Robert Abplanalp

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Robert Henry "Bob" Abplanalp, KHS (April 4, 1922 – August 30, 2003) was an American inventor who invented the modern form of the aerosol valve,^[1] the founder of Precision Valve Corporation and a political activist.^[2]

Born to Swiss immigrant parents in the Bronx, New York, Abplanalp graduated from Fordham Preparatory School in 1939 (he would rescue the school from financial distress many years later in 1978) and studied mechanical engineering at Villanova University. He ran his own small machine shop prior to entering the United States Army in 1943. After serving in World War II he worked in his machine shop where he invented a practical aerosol valve that could be mass-produced inexpensively.^[3] He began the Precision Valve Corporation in 1949, and, by 1950, 15,000,000 valves had been produced, marking the beginning of his business empire.

Personal life

In 1956, he married Josephine Sloboda; the couple had two children.^[2] Later in life he became a Republican and supported many conservative causes. Abplanalp was a close friend and supporter of former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon, Nixon's immediate family, and Nixon's long-time confidant, Charles "Bebe" Rebozo.

Abplanalp and his wife were generous donors to Catholic charities, in recognition of which they were inducted in 1971 into two charitable orders — the Order of Malta and the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

Death

At the time of Abplanalp's death in Bronxville, New York from lung cancer on August 30, 2003, age 81, he held more than 300 aerosol-related patents. He is interred at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.

Sources

Goliath
The New York Times obituary of Robert Ablanalp, September 2, 2003

References

↑ Mark Kwak. "A Brief History of Innovation". Retrieved 2007-09-07.
↑ 2.0 2.1 New York Times, "Robert Abplanalp, 81, Inventor and Nixon Confidant, Dies" by Linda Greenhouse, Final, Section C, p. 11, column 1
↑ U.S. Patent 2,631,814 — Valve Mechanism for Dispensing Gases and Liquids Under Pressure; application September 28, 1949, issued March 17, 1953

External links

Robert Abplanalp at Find a Grave

Persondata
Name	Abplanalp, Robert Henry
Alternative names
Short description	American inventor and benefactor
Date of birth	1922-04-04
Place of birth	The Bronx, New York, United States
Date of death	2003-08-30
Place of death	Bronxville, New York, United States

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