JOHN BOCHAN b. Claremont, N.H. 12/16/1916 -d. Nokomis, FL 10/15/1987, Louisville resident 1951 until death. Husband, father, inventor, he was successful at all. Loved his work, and loved to work.

At General Electric, awarded more than 130 patents. Received the 1975 Charles Proteus Steinmetz Medal for a lifetime of innovative contributions to the company and society (inventor of GE Filter- Flo®, Mini-Wash ®, Mini-Basket(tm), and Dispensall(tm) systems) among a few. Said then GE Vice-president Stanley C. Gault during Bochan's Steinmetz Award ceremony; "His significant systems engineering contributions... have influenced every major development in the GE washer."

The University of Louisville received a $5,000 scholarship the result of his award. Bochan also was a Charles E. Wilson Special Achievement and a Ralph J. Cordiner Award winner and ELFUN member. As a volunteer technical consultant to the American Printing House for the Blind, many of his ideas were incorporated during the development of the Braille writer.

He was the husband of wife Dorothy for more than 45 yrs., an older brother to Peter, and a father to son John, who recalls several of his observations; "It's not what you know, it's what you do with what you know." "We should be wary when greed is in pursuit of pure profit." and, in a prophetic, early 1960s analogy, said, "The day one billion Chinese want a washing machine is the day the world changes."

About his own life, after becoming fatherless at 12 yrs. old in poverty, he said, "I did the best I could." His wife and son agree. He was a good husband, a loving father, and an excellent tennis and pool player in his day.

On this, the 20th anniversary of his passing, his son offers this testament. "He was a good man. We still love and miss him. His encouragement instilled in me my love of music. His ashes, in the Gulf of Mexico, three-quarters of a mile off the North Jetty entrance of the Intracoastal Waterway at Venice, Florida, still witness the sunset, and marvel at its mystery and complexity."

Published in The Courier-Journal on Oct. 15, 2007

I love learning about our inventors. He also had patents on what Robert calls the "Beam Design" for Speed Queen top loaders. All those patents for the fluid drive came from GE it was an alternate design which they sold to Beam, and I think Speed Queen direct as well. The actual fluid clutch was patented by someone else in WWII and the same fluid clutch was used on the Doodlebug scooters which were developed during gas rationing.

Nice thread, I love his quotes on life, see washing machines influence EVERYTHING!

-Jet