Robert J. Warren (born 1933, died April 23, 2022) was the president emeritus of LECO Corporation, a pioneer in the development of carbon determination

instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...

for use in the iron and steel industry, and other types of analytic instrumentation for use in organic and metallographic analysis and

separation science A separation process is a method that converts a mixture or a solution of chemical substances into two or more distinct product mixtures, a scientific process of separating two or more substance in order to obtain purity. At least one product mi ...

. He was the recipient of the 2017 Pittcon Heritage Award for his contribution to scientific instrumentation.

Career

In 1968, Robert J. Warren joined the family-owned Laboratory Equipment Corporation ( LECO). LECO was founded in 1936 by Carl E. Schultz, Charles Schullz, George J. Krasl and Joseph Sauer. Carl E. Schultz's sister was Olga S. Krasl, George Krasl's wife. Robert Warren was also part of the family: his wife Elizabeth was Carl Schultz's daughter. LECO was already recognized as a leader in

materials analysis Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geologic ...

. The company's first product was a carbon analyzer, a rapid carbon determinator designed to analyze the amount of

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon mak ...

in steel or

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

automatically in minutes. They expanded into

die casting Die casting is a metal casting process that is characterized by forcing molten metal under high pressure into a mold cavity. The mold cavity is created using two hardened tool steel dies which have been machined into shape and work similarly ...

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

glass blowing Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer''. A '' lampworke ...

plating Plating is a surface covering in which a metal is deposited on a conductive surface. Plating has been done for hundreds of years; it is also critical for modern technology. Plating is used to decorate objects, for corrosion inhibition, to impro ...

, and

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

. They developed a wide range of products for laboratory analysis, including

induction furnace An induction furnace is an electrical furnace in which the heat is applied by induction heating of metal. Induction furnace capacities range from less than one kilogram to one hundred tons, and are used to melt iron and steel, copper, aluminum ...

s for the analysis of carbon and sulphur, metallurgical apparatus for rapid field analysis, and zircon porcelain and

glassware upTypical drinkware The list of glassware includes drinking vessels (drinkware) and tableware used to set a table for eating a meal, general glass items such as vases, and glasses used in the catering industry. It does not include laboratory glas ...

for laboratory use. In 1967, LECO had opened its first international office in Germany. Warren was instrumental in the company's ongoing expansion into Europe and Asia. In 1971, the company received an “E” Award for Exports from President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

(authorized on his behalf by Secretary of Commerce

Maurice Stans Maurice Hubert Stans (March 22, 1908April 14, 1998) was an American accountant, civil servant, and political organizer who served as the 19th United States Secretary of Commerce from 1969 to 1972. He served as the finance chairman for the Committ ...

.) The company reported an increase of overseas sales from 17 to 50 percent of its production, over the previous five years. It had expanded its production facilities as a result of the demand. As executive vice president and general manager of the firm, Robert Warren was chosen to receive the award on behalf of LECO. The company attributed its success in part to the establishment of high

customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...

standards, including careful handling of equipment, selection and training of distributors, and support for staff and customers in their local languages. In 1976, Warren was named president and general manager of LECO. His wife Elizabeth became vice-president. By 1977, LECO had established international subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, England, France, West Germany, Sweden and South Africa, in addition to its offices and manufacturing plants in the United States. On June 8, 1977, the Warrens bought the company's outstanding stock from the George J. Krasl Trust, represented by his widow Olga S. Krasl. Under Warren's direction, LECO's research and development expanded, from manufacturing analytical instruments for

metals A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typical ...

and inorganics, to add manufacturing analytical instruments for organics. Analysis of organics brought LECO into the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

, agricultural, and food industries. Warren also encouraged the incorporation of computing and data management capabilities into LECO's instruments. By the 1980s, LECO was developing multi-element analytical instruments for

inductively coupled plasma An inductively coupled plasma (ICP) or transformer coupled plasma (TCP) is a type of plasma source in which the energy is supplied by electric currents which are produced by electromagnetic induction, that is, by time-varying magnetic fields. Ope ...

glow discharge A glow discharge is a plasma formed by the passage of electric current through a gas. It is often created by applying a voltage between two electrodes in a glass tube containing a low-pressure gas. When the voltage exceeds a value called the st ...

atomic emission spectroscopy Atomic may refer to: * Of or relating to the atom, the smallest particle of a chemical element that retains its chemical properties * Atomic physics, the study of the atom * Atomic Age, also known as the "Atomic Era" * Atomic scale, distances com ...

, and

time-of-flight mass spectrometry Time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) is a method of mass spectrometry in which an ion's mass-to-charge ratio is determined by a time of flight measurement. Ions are accelerated by an electric field of known strength. This acceleration res ...

. In 1997, LECO introduced a 500-spectra-per-second time-of-flight mass spectrometer, suitable for use in separation science. LECO also developed instruments for comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography. In 2012, LECO opened the Elizabeth S. Warren Technical Centre for Separation Science, for research and development into separation science instrumentation. Warren retired as president of LECO in 2016. In 2017, LECO announced construction of a new building to be named in Robert Warren's honor.

Philanthropy

In 2004, the Warrens and others arranged for the sale of LECO land in the Silver Beach area, to be transferred to the city of

St. Joseph, Michigan St. Joseph, colloquially known as St. Joe, is a city and the county seat of Berrien County, Michigan. It was incorporated as a village in 1834 and as a city in 1891. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 8,365. It lies on the shore o ...

for educational and recreational use. The Warrens have supported the Silver Beach Carousel Society, which has built a new carousel in the area, to replace one previously located in the

Silver Beach Amusement Park Silver Beach County Park is a park located in St. Joseph, Michigan at the mouth of the St. Joseph River. It was formerly Silver Beach Amusement Park, an amusement park, which operated between 1891 and 1971. History Silver Beach opened as a resor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Robert J. 1933 births 2022 deaths American inventors American manufacturing businesspeople American technology chief executives American scientists