Los Angeles County

Biographies

 

 

 

EDWARD DOUBLE

 

 

DOUBLE, EDWARD, President of the Union Tool Company, Los Angeles, California was born at Titusville, Pennsylvania, October 15, 1871, the son of Hamilton Double and Mary (Smith) Double.  He married Alice Harbard at Santa Paula, California, January 4, 1900, and of their union there has been born a daughter, Helen Double.

            Mr. Double, the head of one of the greatest manufacturing institutions in the West and in an important factor in the industrial development of California and the Southwest, received his education in the public schools of Pennsylvania and grew to manhood in that State.

            As a young man Mr. Double became interested in oil production, which was at its height in the Keystone State about that time, and worked for a number of years in the oil fields, in all branches of the business.  Born with inventive genius, his natural inclination was towards the mechanical side of the business, and in time he became interested in the manufacture of tools and appliances for the production of oil.  He developed into one of the most skilled tool and machinery men in the oil fields of Pennsylvania.

            In 1898, Mr. Double determined to seek a new section of the country where he could enter into business for himself and as the oil industry of California was just then taking on importance, he went there.  He first located at Santa Paula, at that time an important center in the California oil region.

            At Santa Paula, Mr. Double became intimately acquainted with the leading oil producers of that vicinity and associated himself in several investment enterprises of the principal interests.  He also established a plant for the manufacture of tools and machinery and during the next five years made it the leading establishment of its kind in the field.

            At the end of the five years, however, he moved his plant to Los Angeles where he has been engaged ever since.  He had foreseen early that oil was to be one of California’s richest products and took advantage of the opportunity to supply the developers with the necessary machinery.  At the time he moved his plant, Los Angeles was becoming the headquarters for most of the large oil producers and his business grew until he became one of the chief manufacturers of oil well tools and appurtenances in the Southwest.  In time he became associated with the Union Tool Company of Los Angeles, and the company has become the largest manufacturers of oil well machinery in the West.  Mr. Double is President and General Manager of the concern and also one of the largest stockholders.

            The Union Tool Company, in the success of which Mr. Double has been the principal factor, was formed in July, 1908, by consolidation of the American Engineering and Foundry Company and the Union Tool Company, and was capitalized at $1,200,000.  The basic companies had been in existence for about fifteen years prior to that time and were among the important manufacturing concerns of the Coast, so that the merger centralized their facilities and afforded means for still greater progress in their line.

            Mr. Double’s company, which supplies oil well machinery and tools for the entire world, is among the most gigantic enterprises of Southern California, making a specialty of oil well supplies, gas, gasoline and distillate engines, mining machinery and iron castings.  It has branches in Brea, Orcutt, Coalinga and Midway in the oil fields of California and also a large plant at West Chicago, Illinois, where material not used on the Pacific Coast is handled.

            Mr. Double has invented a number of valuable devices and through him the Union Tool Company has been able to make a number of important improvements in oil well tools.  The company was located for many years in the manufacturing district of Los Angeles proper, but its business increased to such a tremendous extent that it was compelled to build a new plant.  This latter, located at Torrance, California, a model industrial city near Los Angeles covers twenty-five acres of ground and is one of the largest and most complete manufacturing institutions in the country.  The various buildings, nine in number, are of concrete construction and equipped with the most modern machinery and facilities, with special provision for light and air among the principal features.  Mr. Double, conceded to be the most capable manufacturing of oil well tools on the Pacific Coast, took an active part in the design of the buildings and personally witnessed their construction and the installation of the equipment, with the result that the plant is a model of efficiency.  The buildings, land and machinery combined represent an investment of nearly a million dollars.

            Mr. Double, the directing head of this great enterprise, ranks with the big business men of the West.  For more than twenty years he has made the needs of the oil business in the matter of tools his special study and oil operators generally credit him with having been one of the strongest factors in the advancement of the industry, which, in California, is the principal wealth producer of any single line of activity.

            The business interests of Mr. Double occupy the greater part of his time, but he also is deeply interested in the welfare of Los Angeles and is one of the potent influences for his development.  He has lent his aid to numerous movements for the upbuilding of the city and is one of the uplifting forces of the community.  He is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and also belongs to the Union League Club, the Jonathan Club, and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

           

 

Transcribed by Michele Y. Larsen 22 October 2011.

Source: Press Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I,  Page 811, International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta.  1913.

© 2011 Michele Y. Larsen.

 

 

 

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