INTRODUCTION
     Schramm, Inc., was established in 1900 as a local West
Chester corporation. Schramm, Inc. was a family-owned business
with connections to major national and international industries.
During the historical time period in which Schramm, Inc.,
existed, many social, technological, political, and economic
changes took place within America.  A central question raised was
how the company lasted for approximately a hundred years with
numerous different changes in products and development.  The
history of the company, their products, the strength of the
company, fringe benefits of working at Schramm, and the unique
relationship Schramm has to the community of West Chester have
been examined.   

                                  HISTORY
     When Christian D. Schramm and Emil Maerky met at the
Philadelphia Export Exposition, their lives and the business
world would never be same.  These two founders of the present-day
company Schramm, Inc., revolutionized the use of gasoline
engines, air compressors, construction tractors, and the
rotadrilling business.  The success of the company was largely
due to their insightful marketing of products, and a perceptive
and conscious treatment of their work force.
     They formed a partnership on January 2, 1900 to repair
stationary gasoline engines for elevators in the Philadelphia
area during the early 1900s.(1)  "Armed with lots of knowledge,
enthusiasm, a lathe, a shaper, a drill press, two vises, a work
bench, a few hand tools, and 1« horsepower gas engine, the two
men set out make money.(2)   Their business became very
profitable, since many elevators broke down on a daily basis and
Schramm and Maerky had few competitors in the business. The
company operated on a small scale, but as time grew, so did their
profits.  
     After the first year of production, when the company grossed
$4,000, Henry N. Schramm joined his father in the company.(3) 
Schramm, Inc., received numerous orders which enabled them to
expand their operations.  The company moved from 129 North Third
Street, which they rented for $25 a month, to a larger facility
at 308 North Fourth Street in Philadelphia.(4)  This enabled the
owners to hire a large workforce and the company grew steadily
during the early years.  
     Several important events occurred in 1902 and 1908, which
altered the company drastically.  In 1902, the partnership of
Schramm and Maerky was dissolved, and Chris assumed
responsibility for all assets and liabilities.  In 1907, Henry
Schramm became a partner of the company, which was renamed Chris
D. Schramm and Son.(5)  Within a year, George W. Davidson of
Wilmington, Delaware asked the company to construct a portable
air compressor for his marble cutting business.  The result was a
gasoline engine modified to produce compressed air for pneumatic
tools.(6)  The portable air compressor was a success and proved
to be a valuable source of orders for the company.(7)  "The years
from 1911-1917 saw Schramm continue their repair and servicing of
gas engines as well their line of sales items."(8)  
     Schramm produced three different sizes of compressors, all
of which were becoming very popular in the stone-cutting
industry.  The Schramm name received very positive coverage
during this time period.  They set the standard in the air
compressor business and other companies copied their
techniques.(9) 
     In 1916 and 1917, Schramm accomplished two major
achievements for the company.  First, the company opened
showrooms and branch offices in New York City and Philadelphia. 
The showroom in Philadelphia was located on 704 Arch Street.(10)
Second, the company changed its name to Chris D. Schramm and Son,
Inc., and moved the business to a new facility in West Chester,
Pennsylvania.  The company incorporated and sold stock to
businessmen in West Chester, Philadelphia and New York.(11)  
     The company bought a factory belonging to the Sharpless
Separator Works, which was built in 1910 and contained 25,000
square feet on seven acres of land.(12)  By 1922 Schramm had
phased out all the repair and conversion of domestic engines, and
produced only air compressors, pumps, engines for power
applications, and hoist units.(13)  
     During the First World War, the company had few contracts,
but after the war, Schramm manufactured equipment for the Allied
Army in Europe.  "In 1918-19, the local plant (Schramm) was
largely converted to the manufacture of captive balloon hoists
(French Balloon Windlesses) for the United States Signal
Corps"(14) The balloons had a range of 1,600 feet and provided
important information for the army.  Schramm also assembled
special low-pressure compressors for diving and salvage work.(15) 
The balloon hoists and the compressors became important Schramm
products that made the company a leading military suppplier
during World War II.
     The World War II contracts started off slowly.  At first,
these small contracts did not slow production in the main
factory,(16) but as United States involvement in the war
escalated, war contracts became more numerous and very
profitable.  Schramm completed a great deal of work orders for
portable generator sets, which the Army and Navy used during the
war.(17)  Schramm expanded operations and began to subcontract
out their regular work to other local businesses.  This excerpt
from the Daily Local News described the atmosphere of the West
Chester plant during the second World War.  
     "During the past six weeks, Schramm Inc., has been going at
     full speed, night and day, seven days a week, averaging
     better than 28 units per day.  In normal times, this amount
     of production would not have been achieved in a full year. 
     Expansion of its factories was necessary in order for
     Schramm, Inc., to attain its (wartime) goal."(18)

As the company broke all peacetime production records, Schramm's
suppliers and contractors also began to reap the benefits from
wartime production.  
     "Until five years ago (1939), Schramm's use of the railroad
     totaled about four car loads of coal a year, other haulage
     being by truck.  Between June 1st 1943, and June 1st 1944,
     there were 250 car loads of materials coming in, and 254
     going out from the plant, while since June 1st there have
     been three train loads consisting of fifteen or more
     cars.(19)

     To meet its needs, Schramm hired a variety of workers from
other businesses whose production was restricted by the
government or curtailed because of priorities for war goods.(20) 
The company produced spare parts, tractors, trailer trucks, air
compressors, welders, air tanks, and railway cars for the United
States Navy, Army, Marines, and the Engineers.(21)  As production
increased, the company expanded its operation facilities. 
     After the war, Schramm continued to prosper.  The company
celebrated its Golden Anniversary on May 24th and 25th in 1950,
(22), and ppublished a company history in Schramm's own
publication, Bores and Strokes.(23)  That same year, the company
introduced the Pneumatractor, a self-propelled air compressor
unit that was designed to operate with a front-end loader, snow
plows, backfill blades, front and rear winches, mowers, posthole
diggers, rotary brushes, pneumajack, and more.(24)  The tractor
found applications in many industries and provided Schramm
another opportunity to expand the company.  (Note: West Chester
University still uses their original Pneumatractor on campus
projects which require compressed air.)  
     In 1955, Schramm introduced another of their products, the
Rotadrill, which was used for drilling water, wells, blast holes,
drilling shallow gas and oil, mineral exploration, environmental
construction, and many other applications.(25)  Throughout the
1960s, '70s and '80s, Schramm perfected the art of deep drilling
by redefining the Rotadrill.  In 1975, Schramm, Inc., celebrated
their 75th Anniversary. Today, Schramm mostly produces industrial
Rotadrills, stationary compressors, and high-pressure
compressors.  

                            EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
     Schramm's employee relations policies were innovative for a
company founded in the early twentieth century.  As early as
1917, Schramm introduced a bowling league for employees,(26) and
following its success, Schramm introduced other employee sports
teams.  In 1921, the company formed a basketball team to compete
with other companies in West Chester, and added baseball, boxing,
track, and other sports in subsequent months.(27)  The company
introduced annual awards banquets for its employees, and in the
1950s, the local newspaper covered them regularly.  The banquets
were attended by over one hundred people each year and
participants received awards for outstanding achievements in
their respected areas.  The sports teams created a regular
camaraderie among the employees, which fostered an improved
working environment for the them.
     In 1924, Schramm began to offer paid vacations.  By 1952,
employees with at least five years received two weeks of paid
vacation during the summer, while workers with less than five
years of service received one week of paid vacation.(28)  In
1958, the company granted three weeks of vacations to employees
who worked more than fifteen years, and in 1977, vacations were
increased to four weeks for workers with twenty years of
service.(29)   
     In 1927, Schramm began to offer sick benefits and life
insurance, while inaugurating a group hospitalization plan in
1943, and instituted long term disability insurance in 1967.(30) 
Schramm paid its employees a fair weekly wage, but also provided
employees a monthly bonus based on the company's shipments. 
Schramm was owned by its employees and company stock was
available to all of them on a payroll deduction plan.(31)
     During World War II, when Schramm needed to increase its
work force quickly, the company made a number of changes. 
Schramm hired women for shop work,(32) and since 1944, Schramm
held an annual picnic for their employees. 
     In 1940, the company opened a restaurant for employees in
the Parker mansion, which still stands adjacent to the factory. 
The restaurant was a success from the beginning.  Newspaper
reports from the time provide descriptive detail:

     "The mansion has been completely renovated and contains six
     dining rooms, which can hold about 200 people ... Joseph
     Umani, of West Chester, is in general charge assisted by a
     staff of local women. ...  Yesterday, the menu consisted of
     grape juice, roast beef, string beans, sweet potatoes, iced
     tea or coffee, applesauce with cantaloupe as dessert. 
     During dinner classical and popular music was played on a
     phonograph for the employees. ... Henry Schramm, president
     of the company, pronounced the dinner and the service
     excellent in every respect." 

The company subsidized the cost of meals at the restaurant,
although by 1977, inflation had forced the price of coffee up to
ten cents.(33)  The company also provided flu shots to its
employees.(34)  

                  SCHRAMM'S RELATIONSHIP TO WEST CHESTER
     After Schramm relocated its business to West Chester in
1917, the company developed a special relationship with the
community.  For instance, Ernest Bayless, a member of the
Rotarians and a former Director of Public Works for West Chester,
remembered that during a project to raise money to equip Green
Field (a neighborhood athletic field) with lights, Henry Schramm
got out of his sick bed to write a check and said that if they
didn't get enough, to come back and see him for the balance.(35)
     Charles "Bud" Dunwoody, currently a Regional Sales Manager
at Schramm, Inc., reported that Schramm donated the athletic
fields across from the present facility as a sign of good will. 
Schramm has done many  philanthropy projects within the borough
to foster an improved community.(36)
     Schramm, Inc. has operated in West Chester for nearly a
century, and during that time, it employed members of many of the
Borough's families.  Meanwhile, its international sales spread
the name of West Chester all over the globe.  Within the Borough,
Schramm earned a reputation as a good place to work, and although
this has not been proven, its employee relations policies may
have helped pushed companies in the area to adopt similar
policies during times of low employment.

                                   NOTES
1. "The Romance of a Business: Henry N. Schramm, Jr., Tells Lions
of Schramm, Inc.,: From A Humble Beginning. It Now Approximates
$1,000,000 a Year, Building Air Compressors," Daily Local News
(West Chester: August 8, 1928), "Schramm, Inc." in CCHS clippings
file.

2. Preston Foster, "History of Schramm Engines," Engineers and
Engines (February/March 1980), 19-24.

3. Foster, "History of Schramm,", 19.

4. Ibid., 19-20.

5. Ibid., 20. 

6. Ibid., 22.

7. "The Romance of a Business," clippings file.

8. Preston Foster, "History of Schramm Engines," Engineers and
Engines (April/May 1980), 3-9.

9. Daily Local News (West Chester: July 25, 1947), "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS clippings file. 

10. Foster, "History of Schramm," 3.

11. Ibid., 3-4.

12. Ibid., 3.

13. Foster, "History of Schramm," 19.

14. Daily Local News (West Chester: July 25, 1947), "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS

15. Preston Foster, "History of Schramm Engines," Engineers and
Engines (June/July 1980), 3-7.

16. Daily Local News (West Chester: July 25, 1947), "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS clippings file. 

17. Daily Local News (West Chester: July 25, 1947), "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS clippings file. 

18. Daily Local News (West Chester: ??/??/??), "Schramm, Inc." in
CCHS clippings file. 

19. Daily Local News (West Chester: September 15, 1944) "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS clippings file. 

20. "The Romance of a Business," clippings file.

21. Daily Local News (West Chester: January 6, 1944), "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS clippings file.

22. Daily Local News (West Chester: May 22, 1950), "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS clippings file.

23. Daily Local News (West Chester: January 14, 1950), "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS clippings file.

24. Daily Local News (West Chester: July 24, 1950), "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS clippings file.

25. Daily Local News (West Chester: January 28, 1957), "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS clippings file.

26. Foster, "History of Schramm," 5.

27. Daily Local News (West Chester: Feb 12, 1921), "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS clippings file. 

28. Daily Local News (West Chester: February 3, 1952) "Schramm,
Inc." in CCHS clippings file.

29. Foster, "History of Schramm," 5.

30. Ibid., 5.

31. "Celebrating 75 Years, Schramm 1900-1975," Daily Local News
(West Chester: 1975) "Schramm, Inc." in CCHS clippings file. 

32. Ibid., 5.

33. Foster, "History of Schramm," 5.

34. "Celebrating 75 Years, Schramm 1900-1975," Daily Local News
(West Chester: 1975) "Schramm, Inc." in CCHS clippings file. 

35. Ernest Bayless, telephone interview by Jim Jones (December
22, 1996).

36. Charles Dunwoody, interview by Thomas Brientnall (April
1998).