http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/signonsandiego/obituary.aspx?n=keith-w-tantlinger-tant&pid=153419406
TANTLINGER, KEITH W. "TANT" 1919 to 2011 Inventor with global impact Keith Tantlinger, whose inventions played a major role in globalization, died peacefully in his home in Escondido, CA on August 27th, at age 92. "Tant" was the mechanical genius behind the concept, design and patents for the basic methods and equipment used in containerization. A licensed mechanical engineer and Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers, he was granted 79 United States patents, all related to transportation equipment. Those patents included both the methods and equipment for engaging, lifting, securing and transporting large commercial shipping containers. His patents included the design of the eight or more container corner fittings on each of the world's more than 30 million shipping containers (TEUs). Those fittings and their mating "twist locks", also covered by his patent, enable shippers to engage, lift, load, unload and secure containers to ships, road trailers and rail cars for transcontinental and work transport. His container corner fitting and twist lock design patent was released to the public in June of 1967 in order for it to become the current world standard. In 2010 he was awarded the Gibbs Bros. Medal by the National Academy of Sciences "for his visionary and inventive design of the cellular containership and the supporting systems which transformed the world shipping fleet and facilitated the rapid expansion of global trade." He also invented and patented the gooseneck skeleton container chassis and the container recess tunnel to accommodate that upward protruding gooseneck. For the past 55 years that invention has provided 4 to 6 inches of increased interior loading height in shipping containers. Other inventions encompassed the basic structure and many features of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) cars for San Francisco and the rapid transit cars for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA). Many of his patents related to commercial highway freight trailers and transit buses. His creative genius in all areas of transportation was exhibited throughout his career as Chief Engineer and Vice President of Engineering at Brown Trailers, Spokane, WA; Vice President of Engineering and Research at Pan Atlantic Steamship Co. (which became Sea-Land Service), Mobile, AL; Vice President of Engineering and Manufacturing, Fruehauf Corporation, Detroit, MI; and Senior Vice President, Ground Transportation Systems, Rohr Industries, Chula Vista, CA. After "Tant's" retirement from corporate life until shortly before his death, he operated his own consulting business for transportation equipment product design and development. A California native,"Tant" was the youngest of six children born to Walter and Jean (Hayward) Tantlinger on March 22, 1919. He was born on Orange Street in the City of Orange, Orange County, CA, and was raised on an orange grove in Tustin, CA. For 35 years he owned and operated a citrus and avocado grove in Valley Center, CA. Survivors include his wife of 30 years, Wanda; daughter Susan L. Tantlinger of Clark, WY; stepson Daniel W. Delinger, wife Kelly, and grandchildren Rachel and Jason of Zeeland, MI. He is also survived by nephews Peter and Michael Newman of CA, and Keith Sorensen, who resides in Canada. At his request there will be no services.
San Diego Tribune
....It appears the business and creation of the standard containers has been a great success. Modular design allowing them to be transported on most transportation methods.
One item of the containers remains unclear to me....That is the method of connection and release of the fasteners. Seems that happens without any great effort or complication....and yet is very reliable.
Anyone have any good close photos that might show how the connecters function.....?
Quentin
Good question. See these links (not my photos, though):
http://interboxconnectors.blogspot.com/2011/03/interbox-connectors.html
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/178899/1964499.aspx - see esp. doublestack's post of 08-29-2010
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=136&t=53012
- Paul North.
NY Times article
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/business/keith-tantlinger-builder-of-cargo-container-dies-at-92.html
Journal of Commerce article
http://www.joc.com/container-shipping/container-twistlock-inventor-dies-92
Excerpt from The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger by Marc Levinson
Tantlinger, then thirty-five, was chief engineer at Brown Industries in Spokane, Washington, and had already built a reputation as a container expert. Brown had been building truck trailers since 1932, and Tantlinger's job, along with designing trailers for trucking companies, involved speaking at industry meetings to promote. Brown's products. In 1949, he had designed the first modern shipping container, a 30-foot aluminium box that could be stacked two high on on barges operating between Seattle and Alaska or placed on a chassis and pulled by a truck" The order involved only two hundred containers, and despite much curiosity, no other orders followed. "Everybody was interested, but nobody wanted to reach for his pocketbook," Tantlinger remembered.
McLean the trucker had never done business with Brown Industries. Now that he was in the shipping business, though, McLean wanted Tantlinger's expertise -immediately. The next morning, Tantlinger flew to Mobile, where Pan-Atlantic was based. "I understand you know everything there is to know about containers," was McLean's gruff greeting. McLean explained his plan. He proposed to use containers thirty-three feet long, a length chosen because the available deck space aboard the T-2 tankers was divisible by thirty-three. These boxes were at least seven times the size of any container then in common use. Rather than having longshoremen stow them with other cargo in a ship's hold, he proposed to install metal frames, called flying decks or spardecks, above the tangle of pipes that covered the decks of his two tankers. The spardecks would hold hold the containers eight abreast. The idea was to attach six steel pieces, each a foot long with a small hole at the bottom, to the sides of each container. When the container was loaded on board ship, the steel pieces would slide vertically through slots in the frame of the spardeck, and a rod would be inserted through the holes, underneath the frame, to lock the container in place. Most important, the containers Pan-Atlantic planned to use would be designed to be shifted easily among ships, trucks and trains.
McLean's trucking superintendent, Cecil Egger, had begun experiments with two old Fruehauf truck trailers that had been strengthened with A-shaped steel brackets welded to each side. Tantlinger quickly saw that the system was unworkable: the containers were meant to be locked in placed with steel pieces protruding beneath them, making them impossible to stack, and the A-shaped brackets made the trailers too wide and too tall for the highways. Tantlinger told McLean that standard Brown containers, which used the aluminum sides and roof to bear most of the load, would do the job. McLean ordered two 33-foot containers, to be delivered in two weeks to the Bethlehem Steel shipyard in Baltimore, which was altering the tankers. On the appointed day, Tantlinger was to meet Pan-Atlantic executives for breakfast at the Lord Baltimore Hotel. When they failed to arrive, he called the shipyard and learned that the men were already there. Tantlinger rushed to the shipyard, where Malcom and Jim McLean, Kempton and Egger were jumping up and down on the roof of a container. Tantlinger had told Malcom McLean that the wafer-thin aluminum roof was strong enough to keep the container rigid, and the McLean group was trying, unsuccessfully, to disprove his claim. Sold on the merits of Brown's containers, McLean ordered two hundred boxes and demanded that the reluctant Tantlinger move to Mobile to be his chief engineer.
Picture stolen from the Windmill blade thread shows the locking mechinism that is also used to lash containers together, on ship, when loaded to trailer frames, when loaded on rail cars as either single or double stacks.
Modelcar ....It appears the business and creation of the standard containers has been a great success. Modular design allowing them to be transported on most transportation methods. One item of the containers remains unclear to me....That is the method of connection and release of the fasteners. Seems that happens without any great effort or complication....and yet is very reliable. Anyone have any good close photos that might show how the connecters function.....?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I worked with Tant in the 70's when he was at Rohr and i was Program manager of the Turboliner Project. In addition to being highly innovative, he was a true gentleman and a great engineer. When someone's letter or report was sent to him for comment, he would write his thoughts all around the margins. This was called a "Tantogram" It was a priviledge to know him.
Thanks to a quick and timely 'heads-up' on the Yahoo "Model-Intermodal" group's forum (at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/modelintermodal/ ), today's National Public Radio Talk of the Nation show (Neal Conan, host) had a 7 min. 15 sec. piece on Mr. Tantlinger titled "Shipping Container Inventor Transformed World Trade", which had as a guest "Marc Levinson, author, The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger" - see this link for a transcript and/ or to listen to it:
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/07/140256967/shipping-container-inventor-transformed-world-trade
The 2 comments below are interesting, esp. the one by Catherine Sullivan, as follows:
Catherine Sullivan (CMackayS) wrote:
I wonder what Mr. Levinson would think of the shipping container as sculpture? Just saw a public piece of art by American Sculptor John Salvest in Kansas City. A stack of shipping containers 7 stories high that creates a multi-colored mosaic that spells out on one side "IOU" and on the other "USA." Even more interesting is it's positioning in a public park facing the Federal Reserve of Kansas City. Check it out: http://www.grandarts.com/
Wednesday, September 07, 2011 4:08:01 PM
Go ahead - check it out ! See also: http://www.grandarts.com/current.html Can you find the "USA" and "IOU" patterns in the ends of that stack of boxes ?
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.