company our size. In 1960 alone, we built 1,000 Blades for Case. We have had similar arrangements with Oliver and International Harvester. We sold 5,000 Blades to Harvester. We have been very productive in our OEM business for many years, since back in the 1940’s. The Ball Joints, Klik-Pins, and Clevis Pins have grown to a customer list of over 1,000 companies of agricultural and non-agricultural users. They represent about 60% of our total business today. Our implements are shipped to 20 distributors worldwide. In 1968, we were awarded the Presidential “E” Award for export, which means 10% of our business had to be in export, and we continue to progress in this area.

We are enthusiastic here . . . optimistic really, and busier than ever. Even though we are in our 99th year, I feel we are a young company, a flexible company.

My father and mother are both deceased. My father passed away in 1975 and my mother in 1978. I became President in 1976, and like my grandfather and father before me, nothing would happen without “TEAMWORK”. Danuser Machine Company would not be what it is today without the fine staff of people and the conscientious desire of our employees to build a better mousetrap. There is a sign in our plant we often refer to, and my grandfather’s words hold true today: “Good enough won’t do – it must be right”. We believe it!

I am the third generation in this family-owned business, and I am pleased and proud to tell you the fourth generation is already in place to assure the continuation of quality products for our customers and continued employment for our employees. My son, Glenn, returned to the company on a full-time basis in 1996, and my daughter, Janea, followed in 1999.

There are over 54 people on our payroll. Those folks have an average of 16.5 years with Danuser Machine Company. That’s even after we had one retire with over 50 years of service.

I am proud of our history, our people, our facilities, and our products. I am convinced the only reason we are still here after 99 years is that we sell “QUALITY”.

Jerry Danuser, President
Danuser Machine Company, Inc.
500 East Third Street
Fulton, MO 65251-0368

Business Hours – Monday through Friday
7:30 am to 4:30 pm (Central)

Tel: (573) 642-2246
Fax: (573) 642-2240
E-mail: sales@danuser.com
http://www.danuser.com/

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Gravatars are good – WordPress and other sites

Posted by John on 18th August 2009

Good bits, and enabled here :) Learning – is good. As Wordpress notes at the bottom right of their page : Code – is poetry.

What is a gravatar?

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums, so why not on any site?

Matt M Alex Andy S Andy P Barry Demitrious Donncha Hailin Joseph Lloyd Mark Maya Mike Matt T Nick Nickolay Raanan Ryan Sam Toni Anthony Noriyko Noel Sheri Gian Liz Anne Jon Eoin Doug Isaac Mike K Lenny Thorsten Andrew Mike P Heather Hanni Jane Jose Brian Beau

Stay up to date with The Gravatar blog

How do I get a gravatar?

Signing up for a gravatar.com account is FREE, and all that’s required is your email address. Once you’ve signed up you can upload your avatar image and soon after you’ll start seeing it on gravatar enabled sites!

Sign up now!

How do I get gravatars on my site?

Setting up gravatars on your site is easy, you don’t even need an account! Plugins are available for leading blog software and content management systems, and our tutorials will have you running gravatars in no time. To request a gravatar from our servers, you simply add an image to your users activity with an “src” attribute that points to our gravatar image generator and includes an MD5 hash of the user’s email address. Since all gravatars are rated with an MPAA style rating, you can restrict your site to show only gravatars whose content you are comfortable with.


via the WordPress.org codex below : Using Gravatars « WordPress Codex.


What is a Gravatar?

Gravatars are Globally Recognized Avatars. An avatar or gravatar is an icon, or representation, of a user in a shared virtual reality, such as a forum, chat, website, or any other form of online community in which the user(s) wish to have something to distinguish themselves from other users. Created by Tom Werner, gravatars make it possible for a person to have one avatar across the entire web. Avatars are usually an 80px by 80px image that the user will create themselves.

Gravatars in blog post comments

A Gravatar is essentially the same thing, but they are all hosted on a single server and are called up by encrypting the users’ email address via the MD5 algorithm. So instead of having one avatar on one forum you visit, and another at a blog you visit, you could have the same avatar at both.

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First Look: Windows 7 Shapes Up as Microsoft’s Best OS Yet | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

Posted by John on 18th August 2009

First Look: Windows 7 Shapes Up as Microsoft’s Best OS Yet | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

Teaser bits below, click link above for the full article.

I can honestly say this got better each step of the closed beta, to open beta, to RC, to Gold / RTM code. Now I can stop upgrading for a bit ;)


desktop3

Good news, everyone! If you’ve been stuck in a time loop using Windows XP, which is nearing eight years old, or Windows Vista, which is just annoying, you can finally break free: Windows 7 is almost here. Microsoft delivers a slickly designed, vastly improved OS that will warp you to the world of today. This upgrade is big, and it’s hugely recommended for Microsoft users.

When we say big, we mean really BIG — so we’re not going to bombard you with an epic overview covering every single aspect. Rather, today we’ll guide you through an early look at some major new features and enhancements we tested in the almost-final version released last week. And in the weeks leading up to the Oct. 22 launch of Windows 7, we’ll continue posting our impressions, testing more features of the OS on various types of hardware.

We’ll start with interface, move on to performance and usability, and then we’ll conclude with the “funner” stuff. Let’s begin exploring, shall we?

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recent caffeine purchases

Posted by John on 18th August 2009

not my cup of tea?

not my cup of tea?

This trifecta has worked out pretty well over the last week.

Mr. Coffee, but not coffee

Mr. Coffee, but not coffee

Ice Tea maker http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10285445

Big ole mugs http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10715159

Family size caffeine http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=174627

Has to be better than the soda I was back on for a while, eh?

yes these are heavy mugs

yes these are heavy mugs

Mmmm! Dang, John! This is some serious gourmet stuff! Usually, me and Vince would be happy with some freeze-dried Taster’s Choice right, but he springs this serious GOURMET stuff on us!

I don’t need you to tell me how good my coffee is, okay? I’m the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys crud. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to taste it. But you know what’s on my mind right now? It AIN’T the coffee in my kitchen.

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