Ken White SR was in furniture business.............

[Melbeta]

Here is a secret, that many others just do not know. Ken White Sr, who later open up a metal detector manufacturing business, was FIRST in the furniture business. He took electronic classes under the GI Bill you see. Began to fool around and ened up making some electronic machines. Sales was slow, but the love for electronics WAS BIG with Ken White Sr. I knew him, by telephone. Never met him in person though. I took a liking to him, he took a liking to me.
He knew I took in used Whites metal detectors in my metal detector business, so told me, "Ship them to me, they have my name on them. I will updated them for you, for free"!!! Did he do that? He did it for me. Even paid the return shipping expense. Only cost to me was the initial shipment to him, direct to HIS ATTENTION. He was the ONLY one who did it for me...

So I researched his name. Wrote and booklet about his early entrance into metal detecting. Want to read it? You do??? I wrote it back in time. How did he leave furniture business? He decided to sell the furniture at close out prices, and began to build and sell metal detectors. Now early on, he was making and selling machines to find oil in the ground. But the business really took off when he built some detectors for a guy who had a newspaper and magazine business in Arizona...Not going to go into that story, but I know all about it too... Here is a booklet, from 1954 time period, into the 1960s time period, on what Ken White Sr did and made. He started making them in the early 1950s, but was selling furniture out of his store...
MELBETA
here is when Ken White Sr, was building detectors for the task of finding ore bodies in the ground. the machines, were called ORE MASTERS........
Whites OreMaster 1954.pdf

Now I found an old newspaper article, about Ken White Sr, and the guys who were working for Ken, and makeing on machine a day. It is from an old newspaper and is in lousy condition, but I enhanced it as the best I could enhance it and stuck it in this forum... Right below you see... I even put it in PDF file. This was enhanced by myself, and while I still call it lousy quality, I stuck in some of my words, on what the photos were about...
1958 Ken White story.pdf

I even have enhanced photos of some of the electronic machines, which had wooden cases for the metal detector coils. I am going to stick in two of the photos for you to look at and see...
Tried to stick them below but ended up with them stuck into the story about early Ken Whites Sr metal detectors. So the words are here, and the photos are above...
MELBETA

[Melbeta]

I did an really nice enhancement of an early Ken Whites Sr brochure though....... It is below!
MELBETA

[Melbeta]

I got an old vintage photo, of Ken White Sr, in the store room of his early metal detector shop. He was an young man back then. I enhanced it for extreme clarity and clearness. It was kind of washed out, so I added some contrast, and here it is, an master piece of enhancement back in the good old days... The detectors with TWO METERS??? One meter was for one thing, other meter was for another thing. Ingenious? I thought it was myself!!! Now the vintage coils??? Ken made them out of wood and they found relic targets back in those good old days. What do you think Of MY ENHANCEMENT of the old early photo??? I stuck extra PIXELS into it to add into the old early photo high resolution!!!! LOOK at that big PRIDEFUL SMILE he is wearing on his face!!!Man oh man, if this photo could only speak. I spoke, but image if either Ken White SR, or the photo could speak???????? I believe this photo was from around 1954 or so back in the good old days. Not sure when though, just guessing...
MELBETA

[Carl-NC]

From the models I see, this would be 1964-65 time frame. Notice the 67.5-volt batteries under the bench, these are vacuum tube circuits. I'm trying to figure out what room this is in the factory but I can't place it. It may have been in the furniture store basement (but I would expect the floor to be concrete, not wood) or it may have been in the warehouse building in back of the furniture store.

The furniture store originally did not have a basement. When they decided to expand, they literally brought in shovels and wheelbarrows and hand-dug the basement under the store. When I began working at White's the furniture store building was still standing in town but empty. One night some vandals started a fire and severely damaged the building. They had to tear it down, and then had to haul in a bunch of dirt to fill in the basement pit. The old warehouse building is still standing.

[Melbeta]

From the models I see, this would be 1964-65 time frame. Notice the 67.5-volt batteries under the bench, these are vacuum tube circuits. I'm trying to figure out what room this is in the factory but I can't place it. It may have been in the furniture store basement (but I would expect the floor to be concrete, not wood) or it may have been in the warehouse building in back of the furniture store.

The furniture store originally did not have a basement. When they decided to expand, they literally brought in shovels and wheelbarrows and hand-dug the basement under the store. When I began working at White's the furniture store building was still standing in town but empty. One night some vandals started a fire and severely damaged the building. They had to tear it down, and then had to haul in a bunch of dirt to fill in the basement pit. The old warehouse building is still standing.

From what I know, he started the furniture store, in another town, created the metal detection WITHIN that first building. Decided to quit the furniture store business, CLOSED out the furniture at below cost sales prices, as he decided to go into the business of making and selling metal detectors. But from what I found, HE MOVED to another larger town, which was near the original first town. Beyond that, I have no more answers to your questions. I was a dealer for Whites Electronics, but it was long after these events, and I never was at that first or second building at all. Now the bunch of photos, with two brothers who both were engineers at that first building, was what I do know as the first building. It is possible that when he moved out of the first building, he had not decided to close out the furniture from the first building, until he moved into the second building. But I think the second building was in a larger town that had a lot of new business for him. The older building, was in a smaller logging town, and the logging industry had LOGGED the trees, and that business from what I read, was scaling down, and made Ken White SR to decide, to move from the smaller town to the larger town. Now I could be wrong, but I think I am right. The photo I enhanced was in the SECOND BUILDING I think!!! But that is my guess, and it JUST might have been in the first building. My source of information was from poor quality material... FROM what you said, there MAY have been three buildings, one in the smaller town with logging there, and TWO in the larger town OF SWEET HOME... I do not know myself...
MELBETA
I do have this enhanced photo of the two meters. Sticking it below!

I do have a .DOC file, called TOM's STORY, did not change it into .PDF so have to post it here as a .DOC file, I just read it, while it lends some more information, it does not address the number of Whites Electronic's buildings
though, but does clear up some questions on some of the detectors. Appears that the year 1958 was instrumental in Whites Electronics growth, and does tell the story about the earlier newspaper story I told earlier.
So will attach it here for some more information.......
MELBETA
[ATTACH]n426977[/ATTACH]

[Melbeta]

I do have the PRESS RELEASE, coming from that Albany DEMOCRAT newspaper, it too is in .DOC format, but since it lends credence regarding my entire posting, I stick it here, and it identifies the two engineer brothers, who appear in the group photos, and tells more of the story, and does tie in the furniture with the electronics, and there were three towns, Sweet Home, where they ended up, the other two towns were Lebanon Oregon, which I think was where the first Whites Furniture store was located, and Albany which is where the newspaper press release came from. Sticking it below, it lends more information on my posting...Sorry, I do not have any .pdf file for this, but sticking the actual PRESS RELEASE STORY into this posting. Was their two or three Whites Electronics buildings??????? I have no idea, I only know about two of them myself... I believe this PRESS RELEASE was in 1954, right after they moved the furniture and electronics from LEBANON OR, to Sweet HOME, so I am going to change my guess, as I think there was TWO Whites buildings in SWEET HOME OR, the first building in Sweet Home, more then likely is the enhanced photo of Whites Electronics room with a wooden floor!!!!!!!! That is my guess right now. Then they progressed, moved into a LARGER building in Sweet Home OR, where Carl knew about the earlier building... Now the press release, is entitles 1950s Oremaster, and contains further information from the Press Release...The other one is regarding Ronald Craig White material...
MELBETA
1950s Oremaster.doc

[Carl-NC]

No, everything was started in Sweet Home and stayed there.

Add: Ronnie White was Ken Sr's grandson, Ken Jr's son. He was born in Lebanon because that's the closest hospital. He was a drug addict and regularly stole from the company, and died at 52 from heart failure due to his addiction.

[Melbeta]

No, everything was started in Sweet Home and stayed there.

Actually I found material somewhere, regarding what I stated and I STAND BY it myself.......I am not sure just where it is, but it was somewhere in that old lousy news article... IT stated the first business was in a smaller town, where logging was in place, and the logging logged all of the trees, so Ken Whites moved the business to a larger nearby town. I stand by that story as I read it!!! It said something regarding Lebanon OR, and I am sure Kens first building was in Lebanon OR. Then the logging business, had logged the trees around the town, and Ken decided to move to Sweet Home. I read it somwhere. Not sure where it is now, but I am going to stand by my story on Lebanon Or as the location of Ken's first store location and it was a furniture store...
MELBETA

[Carl-NC]

Lebanon is a much bigger town than Sweet Home. Sweet Home is a logging town but where it's at, there is no running out of trees.

[Melbeta]

I knew that Ken White Sr, along with his wife and family, lived in Lebanon OR. Probably buried there as well. So Sweet Home is the logging town? I had spoken with older engineers in the past, and they told me things, and I relied upon what they said 100%. And in some cases might have even thought they said this or that. I know someone told me, of logging trees getting sparse or less of them, and that still sticks in my mind. I read the material I have, and that is not in the material I have, so it was something someone said to me in the past.

Where I live, is an large acreage, and around 1/3 of it is tall Pondersa Pine trees, which fall eventually. I got my land mowed by a guy, who mowed it for me last yeat as well. Am busy when it is warm trimming trees and weed eating around the base of the trees, so it ends up looking more and more like a park. But the doggone weeds persist and it is cold and rainy outside today, so will wait until 10:00AM before venturing outside today. I turn 90 this month, so am really really careful what I do each day. I have lost my relatives like crazy and the same thing with my friends as well. Now for some reason in my mind, I thought that Lebaon was the logging town and it was not as large a town as Sweet Home but you worked there so I know what you said is true. Now forests do not run out of trees, but memories change over time. I have a forest on part of my land, and it goes up the hill to the top of the nearby mountain area nearby. And Ken White Sr, whom I used to speak with is long gone now... And time changes and erases memories I have found myself...

When it is warm enough outside, I am trimming pine trees, then I use my weed cutting unit to trim the weeds up to the base of the tree, and people living around a 1/4 of a mile away refer to my land as "The Park" area... But as I age it is becomming harder and harder keeping it looking like a park area. But right now it does look like the park area... Going to be a rainy day today so might not be able to go out and cut branches and cut weeds today...
MELBETA

[Melbeta]

From the models I see, this would be 1964-65 time frame. Notice the 67.5-volt batteries under the bench, these are vacuum tube circuits. I'm trying to figure out what room this is in the factory but I can't place it. It may have been in the furniture store basement (but I would expect the floor to be concrete, not wood) or it may have been in the warehouse building in back of the furniture store.

The furniture store originally did not have a basement. When they decided to expand, they literally brought in shovels and wheelbarrows and hand-dug the basement under the store. When I began working at White's the furniture store building was still standing in town but empty. One night some vandals started a fire and severely damaged the building. They had to tear it down, and then had to haul in a bunch of dirt to fill in the basement pit. The old warehouse building is still standing.

From what I heard, or what I think I heard, the two meters, one was for TR, other one was for BFO circuits. I can see the floor is wooden, might not be a basement floor because of the wood. I do not know what building it was, but if it was back in 64-65 time period, it has to be in the older furniture store building I bet... Ken White SR has it marked as LABORATORY room... I took older photos, enhanced them, stuck them into CD and flash drive disks and then deleted them from my computers to keep the computers running really good.
MELBETA

[Melbeta]

From the models I see, this would be 1964-65 time frame. Notice the 67.5-volt batteries under the bench, these are vacuum tube circuits. I'm trying to figure out what room this is in the factory but I can't place it. It may have been in the furniture store basement (but I would expect the floor to be concrete, not wood) or it may have been in the warehouse building in back of the furniture store.

The furniture store originally did not have a basement. When they decided to expand, they literally brought in shovels and wheelbarrows and hand-dug the basement under the store. When I began working at White's the furniture store building was still standing in town but empty. One night some vandals started a fire and severely damaged the building. They had to tear it down, and then had to haul in a bunch of dirt to fill in the basement pit. The old warehouse building is still standing.

Back in the summer of 1959, I worked for a commercial cement finisher, and used the wheel barrows and helped finish cement commercial finishing. Man did it before that too with a company in western Nebr summer of (1951). We with the second company, did Quonset building on farms and on commercial locations. I did digging trenches by shovel and hand myself.I also worked moving cement in wheel barrows we called the Wheel Barrow Patrol! Hard work it was even for a young guy! Did it after that for myself here where I live today............
Melbeta

[Carl-NC]

The Whites did not live in Lebanon. They are all buried in Sweet Home.

[moodz]

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries...ry?id=54136671

[Melbeta]

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries...ry?id=54136671

Very very interesting to read this obituary Moodz..... I knew the dad, Kenneth G. White SR., never knew the son personally.
But my experience was excellent with Whites Electronics......Never a complaint from myself!
MELBETA