John Edwards would fit right in at Baker Hughes.

Somehow I think that Aurtunoff would say "so what"!
. First thing TRW did was sell pumps to Russia over his objections and
to put the icing on the cake they gave all the prints to the communist chinese
later . He hated the communist .$$$$$
We might as well go ahead and start teaching the kids here in the USA to speak
chinese . ESP bus. is just one drop in the big bucket . It's not rocket science
and we gave them that too .

Curly has it right, Arutunoff did hate the communists. Amd sometime tell me why TRW gave away the old esp prints to the Chinese ? What was that all about? What kind of lame brain did that? For how much money?

how did clift get to become no 1 with cable mfg. where was reda

In reply to Sam's very professional request

1) Joe's name was Joe Carle not Carlyle
2) Goulds was very difficult regarding retaining earnings for capital reinvestment, F/E had a much better attitude towards this.
3) Bill Lawson sold ODI to C'lift for less money than he was offered by others because he felt it would be better for ODI employees long term future.

Sam, I do not know who you are (thank God) and given the tone of your comment I doubt anyone is jealous of you!

Bill sold it for less money out of spite to one of the prospective buyers. Anyone who believes it was for the long term ODI employees future is a fool. I'm told Centrilift management terminated many ODI employees. True?

Your personal comments about me are hateful.

Sam,

If you can't take it don't dish it out. I am not your "boy", nor am I scared of the truth, nor am I a fool.

Some ODI employees quit. I can't think of any that were terminated at the outset. A few were terminated much later and some C'lift employees were terminated in the same time frame. Some more quit because they did not like the C'lift culture. That happens all the time in every business.

You inferred that Lawson sold out of spite towards Dresser. However another company offered top dollar. Lawson did not see that as a good fit for the employees. He left money on the table for this and he knew it. And this was after he had spent millions, yes millions, on ODI operations. It is not ALWAYS about money and profit. I am sure you will find that hard to believe.

Apparently you have been "told" things and you have "heard stories". That does not mean you know what you are talking about. So be "professional" and stop spreading gossip and smearing people. Try a bit of respect.

Sam,

I would add, in reference to your comment about C'lift mgmt firing ODI employees, there was actually some C'lift employees that were upset, after the buyout, about how many ODI employees were being PROMOTED!! This concern was posted on the employee comment board for all to see.

It looks like ODI had the right stuff a long time ago . Does anyone know who is the
person most responsible for pump and motor
design ?

Curlie,

I was not there "in the beginning" but my understanding was that Joe Carle and Jack Weyler were a big part of the early design and quality effort. Many subsequent improvements were made by many individuals whose names most, outside of ODI, would not recognize.

past ODI employee ,
Do you know Charles Choate ? He was to
have come from Gould . Think he may have
designed much of ODI equipment as well as some for Reda and Centl.

Curlie,

I did not know Charles Choate, but his name was on many drawings. Really don't know his background nor was he mentioned much.

Joe Carle and Jack Weyler were indeed the inspiration. Jack later retired from Clift.

The best engineers and designers came from ODI. There was problems for Clift jealously of ODI engineers when purchase was made. This went on for # years. No question ODI had the best esp engineers in the entire world industry.

Even today, the best engineers at Clift are ODI. Lyle Wilson stil part time is involved as Principal Engineer at Clift, the highest distinction engineer. The other is originally from Reda, also now part time 2 days a week.

Almost no original Clift sr engineers, all ODI originals.

this comment is directed to past ODI employee.

There were many ODI employees fired after Centrilift purchased ODI. I was one of them. Did you have your blinders on? CL Larry Crow and Bill Vaught moved into our Tulsa facility and cleaned house. That was their mission.

The place remained almost vacant with minimal employees for a long time.

What year did ODI start ?

Dear Fired ODI employee,

I am sorry if you were fired. Vaught did not move to the Tulsa facility for many months after the buyout.

Was a reason given for your termination?

In hindsight, I am glad and lucky to be rid of Claremore and those people. The short term pain of being fired, loss of insurance, and family situation are just part of life.

It was something like "business adjustment". That was 10 years ago.

The bonus we received following the acquisition was stipulated in the deal. Any employed ODI employee was to receive it. There was also a gentlemen's agreement no immediate group terminations for a certain amount of time.

There were things done to make it look amicable. Example - They brought us over in buses to Claremore for tours and introductions and things of that nature right after the announcement.

This goodwill lasted a short amount of time. However, there was always strife, and except for a small group of key engineers involved in design or applications, and some field service, the rest of us were low life and put in the closet. Set us up for failure, to be cut as surplus during the first business hiccup.

It was all planned.

It's true that Clift engineers were uptight. They knew that ODI outclassed them in their knowledge and experience.
The rest of us they just parked somewhere with little direction and minimal duties while they canabalised our service and product lines.

I am sorry it did not work out for you. It did not work out for me either, eventually. However, ther were (are) a number of non-engineering or field service personnel that have done well and prospered. I was also a recipient of some of the C'lift anomosity towards ODI people but we were warned of that. It appears that what goes around comes around as I understand they are in serious trouble these days.

This one goes to PC and Dave about Arutunoff and his family background.

The fact that his name ends in off, does not tell you Armenian. It's actually a Russian ending (off).

Tiflis is indeed in Georgia and Arutunoff Armenian. You can call Toly in Bartlesville to confirm this as he has the family tree I am sure.

Some people always thought he was Russian, because he spoke Russian and Georgia then was part of the USSR.

I know Tiflis and can share about this area of Georgia and its history and background and more about the people and cultures there.

Tiflis is made up of lots of different cultures and old time families. Tiflis itself has lots of Turkish Armenians. They are certainly a most enterprising culture or race, and in Tiflis make up a large minority of the population (40 per cent.) they are gradually getting everything into their hands. The Georgians, being extravagant and careless of money, have become poorer and poorer, and have had to sell their houses and land, which the Armenians are only to ready to snap up, and borrow money which they cannot pay back. On the Duma, or town council, over three-quarters of the members are Armenians, and they control all the commercial activity of the town. One has but to walk down the main streets to see that the names over all the chief shops and of the most important firms are Armenian. They may end in -off or in -eff—Kalan-taroff, Oganjanoff, Mantasheff, Gukassoff, (like Arutunoff) etc —but they are merely Russified forms of Kalantarian, Ogandjanian, Mantashiantz, Gukassiantz. Armenian ideas are expressed not only in such papers as the Mshak and the Arshaluis printed in Armenian, but in Russian newspapers like the Novoie Obozrenie, of which the staff is almost wholly Armenian. The case is paralleled by that of certain Bond organs in South Africa printed in English. The fact that the Russian officials do not learn the native language has obliged the natives to learn Russian . So youi see that Russian is very much commoner in the Caucasus than is English in many of the old British colonies, and numbers of quite uneducated people speak it fluently. All the names of the streets, and by far the greater part of the notices on the shops and the advertisements, even in the poorer quarters, are in Russian, although of course are conspicuous for the benefit of the large proportion of illiterates. In many private families both Armenian and Georgian, Russian is ordinarily spoken. Yet the native languages show no tendency to disappear, but are religiously preserved by means of the press, books, schools, and societies of all sorts.

The Armenians are certainly the most conspicuous element of the population, and one comes across them in every walk of life. If you go to a bank, to a money-changer, etc, that's what you'll see.

So it's no surprise that Arutunoff would have just said he was Russian plus his surname was Russified - ( OFF ). Besides most people would have been bored to death to hear all about Georgia and the history of Tiflis and its peoples, etc.

anybody know where I can find Harold Phillips ex-Reda - in need of his consulting, thx - CB

He was doing some consulting work at Wood Group ESP in OKC. You might check with them.

Here, you can add this to your ESP industry page. I have it from a NY Times article I saved from September 21, 1988 about TRW selling Reda and their Kansas cable division to Camco.

" Published: September 21, 1988
TRW Inc. agreed to sell two divisions to the British company Pearson P.L.C. for more than $300 million. TRW said in a statement that it would sell its Reda Pump division, based in Bartlesville, and its Oil Well Cable division, based in Lawrence, Kan., to Camco Inc., a Pearson subsidiary. The deal is expected to be closed within a few weeks, the company said.

TRW Inc. agreed to sell two divisions to the British company Pearson P.L.C. for more than $300 million. TRW said in a statement that it would sell its Reda Pump division, based in Bartlesville, and its Oil Well Cable division, based in Lawrence, Kan., to Camco Inc., a Pearson subsidiary. The deal is expected to be closed within a few weeks, the company said. Reda Pump has 800 employees nationwide, most of them in Bartlesville, while Oil Well Cable has about 85 employees. TRW is involved in the defense, automotive and informations systems businesses. "