Bishop-Wisecarver is the original inventor of DualVee® guide wheel technology, and no one knows it like we do.
The image on the right compares one of the original machined vee guide wheels created by Bud Wisecarver next to a polished guide wheel of today.
Now pretend to picture some fuzzy, wavy lines. Let’s go back into the past more than 40 years ago.
Bud Wisecarver was running the largest “general jobbing” machine shop in the East County of the San Francisco Bay Area during the 60s when a local packaging company came to him with an application challenge. The company needed Bud to create a machine that would fill bags with fertilizer.
Bud got to work on the new machine but after installing it, discovered that the machinery would clog up with fertilizer spilling off from the plant’s conveyors operating overhead. The problem? Flat rollers running in a trough would clog with the fallen debris. Bud took his design back to the shop for reevaluation.
The machine was redesigned to run on a double vee guide wheel system instead, and voila, success. The machine was able to roll thru the fertilizer bits, sweeping the debris off the track. No matter how much grit fell from above, the guide wheel motion was not interrupted. The dirty challenge was solved, but, machining these guide wheels was no easy task.
After finishing up at the fertilizer plant, Bud got to work on designing a better way to machine these wheels. While watching an Oakland Raiders football game on television one afternoon in 1968, the idea of how to easily machine these double sided guide wheels came clear to Bud. The rest is history!
DualVee Motion Technology® was later patented in 1972 (patent is no longer active), and to this day, whether it is grease, metal chips, sawdust or weld spatter, DualVee conquers extreme temperatures and rough conditions.
One other part of this story is also worth noting. When Bud created a machine to solve his customers’ packaging challenge, he was there every step of the way. Bishop-Wisecarver continues this same work ethic today, as our engineering team is here for you from concept to completion.
We are a hard thinking, resourceful bunch of individuals who value quality, reliability and imagination. Contact us today!
