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28-597: The name, Blawnox, is derived from the Blaw-Knox Company, which had a manufacturing plant there providing much of the town's employment. Blawnox had been called Hoboken. The town was founded in the late 19th century, with the name Hoboken. Steel was the community's major industry, with the area being home to the Blaw Steel Co. and the Knox Welded and Pressed Steel Co. When the Blaw Steel Co. acquired

56-504: A ceramic insulator about three-foot wide, shaped like a ball and socket joint. Thus, the tower required guy-wires to hold it upright. The distinguishing feature of the Blaw-Knox tower was its wide diamond (or rhomboidal , rhombohedron ) shape, which served to make it rigid, to resist shear stresses. One advantage of this was to reduce the number of guys needed. Blaw-Knox masts required only one set of three or four guys, attached at

84-620: A significant share of the paving equipment business, having purchased the German paving equipment company ABG in 1990, while Blaw-Knox owned a major share of the US paving market (which would grow to 50% of all new pavers bearing the Blaw-Knox brand by 2006). A few days later, in April 1995, Clark accepted a higher $ 1.5 billion ($ 3 billion today) offer from Ingersoll-Rand, who became owners of Blaw-Knox and all other Clark companies. Ingersoll-Rand soon sold

112-403: A stable base on which to erect the other half. A disadvantage of the diamond mast shape was that the current distribution on the tower caused less radio power to be radiated in horizontal directions and more at an angle into the sky, compared to a slender uniform width mast. Since AM radio stations covered their listening areas with ground waves , radio waves that traveled horizontally close to

140-525: Is stabilized by guy wires attached only at the vertical center of the mast, where its cross-section is widest. During the 1930s AM radio broadcasting stations adopted single mast radiator antennas, and the Blaw-Knox design was the first type used. A 1942 advertisement claims that 70% of all radio towers in the United States at the time were built by Blaw-Knox. The distinctive diamond-shaped towers became an icon of early radio. Several are listed on

168-646: The Allegheny River , Blawnox runs adjacent with Penn Hills . As of the census of 2000, there were 1,550 people, 858 households, and 373 families residing in the borough. The population density was 4,771.6 people per square mile (1,842.3 people/km). There were 931 housing units at an average density of 2,866.0 per square mile (1,106.6/km). The racial makeup of the borough was 93.03% White , 1.03% African American , 0.06% Native American , 5.23% Asian , 0.19% from other races , and 0.45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.65% of

196-481: The United States Census Bureau , the borough has a total area of 0.4 square miles (1.0 km), of which 0.3 square miles (0.78 km) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km), or 25.58%, is water. Its average elevation is 843 feet (257 m) above sea level. Blawnox is entirely surrounded by land to the north, northeast and west by the westernmost section of O'Hara Township . Across

224-693: The Blaw Collapsible Steel Centering Company, located in New Jersey, to manufacturer his patented steel form used to construct improved concrete circular tubes for sewers and tunnels. In 1909, Luther Knox created the Knox Pressed and Welded Steel Company to manufacture steel products used in high temperature applications. In July 1917, the firms merged to form the Blaw-Knox Company. Blaw-Knox added

252-492: The Blaw-Knox expertise in concrete and steel works. As highway construction moved away from rigid concrete construction, Blaw-Knox began making highway pavers for the new method of flexible asphalt paving ( tarmac ). In 1931 Blaw-Knox introduced a form-riding finisher for asphalt paving. By 1932 they released the first self-propelled non-form riding finisher for the placement of stones and asphalt. Until this time it had been common to pave roads using formwork on either side of

280-509: The Knox Welded and Pressed Steel Co. in 1917, the company became known as the Blaw-Knox Steel Construction Co., and the size of Hoboken was expanded to the whole area spanned by the Blaw-Knox mill. Blawnox was incorporated on April 13, 1925, from O'Hara Township . Blawnox is located at 40°29′33″N 79°51′40″W  /  40.49250°N 79.86111°W  / 40.49250; -79.86111 . According to

308-692: The UK design and manufacturing division to Babcock , while keeping the North American operations of Blaw-Knox as a stand-alone unit in its road construction equipment division. In February 2007, Ingersoll-Rand accepted an offer of $ 1.3 billion ($ 1.9 billion today) from Volvo for the road construction equipment division, including the Blaw-Knox brand and the ABG brand. In July 2020, Volvo Construction Equipment sold Blaw-Knox pavers to Gencor Industries Inc. Blaw-Knox Tower The Blaw-Knox company

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336-618: The United States National Register of Historic Places , the distinctive diamond antenna design has been incorporated into logos of various organizations related to radio and a very large (scale) replica of the WSM (AM) Blaw-Knox tower has been built into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum . The diamond-shaped tower was patented by Nicholas Gerten and Ralph Jenner for Blaw-Knox July 29, 1930. and

364-416: The antenna's radiation pattern. In some Blaw-Knox mast designs (see WBT towers, right) the upper pyramidal section was made longer than the lower, to keep the attachment point of the guys as low as possible, to minimize their interference. Another advantage mentioned in the patent was that the tower could be erected in two parts. Half of the mast could be built, then its wide central section could be used as

392-408: The average family size was 2.68. In the borough the population was spread out, with 14.5% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 21.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.9 males. The median income for a household in the borough

420-490: The construction of radio towers to its operation in 1927, and soon developed the distinctive diamond-shaped Blaw-Knox Tower design of vertical, medium wave radio towers. Several are now listed on the US National Register of Historic Places . In 1929, Blaw-Knox purchased the A. W. French & Company paving equipment company, which manufactured machines that produced concrete roads, a natural extension of

448-647: The diamond towers were built, and several remain; all transmit AM radio signals. The most well-known example in Europe is the Lakihegy Tower , located in Szigetszentmiklós -Lakihegy, Hungary . Several additional diamond cantilever towers were built at stations in the Central Valley of California , but are less well known. These towers were much smaller in both height and cross-section than

476-470: The ground surface, this meant the listening area was smaller. The realization of the nonideal radiation pattern of the design caused the diamond-shaped tower to fall out of favor in the 1940s in radio stations, replaced by the narrow uniform width lattice mast used today. Many Blaw-Knox towers, of both conventional (uniform cross-section) and diamond design, remain in use in the United States . Few of

504-620: The new WCI subsidiary. In April 1994, WCI sold the Blaw-Knox unit, based in Mattoon, Illinois , to Clark Equipment Company for US$ 144 million ($ 296 million today). In March 1995, Ingersoll-Rand offered $ 1.34 billion ($ 2.7 billion today) in a hostile takeover bid for Clark Equipment Company. Clark cited its Blaw-Knox unit as a reason for the US Federal Court to stop the takeover, claiming that Ingersoll-Rand would violate Federal antitrust laws since Ingersoll-Rand already controlled

532-401: The pavement. These new machines were essentially a self-propelled tailgate spreader that pushed the asphalt truck. In 1943 they introduced the first road widener. In 1954 they introduced the first wheel-driven, rather than track-driven , paver. The paver tires rode on a prepared base -- or often on an older pavement -- and the paver pushed the asphalt truck. The screed was the hindmost part of

560-427: The paver. The hot mix was dumped into a front hopper, then carried back by conveyors to be dropped in front of the screed, where horizontal augers would distribute it laterally. In 1956, they developed the first auto-grade-and-slope pavers. Blaw-Knox went on to establish a broad line of paving machines for the US and UK markets. The UK employed a distinctly different paving method, applying a deeper mat of asphalt than

588-407: The population. There were 858 households, out of which 15.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.4% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 56.5% were non-families. 51.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.81 and

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616-417: The tower's wide "waist". In contrast, narrow masts require two to four sets of guys, attached at different heights, to prevent the tower from buckling. The advantage of fewer guys was to simplify the electrical design of the antenna, because conductive guys interfered with its radiation pattern . The guys acted as " parasitic " resonant elements, reradiating the radio waves in other directions and thus altering

644-660: The towers listed elsewhere; only one — KSTN , Stockton  — remains in use for broadcasting. In the following chart:   structure is no longer standing.   structure has changed height.   rebuilt structure. Three other Blaw Knox towers of unknown heights also used to exist but have since been removed for the following stations; WABC in Wayne, N.J., WCAU's in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania and WHO in Des Moines, Iowa. Blaw-Knox also constructed

672-423: Was $ 30,203, and the median income for a family was $ 43,500. Males had a median income of $ 31,450 versus $ 26,406 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $ 19,858. About 5.8% of families and 8.7% of the population were below the poverty line , including 9.5% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over. Blaw-Knox Blaw-Knox is a manufacturer of road paving equipment . The company

700-461: Was an American manufacturer of steel structures and construction equipment based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . The company is today best known for its radio towers , most of which were constructed during the 1930s in the United States . Although Blaw-Knox built many kinds of towers, the term Blaw-Knox tower (or radiator) usually refers to the company's unusual "diamond cantilever" design, which

728-520: Was common in the US, which resulted in a marked reduction in paving speed. The Blaw-Knox UK design and manufacturing division was eventually based at Rochester, Kent , in southeast England, on the former site of the Short Brothers flying boat factory. Blaw-Knox was purchased by White Consolidated Industries (WCI) in May 1968. The Blaw-Knox Construction Equipment Corporation name was used for

756-474: Was created in 1917 from the merger of Blaw Collapsible Steel Centering Company and the Knox Pressed and Welded Steel Company. Blaw-Knox was sold to new owners in 1968, changed owners a few times thereafter, and continues as the Volvo Blaw-Knox brand of paving equipment, sold to Volvo Construction Equipment since 2007. Since July 2020 it is owned by Gencor Industries Inc. In 1906, Jacob B. Blaw created

784-405: Was one of the first mast radiators. Previous antennas for medium and longwave broadcasting usually consisted of wires strung between masts, but in the Blaw-Knox antenna, as in modern AM broadcasting mast radiators, the metal mast structure functioned as the antenna. To prevent the high frequency potential on the mast from short-circuiting to ground, the narrow lower end of the tower rested on

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