Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:30 am
The reality is I am the last man standing from a company that began in 1918, damn near died during the Great Depression, and finally expired in the 70s due to lack of intrest in the product in that decade.
The thought keeps running through my mind; Had I in 1980 told Wild Bill 28 years hence there would be an internet site where people would gather and talk about the products Sterling made, he probably would have tucked me into the back of an ambulance and driven me to the mental ward.
Oh well, somebody ought to write the real story, preferably somebody who actually was hands on with the miserable contraptions in every possible circumstance, from sweating in the sun to knocking ice off a damn windmill tower so I could climb it.
I really can't stand the "make it up" historians who stand in front of a room full of people at the Historical Society and bull about everything from Trolley cars in Rochester to Prohibition, and lie about men I've personally known, so I best get the reality of Sterling in print here forever. Hey, the internet is forever, ain't it?
Hopefully that Moderator fellow can come along and insert some pictures to make the story more interesting. I keep finding pictures.
Side Note: The easiest way to tell an H from an M is endcovers. The original M was built without end covers on the suction snorkel, probably to make it easier for mice and rats to build nests. H models left the factory with end covers that had louvers to control airflow into the machine.