TECO and Stickee Staystuck Celebrate Anniversaries
On this date in 1933, the Timber Engineering Company (TECO) was incorporated in Washington, DC, as a "national sales promotion, engineering and research agency for wood and forest products" by the National Lumber Manufacturing Association. While that organization later became the National Forest Products Association and later still the American Forest & Paper Association, TECO hasn't changed names or its mission in the 80 years its been operating (though it has changed hands several times, as is nicely documented on their own history page. Oh, that other companies would provide such useful historical information about themselves—well done, TECO!)
Since 1934, much of TECO's work has focused on making timber a strong and appealing construction material that can do more than steel or other metals. Its first product was the "split-ring connector," which was "used in the assembly of heavy timber trusses in building construction," according to their history page. The connector, the rights to which were purchased from a German manufacturer, allowed the assembly of massive timber trusses used in the construction of blimp hangars, ships, bridges, and buildings, and the occasional oddity such as ski jumps in football stadiums. TECO later moved into plywood research and production and claim to have manufactured the first particleboard in the U.S. Their research and products were critical in the defense industry during World War II era and the construction boom that followed the end of the war.
Blimp hangars like this one became possible because of TECO's split-ring connector.
One lesser-known product of TECO's is the forgotten forest history character, Stickee Staystuck. He was introduced in 1953 in a series of posters citing the "do's and don't's" in successful laminating that were distributed nationwide. But little is known about him, at least to us. It was only by accident that we learned of this character when Eben stumbled across an advertisement with Stickee in it. And despite all the materials we have about TECO (the National Forest Products Association records, the Wilson Martindale Compton papers, TECO Company files in the FHS Library, and TECO subject file in the FHS Photograph Collection), we have almost nothing about this awkwardly named guy. Perhaps that's part of the reason why our crack research staff (again, mostly Eben) could only turn up that one advertisement with him in it: his name doesn't roll off the tongue—it twists the tongue. More precisely, it sounds as if you have glue on your tongue. In fact, we've been referring to him around the office as "Stickee Sam" or other sobriquets because they're much easier to say and involve less spittle. His name alone may be why he's gone the way of Howdy, the Good Outdoor Manners Raccoon. If it's not easy to say or remember, it won't, ahem, stick.
Another reason he's not known to us today is pure conjecture. He isn't mentioned in the two documents about the founding of the company written just four years after Stickee's debut available on the company's history webpage, which, if it's an indication of his lifespan, says a lot about him. Even for the more freewheeling days of the 1950s, long before the phrase "sexual harassment" was ever uttered in the workplace, you got to admit that Stuckee was a bit over the top, as seen in the cartoon below.
Stickee, we hardly knew ye.
We congratulate the Timber Engineering Company on 80 years of great work. And while this is the 60th anniversary of Stickee's debut, it's doubtful that TECO will be marking that anniversary.
